Consumer Drones (for those of you who might own one)........ what do really use them for?

northGAcock

I see these available at the cell phone and other electronic stores. Seems like an expensive adult toy for sure. Just wondering what problems (business or home) you are able to solve with these devices. I get the tooling around the neighborhood for fun.....but trying to understand why you (or I) would buy one and for a purpose. Not hating here....just trying to understand what you have been able to accomplish as a result. 

Zmokin

I've seen some amazing videos taken by people with their drones.

Not sure what else to do with them other than just fly them around for the fun of it.

Thatgrimguy

I have a few friends that have ones that have 4k cameras.  They play with them. I think all of them (except for my cousin who does wedding photography) are realizing it's a very expensive toy that runs out of the cool factor kind of quickly.  

I have heard of people using them for deep sea fishing to spot.

buzd504

I have one, and it is just an expensive toy, but I have used to to photograph my roof and my solar panels in the past.  It's fun to entertain the kids with. 

blasting

I'd be nervous to get one, it seems the regulations are coming fast and furious for them.

Might change my mind if any of my neighbors were really hot...

littlerascal56

You can fly over all the neighbors patio's and see what they are cooking on their eggs.  LOL.

But from a serious side, we are using them to patrol large power lines and check connections, insulators, ground wires, etc.  MUCH cheaper than helicopter patrolling.  They take some great pictures and video, and are safer around hi voltage. They have filled a niche for the electric utilities and transmission companies, one that we would have never thought of in the past.

YukonRon

In Kentucky, we call them target practice.

bgebrent

Pretty sure my Benelli is hungry.

Lit

There are companies using them to audit cell phone towers so they don't have to climb it. 

Darby_Crenshaw

My understanding is that a lot of land-related businesses are using them

agricultural uses, surveying fence lines and property, crops, aerial archaeology (anyone watching the Detectorists on 'Flix by the way?), developers, surveyors, home inspectors, R/E agents, etc

i'd love to have a reason myself. But i don't, other than indulgence. Which I haven't. Indulged. 

fishlessman

would be nice to have a pizza delivered while icefishing 6 miles out but i probably wouldnt have my phone with me anyways to call in the order

Darby_Crenshaw

Does a jitterbug phone reach that far?

GATraveller

Repossession agents use them to search for collateral inside gated/guarded communities. 

johnnyp

Airial view real estate photography

fishlessman

Darby_Crenshaw said:

Does a jitterbug phone reach that far?

i dont know, theres no reception anyways and i have to hang up on those that dont yell loud enough

KiterTodd

After staring at drones with mixed thoughts for the past 18 months, I just got the Mavic and have a few days flying under my belt (after much play with a toy drone inside the house).

There is no practical reason to have it for personal use, other than for me it's another camera and I like to shoot pictures and video.  I have a dSLR, point and shoot, GoPros and of course our smart phones.  I use all of them for stills and video.  The video editting is time consuming but I get out a handful of flicks a year and friends and family enjoy them.

So, for me, it was about a new camera perspective.  I have resisted getting one until now because of the old phrase, "the best camera is the one you have with you."  The large fixed body drones with props that would have to be removed before storage in a large bulky case just didn't appeal to me.  I love all the features I saw of the 3DR drone and the Phantom4, but I knew I just wouldn't take it most places with me if I couldn't fit it in a backpack, along with my other gear I'd normally bring along.

As I have posted on here numerous times, I watched a lot of the kickstarter drones come and go, with little confidence they would release something reliable in a near timeframe.  Late last year GoPro released the Karma drone and I said, "that's it!  finally someone has come out with a drone I would buy...."  and then a week or two later DJI released the Mavic and it so completely surpassed the Karma that I knew it was in my future.

So, with a lot of buyer's remorse I finally laid down the cash for that thing and so far I have to say it's pretty awesome.  The capabilities, ease of use and build quality is beyond impressive.  I realize there is an extent to how much drone footage I can use or that people would want to see.  So it's a bit of a new hobby as well.  And I also figured, we won't have freedom to fly these things for very long so I might as well have my fun while I can.  I suspect in the near future more and more towns and communities will start banning them.

my $.02

MattBTI

I am currently running a side company specializing in aerial imagery services primarily for use in agriculture. I utilize color and multispectral imagery as well as digital surface models aquired via UAS (drone) and satellite. I have equipment ranging from dji consumer to multi thousand dollar sensors on board 4ft wingspan fixed wings. I utilize my quadcopters around the house and in my hobbies. I like to check gutters, find harvested deer, film bird hunts. that sort of thing in my free time. 

SaintJohnsEgger

My son has one that he uses for arial photography to supplement his other photography pursuits.

DoubleEgger

Thatgrimguy said:

I have a few friends that have ones that have 4k cameras.  They play with them. I think all of them (except for my cousin who does wedding photography) are realizing it's a very expensive toy that runs out of the cool factor kind of quickly.  

I have heard of people using them for deep sea fishing to spot.

I've seen shore fishermen hook the line to the drone and fly it out past the breakers. Once a school is spotted, the bait gets released on top of them. 

