More on Drone Racing

[Kaido]

I need to put more money into my hobbies

http://imgur.com/gallery/1ADYe

I normally hate 60p, but it looks awesome for realtime flying:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=0&v=-6tC0X6c7gg

 

[RossMAN]

First.

Not a race video but can you imagine how immersive this is? It's like the sensation of flying ...

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

 

[ElFenix]

why is this a drone and not RC?

 

[Paratus]

Here's another look into drone racing.
http://youtu.be/H19z1X3V4UQ

Looks like so much fun. But just getting mine up to handling FPV I'd be flying with over $1000 of kit in the air.

 

[Paratus]

why is this a drone and not RC?

Drone needs at least one of the following:

Autonomous flight

Beyond line of site flight capability with control.


FPV gives you beyond line of sight control even if these guys aren't using it.

 

[Ns1]

So many likes. I'm imagining that with a gran turismo like recaro setup.

 

[Paratus]

So many likes. I'm imagining that with a gran turismo like recaro setup.

Do you know about these FPV goggles?

 

[RossMAN]

I need these to drop to $500 FPV fully loaded and ready to fly with min 30 mins flight time, maybe in a few years?

In the mean time I'll have to live vicariously through Youtube, fast forward to half way.

 

[RossMAN]

FPV Racing - Crash Session!!!

 

[Kaido]

In terms of "drones" vs. other names: You're thinking in Betamax; the word "drone" is now VHS. Maybe the name doesn't make sense in all applications, but it won in common vernacular. Anything that has multiple rotors & is not a helicopter, airplane, or gyrocopter is a drone: tricopters, quadcopters, octocopters, etc. Remote control, autonomous, etc., from Predator airplane drones to DJI quadcopters sporting GoPro cameras. Everyone calls them drones now. That's just how it is.

 

[Kaido]

I need these to drop to $500 FPV fully loaded and ready to fly with min 30 mins flight time, maybe in a few years?

In the mean time I'll have to live vicariously through Youtube, fast forward to half way.

Yeah, I think I'll wait for the Air Hogs Drone Racer model for $24.99 :biggrin:

 

[artvscommerce]

It's usually referred to as "FPV Racing". It seems like the 250 size quads are the most common. Looks like a lot of fun.

 

[pete6032]

Every electronics hobby at some point or another seems to go through the the "pimp it out with LEDs" phase.

 

[CPA]

I need to put more money into my hobbies

http://imgur.com/gallery/1ADYe

I love the caption under the first pic:

There is an underground scene of drone racers in Australia, who are meeting up in rundown warehouses in the fringe suburbs of cities.

Makes them sound like some band of outlaws. lol.

 

[Riverhound777]

This is the first kind of RC anything that I could see myself getting into. Planes and cars going around in circles from where I can see always seemed boring, but the FPV aspect really changes things.

 

[artvscommerce]

Every electronics hobby at some point or another seems to go through the the "pimp it out with LEDs" phase.

In this case it can really help with orientation. It can be really hard to tell which way the quad is pointing when it's far away. Although this doesn't apply if you're using the FPV camera output to navigate.

 

[artvscommerce]

Do you know about these FPV goggles?

Ive heard good things about fat sharks, but I must say- a volatile, high discharge rate, multi-cell lithium polymer battery is not something i'd want attached to my head like that! Failure is unlikely, but that would still make me nervous.

 

[Paratus]

Ive heard good things about fat sharks, but I must say- a volatile, high discharge rate, multi-cell lithium polymer battery is not something i'd want attached to my head like that! Failure is unlikely, but that would still make me nervous.

So are you saying before the battery dies you could watch your head catch fire? Trippy!

 

[Raduque]

Self-built 250-class quads dominate the FPV racing scene. I plan on building one myself, something I can fly with my modded Devention Devo 7E, brushless, FPV with a sports cam to record the flight. MAYBE altitude/attitude hold, but no GPS position hold. I think I want a Hex though. Six is cooler than four.

