Super Newb "Follow Me" Question

[Freddy4130]

Please excuse my newbness. I have never flown a drone because I have never been interested in simply flying. What I do is fish competitively, offshore off of a kayak. I am mostly interested in a drone as a tool to capture some sweet footage, beyond what an action camera mounted to my kayak can offer. I've been holding out because nothing is really up to the task just yet but the Mavic seems to be on the right track.

What would be ideal? If I can launch the drone from my hands, have the drone follow me or orbit me and then land it back in my hands. It seems like the Mavic can do all that but I'm almost certain that I would need to control it back to me for the landing. That's where I see a potential problem. It's already dangerous enough to be on a tiny little kayak in the middle of the ocean while fighting giant pelagic fish. It's probably not a great idea to try and control the drone as well.

Does the drone have the ability to come back to the remote control or does it simply use GPS to return to the place from which it takes off? In other words, I'm probably asking for magic.

 

[tcope]

Does the drone have the ability to come back to the remote control or does it simply use GPS to return to the place from which it takes off? In other words, I'm probably asking for magic.

It returns to the home point, which is either where you launched or you can update the homepoint (I'm not 100% sure the Go app does this but 3rd party apps do/will). But you are 100% correct, landing will be _very_ tricky. You'd really need to bring the drone back to your location and hand catch. So you'd need to lower the down to arm height, move under the drone and than hold the bottom of the Mavric while pressing down on the controller stick. Given the design of the Mavric (one set of stubby feet), this would be _very_ difficult. You'd need to hold onto the body instead. This would be a risky move on the water with the props right next to the body.

 

[whitey66]

It returns to the home point, which is either where you launched or you can update the homepoint (I'm not 100% sure the Go app does this but 3rd party apps do/will). But you are 100% correct, landing will be _very_ tricky. You'd really need to bring the drone back to your location and hand catch. So you'd need to lower the down to arm height, move under the drone and than hold the bottom of the Mavric while pressing down on the controller stick. Given the design of the Mavric (one set of stubby feet), this would be _very_ difficult. You'd need to hold onto the body instead. This would be a risky move on the water with the props right next to the body.

This may sound silly to some, but has anyone ever tried attaching polystyrene skids under a drone so that they can land on water?
The weight wouldn't be an issue but the wind may catch them and blow it around a bit.

 

[Freddy4130]

It returns to the home point, which is either where you launched or you can update the homepoint (I'm not 100% sure the Go app does this but 3rd party apps do/will). But you are 100% correct, landing will be _very_ tricky.

When you say "update the home point..." Can that be done from the remote or the app? And yes, I'd need the drone to come back to me so that I could catch it. Maybe the tech just ain't there yet? Or it is but there isn't enough need for that to have it be a feature?

 

[tcope]

This may sound silly to some, but has anyone ever tried attaching polystyrene skids under a drone so that they can land on water?
The weight wouldn't be an issue but the wind may catch them and blow it around a bit.

Yes, people have done this. More so though so that they can retrieve the drone if it _happens_ to land in the water. I can't see where this would work on the Mavric as the body is basically the bottom. The Phantoms are top heavy so landing on water is always going to be questionable. Is it possible? Yes. Is there a good chance something goes wrong and you dunk a $1000 drone? I'd say so.

 

[Freddy4130]

This may sound silly to some, but has anyone ever tried attaching polystyrene skids under a drone so that they can land on water?
The weight wouldn't be an issue but the wind may catch them and blow it around a bit.

I'm sure that's been done. However, I wouldn't want to do it in the ocean. After it water landed, you'd still need to retrieve it somehow. That can be hit or miss when dealing with wind, current and a potential fish on.

 

[tcope]

When you say "update the home point..." Can that be done from the remote or the app? And yes, I'd need the drone to come back to me so that I could catch it. Maybe the tech just ain't there yet? Or it is but there isn't enough need for that to have it be a feature?

I've not really done this myself so I'm going by memory of other people's posts. I'm sure someone here will know the details. I seem to recall that it's possible to update the home point after take off but I _think_ only 3rd party apps such as Litchi do this and not the DJI Go app. That is, you start the motors for take off and the app sets the home point as that place on the water. You take off and move the boat. The home point is still at that location on the water where you launched. If you paddle a mile away and the drone "Returns to Home", it will fly a mile back to where you launched. I _think_ apps such as Litchi would allow you to update the home point at any time. But this is done manually so it's not really practical in your situation. You'd need to stop and use the app ever so often to update the home point. The home point is where the drone returns to if you loose a connection to it. If you drift 20 feet, it will return and eventually land into the water. What I _HIGHLY_ recommend to anyone using a follow me mode is to set the "what do to do on a connection loss" to hover and not return to home. Personally, I think DJI should work this into a pop up warning when a person enters this mode.

Personally, I think using a drone from a bloating kayak is a hugely risky use. A Phantom would be better suited as its much easier to hand catch. The Mavric Pro is not built to be caught by hand.

 

[whitey66]

Personally, I think using a drone from a bloating kayak is a hugely risky use. A Phantom would be better suited as its much easier to hand catch. The Mavric Pro is not built to be caught by hand.

If Freddy is any sort of fisherman he should have a landing net onboard. Maybe he could use that if he cut the power off at the right time .

 

[JohnnyB]

I would just use it to pull the kayak around.. What you need is, another boat following you around filming.. Already sounds like a salty wet ending.

Sent from my XT1096 using PhantomPilots mobile app

 

[kmaluo]

I would just use it to pull the kayak around.. What you need is, another boat following you around filming.. Already sounds like a salty wet ending.

Sent from my XT1096 using PhantomPilots mobile app

Sort of like this. Lol

 

[whitey66]

I'm sure that's been done. However, I wouldn't want to do it in the ocean. After it water landed, you'd still need to retrieve it somehow. That can be hit or miss when dealing with wind, current and a potential fish on.

Hey have you checked out the Lily Drone? It seems to be just what you need, it can land and take off in the water but I think it only does 1080p vid. It has a waterproof tracking device you can put on your arm. It's not as compact as the Mavic, but more compact than a P3 or P4.

 

[kmaluo]

Hey have you checked out the Lily Drone? It seems to be just what you need, it can land and take off in the water but I think it only does 1080p vid. It has a waterproof tracking device you can put on your arm. It's not as compact as the Mavic, but more compact than a P3 or P4.

That's been in Pre-order status for almost 2 years now.

 

[cfionthefly]

Sounds to me like a Snap drone would be ideal for your use...

Preorder Snap Flying Camera from Vantage Robotics

 

[syotr]

Some questions about following
1. Does the Mavic only follow visually by active track?
2. Does it have the ability to follow the controller by GPS?
3. Does the controller have GPS or does it depend on the phone to have GPS?
4. Does terrain following only work visually and not by GPS?
5. Is there an altimeter in the controller?