Drone Research

Recently I’ve decided that I want to purchase a new drone. Ive been interested in them for a while (I’ve written courses and taught one at Fanshawe College), and I think its about time I upgraded.

The current one I have works perfectly fine; however, limited. It only has 1 battery, and the battery appears to be a proprietary lithium-ion. No branding or anything so I dont think I can pick up an extra. It lasts about 5 – 10 min which is not nearly enough time. It does have a camera on it, but very low quality. And it has no capacity for upgrades or feature improvements. It is what it is.

Currently on my radar:

  • An FPV kit; and
  • DJI Mavic (need to check the spelling)

For the moat amount of fun and ease of use, I think an FPV kit would be perfect. Flying while in FPV makes operating the drone a LOT easier, and you can explore the environment a lot more. As well, flying in FPV allows you to fly at higher speeds as you can make urgent decisions a lot more quickly.

However, FPV drones are usually much smaller and weaker, but are much lighter and more nimble. FPV drones would be great for zipping around, doing tricks, and having fun, but not super great for capturing content.

In comparison to something like a DJI Phantom, the DJI is designed for cinemetography. They (usually) come with nice cameras, and are built and designed to just work. Theyre also a lot slower, no FPV capabilities (unless youre looking through the camera on the tablet). They also have a bunch of sensors to help stabilize them in flight.