How Far Can You See Your Phantom in Daylight

Thanks for that. The cube doesn't work for me in it's current form. They need to come up with a low profile footprint so each side can have benefit for orientation at night, and red/green ones would be the way to go for true orientation help. But it's simply too big a product for a drone, imo. Unnecessary bulk. If polar pro confirms to be seen at 3 statute miles, that's really a good thing since that's what I have on board and love it at night, but I personally doubt they can cut through that far at the moment. If they need to come up with a new kit that can do it, I'm in. I sure would love the visual ability of the cube during the day, but not 'cubes'. I'll be watching to see if they come up with something new, specifically for drones.
Are you serious? Measuring 1 1/2 in. These are miniscule. ;-)
With all the built in abilities of these incredible lights, you will be out searching for a very long time, for something with even half their functionality. Not to mention extreme clean light brightness.
I've seen the Polor Pro lights, & in my opinion those are a joke and not even in the same league as Lume Cubes.
You want coloured orientation lights, then these are them. This month, they are releasing an aluminum cage that will magnetically hold various filters, gels, honeycomb and barn door. ;-)

Ok, Good luck looking for your best resolve!!
Please Find one with an easy to use free app too!? Ha

RedHotPoker
 
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I would really love it if the next generation of Phantoms a) switched the red/green lights to proper airplane orientation and made them brighter and/or b) added a (controllable on/off) bright anti-collision strobe to the top. Especially now that people can fly them commercially with greater ease, I think it's important to have some ways of improving their visibility at distance.
 
Are you serious? Measuring 1 1/2 in. These are miniscule. ;-)
With all the built in abilities of these incredible lights, you will be out searching for a very long time, for something with even half their functionality. Not to mention extreme clean light brightness.
I've seen the Polor Pro lights, & in my opinion those are a joke and not even in the same league as Lume Cubes.
You want coloured orientation lights, then these are them. This month, they are releasing an aluminum cage that will magnetically hold various filters, gels, honeycomb and barn door. ;-)

Ok, Good luck looking for your best resolve!!
Please Find one with an easy to use free app too!? Ha

RedHotPoker
Yeah, maybe they do look bigger than I think. I always thought the dji cameras were big until I got a phantom and did a double take at how small the thing is. The app has no interest to me. I have enough to noodle with- I don't need an app. These for me are purely for sight at distance, not a headlight, not for photos, and they certainly can't trash a night shot with light getting in the shot. This would have to meet the 3 statute mile regulation for the 107 daylight waiver for me to even consider re configuring my bird. I have slats for a battery mod, the polar pro kit- a lot going on already on board. I'll keep an eye on the cube though. Never know.
 
About 600 meters. But I have to keep focus. Just one blink off the bird and it's out of sight.
You have better eyesight then most, as that is about 6 and a half football fields in distance
 
What fascinates me is this Lume cube could potentially vastly increase the distance a hobbyist can fly per FAA guidelines. Imagine the square mileage that can be covered with, say, a half mile flight distance without the Lume. Now add a couple lume cubes, and suddenly you're at (apparently) something close to 3 miles LOS distance. That's 6x the distance, but that's not an increase of 6x the square mileage. It's more like an increase of 30-40x the square mileage - and all within FAA hobbyist LOS guidelines.
 
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My plan, On a nice clear day, before next spring, ;-), I am going to do simple test. Launch my drone, on a dead end then take it up perhaps around 100m let it hover in place, and rYde my SpYder back down the country road and see how far I can still see it. Zero out trip B on my guages, for exact measure. Keeping track of the Mies/kilometres as I go incrementally farther along. It should be fun...
I will take pics if possible. Not sure my iPad camera will see it that far away.
Also will Try and take pics back to myself from the drone as well.


RedHotPoker
 
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Better yet, see them in action and easy installation.
When you purchase yours, and I know many of you will be ⎌buying your own. ;-)
There is Pro app to download to control them fully...
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Hooking them up...
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Here on another forum, friends Phantom 4.
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RedHotPoker

Does the light mess with the video and pictures taken with the camera?
 
No, they only improve upon it. Just think, in the camera settings, under white balance, you can actually dial in 6000k. ;-)

RedHotPoker
 
Swell, way to fly. Hahaha

RedHotPoker
 
Better yet, see them in action and easy installation.
When you purchase yours, and I know many of you will be ⎌buying your own. ;-)
There is Pro app to download to control them fully...
To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

RedHotPoker

Is it possible to mount one in each direction? The way the video shows, there's no visibility behind the lights. Also, what about from above?
 
1200' or so. If I get distracted or look at my screen it's gone. Then it's strictly FPV til it's home. And I'll hear it before I lay eyes on it most times. Thought about painting it black since I can spot my typhoon h from much farther away. The phantoms white she'll just blends with the sky too well and the lights don't work as well as they could.
 
