I want a drone!

[garyholl]

Who uses what? What's a good beginner drone?

[rdlangston13]

DJI Phantom

[BGeorge01]

Why the heck are they referred to as a "drone", there is no difference from them to a remote control helicopter or plane. Just been wondering lately.

Now this is a drone...
http://i1289.photobucket.com/albums/b508/bgeorgeusaf/D6C9B218-03F0-4E65-83BA-EA43CA01BB4D_zpskvcjpc3n.jpg (http://s1289.photobucket.com/user/bgeorgeusaf/media/D6C9B218-03F0-4E65-83BA-EA43CA01BB4D_zpskvcjpc3n.jpg.html)

[ninedriver]

LOL, I agree. It's not like I refer to my camper as an EM-50 Urban Assault Vehicle or anything..

[tnbrooks01]

There is really no difference in an RCA and a drone. The only real difference is per FAA an RCA is designated for recreational use only. where the same activity done for business then the RCA becomes a drone.

[sandm]

off topic, but I rented a room to a young kid a few years ago that was the cameraman on military drones. he was snapping pics of iraq/afg. from a plain looking brick building 50 miles from Boise in the middle of nowhere. amazing how technology has changed the face of war. he pretty much spent the 8 months he rented the room locked in it for 10-12hrs a day playing call of duty. guessing he was pretty good at his military job..

[kaneboats]

I'm going to have to design one that shoots other drones down if they invade my air space.

[zabooda]

Drone is a rather generic term and from the dictionary:"an unmanned aircraft or ship guided by remote control or onboard computers." I've have an ARdrone for 1-1/2 years and it was given as a gift. It's a breeze learning it but I have never mastered flying it to where I am comfortable around people and objects. Mine operates off an app on my tablet and uses wi-fi which limits distance and I would recommend one that uses radio frequency instead. I take it camping with me and gives me something else to do if there isn't too much wind. I went to an outdoor party this summer and someone brought one of the newer Go-Pro types and it can do a lot more and the operator could really fly it and flew it out of sight and back again and hovering over the party to film it. I call mine a quad-copter or rc helicopter if asked to keep the clueless from tattling to the park ranger.

[garyholl]

I'm going to have to design one that shoots other drones down if they invade my air space.
Can you mount a shotgun on one?
I want infra red vision for deer/hog hunting.

[rdlangston13]

The DJI Phantom has GPS built in so it can hold its position against wind. It also has the ability to land itself where it took off in the event it looses comms with the remote. When outfitted right you can also have Point Of View systems where some video goggles can give you a 1st person view of what your camera is seeing. They also have upgrades you can do that allow you set set GPS way points and the phantom will just fly automatically in a from way point to way point without any additional user in put.

The one I am curious about is this thing quad copter they are working on that tracks its user via a gps arm band. From what I have seen you where a bracelet type thing with a transponder and the camera will automatically follow that bracelet so you dont even need a operated. you can wakeboard or surf or whatever and the copter will just follow you. This seesm pretty awesome.

[wolfeman131]

Drone shot from the 2015 photoshoot

http://i530.photobucket.com/albums/dd344/wolfeman131/a63c790fa143b29ff5333b642d14f0f2.jpg

[garyholl]

Drone shot from the 2015 photoshoot

http://i530.photobucket.com/albums/dd344/wolfeman131/a63c790fa143b29ff5333b642d14f0f2.jpg
Now that's a cool shot!