Pete and pics

[Pete]

Just so people know, it's easy to get it up in the air and take some photos.

But navigating it around obstacles and getting it back to you can be pretty darn tricky.

All the DJI products have a 'return to home' software option where once enabled, the drone should come straight back above your head, then straight down to the spot where it took off.

But I've had real problems with that that almost led to disasters twice in my short drone piloting history.

It really takes some practice to understand how to move it around, know exactly where it is (if you get to any decent height and/or distance you'll never see it with your eyes) and how to have good control.

Also, you have to make sure you have plenty of battery to get it back home, and the batteries go fast.

It's also very difficult to gauge if it's actually above obstacles or not. You can see elevation of the drone on your controller but estimating obstacle heights is very challenging.

With the price drops you'll see lots more people flying them and issues are going to be on the upswing. You can get yourself in lots of trouble and there is really zero regulation unless you want to fly above 400 feet.

But 400 feet is plenty high and for example, my drone has a 4 mile (!) range. You can get it very, very far away where all types of crazy things can happen.

[mkjeeves]

You put your name on it right, so people will know where to return it? I mean send the bill for damages.

I used to fly RC planes. Crashed a bunch, came close to flying them out of range, far enough the controls would start to be non responsive, but never did lose one that way. My son bought me a cheap drone awhile back but I haven't had it in the air other than lifting it off the floor in my house.

[ultimatesooner]

very nice, we bought my nephew a lower end drone for xmas - all i could manage to do was get it stuck in trees at the lakehouse and have to come up with creative ways to recover it so far