Dummy's guide to avoid drone crashing
Most drones end up crashing
We have been through a lot of brutal crashes
This is the latest DJI Mini II
Only DJI would make a second gen product which looks indentical to the previous one.
And only DJI would release a new product to compete with itself
Let's first talk about how I think of Mini II
It's the simplest and safest way
To get an aerial shot
If this is your first time looking into drones
And you are not very interested in videography
This is the top pick
What model you are using now
Or what is your dream drone
Leave a comment below
Today let's talk about DJI Mini II, small in size but giant in performance
Welcome to Colorbee photography Life Magazine
My name is Brian
Why do I say the Mini II is the top choice for drones
Because flying Mini II is fun. It is like a toy
Here are a few of my favorite things
First, single battery lasts up to 31mins
It's more time than you know what to do with
You can shoot over and over again
Until you are happy with the result
The pear I put on the drone was 219g
Don't forget that the drone itself only weighs 249g
When drone is carrying that much weight
Its props are spinning at max speed
To maintain its stability
We put an Insta360 One X on the Mini II
The Mini II handles it so well
Although it was fun, I don't recommend doing it
It does change the center of gravity
When side wind occurs,
You are very likely to crash it
Don't blame me if you breaks your insta360 or drone
Second, the Mini II is much more responsive when flying
Upgraded from the Wifi transmission to Ocusync 2.0
It now has a 3km range comparing to a few hundred meters before
Signal stability and range is on a whole new level
For consumers,
Having a reliable signal is more vital than range
No one will fly the drone out of range on purpose
Small drones like this are more likely to be used
In the area with a high density of buildings or people
where strong signal interference exists
That is why the improved signal stability is so comforting.
The remote is now bigger
Some might like it, some might not
I like the previous controller's nimble size
The new controller battery and grip feeling is superb
They are all welcoming improvements
I guess the size is the only downside
Other improvments are
Video image is upgraded from 2.7K to 4K
RAW format for stills
But these features really should have been included with the Mini I
I must emphasis that
Don't be fooled by its looks
No matter how cute a drone looks or how easy it is to fly it,
The drone is not a toy
It has its limits and poses certain danger
With incorrect operation, it can cause harm
to the user and others
First, drones are dangerous
Every drone is a wrecking ball with wings
The thin prop tips
When spinning at high speed
It is sharp as a razor
It should be kept away from human while flying
Especially children
Mini II flies at almost 2x speed of a human 100m sprint
Do not underestimate potential damage it could cause
Second, there are regulations for drones
Australia drone regulations
Are similar to others around the world
Drone that weighs less than 250g
Can't fly higher than 120m
Can't be closer than 30m to bystanders
VFR should be applied all the time.
249g is key
Both Mini I and II are 249g
But Mini II's body is 10g heavier
While battery is 10g lighter
If you put a Mini I's battery in the Mini II
You will exceed the 250g weight limit
Third, the failure of operation could bring the loss
Most drones end up crashing one way or another
Human factor or external environment
Could bring the drone down
Even if you find the remains
It is going to be a costly repair
You are better off buying a new one
Let me share some of my sad memories
For everyone's entertainment
I will share all my drone crashes
And explain the causes
So you or your friend won't repeat our mistake
During a panning shot, the drone suddenly lost control
I felt very confused.
Why did I loose control?
After adjusting the flying angle
I realized it flew into a cliff at a high speed
When the drone landed
I found the landing gears were toast
A navigation light was broken
How did this happen?
After watching the playback, we found that
the drone was flying at the speed of 18m/s
which is equal to 60km/h
I measured the distance between myself and drone
In order to achieve a better sense of space,
I used the zoom function to get a long focal length
So, the drone got farther and farther away from me until it hit a mountain
All ended when the drone crashed into the mountain.
There are two details that I considered myself lucky.
The obstcale detection on sides detected the mountain on time
Due to the insanely fast speed,
the drone attempted tp stop by performing a steep turn.
However there was not enough space for the drone to manoeuvre.
