Do Prop Guards Disable Obstacle Avoidance?

[Michael Thompson]

After my recent near miss with a seagull (see my video) I am considering prop guards. My thinking is if I would have hit the seagull, the prop guards could have prevented the seagull from hitting my props and thus preventing my drone from crashing into the ocean. Do they disable obstacle avoidance? Thanks.

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[tevek]

I have never used them as I can't see the point given where I fly (outside). I have read that the OA sees the prop guards and need to be disabled for the drone to fly properly, but I wouldn't quote me on that. And I would suspect flying the drone in sports mode with the guards on would detract from its performance and negate the purpose of flying in that mode. As for bird strikes or clipping trees, I fly in both those environments and haven't had a problem, I fly straight up for the birds as they can't follow me and am extremely careful amongst the trees. Just a personal thing.

 

[SkySensei]

It depends on the specific ones you get. I run a set of no-name eBay specials and they work well and do not affect the sensors (they also increase visibility) but there are some people that have had issues.

If you're buying aftermarket it's a good question to ask ahead of time so you can back out / return if they don't perform as advertised.

Occasionally I'll get a piece of them in photos where the camera is horizontal 90° position) but I had the same issue with the naked propellers beforehand too so no real difference there... just something to be aware of.

Imho a very inexpensive and worthwhile modification - but they're not all created equally. Caveat emptor.


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[DocDiggler]

I seen those propguards
They seem to be heavy I wouldn't put them on my bird every bit of weight will gobble up battery power


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[rmfa]

The wind is crazy with prop guards. I wouldn't recommend it outside. They act like sails catching more wind. Bad idea.


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[Michael Thompson]

Thanks for the info, gents.

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