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Any quadcopter fans here?

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Posts

  • webguy20webguy20 I spend too much time on the Internet Registered User regular
    Rothgarr wrote: »
    But average people go through training to get a pilot's license. I don't see the difference. You go through training to get a license for a plane of a license for a helicopter.

    to get enough hours and training to be cleared for a helicopter costs about $40000 on the low end, and that's with already having a regular private pilots license. Aircraft licenses are no way comparable to automobile licenses in cost or training required. The cost of entry for mass private flight will keep the sky cars and the like pipe dreams.

    It would be like being required to go to racing school before you can drive, and even afterwards you are only cleared on certain classes of cars.

    I would say anybody who gets a pilots license or helicopter license is above average in operating a vehicle, and even then you are beholden to air traffic control who is watching everyone in the sky, and anybody over a certain altitude are on very strict flight paths.

    Human controlled mass low altitude flight will not happen. There are too many uncontrolled variables. I could see eventually autonomous low level drone aircraft ferrying people about, but I see it more like buses than personal cars.

    Steam ID: Webguy20
    Origin ID: Discgolfer27
    Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
  • SniperGuySniperGuy SniperGuyGaming Registered User regular
    We're about to have self driving cars on the road. Once we have flying cars, I imagine it'll be a "get in my car, put in address I want to go, it locks into local flight patterns and takes me there"

  • AstaleAstale Registered User regular
    It's going to be interesting to see how insurance will work for 'self-driving' cars.

    I'd give it five minutes before the lawyers go after the software programmers.

  • firewaterwordfirewaterword Satchitananda Pais Vasco to San FranciscoRegistered User regular
    Gaslight wrote: »
    Ordered a cheerson cx-10 mini after talking to tested.com's will smith about entry level quadcopters. Pretty excited to play with this thing once it arrives.

    I was seriously considering getting all of my groomsmen the SKEYE Nano as a groomsman gift, but I have been reading some people say it is exactly the same as the Cheerson CX-10 for double the price. (Edit: Actually, looking again, make that three times the price.) @firewaterword have you got your CX-10 yet? Any impressions you can share?

    @Gaslight Should get here Monday. Came highly recommended, so I'm stoked to check it out. I'll definitely let you know what's up with it when I get it. I will say they look bloody well identical, and I can't imagine where the price difference would come in on such a tiny device. I totally expect to break this thing within a week or so, so the $20 price point is perfect for me in that regard.

    Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu
  • GaslightGaslight Registered User regular
    edited May 2015
    Gaslight wrote: »
    Ordered a cheerson cx-10 mini after talking to tested.com's will smith about entry level quadcopters. Pretty excited to play with this thing once it arrives.

    I was seriously considering getting all of my groomsmen the SKEYE Nano as a groomsman gift, but I have been reading some people say it is exactly the same as the Cheerson CX-10 for double the price. (Edit: Actually, looking again, make that three times the price.) @firewaterword have you got your CX-10 yet? Any impressions you can share?

    @Gaslight Should get here Monday. Came highly recommended, so I'm stoked to check it out. I'll definitely let you know what's up with it when I get it. I will say they look bloody well identical, and I can't imagine where the price difference would come in on such a tiny device. I totally expect to break this thing within a week or so, so the $20 price point is perfect for me in that regard.

    @Firewaterword After doing some more research I decided to pull the trigger on ordering a quartet of them for my groomsmen, except I went with the CX-10A model. It's supposed to have a quicker charging battery, which seems like a worthwhile improvement even if the "headless" directional control mode is apparently unreliable.

    Gaslight on
  • firewaterwordfirewaterword Satchitananda Pais Vasco to San FranciscoRegistered User regular
    I ordered mine based on a short conversation on dirt cheap quad-copters after about 6 beers, so you're already miles ahead of me as far as research goes dude. I'm just hoping I can learn to fly this thing halfway decently so I'll eventually feel OK about getting a real (expensive) one.

    Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu
  • Donovan PuppyfuckerDonovan Puppyfucker A dagger in the dark is worth a thousand swords in the morningRegistered User regular
    Rothgarr wrote: »
    Rothgarr wrote: »
    And btw, this is what realistic personal flying machines will look like (as opposed to "flying cars):
    *video*

    Seems pretty practical aside from the fact that it's big...

    Nah, I don't think so. It still has all the drawbacks of a helicopter (size, vulnerability to rotor strike/entanglement etc. that has prevented the helicopter from being much more widespread). The Moller Skycar is still the closest thing I think we have to what mainstream personal flying machines will look like.

    I think the Skycar project is dead. When was the last time they even showed any progress on that thing, like a decade ago? Did they even show an untethered flight? Not to mention it requires fuel if I recall correctly -- the eVolo is all electric.

    I think the multi-rotor is a far safer solution and much more stable. If one blade/motor stops functioning the other can automatically compensate. Check out this amazing video showing a new Phantom 3 -- the guy strapped on a stick with a GoPro at the end to demonstrate how perfectly level the video is even during maneuvering. That's great, but what I'm most impressed about is that there is no counterweight to even out the balance issue. The Phantom is automatically compensating:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2-pywgvHjY

    Note how I didn't say the Moller was definitely the device that would give us all Jetsons-style personal flying transport. I said "The Moller Skycar is still the closest thing I think we have to what mainstream personal flying machines will look like" - i.e. I think four pivotable ducted fans will provide the lift and thrust with a pod in the middle in a nice compact design. Of course any such platform will be fully gyroscopically stabilised much like a good quadrotor camera platform is. The propulsion system will likely be full-sized brushless motors and modern battery cells, like a Tesla car has.