One side of the drone, together with the propellers, still contacted the mountain and bounced back.
Luckily the drone did not go into a stall
And the drone successfully maintained the flying attitude
The solution to such problem is planning the flight path ahead
and keep an eye on the releative distance repeatedly
I am really lucky. And I don't think I will be lucky next time if same thing happens.
Second case is about sensors.
People were saying it is a pity that there are not enough obstacle detectors on mini
Personally my Mavic mini has crashed many times too
But I won't complain about it.
For a drone weighing 249 grams, it is really hard to squeeze more sensors inside
To control the cost,
I think there should be trade-offs somewhere.
If the visual sensor brings active obstacle avoidance,
the lightweight design of Mini 2 decreases the possibility of loss
Mini 2 only weighs 249g
The aircraft is so lightweight
that even the arms could be slightly twisted
The light and soft design
leads to a higher surviving rate of drone after crashing
We have experienced a lot about how amazingly
the Mavic mini 1 could survive
in the aircraft crash scenorio.
This does not gurantee that you can use Mini series under any condition
But the design can definitely help us
reduce the loss
Let me put it this way,
as long as the ground is soft like grass and sand,
the surviving rate is pretty high.
The third case is about the design of mini
The wind just blew my drone away
when I was shooting a fishing village in Noway
My orginial thought was
making mavic mini flying backward and upward,
starting with the closeup of my face, until the full aerial view of village is captured.
To prevent the drone from crashing when flying through the windows,
I installed the protective cage
However,
the moment the drone got out of the windows,
I lost the control of the aircraft and it kept flying away regardless of my operation
Because of the strong wind outside,
I could do nothing but watching the drone flying away until its signal is lost.
That was also the first time I actually flying the Mini 1
The aircraft rested at somewhere in North Atlantic forever
(R.I.P.)
Don't fight against the nature
Pay a close attention to the weather like wind direction and wind scale
DJI claims that mini2 can stand the 5-level wind
But I won't be so optimistic about the number.
Let's talk about the fourth case.
For an open area, the very few and obvious obstacles
could bring a great danger to your drone.
Mr. Li Yongle could verify this.
There was one time we were shooting racing cars and there was only one tree in the field
Another time is about shooting a vineyard and there was only one wire in the whole area
It felt like I did that on purpose
It seems to be a coincidence, but why the tree is right there?
Because that spot is gorgeous
Why the wire is at that height?
Because the height is easier for workers to set.
The height that you feel comfortable flying the drone might be perfect for a lot of things
Sometimes the accidents are doomed to happen
So you'd better have an assistant to help you observe the surroundings
The assistant should keep the pilot updated about the surroundings
Even few words
could save the drone from crashing and keep the precious footages safe
Of course nobody would love to crash their drones
But we can’t stop trying to experience the world in a new way
Because of the worries of crash
There are some ways to minimize the loss
The first one, for greeners especially, is buying DJI Care
According to statistics,
70% of drones crashes are contributed by newbies in the first month
With DJI Care, regardless of cause of crash,
As long as you can find the drone itself, the loss can be covered
The price of DJI Care is about 10% of the drone itself
It is similar to the car insurance.
It will be a great risk to let a new driver drive a car without a good insurance
The second one is to protect yourselves and your families
When flying the drone indoor or in narrow space,
We'd better install a cage for the drone so that the blades will not hurt people
and it will not stall and roll over when the blades hit an object
Last but not least,
A lot of practices of drone operating is necessary
Like riding bikes, try to make the drone operations more intuitive
Try to establish a strong memory connection
between the drone operation and drone movement in reality
The chances of encountering drone failure is much smaller
We know that sometimes
we shouldn't do anything silly
but we can't help ourselves from pursuing a more perfect picture
Wish me luck!
I hope I can use the Mini 2 until its operational life ends
If you have any fun experience of drone crashing,
welcome to comment below.
Thank you for watching Colorbee Photography Life Magazine
I am Brian
See you next time!