Hacker News Reader

Comment by brentm | Hacker News Reader

I always look at these and think I want one but also can't think of what i'd actually use it for. I just picture it sitting in a closet next to my GoPro and Oculus after about 3 days of messing around.

Anyone own one? What do you use it for?

View on HN

I bought a Mini 2 about two years ago while arguing with my insurance about storm damage and roof repairs. Close up, high quality, multi-angle stills and video made it a lot harder for them to argue that their inspectors had done a good job. Their inspectors had, in fact, done a shit job, but it was my word against theirs until I had video proof of my claims. Paid for itself many times over.

The trick is you have to find a way to take it places that satisfy:

- It's OK to fly there and you're not going to annoy anyone

- You can get some interesting photos.

Having previously flow R/C airplanes and aircraft drones like DJI makes are not actually that entertaining to fly, they are too easy and not that engaging.

So it's all about the photos. You'll see new people flying at a park or something, but after a while you're basically thinking the park is not a very interesting thing to take pictures of.

Fellow R/C pilot and DJI operator here, and I very much agree. On the surface it may appear to be similar, but R/C flying and drone operation are two completely separate hobbies. One may prepare you a bit for the other, but they are fun for different reasons, and mostly separate skills to develop.

> Having previously flow R/C airplanes and aircraft drones like DJI makes are not actually that entertaining to fly, they are too easy and not that engaging.

This is very much an opinion. I have way more fun with my Air 2 than with any RC plane I've had.

I feel the same about the SteamDeck. It's really cool, and I kind of wish I had a use for one. But I don't really play games, so...

If you never really cared about RC planes and don't do photography/videography fairly seriously, I guess you won't suddenly find a new passion in drones.

I've had a Mini V1 since 2020 and here are my uses:

* Fun Flights * Aerial photography of yard projects * Towing fishing lures way beyond furthest castable distance * Fireworks videos * Hiking Scouting * Surveillance drone ( Caught some motorbikers trespassing on property and tracked them back to house ) * Firewatch * Pester folks safely from patio

How do you drop the lure?

I put a small metal 'basket' that I put the float into. It's a fine-tuning thing to allow the line to tow, but 'pop out' with a bit of extra tension.

So we fly it out 200m and then lock the line and it pops out of basket.

Risky, but very fun

Thanks. I'm going to try it

Pro-tip, fly up and out to keep the line safely below the propellors.

There is a huge risk of the propellors grabbing the line and losing the drone far from shore, but in our outing we did a dozen casts with out issue

I am pretty sure you broke some laws in the process.

How fun would life be if you didn't break some laws sometimes?

Only two rules:

A) don't be mean to or hurt others (humans or animals)

B) only commit one crime at a time

Following these rules, even lawbreaking can be made into a fun past time without losing out morally :)

I don't think I broke a single law in these examples.

All flights were in legal airspace.

No flights resulted in injury or property damage.

I use a mini 3 with my son. He likes to edit together footage and make little movies, I like to explore new areas. It’s tough if you can’t go to relatively private areas; it’s not cool to annoy people with these things. We typically get it high enough not to hear it as quickly as possible in case anyone is around, which can be a bit limiting.

Even so, it’s incredible to get so much perspective. I’ve learned so much about the places we visit from the aerial footage. The videos my son makes are pretty cool, too. Overall I wouldn’t expect one to be life changingly awesome, but I’m glad we got it.

I'm building a house, I'm planning to buy one to video the process periodically to create a really long time lapse of the build.

I am not yet sure if this one has the appropriate way-point features, I think I am going to go with the Air 3 despite the higher price tag because it's more robust and I need a license to operate a drone for this purpose anyway in my jurisdiction (Thailand).

Most owners buy one then realize: - they can't legally use them wherever they want them and there are finally very little areas you can really use them - they can't use them in FPV mode or without seeing the drone.

