@werehatrack you want one for something serious? You probably want DJI. A few years ago, I’d have said a few other brands (more customization, US corporations, etc.), but they basically all folded. The video industry uses the prosumer line, and the cinema industry uses the pro line if they don’t build their own. The reason you want DJI is because you can go to almost every Best Buy and Costco (and a few other stores) in the world and get spare parts for most of the things that will break when you crash.
Speaking of building their own, basically everyone flying first-person video (FPV) is building their own, whether from kits or part lists or what. Mostly this is because they crash a lot and they want to keep repair costs somewhat manageable. Modular everything means only replacing what you really need to and the opportunity to keep a stock of the parts you need most quite easily. If you go this route, plan ahead: order at least a couple of spares of most everything, unless you are testing different builds or something like that.
Also, you will crash sometimes. The wind will do something weird, a random bird will come attack the quad (or you), or there will be some factor that could not be accounted for in advance that sends you spiraling down from the sky. It is best to accept early that this is going to happen on occasion.
I strongly suggest all aspiring pilots to get some cheap - but reasonably controllable - craft (I don’t know if this particular one is controllable) and get their early crashes out of their systems on something less expensive to repair or replace than whatever they intend to fly long-term. Once they learn to counteract wind and indoor air conditioning currents without the assistance of any kind of automatic piloting system, and fly around and land a bit also without such assistance, they are generally ready to fly a GPS-assisted quad and get it out of at least some of the trickier situations it’s likely to encounter. Until that point, they’re really only as good as the automatic systems they’re dependent upon (which I’ve seen fail any number of times).
The automatic flight systems are great and very useful and convenient - right up until they stop working, or fly you into a tree, or decide you need to land immediately in the middle of a pond. There is no replacement for keeping an eye and a mind on the aircraft.
Remember when problems playing with flying things was getting your kite stuck in a tree or throwing the Frisbee on the roof? How batteries and wireless have really complicated things.
@blaineg@hchavers well, back in the 1970s at age 12 or so, I did model rockets. In a park by a big field that looked safe, the wind was strong so I pointed it into the wind the other way. Instead it turned downward and crashed in a parking lot right in front of the police station. Luckily didn’t hit or damage anything except the model rocket itself, which was pretty much a loss but I kept it for a while as a burn-scarred trophy to my failure.
@hchavers@pmarin One of my better goofs was misreading things, and sticking a full A engine in the smallest rocket Estes made, the Mosquito, instead of a 1/4 A.
It went way up, then headed north. When the ejection charge went off, ejecting the engine (by design) it accelerated out of sight. We didn’t even think about looking for it.
O Snaptain! my Snaptain! our fearful flight is done,
The drone has weather’d every gust, the pic we sought is won,
The ground is near, the crickets I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady stick, the pilot grim and daring;
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the fleeing shards of plastic,
Where on the soil my Snaptain lies,
Crashed dead and silent.
@kjgreen I couldn’t get past my curiosity as to why Eastern Ohioans and Western Kentuckians would be hiring pigeons out of Cincinnati. Because of course that’s the strangest part of this tale.
Looking at the ad on the Walmart site, all the photos have German language explanations. Very devious, these Chinese, making it look like it might be a German company, when it is not.
When you’re selling a drone meant for flying outdoors, it would probably be good to start letting folks know that they have to pass the FAA’s TRUST exam before they are legally allowed to fly for recreational purposes if they are in the United States.
@banksnld Although the weight is listed as 5.8 pounds, it can’t possibly weigh that.
I looked at the Snaptain website and it lists the the weight at 5.8 ounds. Still no help. But the Snaptain website DOES say there is no FAA registration requirement for this drone, which means it weighs less than 8.8 ounces. My guess is that it actually weighs in at 5.8 OUNCES.
