(techno music)
- Hey, what's going on?
This is Seth from the REtipster blog
and a few months ago I bought this drone,
it's called the DJI Mavic Pro.
This thing is a modern, technological marvel.
Like I still can't really believe
all the things this drone can do.
I mean it's got a camera that shoots 4K video,
it can tilt and then look anywhere it needs to,
it keeps it really, really stable.
I mean, I could go on and on and on,
it's an amazing little piece of equipment.
However, there are some things that I think
you should just be aware of and just
some good practices to have, if you're
going to buy a drone of any kind, and I'm
going to cover some of those things in this video.
OK, so the first thing you should be aware of
is that if you own a drone for any purpose,
whether you're using it just for fun,
or if you're using it for like commercial purposes,
to like shoot real estate videos, or anything
for that matter, pretty much across the board,
if you're in the United States you have to
register your drone with the FAA.
And I'm going to put a link beneath this video
so that you can get to the page where you have to do that.
If you're just doing this for like your own
personal use, like just for fun,
the cost is just five dollars to do that,
so it's not really a big deal.
However, if you're doing this for commercial purposes,
the cost goes up substantially, I think
it's like 199 or something like that.
So, either way, that's just
something you should be aware of.
The FAA can actually fine you and even put you in prison
if you don't register your drone,
they apparently have the right to do that.
So, it's not something you want to just ignore.
Just definitely be sure to register your drone
as soon as you get it, so that
you're in compliance with that.
The second thing I would urge you to be aware of
is that whatever kind of drone you get,
make sure you just take some time
and understand how the thing works.
I know that should seem obvious,
but man, I mean when I got this thing
I was so excited to just like make it fly
and see what it could do and that's understandable.
However, you've got to remember, this is like
an actual aircraft, this thing can hurt people,
this thing can kill animals and
kill birds, if you run into them.
I mean this thing could even like get in the way
of an airplane and cause some kind of incident.
So, it's really, really important that,
even though this thing is fairly easy to fly,
take some time and go slow and make sure
you understand how the thing is supposed to work.
There's actually some great YouTube videos out there
that were hugely helpful to me when I was getting started.
So, I'll try to link up to those beneath this video as well.
In case you happen to get this particular drone
they were super helpful to me, but whatever kind
of drone you get, chances are if you just
do a YouTube search, you'll find a lot of
helpful tutorials out there about how to get started
with whatever drone you're using.
Another good idea that I've heard from some
but have not actually implemented myself yet,
is to get an alternative way of tracking
this thing down, if you ever lose it.
For example, there are RFID stickers you can get,
and the app that you use with this drone,
which goes on your phone, and you actually
can control the drone with the controller,
which is hooked up to your phone, it actually tells you
where the drone is at all times.
However, I can tell you I've already had a couple
of really scary instances where, you know,
at one point I was flying this thing
over Lake Michigan, and it was, oh man,
a good 300 feet away from me at least, and my phone,
for some reason, disconnected from the drone.
So, I couldn't see the video feed on it anymore
and I was like, oh my word, I'm about to lose my drone.
Luckily, the actual controller was still connected to it,
so I could kind of, you know, look at it
off in the distance and get the drone back.
But, you know, it just kind of goes to show
you can't necessarily always rely on
this thing to perform perfectly.
I kind of wish you could, it seems like that's something
you should be able to depend on, but apparently you can't.
So, just make sure that, whenever you're flying this thing,
you always keep it within your own field of view,
like don't go flying it three miles away,
where you can't actually see it with your own eye,
just make sure you're being careful with that.
And that's actually one of the requirements
and something that you need to be doing anyway,
if you have one of these things.
So just keep that in mind, so that if,
for some reason, the app disconnects on you,
you can get it back and track down where it is.
Another really good idea, if you're going to get a drone,
is to make sure you understand what kinds of
accessories are available for your drone.
For this particular one, it is possible to get
landing gear, that sort of extends the feet,
which can be helpful just to make sure
the camera doesn't ever get in grass,
or get wet or anything like that.
You can also get water landing gear that goes on this,
so you can literally like land it
in a lake and it's going to be OK.
When I bought this particular drone
I was fully aware that these batteries,
which are actually pretty good batteries, they give you,
I think it's about 27 minutes of flight time.