  • Donovan PuppyfuckerDonovan Puppyfucker A dagger in the dark is worth a thousand swords in the morningRegistered User regular
    Astale wrote: »
    It's going to be interesting to see how insurance will work for 'self-driving' cars.

    I'd give it five minutes before the lawyers go after the software programmers.

    That, and out-dated thinking of legislators is what is holding back development. If there looked like a decent market for self-driving cars the 3 majors would be all over it like flies on dogshit, instead of development being undertaken almost entirely by tech companies and DARPA teams.

  • firewaterwordfirewaterword Satchitananda Pais Vasco to San FranciscoRegistered User regular
    @Gaslight the cx-10 is super fun! I'd tell you more about it but I want to go and make it do some more back flips and stuff. Definitely recommend it!

    Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu
  • WaltWalt Waller Arcane Enchanted Frozen ElectrifiedRegistered User regular
    edited May 2015
    Any love for cheap arse microcopters like the Cheerson CX 10 or just for fun hobby flyers like the Latrax Alias?

    I don't quite have the grand or so needed for 1080i GPS guided geofenced flight but I can totally do flips in my living room with the CX10... even if it is a bit harder to control.

    Oh crap we were already talking about the CX10. It's awesome! It's a lot harder to control than bigger copters because it's so tiny and outdoors is totally out of the question. But it charges fast and has reasonable battery life and you will be able to crash the bejeezus out of it before you'll need to replace the props.

    Walt on
  • RothgarrRothgarr Registered User regular
    edited May 2015
    Man, I had the HARDEST time flying those tiny micros. I can't remember the name but it looked exactly like the ones discussed here, same controller and everything. They are pretty crashworthy initially but after a while the props would fly off with every crash and eventually the clips that hold the motors in place started breaking and then no amount of trim adjustments would help.

    Personally, I find the micro helicopters FAR more stable and easy to fly. For example we have this one: http://www.amazon.com/Syma-S107-S107G-Channel-Heli/dp/B00DPK11ZA/ref=sr_1_9?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1430824870&sr=1-9&keywords=rc+helicopter

    Perfect hover capability and I could land it on my kid's head if I wanted (easy to position). Also very easy to set the trim once and not have to do it again.

    Rothgarr on
  • firewaterwordfirewaterword Satchitananda Pais Vasco to San FranciscoRegistered User regular
    Yeah I've gone through a bunch of those syma copters. Super fun. The cx-10 was a bitch to fly until I figured out how to calibrate it (there are a few youtube videos of how to do it). Easier now, though getting it to hover is touchy. Goddamn it's so much fun to buzz around though! And the click-stick flips are crazy entertaining. $20 is super cheap for this thing as far as fun goes. Although I've already bought 3 more as gifts so I'm not sure...

    Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu
  • RothgarrRothgarr Registered User regular
    edited May 2015
    I wish the stupid iOS app for my Phantom 3 would be approved by Apple so I could actually use this thing...

    Rothgarr on
  • firewaterwordfirewaterword Satchitananda Pais Vasco to San FranciscoRegistered User regular
    Aaaaand I'm down the rabbit hole.

    Ordered a Syma X5C-W because the CX-10 was so much goddamn fun to fly around.

    Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu
  • WaltWalt Waller Arcane Enchanted Frozen ElectrifiedRegistered User regular
    I actually increased the CX-10's sensitivity over time. You get used to the high sensitivity quickly if you have the patience.

    The real killer with that one for me is trying to land with any kind of precision. It's so lightweight it usually just bounces off my coworkers heads.

  • firewaterwordfirewaterword Satchitananda Pais Vasco to San FranciscoRegistered User regular
    Yeah I've been calibrating it on level 3 (no idea if that makes a difference) and flying on level 2. Not too hard to hover and do tricks (which make me giggle like a 7 year old every time) but accurate landings are not really common. Already snapped two props, but given how many, many, times I've crashed this thing, I'm actually fairly impressed.

    Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu
  • Donovan PuppyfuckerDonovan Puppyfucker A dagger in the dark is worth a thousand swords in the morningRegistered User regular
  • GaslightGaslight Registered User regular
  • firewaterwordfirewaterword Satchitananda Pais Vasco to San FranciscoRegistered User regular
    I like that he has to dance with it or it will crash. Diva copter.

    Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu
  • RothgarrRothgarr Registered User regular
  • RothgarrRothgarr Registered User regular
    edited May 2015
    Finally got to fly my Phantom 3 this weekend. The video below is really boring but you get a sense for the type of quality you can get from the camera. Everything was shot using default settings and there's no post editing. I bet I can get some really nice stuff once I go through and test all the camera settings.

    (And yes, I almost hit the tree at the 0:53 mark...)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJxcK01P5E4

    Rothgarr on
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