But till I buy and build that bad boy, I'm content to buzz my toy-grade quads around the park and send up my brushless GPS hold quad with gimbal and cheap gopro clone for airborne footage of sunsets and such.

 

[BUTCH1]

Looks like fun but I have to admit I got dizzy at times LOL.

 

[Blanky]

There is an underground scene of drone racers

Come on, really? Makes it sound like illegal drag racing with busts by the police.

Anyway, my first quadcopter comes in the mail tomorrow. Just an entry level throwaway model while I research something suitable for FPV and vid, though it won't be a racer liker these. I was into RC stuff a while back but got distracted by other things for several years.

It was literally impossible to have these things exist just a few years ago, the tech wasn't there. Now it's not only here, but very cheap as well.

This is the first kind of RC anything that I could see myself getting into. Planes and cars going around in circles from where I can see always seemed boring, but the FPV aspect really changes things.

Basic planes flown around is boring, but when power to weight got good enough in these, particularly with scaled down electric, 3D came along, and a good pilot could then fly a plane like a helicopter along with doing various other tricks so it adds a huge skill component to it.

 

[Raduque]

Anyway, my first quadcopter comes in the mail tomorrow. Just an entry level throwaway model

Oooh, what did you get?

Basic planes flown around is boring, but when power to weight got good enough in these, particularly with scaled down electric, 3D came along, and a good pilot could then fly a plane like a helicopter

I've always thought RC planes were boring too, but I'd be really interested in seeing a plane flown like this. Tic-tic's, tailstands, inverted tail-in funnels, stationary spins would be something to see out of an aircraft that requires forward motion to remain airborne. Keep in mind that's a stock BNF Blade 450 CP, very basic, with only wooden blades.

 

[Blanky]

Oooh, what did you get?



I've always thought RC planes were boring too, but I'd be really interested in seeing a plane flown like this. Tic-tic's, tailstands, inverted tail-in funnels, stationary spins would be something to see out of an aircraft that requires forward motion to remain airborne. Keep in mind that's a stock BNF Blade 450 CP, very basic, with only wooden blades.

Well really I was referring to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nzY1Q4gea8 Lacking collective pitch control and cyclic the plane obviously cannot do everything a helicopter can. I never could hover one of these, it takes more practice than I thought it would.

Actually a few RC planes seem to have collective now. This guy flies it like it's on rails--not too far in you can see it pointed at the ground and just hang in the air: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YkkZw9GVaU

I got the syma X5C-1. It's a $50 quad with a basic camera, but can handle light wind. It's very small, though, and I'm under no illusions about its capabilities.

 

[Raduque]

The first video is was more impressive, to me, because that's a full fuse plane. Foamies don't interest me in the least. That foamie was designed specifically for that, a plane's design can't naturally handle it like a CP heli can.

The X5C is a great starter quad. Hopefully you actually got an X5C-1 and not the X5SC-1. The S variant has zero wind handling abilities. The X5C-1 can actually handle a stiff breeze. I bought an S5SC-1 thinking it would be better than the non-S, and boy was I wrong. Look on Youtube for quadcopter101's videos on the X5SC-1.

 

[Aikouka]

In my experience, the X5C-1 can't handle wind... at all. Don't get me wrong, because pretty much none of those cheap quadcopters can handle the wind. Also, I definitely recommend the X5C over something like the Hubsan X4. The X4's biggest problem is that the rotors fall off after almost every crash, and they will probably fling across the room. The X5C's rotors are screwed on, which is a good thing for staying on, but a bad thing if you forgot your screwdriver and you break a rotor. Although, I've hit plenty of things with my X5C, and I've never broke or mangled a rotor.

I would recommend picking up some extra batteries and a charger. These batteries come with a charger, but it's junk. The ports don't hold the plugs in. I bought this one and it works a lot better. I also bought this USB plug to power it.