Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

Does anyone have any advise on Drones? I'm seeing a lot of them being used and would like to pick one up this summer. I've seen some with "follow me" application where it could follow your boat or skier around. Sounds pretty cool...but with it over the water I'd hate to lose one by getting it soaked. Not looking to spend a mint...just something that can maybe hold a go pro or has a good camera? Any advise or a place to shop would be great!

I don't have much information regarding drones. I know they can lose radio signal with the controller and some can fly off when this happens. I was interested in using one to find baitfish schools. However, having seen drones on the water a couple of times, I can tell you that they are extremely noisy. Not as noisy as boat motors and stuff, but when I'm in the back of a nice quiet cove and a drone buzzes over, it ruins the serenity of my fishing trip. All that said, I refuse to use them.

Good luck with your venture though. Should be a pretty cool supplement to help film your watersport activities.

check the rcgroups forum.. I only fly planes/jets ,never owned a drone, but I know there are plenty of guys on there that do.
https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/index.php

Great targets!

My kids gave me a cheap one for Christmas and while fun, don't waste your $$ on cheap ones if you are going to attempt to use them near the water. The issues that my friends have with expensive ones when water is involved are:

1 - "Return Home" is not accurate enough to be comfortable using around water.
2 - Loss of signal can be an issue thus making it risky to be used around water.
3 - The "follow-me" feature (if you have one) is inconsistent.

Taking into account all of the above, you need to be a good pilot when operating near water.

I have had 3 which have all been DJI brands. I currently have a DJI Phantom 4 which I really like. With the DJI series which fly via GPS lock, they are very stable and very easy to fly. Early models had lots of fly always which was usually due to operator error. If any unit you have has a compass calibration, do it every time you fly, this is where fly always usually happen. RTH on the new models work extremely well and with my P4 I can set the home position at any time just by touching the tablet screen. You can really get some great video with them that you would never see else wise. I do respect others and am courteous when I fly around other people. Most people are curious and interested when they come up to you but there is always that one guy that goes off about his privacy being invaded. For those people, all you can do is say that what you are doing is perfectly legal and I have a card with a Youtube link on it and say take a look at this video (link below) if you think I am invading your privacy. I have not had a lot of time in the past to fly but now I am retired and plan on a lot more.

17 Giga Pixel photo shows how much privacy you have....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbrbPVFKtcM&t=7s

Here is one of my videos with drone footage, I usually mix together drone and ground footage.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcCujDkZ6A4&t=14s

There is someone here from Baton Rouge that takes some great video from his drone. Can't think of his name now but his videos are fantastic and he would know drones.

As said before, look no further than DJI. They are the undisputed leader in drones. It's pretty hard to crash or lose one but it has been known to happen on rare occasion.

I've recently purchased the Mavic Pro from DJI. I'm looking forward to using it for tracking our lake fun. It is a higher end drone, but the automated flight modes that it has makes it super easy to use. https://www.dji.com/mavic

Also, some guys are attaching foam balls to the landing gear in case it ends up going down in the water. http://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/G3IAAOSwE ... s-l300.jpg