@banksnld@Trinityscrew Great call out, we’re fixing this now. It is definitely not 5.8 pounds. The Quadcopter weighs 125 grams and does not require Faa registration
@Trinityscrew Those are two separate things. Yes, only drones over a certain weight require FAA registration. But, regardless of weight, you must pass the TRUST exam to fly a drone for recreational purposes in the United States. And of course, pass FAA Part 107 if they want to do anything other than purely recreational flight, whether money is involved or not.
@banksnld Thanks for the info & link! It’s also comforting to know the following: “You cannot fail the test. If you answer a question incorrectly you will be provided with information on why the answer you chose was incorrect and will be prompted to try again”. Maybe I’ll try my hardest just to see if, in fact, I can fail!!
@freddie83 Hey Freddie. Quick question, did you check inside the drone? I believe one may already be in there if I’m remembering correctly how the sample I saw was
I can’t get the blades to turn at all! App syncs up, lights come on and the controller connects. Just no spinning blades! I am possibly missing something.
@normstovall It might just be confusing documentation. It makes it look like the first thing you should try is to push the stick forward and make the prop turn. But no… what you do is press the takeoff button and then push the stick forward. This confused me for the longest time.
But anyway, it was fun until it broke. By “it” I mean the controller. I was sitting on the porch with the drone hovering in front of my face, and the left control stick on the controller box just snapped off. I’ll try to glue it back together or maybe just insert a screw instead of a stick, but that’s kind of a bummer.
Just to talk to myself in the empty room here–I used some 2-part epoxy (J B Weld) to repair the control stick. The contol has a small hole inside (like a pipe). I whittled a toothpick and inserted that into the pipe/hole to help hold the pieces together while the epoxy set. Several days later I tried it, it seems to work. Hope it lasts. I have found that sometimes plastic things epoxied together are stronger than they used to be, but you never know. Depends on the material and on how good a job you do. Now I have some video of the top of my house. woo.
Specs
Video Review
What’s Included?
App Download
The App Store
Google Play Store
Price Comparison
$59.99 at Walmart
Warranty
90 days
Estimated Delivery
Monday, Nov 15 - Thursday, Nov 18
Finally. Anyway, when the price comparison is from Walmart, it doesn’t exactly inspire my confidence.
@The_Tim a third-party seller on the Walmart site, even.
@craigthom @The_Tim If it’s third-party ya know it’s got to be accurate.
Who the heck broke the website?
Hey! I am not the one who tried to cram-a-lam a Swiss Cake Roll into the disk drive.
Should I buy this? I don’t need a drone, but maybe I just don’t know I do.
@mexicantacos Very Meh statement!
@mexicantacos not stabilized, no GPS, not for me.
@mexicantacos @mwarren But it has “Gravity control”. The ability to control gravity has to be worth something…
Now that the website is working, I’m still not going to buy.
Must resist…must resist…must resist…NOOO…gonna buy.
In the video he keeps saying “it’s so windy”…yet the trees and bushes don’t move at all.
@eeterrific Eh, there’s several shots of the trees moving. Doesn’t take much to push a little drone around.
The more I want one of these, the less appealing any particular one seems. I guess I’ve read too many reviews.
@werehatrack you want one for something serious? You probably want DJI. A few years ago, I’d have said a few other brands (more customization, US corporations, etc.), but they basically all folded. The video industry uses the prosumer line, and the cinema industry uses the pro line if they don’t build their own. The reason you want DJI is because you can go to almost every Best Buy and Costco (and a few other stores) in the world and get spare parts for most of the things that will break when you crash.
Speaking of building their own, basically everyone flying first-person video (FPV) is building their own, whether from kits or part lists or what. Mostly this is because they crash a lot and they want to keep repair costs somewhat manageable. Modular everything means only replacing what you really need to and the opportunity to keep a stock of the parts you need most quite easily. If you go this route, plan ahead: order at least a couple of spares of most everything, unless you are testing different builds or something like that.
Also, you will crash sometimes. The wind will do something weird, a random bird will come attack the quad (or you), or there will be some factor that could not be accounted for in advance that sends you spiraling down from the sky. It is best to accept early that this is going to happen on occasion.
