Drone advice

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Zed said..
I've had a search but most drone info is a few years out of date. I was after recommendations for a drone for wave-sailing. I had a look on Kogan and there seems to a ton of makes and models, all pretty confusing. I guess I need it to be handle 23knt winds, fly up to 1km off the coast and be easy to fly. Apparently some have a "follow" feature, but I've read that it doesn't work as advertised? I'm on a tightish budget, so can't really afford anything too extreme.

2nd hand DJI Mavic 2. Forget follow feature, doesn't work for windsurfing.

DJI Mavic 2 or Phantom 4 used is ok. DJI Mavic Air 2s or Mavic 3 mini would be another option. This is if you are on a tight budget.

Forget the follow feature on DJI drones. Won't work for windsurfing. Skydio 2+ has decent tracking but image quality apparently is average. Autel Evo II Pro is another option but it's not cheap.

If you buy a used drone make sure you check the batteries for bulging. Especially the Mavic 2 batteries seem to have this problem. Once a battery bulges replace it. Also inspect the aircraft for crashes (cracks in the airframe) or exposure to salt water (rust spots on metal parts like screws, salt stains).

As for flying, given you are beginner try walking before you run. You need to learn flying a drone in no wind in an open field first before you start thinking about chasing after someone on a wave at the drones operational limits.Before flying make sure you check if you are in a no fly zone. Newer drones won't let you take off but drones like the Mavic 2 with older firmware will let you take off anywhere... even within restricted air space. Expect CASA to come knocking handing out a hefty fine if they find out you operated the drone within restricted airspace.

For an overview of drone rules see CASA web site: www.casa.gov.au/knowyourdrone/drone-rules

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Flying Dutchman said..

stehsegler said..
DJI Mavic 2 or Phantom 4 used is ok. DJI Mavic Air 2s or Mavic 3 mini would be another option. This is if you are on a tight budget.

Is Mavic Mini 3 good in 23+ knots of wind?

Well spotted ... meant to say Mini 3 Pro... will definitely fly in 23knts. It might pick up some gimbal vibrations in higher wind speeds due to the small airframe size and light weight.

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Flying Dutchman said..
Just looked up Mini 3 Pro... looks pretty sweet!

sure it... basically a Mavic 2 Pro in a smaller package with a few extra features. Not keen on the new DJI in app flight restrictions and remote unlock requires required for take off in some areas. Might be great if you are in the city but to so much in remote Australia. Heard of a few people getting caught out doing a commercial job in a remote location with no mobile coverage and being prevented from take off... of course that's not limited to the Mini 3 Pro... Mavic 3 has the same issues.

The follow function can be confusing. Most drones that say "follow me" are talking about the ability of the camera to follow the pilot, and only the pilot. If the pilot moves their position, the gps from the transmitter tells the drone, and the drone camera follows the pilot.

Being able to follow an object besides the pilot is another kettle of fish altogether. The better drones do it. DJI's function is called SmartTrack. I don't know how well it works because my Mini 2 does not have it. Supposedly the new Mini 3 does have it.

If you have a good object tracking function, it would make it a lot easier to film a windsurfer/foiler/winger/kiter out on the water.

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Flying Dutchman said..
I'd say to be safe with this drone you want to use it in max 25 knots of wind. The Mavic 2 has a max speed of 39 knots. I have used it in 30 knots plus.

Agree. Used the Mavic 2 Pro in 30 knts sustained and 40+ gusts. But I wouldn't recommend a beginner to launch in those conditions. I had to catch land and the updraft close to shore meant I had to figure out how to get back a different way without crashing. Still think on the smaller drones gimbal vibrations will probably cause image problems before the wind speed is an issue.

All good advice so far. I bought a DJI Air 2S with the express purpose of tracking myself on a wave up on Ningaloo Reef. I crawled before I walked... and am glad I did... in an open field in zero wind. I can say the drone handles 20 knots plus... but once the conditions rose to 25 knots things got kinda hairy: 1. the drone wobbled in gusts (the gimble handled most of it, but not all), 2. in strong winds your flying time can be cut in half, and (as mentioned previously by someone else above) you'd better keep a lot of power in reserve to ensure you make it back to you, otherwise, it'll drown, 3. if you're dreaming of tracking yourself I'd suggest you don't... because the drone may lose you and go looking for you while running out of power, so always have someone at the controls (who can use the tracking mode if they want) but they are there to take over and fly your expensive toy home to dry land if something goes wrong, 4. careful if shooting out of mobile phone range as many of the features won't work (like automatic return home due to no GPS info) which happened to me north of Carnarvon WA and the drone was more than a kilometre away and quite high so there was no way I could see or hear it, so had to use the camera and instruments to get it to fly back to me (note: buy extra batteries). 5. you can purchase and accesory that allows the drone to fly a fishing line out over the water, and, using the camera, spot some fish, then push a button and the drone drops the baited line in the hope of dinner........ much of my comments have been mentioned by others above, I just though I'd toss in my 2 cents worth... well maybe 5 cents.

