Drones for Christmas
 

Santa brought my son a camera drone for Christmas. It could be called a toy based on price but it has lots O'bells and whistles.

It's a Holy Stone HS200 FPV RC Drone with HD Wifi Camera Live Feed 2.4GHz 4CH 6-Axis Gyro Quadcopter with Altitude Hold, Gravity Sensor and Headless Mode RTF.

https://www.amazon.com/Holy-Stone-Quadcopter-Altitude-Helicopter/dp/B01A1XRJJK/ref=sr_1_2?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1481762725&sr=1-2-spons&keywords=drone&refinements=p_72%3A1248963011 &th=1

Lo and behold, Santa brought me a drone too
(total co-inky-dink),
it's a Syma X8HG RC Drone Barometer Set Height / 8MP Camera / 360 Degree Flip 2.4GHz 4 Channel 6 Axis Gyro Quadcopter
Syma X8HG RC Drone-129.89 Online Shopping| GearBest.com


Very similar but mine is a tad bigger and doesn't do the wifi live feed camera. It also has about a third the range of his.
But with my eyes, 100 meters is prolly plenty far.

We flew his for a few minutes Christmas day but it's been raining or really windy most days here since. Hopefully we'll be able to test them out this weekend.


Anyone else out there into his stuff?

They are cool toys. People either play with them a short while and get tired of pictures of their own house and lose interest or go whole hog into the hobby.

Just remember to keep it under 400 feet and away from any groups of people. Have fun.

there is a size threshold and you will need to register it with the FAA or something right?

i bought a tiny one at Costco. taught me my money is better spent on the ground. i suck!! my cat hates it too.

https://www.faa.gov/uas/

The rule is anything over 0.55 lbs (250 grams)

Yes. If it weighs more than 8.8 OUNCES ready to fly you must register yourself as the pilot if you are 13 years old or older. Younger than that your parents/legal guardian is required by the FAA to register.

You would fall under the "exemptions for model aircraft" rule 336 until you want to make a dollar with your "drone" and then you would fall under the rules and regulations of Part 107.

Look for FPV drone racing in your area and have some fun!

We've watched the drone racing on TV, that's pretty cool.
Not sure if we'll go that route, no telling.
These are bigger, slower, and more stable as camera platforms.

I figure we'll play with them several times, chase the cat until the wife gets mad at us, and eventually get bored with the whole thing.
But for $120 each that's not bad.

A day at dismalland or a pro football game costs more than that.

BTW for Christmas I also got one of these from the guys in my shop: a red swingline.

pretty cool.


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1483055816.jpg









http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1483056259.jpg

Picked up a DJI Phantom 4 - awesome fun. I strongly recommend getting he FAA sUAS rating (I did) to open up the ability to use it commercially (which I am for roof inspections and similar stuff).

Keep it under 400' and In Class G. Don't be stupid about it. Have fun.

Proud to say that I have a red Swingline on my desk. A welcome back gift from my team years ago when I returned after a several month hiatus.

I had a DJI Phantom 2 Vision. Damn thing did a fly away, and broke it's antenna. After that I saw no point in fixing it.

I got one too. Mine looks different but the controller is almost identical. Darn thing is pretty hard to fly, gonna take some major practice.