Drones

[HDNitehawk]

I just read Sean's article about Drones.

Very informative.

I have to add one thing, the fly away cost.
I yet to meet any one in person that has a drone that didn't fly away.
Unfortunately after the fly away is when owners find out their liability insurance doesn't cover their drone.

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/N...spx?News=17582

[Sean Setters]

I have yet to have the drone completely disregard my controller input. Of course, I've only had it little more than a weekend.

I did try to use the controller with my 1st generation Google Nexus 7 yesterday evening to film the sunset with frightening results. The app said it wasn't compatible with the tablet, but I loaded it onto the Nexus and connected to the drone without issue (I didn't start the motors indoors) so I thought it would work just fine. But when I pressed the "Record" button in-flight, the app froze and then it force closed. I had to guide the craft back to a safe landing spot without using the device's camera. It wasn't a huge deal (and it was all my fault), but if the drone had been farther away then getting it back home would have been problematic.

[HDNitehawk]

The last one lost the software crashed and they completely lost signal and it just drifted away never to be found.
Another suddenly just took off to the west mid flight.
Both of these were in urban settings, maybe there was interference.
Both were experienced users who had the drones some time before it happened.

I would like to have one but from what I have read fly always are very common.
Maybe they will improve in the future.

i like that you mentioned insurance, most people would never think about it till it's to late or believe that their home owners liability covers them.

[jrw]

Issues with drones are also leading to increased regulation, registration, insurance requirements, and restriction of use in populated areas. The wheels of change in the legal systems are moving to catch up, albeit slowly.