A really good piece of advice I had heard
is that it's good to have a backup battery,
so that you don't necessarily have to be done
after those 27 minutes are up.
So I actually bought a package with this drone
that came with not only the battery that's on the drone
but also two backup batteries.
So that effectively gives me like an hour and a half
of flying time, so I don't have to, you know,
stop, go home, recharge the battery and come back out.
So, just be aware of the accessories that are out there,
because there are some really great things
that can make the whole flying experience
a lot better, if you just have the tools
that will really extend the usefulness of your drone.
Something else you should be aware of
is that you can't necessarily just take this drone
and fly wherever you want to with it.
Basically, just some of the high level rules are
you can't fly above 400 feet with this,
and you also can't fly over people,
and you can't fly over big stadiums
or crowds or events like that.
You're obviously not supposed to be flying this thing
when you're under the influence of
any kind of drugs or alcohol.
And then it's very, very important that you
only fly your drone within your own line of sight.
So even though it's possible to go, you know,
around a corner or so far away that you can't
even see it, you're not supposed to do that.
And I will say, when you go to register your drone
you actually have to agree to all these things
before you can register for it.
So, if you aren't already aware of it,
you kind of have to agree to these things
before you can complete the registration process.
So that's just something to be aware of.
And lastly, one other thing I'll note is that
this particular drone and, to the best of my knowledge,
all drones out there, have limitations when
it comes to how strong they are and what kind
of wind and weather they can fly in.
I was trying to fly this thing in wind conditions
that were about 20 miles an hour,
which, as I learned, is a terrible idea.
For the most part, if wind conditions are like
15 miles an hour or higher, I would not recommend
taking this thing out and flying it.
You can actually lose your drone, because it can't
necessarily fight really strong winds
and come back to wherever you're at.
And luckily I didn't lose mine, but when
I was landing it, the wind actually blew my drone
into the side of a house and broke
two propellers on my drone, and it also
chipped up the siding on this house.
Luckily, it didn't break my drone,
I just had to buy a couple new propellers
to put on there, which was not a big deal at all,
but it could have been a lot worse.
And, just generally speaking, it's not a good idea
to fly in conditions that this thing is not built to handle,
and the same thing goes for any drone out there,
they all have their limitations.
So just make sure you're aware of
what those are and don't push it.
All in all, I am just like so impressed
with this little piece of technology.
Like, I'm honestly kind of shocked that a consumer like me
can have access to this kind of thing.
It almost seems like the kind of technology
only the military should have access to,
because it's just like stunning how easy it is
to control this thing and everything it can do.
It's amazing the time that we live in right now.
You know, I'm shooting this video in mid 2017.
Now, chances are, if you're watching this video
in like 2020 or beyond, you're probably going to
look at this kind of drone and think
it's like archaic, because drone technology
is innovating very, very quickly.
So, it's really exciting to just be in this world
and watch where things are going.
But, in the meantime, I'm just super impressed with this.
I think it's an awesome little drone
and it's probably one of the most fun purchases
I've made so far this year and I'm still learning
a lot about how to fly it and get good cinematic shots.
It's one of those things where I don't think
it takes a lot of skill to use it,
but the more you are willing to put into,
you know, figuring out how to fly this thing effectively,
the better and better shots you can get.
So, if you've got the money to spend on a drone,
I think you should totally do it,
because they're a lot of fun.
But I should also say, if you're somebody like me
who's in the real estate world and you're
trying to get this for the purpose of
shooting promotional real estate videos,
and getting good pictures of your properties,
you can totally do that with this.
However, I don't necessarily think it's always
worth that, because when you consider the cost
of buying the drone, and then all of the
commercial licensing you have to do
in those situations, it really kind of is a lot
that you have to do and I don't know that it
necessarily justifies that, unless you're
going to be doing it like as a business,
or with every single property you sell.
Then it could be, but practically speaking,
I don't know that it always,
you know, reasonably makes sense.
But, if you just really want a drone
and you want to get one, go for it,
because they're a lot of fun, and I think
you could really give yourself
a lot of good quality entertainment,
especially if you're anything like me
and you like this kind of thing.
So, thanks for watching, hopefully
I'll see you again on the next video.
(techno music)