I strongly suggest all aspiring pilots to get some cheap - but reasonably controllable - craft (I don’t know if this particular one is controllable) and get their early crashes out of their systems on something less expensive to repair or replace than whatever they intend to fly long-term. Once they learn to counteract wind and indoor air conditioning currents without the assistance of any kind of automatic piloting system, and fly around and land a bit also without such assistance, they are generally ready to fly a GPS-assisted quad and get it out of at least some of the trickier situations it’s likely to encounter. Until that point, they’re really only as good as the automatic systems they’re dependent upon (which I’ve seen fail any number of times).
The automatic flight systems are great and very useful and convenient - right up until they stop working, or fly you into a tree, or decide you need to land immediately in the middle of a pond. There is no replacement for keeping an eye and a mind on the aircraft.
Remember when problems playing with flying things was getting your kite stuck in a tree or throwing the Frisbee on the roof? How batteries and wireless have really complicated things.
@hchavers Seems like getting stuck on the roof or in a tree is still a pretty valid option.
@blaineg @hchavers well, back in the 1970s at age 12 or so, I did model rockets. In a park by a big field that looked safe, the wind was strong so I pointed it into the wind the other way. Instead it turned downward and crashed in a parking lot right in front of the police station. Luckily didn’t hit or damage anything except the model rocket itself, which was pretty much a loss but I kept it for a while as a burn-scarred trophy to my failure.
@hchavers @pmarin One of my better goofs was misreading things, and sticking a full A engine in the smallest rocket Estes made, the Mosquito, instead of a 1/4 A.
It went way up, then headed north. When the ejection charge went off, ejecting the engine (by design) it accelerated out of sight. We didn’t even think about looking for it.
This gives a good idea of the size.
Looks like a decent starter drone. I’m in!!
/giphy understood-relieved-rat
From app description, appears to be 5 Ghz WiFi. If you plan to use with an older phone, this might not work for you.
@walarney Thank you for saving me the trouble! I was exactly thinking of using it with an older (spare) Android phone with only a 2.4 Ghz antenna.
@walarney @Kerig3 Kinda late, but here’s info from the User Manual that shows the Drone and Remote both operate at 2.4 Ghz:
Why does it need a tripod?
@whogots
I’m pretty sure that’s a translation goof, and they really meant “legs”.
@whogots For the wire that’s holding it up.
O Snaptain! my Snaptain! our fearful flight is done,
The drone has weather’d every gust, the pic we sought is won,
The ground is near, the crickets I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady stick, the pilot grim and daring;
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the fleeing shards of plastic,
Where on the soil my Snaptain lies,
Crashed dead and silent.
@phendrick Very clever! Kudos!
@phendrick [A Walt Whitman sampler; with apologies to both Walt and Abe…]
@phendrick we need an audio of this!
I may regret this… but, let’s give it a whirl!
/giphy purple-unassuming-kiss
@jnicholson0619 Wow… if anything as a giphy for a product you are “taking a chance on” - that’s like the definition of “This doth not bode well.”
Hope it’s awesome, lol.
MEALS! DEALS! EELS! AWESOME!
/buy
@jwoody27 It worked! Your order number is: insincere-feisty-pot
/image insincere feisty pot
@jwoody27 cheerful image.
Gravity control?
That’s downright scary
@peenut It turns gravity into levity. Like a clown who shows up at your grandmother’s funeral.
Cincinnati is in SOUTH WESTERN Ohio…That changes everything…
@kjgreen I couldn’t get past my curiosity as to why Eastern Ohioans and Western Kentuckians would be hiring pigeons out of Cincinnati. Because of course that’s the strangest part of this tale.
nothing
Awesome for underwater videos! I’m in!
HIKING! VIKINGS! STRIKE KING [BRAND FISHING LURES]! AWESOME!
Looking at the ad on the Walmart site, all the photos have German language explanations. Very devious, these Chinese, making it look like it might be a German company, when it is not.
