Droning On... 18 Months of Drone Ownership Reviewed

Introduction

This isn’t a review of a drone in particular. This is more a review or write-up if you like about owning a drone. What I wish I had known before, what I have learnt since. Hopefully, there are some useful takeaways from this for people that are either interested or on the fence about buying a drone.

My interest sparked (not a pun for later, I promise) a few years ago after I started mixing up hikes and treks, finding more and more stunning locations. I wanted to be able to capture the amazing places I was discovering. I also wanted to be able to share the moments with family and friends back home so they had a way of seeing what I was getting up to and offer a glimpse of the great surroundings I was living in.

Premium Camera vs Drone

There were two options. Either a premium camera or a drone. A camera would have offered me a serious upgrade over the iPhone SE I am still using now however due to often hiking solo I had already found issues of trying to shoot yourself with a fixed camera. Probably like most people, I have tried my best at timers and mini tripods but the juice has never been worth the squeeze.

The only way a DSLR would have worked is to have lugged around a tripod everywhere. For me though, this isn’t ideal when scaling rock cliffs and scrambling up steep ascents. Not only that, but the addition of lenses, a protective case and other accessories turned me off of the idea as the cost started spiralling. My priority was hiking first, photography second. For somebody who makes the photography a priority, a good quality camera is obviously essential but I am amateur and just wanted to take some great snaps.

The Hunt For a Hiking Drone

So that was it. I set out on a mission to find a drone that would be right for me.

Unfortunately, I am the kind of person who when he wants something, it has to be the best. This was ultimately a downfall. I was buying something that was in a new product category for me. It wasn’t so much that the first drone I chose wasn’t right for my uses. It was. I decided on the DJI Mavic Pro. DJI as a company had always been in my mind, the ‘go-to guys’ for the best quality drones. They didn’t disappoint.

The Mavic Pro was an awesome piece of kit. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a hiking and trekking drone. Build quality was great. Finishing and packaging were almost up to Apple standards…almost. Features were undeniably incredible, and DJI is a Chinese company! They have definitely set the bar for what a drone should be in my opinion. But this isn’t a review of the Mavic Pro, just know that if you buy from DJI right now, you won’t be disappointed.

Starting Out

After unpacking, charging and updating, I took the Mavic out for her maiden flight. Having never even flown a drone before, I went to a local playing field and fired it up. She whirred up and hovered on the spot.

It was at this point that I realised I had €1000 floating in the air and no idea what I was doing or going to do with it. My head suddenly filled with all the posts I had read in anticipation waiting for the Mavic about ‘fly-aways’ and drones falling out of the sky.

I started feeling really uncomfortable. I realised I didn’t even know what the drone laws were where I lived in Spain. Was I breaking the law? Would I have this €1000 piece of beautiful new tech confiscated off me?

Pushing On

Determined to enjoy my new acquisition, I flew it attentively around a small local park. Controls were surprisingly not intuitive at all. Being a typical guy, I had visions of me mastering this ‘drone lark’ in seconds. It wasn’t that easy though. One of the most challenging aspects of controlling it was up close, trying to land it or navigating small areas. One of the problems is that when a drone is facing you, left and right are reversed. Instinctively, if you press left on the joystick, you expect it to bank left. But of course, the drone is facing the opposite direction too you so it’s left is your right. This caused a few close encounters at first but luckily, I never crashed it.

With all these things, starting out wasn’t the super awesome experience I had expected. What tipped me over the edge was when somebody else came into the same area I was flying. What would they think? How would they take it? Was I allowed to be flying here? I still couldn’t find out the local laws so was I breaking law and would they call the police? I think being an expat living in someone else’s country always feels like you’re on the back-foot and with law confrontations anyway.

Improving

After a rocky start and not enjoying flying near to residential areas where people would magically sniff you out from anywhere, I decided to take it into the hills. I will never forget my first flight through the mountains. There is a route I regularly hike that goes deep into the Mallorcan hills where other hikers are few and far between. After I felt comfortably away from potential passers-by, I set up and took off. There is a huge valley that runs between the hills for miles and I decided to give that a go. Before long I felt like I was piloting an X-Wing in the trench run.

I was very much still a rookie but felt it was time to see if the drone could live up to the specs it’s marketed with. The main interest was the 7km range. I didn’t want to actually achieve 7km as it’s ridiculously far but I at least wanted to see how far it could go or, see how far a dare let it go. Much to my amazement the drone just kept going and going. No break-up of signal or dropouts. All the doubts the DJI forum had given me were slowly drifting away. After I lost sight of the drone itself (not recommend, always keep a line of sight), I carried following the valley around the hills and my previous fears had turned to excitement.

