I've been reading up on drones the last few days and it seems the xiaomi mi drone is coming out soon. Can any drone first-timers give their opinions on purchasing a drone and how entertaining the hobby is? And also stuff like how the public perceive drones and whether you've found the areas they can be flown legally to be restricting.
I'd be interested to film cool scenic stuff at first and upload in HD to youtube. Wondering if scenic stuff like coastlines will get boring eventually..
1 million times yes.
Been there, done that - yes.
I spent way too much money spent in the early FPV days for not that much time before I lost interest.
Will you?
Built two drones and got bored with it about 2 months later. Your mileage may vary, but I wouldn't put any more money into it.
To be honest, one of the reasons they get boring really quickly is because of the disconnect between you and the gadget.
The expensive drones have a camera that live streams the feed to you… making you feel more in control/feel like flying.
So that if the drone happens to see something interesting, you see it too, and can position to get a better view.
Stuff like sunbathing women, man taking a dump in the bushes, or crocodile dragging a dingo into a creek (just some quick examples).
a man taking a dump in the bushes
I quickly became bored of flying my quadcopter after a few months. I flew it every calm day.
My magpie video is consistently the top search result on YouTube for "Bird attack on quadcopter":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gbi38QVUOsw
The magpie video on YouTube has earned enough money to replace the quadcopter four times over. Only took me 1 month of practicing high altitude flying before I made the magpie video.
I love hobbies where I am continually learning, pushing limits, being challenged. The problem is all quadcopters have their limits and once you've mastered flying to those limits it all feels repetitive and predictable. Each flight feels like yesterdays flight with no increase in difficulty nor fun which is when it starts getting boring.
My quadcopter was an entry level toy. Fortunately it was as good at acrobatics and night flying as it was video. When I filmed my best aerial video using the most controlled flying I could muster I quit aerial video to switch to stunt flying. My flying improved to where I never had to land the quadcopter. I'd fly the quadcopter from full charge to empty using 100% throttle, flips, turns, brakes. Finally I burned out a motor and haven't repaired it since. The brush motor costs $2 and its an easy solder job but I know I'd be just as bored flying it the same way till the next motor burned out.
Another way to put it is after you fly your best flight, every next day is a worse and more boring flight.
If you are a traveller and get into aerial video then you might find quadcopters less boring. For example there's a YouTube vlogger called "Chaseontwowheels" in the USA who ride's to the bush or interstate to fly his quadcopter in new locations. Otherwise most owners get bored filming the same local parks.
Better the drone, than you…
Magpies in Canberra are everywhere and just bloody crazed in the Springtime, as you know. Just a few in and around Brisbane. Penguins are really scarce…
If you get bored with the footage you take, even simple video effects and editing can work wonders - I went looking for this track for someone the other day and this upload highlights that.
Enjoy Autechre at their bassy & crunchy best.
You can always look for other uses - I have found a number of applications that make it useful to my job letting me do 3D catchment mapping and remote asset inspection.
Yes, got bored.
Bought 3, all collect dust now.
Even lost a few due to wind.
What do you own? Why haven't you sold them?
Yes.