I would like to mention one more piece of hardware that I recommend to think twice and thrice about before eventually buying: FPV googles. They tend to be really expensive, and many people seem to end up hating them!
I found it extremely unnatural to wear goggles and have the whole landscape and everything turn with my head. Also I found it very impractical having to put on and take off the goggles to switch between FPV and visual flight. And it just happens that take-off, landing, and flying nearby is much easier and safer when looking at the drone, than by FPV.
In addition the goggles I bought, heavily advertised as suitable for spectacle wearers, turned out to be totally impossible to wear over spectacles. I had to order the tiniest available child-size spectacles with my prescription, then cut off protruding parts from them an hot-glue them into the goggles, to even be able to see anything. Which means taking off the goggles and putting on my normal glasses to switch between FPV and visual flight!
Finally I found it very much more comfortable to send the drone video to a small-size TV mounted on a tripod. It allows instantly switching between FPV and direct sight, and even combining both.
And the carbon fiber frame is actually heavier than the F450!
At Amazon everything is more expensive, so I donāt buy there. Like $20 for an F450, and $100 for a 450mm carbon fiber frame.
So I still think that it can make sense to use the F450, for low-budget projects. Itās not a great frame, certainly, but it does work. People bash it too much. My drone flies well. I use it for the noble purposes of searching for lost cows, and lifting radio antennas into trees. I fail to see in what way a much more expensive and slightly heavier carbon fiber frame would have helped!
And starting without video, yes, absolutely. I did that, to keep things simple, and reduce the loss if I crash the drone. But after my first three flights I was ready to add the video system. Later I added the cargo hook with release.
The cheapest 5.8ghz wifi HD video system i have managed to find is this camera from a RTF quad, its good video quality compared to analogue and will go 100m with a decent phone. Just connect it to 5v and you can control the camera from the app, no osd but for Ā£30 there isnt really much else in that price range, there are a few 2.4ghz wifi cameras but most RC systems cause them to lag badly.
I have 2 builds, 1 cube orange, 1 f405 with cheap gps and just the basics.
They are both different, Cube is very reliable.
F405 setup works just not as reliable and less features. I wouldnāt say its not an option though, for the the price it can get you started.
C5020 Camera, Very interesting esp for the price. All other digital options are $X00 price range. ( SIYI HM30 almost the cheapest), would be interesting to get one and play with it ( add osd?)
It looks interesting, for that price! But just 720p, and short range, in line-of-sight.
But I will probably keep waiting for something better. What I want is a camera and radio link that produces true full-HD resolution, that is, fully resolved 1920x1080 pixels. It doesnāt matter to me if there is a lot of lag. If it produces just 3 frames per second, thatās plenty for my needs. But I need better range, something like 500m, and I need it to get through thick foliage, so 5GHz isnāt an option. Neither is 2.4GHz, particularly because the RC link is there. Maybe 903MHz, or 433MHz.
Also I do NOT want a fisheye lens, with its brutal distortion. Since there are quite a few cameras available that have standard lens mounts, and distortion-free lenses are available, thatās not a big problem. But finding a small lens that actually resolves full-HD may be more of a problem.
Maybe some day I set up something with a good IP camera and a homemade transmitter and receiver, or with an adapted data radio. Or a hacked smartphone. Maybe in a next lifeā¦
I agree there is no 1 solution fits all. If you actually watch the video he actually crashed from what looks like too much latency ( he didnāt return backwards till it was in the tree lol).
If you want range and resolution you can check Siyi HM30 kit, 1080 30fps and claimed 40km range.
Now there are some issues but most can be resolved.
The Siyi HM30 is a bit on the expensive side for me, and since it works on 5.8GHz, it wonāt get through foliage well.
I live deep in the woods, and when I fly my drone I have to take off vertically, until clearing treetops, then fly around, then land vertically. I stay clear from trees, and start and land visually (not by FPV), so latency is not a big problem for me, but I want a high quality image, and I need the signal to get through dense foliage, or I could only ever fly straight overhead!