Then decide if they want to break or follow the law. Most people not wanting to break the law will let the drone collect dust after a handful of use, those that break the law will eventually lost it at some point or get bored.

I think the only people who really keep using them are travel vloggers and they have sometimes issues at border control and usually need to ask permissions and pay taxes to be able to fly and record stuff near a particular place. Usually they only get permission because they are well known and would boost tourism.

I really wish the tiny whoop scene would take off more to lower the barrier to entry.

It's for extremely small drones (65-85mm from diagonal motor posts) which are great for flying indoors or in small areas.

The main issues being:

1. It's still very much a "hobby" hobby. You can get some ready to fly kits, but even then it can wind up more technical than you expect.

2. They're spec'd for the niche market, meaning quite powerful and very short fly times, which is a shame. One of my favorite drones is the Potensic A 20. A durdly little thing that can fly easily for 10 minutes on brushed motors, but it's not really built to last (or god forbid crash). I'd KILL for a "A20+" which is just low power brushed motors and nicer controls. It's on my todo list to see if i can cobble something together whenever I have real life time again.

To be clear, it's still pretty easy to get into. I have the beta cestus as a decent rtf kit, although beta has some battery connectors that sorta lock you in (they are supposedly better than others though and you can convert things...but there's the hobby part again), and there's been other half decent ready to fly kits over the years.

I recently got a BetaFPV Cetus X Pro. I was considering a DJI Mini, but FPV seemed like a lot more fun than the well-engineered computer controlled flight. And the vehicle costs much less to crash and destroy.

Agriculture, perhaps? I always imagine that these things are for people with lots of their own real estate to take care of.

I have a Mini 3 Pro, and I’m quite happy with some of the videos I’ve made with it.

Here’s my latest video:

https://vimeo.com/860800214

And a couple more that I’m happy with:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CsMqtYXICju/?igshid=MWZjMTM2O...

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Crss_afoG0a/?igshid=MWZjMTM2O...

Those are very nice shots, but... did you considered the local laws before flying them in city centers? From where I am (Spain) it's a big no no to fly one over any even sparsely populated area. It's forbidden (AKA requiring lots of permits) even if you are not flying over people (like in the Thames) or the drone is less than 250g.

Yes, I think it's important to consider and understand the laws wherever you happen to be flying. More importantly, one should fly responsibly regardless of the details of the law. Which is a bit like driving a car, or doing anything really.

In London, you need to have a drone license and be registered as a drone operator. I have both of those. You're meant to ask permission from the port authority to fly over the Thames, but I think more importantly, you're not allowed to fly drones west of Tower Bridge, which is why that video is shot from the east.

I don't think the rules of sensible drone operation are yet (if they ever can be) neatly codified as law, and I have also observed a significant mismatch between what's written and how those rules are enforced. Fortunately, laws written by governments aren't quite as black and white as laws in programming.

I got a 20eur knock off to check whether the gutters are full of leaves without getting the ladder. It kinda works.

The roof is at the 3rd floor and the ground is a bit uneven there so it's not just that I'm lazy ok?

I've used it to inspect fence holes in my property, to show some technical maneuvering while 4x4ing, showing my family camping spots I stayed in, etc. It's a cool way to gather scenery.

Got a used mini 2 a few months ago and know what you mean. Thing is for the $200 I paid it's ok. I likely would feel bad with a $1000 machine.

It's picture quality is amazing and it's fun to check caves in the mountains and possible paths before going them. Also more advanced travel selfies are fun.

I don't use it when many people are around, so that would highly limit it in some places for me.

>I always look at these and think I want one but also can't think of what i'd actually use it for.

Because they're tools for filming. I don't think people need to buy these as a toy.

Yeah videos on the page look stunning but visiting those locations would be enough for me.

On the other hand I can imagine using drone with Lidar mapping (on private property).

Same and everytime I see someone using one, its generally hiking or in a nature area, and its really annoying

Reply on news.ycombinator.com