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Sandman1221 said..
What if you set the drone to follow me (the pilot) and then put the control unit in a waterproof pouch on your waist, and then got on the kit and went foiling, would the drone follow you out on the water and back to shore? Then if it does lose you, you can always stop and get the controller out while standing or sitting n your board, obviously talking light winds and flattish water.

Short answer is no.

If the controller sticks are attached, putting the remote into a pouch would move the sticks and hence move the drone so that won't work. I also wouldn't want to fumble with the controller while standing in water. Never mind the fact that the active tracking doesn't work properly over water in first place. Plus the footage you'd get would be pretty dull. Watching 10 minutes of a drone following some one in a straight line going back and forth is about as exciting as watching grass grow.

I think you are better off asking a friend with a drone to shoot a few minutes and then say thank you with a six pack or a bottle of wine.

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Sandman1221 said..

stehsegler said..

Sandman1221 said..
What if you set the drone to follow me (the pilot) and then put the control unit in a waterproof pouch on your waist, and then got on the kit and went foiling, would the drone follow you out on the water and back to shore? Then if it does lose you, you can always stop and get the controller out while standing or sitting n your board, obviously talking light winds and flattish water.

Short answer is no.

If the controller sticks are attached, putting the remote into a pouch would move the sticks and hence move the drone so that won't work. I also wouldn't want to fumble with the controller while standing in water. Never mind the fact that the active tracking doesn't work properly over water in first place. Plus the footage you'd get would be pretty dull. Watching 10 minutes of a drone following some one in a straight line going back and forth is about as exciting as watching grass grow.

I think you are better off asking a friend with a drone to shoot a few minutes and then say thank you with a six pack or a bottle of wine.

Okay, but is long answer yes?
Get drone airborne, set it to follow me, remove the controller sticks and put controller in waterproof PVC bag, go foiling for 10 min. and then return to shore, put controller sticks back in and land drone.

If purchasing a recent model somewhat higher-end DJI drone (such as a Mini Pro 3, Air 2S, etc), it has a feature called "ActiveTrack'. The controller (or your phone) has a touchscreen, so you "select" (by drawing a box over) an object -> the ActiveTrack identifies the thing vs the background. You then set the mode to "ActiveTrack" (vs Point-of-interest, or other things). At that point the controller does not play any part.

ActiveTrack works exceptionally well for multicolored sails vs background blue/black/white water.

Thus "yes" you could do that, and you dont even need the controller-in-a-bag as you can just leave it on the shore. There are plenty of youtube videos showing how ActiveTrack works.

Also... technically you could also just rely on return-to-home when the batteries are too low ->the DJI mini 3 pro does appear to take into account some extra consumption for the wind speed. But I wouldn't trust that feature... you dont want to lose your expensive investment just because you wanted 3 mins more flight time.

( All that said, it isn't me suggesting to go it alone... you will lose your drone. )

paularity thanks! that is what I want to do while on a windfoil.

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mathew said..
ActiveTrack works exceptionally well for multicolored sails vs background blue/black/white water.

Let me expand on my statement because it is worth noting for windsurfing in particular.

The DJI software easily tracks your gear - it can do point-of-interest on just about any object. When you go into ActiveTrack mode it then says it is will only work with people and cars. So if it sees a person, it works. If it doesn't, it then progressively looses the lock.

... which makes me sad.

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JessieJim said..
I've recently purchased DJI mini SE www.extremefliers.com/best-mini-drones/ , The camera has a 1 / 2.3" CMOS with 12 megapixels and a 83? field of view (24mm EFL). The ISO is 100-3,200 only, while the electronic shutter operates from 4 seconds to 1/8000. Stills can be captured at 4:3 or 16:9, both at 4000px wide so the latter is just effectively a crop. All of this is, inevitably, visible in the videos, which are not up to professional standards; noise is especially evident in the darker areas. Nevertheless the detail is visible and the bitrate adequate to produce video which doesn't disgrace itself next to some 4K we've seen.. I can recommend it.

Not powerful enough to fly in any decent wind without bloating your batteries due to fighting wind at the limit.

Ended up getting a mavic mini for $240. Thought I'd start off with a cheap one to have a play. And whilst it's not suited for filming windsurfing vids, it's pretty incredible. I've never used a drone before, very surprised with how capable they are. And I've had this out in 20 kts of wind which it manages OK. But the battery gets eaten up very quickly, so I don't tend to bother taking it out in strong winds. I'll sell this shortly and get one that has better battery life and can cope with stronger winds.

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Manuel7 said..
Does one get used to flying in any direction?

Looking at the amount of average drone videos floating around on social I'd say no. Although if you have played a lot of first person shooter video games you'll probably already halfway there.