Drone Mecha

It was incredible. I was shooting photos, video and having a blast doing it. This new perspective was amazing. The product was amazing. After I managed to bring her back with the return to home feature (still a rookie at that point) my heart was pumping with excitement. The last time I had taken it out, the pumping heart had come from fear and doubt.

When I got back to check the footage out, I realised that it was all unusable and everything looked very poor indeed. What I realised was, not only are you responsible for flying something that has 4 axes of travel, you also have a complex camera to master. Up, down, bank left, bank right, turn left, turn right, forward, backward, look up and look down. I just thought I had mastered all of this but now had to learn how to use the camera well. With some persistence however, I got there in the end.

Wrong Choice

Just as piloting had become second nature, my use of the drone had decreased. I had gone from going out three or four times a week to once a month. When I did ever want to take it out, the batteries were flat or an essential firmware update stopped me from flying. Something had gone wrong. I started forcing myself to use it more often and that’s when I realised why it had fallen out of favour. It was the wrong product for me.

The hassle of taking off my pack, opening it up, removing the drone from its protective packing, open up the arms, turn everything on and pair it all together was too much effort. Having hiking a priority and not photography meant that those photos, just weren’t worth it now the ‘new-factor’ had worn off. Having felt the benefit of using a drone in the wild, I decided to change tack as this wasn’t a hobby I wanted to lose because of logistical reasons.

I started looking for something that would fit my needs better and stumbled across DJI’s Spark. The smaller, more amateur drone would be a significant drop in specification though. Something that I wasn’t happy with but went through with the purchase anyway in an attempt to keep the hobby going.

It’s not the size that matters, it’s how often you use it…

With a new ‘new-factor’ I fell in love with the Spark. The decrease in quality and specs were obvious but I felt I would rather have a lesser product that was being used, over a better product that would never see the light of day. Quickly my Spark usage had overlapped that of the Mavic Pro (all flight statistics are in the DJI app). I was loving it. It was getting weekly use and would keep me busy for hours editing photos afterwards.

The reason I was enjoying the Spark was clear. 1) The arms are fixed. I think it’s great that the Mavic Pro arms are foldable, it means you can take a large premium drone anywhere with you but sometimes, being able to set up, get in the air quickly and pack up quickly is more important. 2) It was about half the price of the Mavic. The lesser price was great. I could take more risks with it. As a cheaper drone, I can toss it in my ruck and not be worried about breaking it. I could push it past its limits in the sky and not be too worried about breaking or losing it. Batteries are cheaper and accessories are cheaper.

The Spark’s smaller size proved great in more confined spaces. I could fly it closer to trees and even fly it indoors. In the winter when I wear a coat, it fits in my jacket pocket. On three occasions I have crashed the Spark and it always turned out fine. For its small size, it’s a hard little thing. The crashes were both my fault, a result of over-confidence then panicking when things started going sideways.

Conclusion

The Spark was getting lot’s of use and still is today. For me, it’s not the quality of camera or drone that will take great shots. It’s about finding the great shots that need to be taken. A photo from an iPhone 5 taken at the summit of a amazing mountain at sunset will be better than one taken from a €3000 DLSR if you sit behind a desk all day.

I also feel the gear has to suit the user and I really learnt this with the drone. I reached too far the first time, getting sucked in by awesome stats and figures, not realising that all the premium features come with a caveat: the drone has to be bulkier and more cumbersome to fit them in. Until the rate of development can offer me far better photo quality than I already have with the Spark in the same form factor or smaller I am more than happy to stay with the drone. I do think though that it won’t be long before a significant product update pushes me for an upgrade.

Advancement In Technology

As an example, since I purchased the Mavic Pro, DJI have realised the first drone with a 1” CMOS sensor and optical zoom. Image performance is increasing at an incredible rate, I just hope that it gets passed down to the smaller, more affordable drones. But like all things new be aware. A drone could easily end up a paperweight sat on your desk and an example of how not spend €500+. If you already enjoy photography and spent a lot of time outdoors then this could be a great piece of kit to add to your arsenal. If you are just starting out and have the outdoor photography bug, maybe wait a little while or go for something more affordable first to test the water and see if it is a hobby that will survive.

Pros & Cons of Drone Ownership

Pros	Cons
Take awesome shots you couldn’t before from a new perspective	Expensive
Flying is fun in general, even if not for photography in particular	Easliy forgotten about if not used regularly
A new reason to spend more time outdoors doing something different	Risk of damage or a write-off is high. Mistakes could be costly
	Will likely become outdated in 2-3 years

Ash Scott2018-10-09T11:34:46+02:00

Article: Droning On… 18 Months of Drone Ownership Reviewed