According to market estimates I am one of over 400,000 people to get a drone this holiday season. According to my estimate I am one of 399,768 who couldn’t figure out how to get it in the air in less than a week. It is much easier to buy a drone than it is to fly it.
First – don’t believe the “Quick Start Guide.” There is nothing quick about it. You have to charge batteries for both the drone and the controller. That takes hours. If it’s a camera drone such as a DJI Phantom then you have to install the smart phone app. You have to get that working with your drone and that could take forever. Why?
Well, for example, you might be prompted to install a new version of the drone’s firmware. Does that sound simple? To accomplish this you need to connect to somewhere through the drone’s wifi connection which does something, then disconnect from the drone’s wifi and reconnect to internet with your own household wifi and download the firmware, then disconnect from that and reconnect to your drone wifi to install it. My advice? Don’t do this. Stick with the old firmware and take your chances.
Second, online YouTube videos are not the best form of documentation. They are great if you are at home but of little use if you are out in the field attempting to troubleshoot an issue out in the field. The lesson in this is to make sure everything works before you leave the house.
So here is our supplemental guide to getting started. Notice we leave out the word quick.
- Clear off the kitchen table.
- Open the box and put all the stuff in the box on the kitchen table.
- If the box has anything to read, read it. It won’t take long.
- Charge all the batteries and install any apps.
- Stay in the kitchen AND LEAVE THE PROPELLERS OFF.
- Turn everything on and attempt to connect the app to the device. This is the point at which you may be asked to register with the manufacturer. Do that. None of the online documentation we watched informed us of this crucial step.
- Regarding those toggles for controlling flight direction and alititude? Move them *very* slowly. Any quick, abrupt move all the way to the right or left or forward and back will likely result in your drone quickly going where you do not expect, and likely don’t want, it to. Take your time.
Lastly, you should register your device with the FAA which you can do here.
When you get into the field, which should be largely free of people, unless they came with you, telephone or power lines, and preferably trees or any other objects higher than about 5 feet, you reconnect everything with the propellers on and make sure to calibrate the drone’s internal GPS. Now you should be good to go. Take someone with you for support and have fun!
Frank Schroth is editor in chief of DroneLife, the authoritative source for news and analysis on the drone industry: it’s people, products, trends, and events.
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