I was interested until I saw that. Oh well.
Jetzt ist es mir scheißegal.
@TDGentile Ja, das ist wohl.
When you’re selling a drone meant for flying outdoors, it would probably be good to start letting folks know that they have to pass the FAA’s TRUST exam before they are legally allowed to fly for recreational purposes if they are in the United States.
The learning and exam are free.
https://www.faa.gov/uas/recreational_fliers/knowledge_test_updates/
@banksnld Although the weight is listed as 5.8 pounds, it can’t possibly weigh that.
I looked at the Snaptain website and it lists the the weight at 5.8 ounds. Still no help. But the Snaptain website DOES say there is no FAA registration requirement for this drone, which means it weighs less than 8.8 ounces. My guess is that it actually weighs in at 5.8 OUNCES.
@banksnld @Trinityscrew Great call out, we’re fixing this now. It is definitely not 5.8 pounds. The Quadcopter weighs 125 grams and does not require Faa registration
@Trinityscrew Those are two separate things. Yes, only drones over a certain weight require FAA registration. But, regardless of weight, you must pass the TRUST exam to fly a drone for recreational purposes in the United States. And of course, pass FAA Part 107 if they want to do anything other than purely recreational flight, whether money is involved or not.
@banksnld Thanks for the info & link!
It’s also comforting to know the following: “You cannot fail the test. If you answer a question incorrectly you will be provided with information on why the answer you chose was incorrect and will be prompted to try again”. Maybe I’ll try my hardest just to see if, in fact, I can fail!! 
/giphy fail
Picture 3, goodbye forever.
@blaineg Yeah, what does the hand-salute even mean there? Stay away evil Drone! or Heil Dronpf!
The battery lasts less than me…
@akr225 A 30 second battery?
@akr225 @yakkoTDI TWSS?
@akr225 in bed
/buy
@rand3y It worked! Your order number is: hateful-undervalued-ninja
/image hateful undervalued ninja
I just bought my granddaughter two drones for the price of a warranty on one drone hahahaha if this thing works I can fly to the moon
ok that was way funny a sec. ago
hey Mr FFA my grand daughter is 10 years old does she need to be certified to fly a 29.00 drone…I don’t think so
Nearly a thousand of them? I’m impressed.
It says that they’ll send you 2 batteries and I only received 1
@freddie83 Hey Freddie. Quick question, did you check inside the drone? I believe one may already be in there if I’m remembering correctly how the sample I saw was
@freddie83 – Thanks for that – I came here to complain about only getting one battery as well.
@aacero @freddie83 were you able to locate the other battery inside the drone?
@freddie83 @mandirose Yep, that’s exactly where it was – thanks again!
@aacero @freddie83 Ok great!
I can’t get the blades to turn at all! App syncs up, lights come on and the controller connects. Just no spinning blades! I am possibly missing something.
@normstovall It might just be confusing documentation. It makes it look like the first thing you should try is to push the stick forward and make the prop turn. But no… what you do is press the takeoff button and then push the stick forward. This confused me for the longest time.
But anyway, it was fun until it broke. By “it” I mean the controller. I was sitting on the porch with the drone hovering in front of my face, and the left control stick on the controller box just snapped off. I’ll try to glue it back together or maybe just insert a screw instead of a stick, but that’s kind of a bummer.
Just to talk to myself in the empty room here–I used some 2-part epoxy (J B Weld) to repair the control stick. The contol has a small hole inside (like a pipe). I whittled a toothpick and inserted that into the pipe/hole to help hold the pieces together while the epoxy set. Several days later I tried it, it seems to work. Hope it lasts. I have found that sometimes plastic things epoxied together are stronger than they used to be, but you never know. Depends on the material and on how good a job you do. Now I have some video of the top of my house. woo.
Disappointing Christmas morning. Out of the box one of the motors was dead and they don’t fly with only 3.
@IAMIS These do have a warranty, so if you haven’t done so already, contact Support.
https://meh.com/support