40km range in clear line of sight is not what I need, although itās great for fixed-wing pilots flying long range missions. Instead I need a low enough transmission frequency to get through trees, and thatās something I havenāt found in FPV systems so far.
I will just wait. Eventually some system suiting my needs will show up. Meanwhile I will enjoy what I have, and maybe embark on building a second drone, on a 3D-printed featherlight monocoque frame with filigrane internal reinforcement structure, and selecting the most lightweight suitable flight controller and other parts. Hoping to add my dream video system later!
It would be great if somebody compiled and maintained a list of recommended parts: Frames, controllers, motors, ESCs, propellers, radios, video systems, etc. Considering many different application scenarios, from dirt cheap to high performance. But it would probably be a full-time job to keep this list current!
I considered that expecting a comment like āOK, you gave us the kit of parts not to use, what to useā? But for this size craft (10" props) I would start with a $100 frame, a $100 Flight Controller, $100 in motors (perhaps more) and a $75 ESC minimum. I just wouldnāt suggest anything less. First time builders should shoot for a 4-5" with decent parts, get it flying, have fun and then decide how far down the rabbit hole to go.
@Manfred
Have you tried any DJI products? or I have also seen 900mhz fpv systems.
At one of my locations I have a similar situation with only vertical take off and landing possible ( flying a plane would not work) and I can push my Mini 2 Se to 3-4km without issue. So there may be hope for systems with line of sight claims.
Dave,
I need to out myself as a notorious cheapskate (not that you wouldnāt have noticed already!).
So whatever I do, I shoot for the cheapest solution that will get the job done well enough.
Also when I started that drone, 450mm was still a pretty standard size. Today it counts as big. Maybe there is a movie: Honey, they shrunk our drones! Maybe if I started today, and purely for fun flying and video, I would build a smaller one. But one of my core needs for a drone was lifting antennas support lines into trees, and for that job I need a sufficiently powerful drone. The 450 size is very well suited for that.
There are probably almost as many needs as there are fliers.
And there is one more reason for me to do things on the cheap: Since I live in the rain forest, I fly over rain forest, and itās dense. If any accident happens, itās unlikely that I will be able to retrieve my drone! So the drone needs to be expendable. The ground segment is not as critical, cost-wise, because itās safe. So far I havenāt lost a drone, but it could happen anytime.
If I remember right, my drone cost about $300 total, including the video system and battery. The TX and the video receiving setup is extra.
Tristan, no, I havenāt tried DJI drones, nor parts from that brand. Too expensive, and too much of a closed system. Also too little fun! Most of the reason why I got into drones was the fun of learning and building, rather than the flying aspects. Searching for lost cows, and installing antennas in trees, were my excuses to get to play with this technology!
I needed something I could easily travel with having 2 remote offices in 2 countries hence the DJI craft. I have several Arducopter based craft in the 3-7" range but itās just too much stuff to travel with.
Why bother? I tried building my own but after it crashed I found plenty of cheap ready made quad copters on eBay, I now have three drones bought for less than the cost price one modern flight controller. I am still interested in ardupilot and mission planner but I am building a rover and a boat because these you can not buy and, yes, I am using PIxhawks bought on Amazon so far with reasonable success, but, of course, they donāt require the same degree of accuracy or technicality.
Thats right mRo did sell there pixhawk I pickup up a few of them back in the day. Last week i decided to use one that i had mothballing. I had no issues and the test flight went fine. Stock tuning is a little twitchy so I will be using the Twitch Sensitively option in MP to reduce PIDs. 320 kv motors āGarttā s6 and 16" propellers.
I had a older version of Firmware but noticed I can run a two meg.
I also noticed the spin rate was low so i deleted the Parameter file, rebooted to DShot and that fixed the need to adjust the spin up under this scenario.