If you take your eyes off of your quad and can't see it again....you are too far away. If you have lighting on it that can be seen from two miles away and you're not sure if it's your quad or some other aircraft .....you're too far away. Just seeing it is not the answer. You need to be able to see it well enough to control it.
 
FDC 6/2069, which is more strict than AC 91-57A, states

D. OPERATIONS MUST REMAIN WITHIN VISUAL LINE OF SIGHT OF THE OPERATOR

That's it.
 
Is it possible to mount one in each direction? The way the video shows, there's no visibility behind the lights. Also, what about from above?
The mounts that hold the cubes have an adjustment wheel. Yes, you can turn them any angle you wish, on the plane of the wheel. So they can be positioned forward, or one facing down or backwards. How ever you wish. Multiple and variable control. Ten power settings, three strobe modes, slave flash, and much more... Awesome.
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RedHotPoker
 
What fascinates me is this Lume cube could potentially vastly increase the distance a hobbyist can fly per FAA guidelines. Imagine the square mileage that can be covered with, say, a half mile flight distance without the Lume. Now add a couple lume cubes, and suddenly you're at (apparently) something close to 3 miles LOS distance. That's 6x the distance, but that's not an increase of 6x the square mileage. It's more like an increase of 30-40x the square mileage - and all within FAA hobbyist LOS guidelines.
Don't get too fascinated. That's not gonna happen. You can't control a strobe 3 miles out. You might see it but that's not los flight control. They want manned aircraft to be able to see the drone. That's what it's about.

Be it day or night, I'm only comfortable flying 3k' distance tops and usually fly 1-2k'. In daylight I can lose sight of it easily at 800' if I look at the app and then look back up, and that's with the polar pro lights on too. The cube or something like it is what I'd like for daylight so I can at least look back up and see where the darn thing is at all times in daylight. At night, the polar pro lights are fantastic for me, I haven't had a problem yet and the way I have them configured keeps the camera clear of any light bleed into the shot. I simply love flying at night. I put the bird up to 250' on average to clear all obstacles and have a completely relaxed flight because I can always see it. I usually choose night flight when I'm just flying to keep my chops up. And bonus, I can see manned aircraft easily too. That's not the case in daylight, even for manned aircraft. It's my opinion that drone flight is way safer at night for all concerned. The faa doesn't quite agree with that, however they do include a daylight waiver for consideration to allow it. The thing is though, they want manned aircraft to be able to see it at 3 miles out and frankly, so do I. So whoever makes the strobe to comply with that gets my dollars. For me as a pilot though, I want it for daylight flight to help me locate my bird in the sky quickly at any time. It's just that simple.
 
My plan, On a nice clear day, before next spring, ;-), I am going to do simple test. Launch my drone, on a dead end then take it up perhaps around 100m let it hover in place, and rYde my SpYder back down the country road and see how far I can still see it. Zero out trip B on my guages, for exact measure. Keeping track of the Mies/kilometres as I go incrementally farther along. It should be fun...
I will take pics if possible. Not sure my iPad camera will see it that far away.
Also will Try and take pics back to myself from the drone as well.


RedHotPoker
I'd take your word for it. A video of it at night would be cool if it was usable to confirm, but I'd take your word for it. The manufacturers should be confirming this now, if their strobe is meant to comply with faa stipulation. A light kit is one thing but compliance is another for those who are serious about it.
 
Just curious, under ideal conditions, and unaided with binoculars, what is the furthest distance you have been able to see your Phantom?

daylight conditions vary extremely with respect to Phantom visibility. On a very clear sunny day I don't feel I can see the Phantom as far as I can when there are some extra clouds obscuring the sun. When it's a bit more cloudy there is more contrast between the Phantom and the sky so I can go out much further and still eyeball it. I've defiantly been able to see the Phantom at well over 1,000 feet out during the day I think the furthest I remember seeing it out during the day is around 1,500 feet and there as the pilot. If you glance down to your control or device screen you can have a hard to impossible time of seeing it. If you're acting as a spotter where your one job is to visually track the phantom in the sky without looking away I would assume you can hold visual track of it longer. Night time conditions I know I've been able to see the lights of the Phantom in the sky at easily 2,500 to 3k feet if not more. Beyond that it's just too dim / small in the sky.
 
What ever distance you can comfortably still see the onboard green and red LED's you can easily triple or quadruple that with Lume Cubes attached. Boldly I say this, but it could even be ten times farther. Heck, perhaps & why not twenty... hahaha I kid you not. ;-)

Tiny little, powerful bright, light houses...

When the aluminum cages for these, with magnetic attachments for filters and gels come out, hopefully this month, you will be able to add several other features to these magnificent lights. ;-)


RedHotPoker
 

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