Thanks guys!
I had previously made a couple mini test flights indoors, just lifting off, moving a few feet back and forth, then landing. That was actually more nerve-wracking, because the room is small and there are a lot of obstacles.
Outdoors was much easier. This is kind of a “high end” drone, and very intelligent. It doesn’t depend on your skills to keep it stable in flight, and if you’re not actively moving it, it will hold it’s position.
It has some very cool autonomous flight features which I haven’t even used yet. For instance you can “target” a moving object, such as a person or vehicle, and it will follow while filming the target. It can do this from behind, in front, alongside, or while orbiting the target.
It uses GPS positioning, and also has the ability to avoid obstacles and follow terrain. It can also return to the launch site and land automatically, and will do so if the battery goes below a certain level.
As incredibly capable as it is, I was surprised at how small it is. The body of the drone is only eight inches long and about 3 inches wide.
It requires a smartphone for control and to see the video as it’s flying. It has a special controller that attaches to the phone. This has joy sticks, etc and also greatly extends the range. You can fly it using just the phone, but the range is very limited.
Sean, it has 2x optical zoom, but I haven’t figured out how to use that yet.
I am REALLY looking forward to flying this drone some more, and will definitely be getting some better shots of the layout once I can run trains again.
