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Comment by ben7799 | Hacker News Reader

The mini is pretty damn quiet. At 50ft of altitude people don't hear it. AT 100ft of altitude people don't even see it.

I've flown one hundreds of times and other than other drone owners no one has ever said a thing or noticed. The drone owners notice and come over to talk drones.

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I've been annoyed by drones lots of times and never talked to the operators. It's not because I didn't notice.

Perhaps but I fly my Mini 2 regularly, and people have a hard time finding it in the sky even when I point it out to them at 100ft. At 200ft it might as well not exist. They are so small and light, they just don't put out the dBs like bigger drones.

Being able to spot a small white object in the sky and hearing it are very different things.

I put drone operators on the same level as those who hike with speakers blaring. No one is being hurt, no laws being broken. Just inconsiderate considering a large part of the experience for most in nature is the serenity.

The mini is undetectable over 100ft or so. other drones will interrupt the peace, but this one is far less likely to.

Nah they definitely aren't as bad. People using speakers in public are actively choosing to annoy people when they could have used headphones. There's no headphone equivalent for drones.

Drones are also way way less common than shitty music players.

Almost everyone I encounter who is carrying a speaker is not hiking by themselves. That is why they are not wearing headphones.

People who hike with speakers blaring are a strange breed that I’m likely to never understand.

Like, why listen to music in the first place while hiking? I’m out here in the woods to get as far away from civilization as I can. I don’t need $latest_popstar dragging me back.

I've never done this, but if I was trying to be charitable; in bear country, I assume making noise to avoid startling the animals is best practice.

I have worn a bear bell on my backpack when I’m far out but that’s a bit different than a speaker as you could imagine.

I'm not in favour of speakers but it would be effective while a bear bell certainly won't.

Parks Canada says bear bells are not an effective deterrent against bears.

https://parks.canada.ca/pn-np/mtn/ours-bears/securite-safety...

I use headphones to listen to music or audio books while hiking, walking or exercising. I enjoy it, and also a useful tool to stop mental self-talk while being able to enjoy the surrounds.

But playing music over speakers that would interrupt the tranquillity of other people trying to enjoy the quiet and space is very not cool.

People listen to music while hiking for the same reason they listen to music anywhere. They like it.

Bears

>Being able to spot a small white object in the sky and hearing it are very different things.

They are but not the way you suggest, you stop hearing it long before you stop seeing it. :)

So what you’re saying is we just need a way to make the takeoff and landing quiet. Slingshot…?

It's a question of what you got annoyed by, the point was a 100mph home built FPV drone is dramatically louder, and the way they get flown makes a lot more noise.

I've been annoyed and not talked to people too, but it was never the noise, it was blatant violation of the law flying over crowds, etc..

Lots of people avoid confrontation

Definitely this. This summer a guy was flying a drone over a popular park area where lots of people were swimming in the river; it was extremely annoying. I'm pretty sure the drone was above the legal weight limit too, and as I have a UAV license, I'm well aware that it's illegal to operate a drone directly above other people. I spotted the guy with the drone controls but decided not to talk to him about it, because I couldn't be certain that someone as inconsiderate as that wouldn't necessarily react violently.

There's the "if you're breaking this social convention, I'm not willing to figure out how many others you'll break" problem.

I like this one. Thanks.

Of course! Only drone owners have working ears. Could it be that everyone notices but they just don't want to speak with some rude drone dude.

I have noticed that it really depends on the wind direction. If the wind blows from the drone towards the people, you could hear it at 50 meters. Plus, when there is a lot of wind it makes much more noise in its struggle to fight it. Otherwise, unless it is directly next to you, you can hardly hear anything.

My biggest crowd are children and pets. They always seem to be amused by the drone.

The others do not say a thing because they are polite probably :)

I got a proper bollocking when checking out some newly built houses with my drone, one of which I was thinking about buying. The lady thought I was trying to film her garden, probably warranted since I took off not far from her residential house. I've learned to stay further away from people while flying since, which the rules dictate anyway.

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