DaveRichardson

@DoubleEgger nailed what I was about to post.  Its fun fishing with them, but battery life is an issue.  We've used them to scout for schools and trop a line on top of them a few times with mixed results.

I know of a few athletes that use them in their training program to video their running to be able to critique themselves and make small changes in their techniques, that's mostly done on the Phantom 4 with the "Follow Me" feature.

I've also seen surfers and kayakers use them to video their runs.

Sea2Ski

The follow-me feature is handy while offshore fishing to get the marlin bite at hookup, the spread crashed by tuna, and the end game with a large tuna or mako. I have seen some really neat videos using them. 

Never actually saw one one used to drop a line on a school. I wonder if there is an IGFA rule against using one yet. 

DoubleEgger

You can bet your ass there will be @Sea2Ski

MN-Egger

I casually mentioned that I thought they were cool so my wife took that as reason to get me one for my Birthday. Way more than I would need but it is kind of growing on me.  (Parrot Bebop2)  It can be flown several ways. Use the joystick that came with it, add your smartphone to joystick for in flight telemetry  and to view where you are going but the kicker is the VR googles that came with it. The experience with these googles puts you right in the drone's cockpit and to some, this might not be so good as the motion with it can be disorienting and takes getting used to. You can also use a tablet to fly it, tip the tablet to the right, left, forward, etc and control the drone. Mine was above the Federal weight limit and required it to be registered with the FAA. Took a few minutes to register on the special site for same. One more neat feature is the auto launch/land. Set it down on the ground, press button on joystick and it rises about chest high and awaits your commands, same for landing. Also if for some reason you lose contact/control with the drone, it will wait for a configurable time without input  from you and return home on it's own. 

Mikeymise

My brother has a 62ft sloop with a tall mast and a lot of rigging.  He uses his drone (and other sailboats at the marina) to check the top of the mast and rigging.

KiterTodd

DaveRichardson said:

@DoubleEgger nailed what I was about to post.  Its fun fishing with them, but battery life is an issue.  We've used them to scout for schools and trop a line on top of them a few times with mixed results.

I'm guessing the answer is "yet"...  but do they sell remote triggers for fishing lines? 
Man, you'd have to be careful.  If the line going out gets snagged, it may toss an expensive drone into the drink!

Sea2Ski

All those that I have seen at the boat and  offshore have those pool noodles zip-tied to the landing gear so that if there was an unexpected water landing, it will at least float. Granted, line in a prop would be "devastating" as odds are it is not going to land the correct side up, but under normal open water use, I know that setup has saved several machines.  

DaveRichardson

Sea2Ski said:

Never actually saw one one used to drop a line on a school. I wonder if there is an IGFA rule against using one yet. 

I ain't telling the fuzz if you don't!

DaveRichardson

Simple way to attach lines to a drone for fishing.....

http://dronefishinghq.com/

tarheelmatt

I lust after them occasionally, but the rig I'd want costs way too much for me to justify.  

stlcharcoal

I bought a DJI Phantom 3 Pro about a year ago.  I get my internet off of a water tower about a mile away and I needed a clear line of sight for a higher connection speed.  I used the topo maps to figure out there were not any hills in the way, so I figured it was these three trees on my property in my way.  I flew the drone to the peak of my roof, noted the altitude, then ascended straight up until I could see the tower on the screen--noted the altitude again.  It was about 25 ft, then I flew straight toward the tower until I crossed the highest point on those suspect trees.  Soon as I passed over the trees, I descended vertically until I lost sight of the tower.......only 3-ft above the roof!!  Then I turned it back 180 degrees to make sure it was the three trees I thought (actually 4 trees.)  I had the tree guy over and top 25 ft off those, then used the drone to make sure I could see the tower from the roof.  Could see it 3-ft off the peak, but had them put it on a 6-ft pole just to be safe.

Besides just goofing around with the drone.......I also stay active with my real estate license, so I use it for aerial photos of my listings and snooping on neighboring properties when on showings.  I really think the photos made a difference on this house my contractor buddy and I flipped last year:  http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/7445-Elm-Ave-Maplewood-MO-63143/2781920_zpid/

These things are so awesome.  When I used to fly for the TV stations, we were charging $700-900/hr for the helicopter, there was a leased $60K camera on the nose, plus the cameraman and personality.  The video from these drones is 10x better at a fraction of the cost.  Same goes for the stills......used to charge about $100-150 a photo for those.  All of it had to maintain a safe altitude, spped, and distance, so there was smog, haze, etc to shoot through.  Now you can fly these thing right up on the target, carefully position, and shoot stationary.  Absolutely unbelievable results, no hourly cost, and no risk.

Slabotnick

I'm in the construction business and I have a Phantom 2 and Phantom 3. I use them for taking video and pictures of facilities that we have built for promotional use. I load pictures and video onto my ipad for sales meetings or if i'm at a conference i'll burn hidef video onto blu-ray and the video looks pretty amazing onto a hidef tv.