Category Archives: Drones

DJI Spark, Drones

New Toy Pics

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Vitals first then pics

Vitals this week:

  • Resting Heart Rate: 77
  • Blood Pressure: 118/66
  • Weight: 240 (Going down)

I had an interesting weekend of flying.  I had done all my pre-flight checks, batteries, props, drone body, memory card and everything else I could think of except….. you’ll see..

I started the flight around 6:45 am on a beautiful Saturday morning. It was a little chilly but by batteries were kept warm and just charged the night before. My controller had the parabolic range extenders on and I was on my was to fly over the top of my normal flight area. I lingered around over the flight area, turned to the right towards the freeway (I do not fly over the freeway, just turned towards the freeway). I kept turning toward the right and was heading toward another flight area of mine all the while keeping the drone within visual range. I had been flying for approximately five minutes and this is when the fun started.

My phone died! Yes, the one thing I did not check was the battery level of the phone.

My screen went black and after a little panic attack when the phone died I lost visual of the drone. I kept calm and mashed the RTH (Return To Home) button and prayed… After about two minutes I heard the drone flying over head and then it dropped down out of the sky right where it had taken off from. Missed a little and crashed through the branches of the tree but all was good. I charged up my phone and flew again about tree hours later.

Below is a picture of when signal was lost from my phone and then the crash.

Phone died and drone lost signal here
Returning home. You can see my location but after a brief panic period I had lost the drone
Dropping down thru the trees outside my home
Crash landing but all is well. No damage and was flying again after a phone recharge about 5 hours later.

My new toys

Force1 F100 beginner drone: This is not for beginners. No GPS – intermediate outside flights only. Watch the propellers with or without guards
DJI Tello: Great for beginners both inside and out. Make sure you get the remote to make for a much easier flying experience. Wind will tend to take the drone outside.
DJI Spark: Great for all levels of flying experience, just a joy to fly. Sports a 1080p HD camera on a 2 axis gimbal.
Angela, DJI Spark, Tello by DJI

I hope it is finally over

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I have spent the last 21 months trying to get Angie over the “I want $X.XX and I want it now”. I went ahead like I said and gave her 8,500.00 to pay off her car and all the stupid loans she had plus pay for her fathers tomb stone and let her know she can’t ask for anymore. Well since then she has gone off the deep end and every time she asks (yes, she has not stopped), she asks for four to five hundred at a freaking pop. Finally I just told her I’m not paying you anymore, stop asking. Her next response was “Would you turn this phone off please”. Wow a please out of her and needless to say I said ‘No, I have to pay for it anyway’ and her response was ‘Well I most likely will turn it off’. Go ahead I say. Now, the next time she talks to me in a couple years she can not say I turned off her phone. She also can’t get married to get another phone because she never got the divorce she said she would get. I have not heard from her in a few days and that is still not enough.

Now, Vitals this week, better than last:

  • Resting Heart Rate: 69
  • Blood Pressure: 128/78 (No bike last week)
  • Weight: 241 (Going down)

I have been on a non exercising trend lately and I think Angie had put me in a depressed state. I didn’t want to do anything but buy toys and lay around. Specifically I did not want to get on the bike. Last week screwed up my streak for the year which upsets me a bit however this week I’m back on the bike and will be getting out of this depression.

I was completely out of my routine for the last month at least and now have started again and adjusted a bit. Getting up earlier, around 2:00 to 2:10 in the morning instead of 2:30. Last week and so far this week it has made a big difference.

New toys:

I purchased a DJI Osmo gimbal camera which takes great buttery smooth shots, a GoPro Hero5 which is leaps and bounds over my other GoPro and I will receive a new label maker Friday to attach my FAA registration number on the spark.

The remote controller for my Tello arrived and it makes a huge difference, much easier to control. The last three of four flights I have made I have not crashed at all and I finally received my 15″ landing pad.

All of that should make me all set to go fly! I have a flight plan set up for Sunday barring any weather changes.

Mavic, Tello by DJI

Horrible vitals

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Before get into the vitals statement let me tell you I had a great albeit short time flying my new DJI Spark this weekend. I could not fly at the park I wanted to because of weather but I did fly outside my apartment and just a bit Saturday morning before the rain started again. Flying the Spark is so much easier than the first Parrot drone I purchased years ago. The Tello is great and easy to fly but the Spark is a dream, getting the Mavic-2 Pro will be even better. Pictures will be next with all of the accessories I have purchased for my Spark

Vitals

  • Resting Heart Rate: 76 (I had pizza last night)
  • Blood Pressure: 127/70 (I had pizza last night)
  • Weight: 244 (I had pizza last night)

The statement about pizza lets me know I failed this weekend but also that the pounds that are there are most likely water.

DJI Spark, Drones, Tello by DJI

DJI Spark

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My vitals checking batteries need replacing so back to that next week.

On to the good stuff!

I added Drone number two to my collection and it is the DJI Spark. A nice compact drone, great for learning the larger size drones. My Tello has been great for learning to control the drones especially muscle memory for the left and right controls. Moving the little guy around inside the apartment teaches you quite well, lots of crashes but the little guy is rough and tough, no damage to the drone or anything around the apartment.

The Spark will be a different story, no flying indoors until I am very used to flying. It looks like I may have found the perfect spot near my place, Jackson Park which seems to be outside any restricted areas, close by with flat and open areas to fly.

I purchased the Spark on eBay getting what was supposed to be the fly more combo but missing the DJI Spark bag and extra propellers but did get a hard case two extra batteries and parabolic range extenders for the controller. After purchasing the bag, extra propellers, landing pad, gimbal, joystick protection and OTG (On the Go) cables I still saved 300.00 over the regular fly more combo. I did not get any manuals but downloaded them from DJI’s website. Now I think I will be ready for my first flight this weekend.

Edit: Probably won’t fly this weekend, the weather forecast is looking to prevent that – it is what it is.

Drones

Great Weekend with new toys delivered

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Vitals

  • Resting Heart Rate: 73
  • Blood Pressure: 115/60
  • Weight: 240

My weight shocked the shit out of me although it probably should not have. I had quite a bit to drink (water) this weekend and not much in the was of working out to drop it. I also used my new counter top oven (Breville Smart Oven Prove Convection) and made some chicken divan with rice while I was testing that new toy out.

I also received another new toy, a Ryze Tello drone by DJI, the pictures are below. I’ll add some images giving you an idea of the size but for now think of the items on the second photo all fitting easily on a piece of notebook paper.

You can fly this with your cell phone or controller purchased separately (mine will arrive in a couple weeks). All videos are stored on the phone. I’m trying out a new hobby and will use this for training purposes as it seems to react much the same way it’s big brothers do. I’m still researching which of the larger models to get. DJI and Autel seem to be the front runners so far