First flight of a DJI Mini 2 drone

[Concerto]

Today rain nearly stopped me using my DJI Mini 2 drone, but late afternoon it dried up. Luckily there is a football field near the Wells visitor pontoon, plenty of space and free of people. After a few inbuilt checks and compulsory videos to watch that shows how to control the drone. With the drone sitting on the grass I started the lift off procedure - nothing appened. The screen said the propellers were being obstructed, yes the grass was too long! A quick search found a small area clear of grass and I tried again with an easy liftoff. Up it went and then hovered at about 1.2m over the ground. A quick test of the controls and landing, I realised this was so simple and precise to fly. After a few more test flights to ensure I could land it on a space 30cm x 30cm (a foot square space). Then some flights over the football field to see how easy it was to move around at some height, higher than the ground's floodlight poles. Boy can it move fast. Next I wanted to test the camera and flew towards the harbour and took 2 photos. The next flight I tested the video camera taking a view of the visitor pontoon from above and out to the entrance. It was so far away, I could not see the drone in the sky. I had to rely on the camera on my mobile phone to fly it back towards me. After this I felt I had enough playtime and went back to Concerto. The video quality was outstanding despite the odd wobble from the operator using the wrong control (should be able to edit out). Below are the 2 photos, but at reduced resolution for this web site.





I feel flying the drone may become addictive. It really is a new dimension for photography and hopefully I will get some wonderful shots.

For speed of delivery I used Argos and paid full retail price, but some discounts are available elsewhere. I should also mention that for £45 you can buy 1 years insurance. This is worth doing as if you badly damage or lose the drone, they will replace it for £45 and if it happens for a second time they charge £55. So flying from a boat makes this seem excellent value. For those who want more information on the DJI Mini 2 drone, this is their web site. It is also available from plenty of places in the UK.

Buy DJI Mini 2 - DJI Store

 

[skipmac]

Got a Mini 2 for Christmas. Tried a cheapo toy a couple of years ago and this was night and day different. Very cool.

 

[lustyd]

Just FYI it’s illegal to fly where you can’t see it. Did you take your licence test and get it registered? You DO still need these in the UK for drones under 250g.

 

[lustyd]

Register and take the test to fly | UK Civil Aviation Authority

 

[Just_sayin']

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[dunedin]

The drone certainly gives a different perspective on many pretty harbours and anchorages. And the Mini is smalll enough to be less intrusive than some others.
Regarding the grass, or other bad surfaces, as I tend to fly the drone in remote and wild spots I now carry an old car floormat which I can lay out as an “aerodrome”. Easy for takeoffs, just needs a bit of practice to land in the middle when a breeze is up (hint - point camera straight down to get a better view of position). But this good practice for landing on the foredeck, which has the additional obstacles of mast, stays etc - again I use a floor mat to aim for, and to be more non slip after landing.
The other acquisition has been a waterproof back pack to take drone, iPad (see Android support issues!), floormat etc safely ashore in the dinghy.

 

[lustyd]

Less intrusive is all relative. Smaller props making more noise might be considered more intrusive by some. The trick with any drone is to get it high enough to be quiet as fast as possible unless you're inspecting the mast, in which case learn to appologise and refer to it as a tool

While landing on the foredeck might work when alongside you really need to practice catching it in your hand for any kind of use at sea, and this will quickly become your default launch and recover method on land too as it also solves the grass problem.

 

[skipmac]

Less intrusive is all relative. Smaller props making more noise might be considered more intrusive by some. The trick with any drone is to get it high enough to be quiet as fast as possible unless you're inspecting the mast, in which case learn to appologise and refer to it as a tool

While landing on the foredeck might work when alongside you really need to practice catching it in your hand for any kind of use at sea, and this will quickly become your default launch and recover method on land too as it also solves the grass problem.

Based on playing with my Mini 2, in my opinion the noise is minimal and not really annoying at all. Even hovering a few feet away it's just a mild, buzzing sound. 20-30' in the air just slightly noticeable.

 

[lustyd]

Haha owners of drones always think that, I do since I bought one! For a lot of other people though they are very annoying, but as you said once it's a bit higher the noise goes away

 

[skipmac]

Haha owners of drones always think that, I do since I bought one! For a lot of other people though they are very annoying, but as you said once it's a bit higher the noise goes away

Well it would certainly depend a lot on the individual. Like some people go nuts listening to a barely audible drip from a kitchen faucet that others don't even notice. Our burglar alarm makes a tiny beep-beep when the batteries are getting low. I barely notice it, my wife will wake up in the middle of the night on the second floor on the other end of the house and go downstairs to the foyer to turn it off.

But bottom line, the decibel level of a Mini 2 is pretty low. Guess it comes down to what kind of noise would bother someone, even at low volumes.

 

[Laminar Flow]

I got a Mini SE to be able to take some shots of the boat without having to cast off a crew member in the dinghy. The only way to launch and retrieve a drone on a sailing vessel is by hand. To this end I have been practicing this a lot; get yourself a pair of those rubberized, thorn resistant gardening gloves - trust me. Mine came in a very unmanly shade of pink, but at least they don't show the blood.
In regards to the no-questions-asked warranty by DJI: I thought you had to produce "the body" to make a claim. This might be somewhat difficult at sea - I have been loath to find out if the thing has enough buoyancy to make retrieval possible.

 

[skipmac]

I got a Mini SE to be able to take some shots of the boat without having to cast off a crew member in the dinghy. The only way to launch and retrieve a drone on a sailing vessel is by hand. To this end I have been practicing this a lot; get yourself a pair of those rubberized, thorn resistant gardening gloves - trust me. Mine came in a very unmanly shade of pink, but at least they don't show the blood.
In regards to the no-questions-asked warranty by DJI: I thought you had to produce "the body" to make a claim. This might be somewhat difficult at sea - I have been loath to find out if the thing has enough buoyancy to make retrieval possible.

Haven't tried this but read about a trick for easier retrieval on a boat. One drone flyer said she hooked up a long nylon cable tie hanging down from the drone. Just have to coordinate grabbing the cable tie and killing the engines at the same time.

 

[lustyd]

Like some people go nuts listening to a barely audible drip from a kitchen faucet that others don't even notice.

That's a fairly strong sign of ASD generally and worth pointing out to those people so they can understand why it bothers them

 

[lustyd]

Haven't tried this but read about a trick for easier retrieval on a boat. One drone flyer said she hooked up a long nylon cable tie hanging down from the drone. Just have to coordinate grabbing the cable tie and killing the engines at the same time.

You don't need to turn it off, just turn it upside down. As such a stick epoxied to the bottom is more useful since you can use it to turn the drone over, a lot of YouTubers do this.

 

[HenrikH]

You can get a small landig gear that attaches to the Mini. Makes grabbing much easier

 

[dunedin]

You can get a small landig gear that attaches to the Mini. Makes grabbing much easier

But anything adding weight moves it into a different usage class - and more importantly reduces flight time. The Mini is very weight sensitive

 

[lustyd]

The mandatory operator ID sticker will add more than a gram so you're probably over the limit regardless.

 

[Concerto]

Just FYI it’s illegal to fly where you can’t see it. Did you take your licence test and get it registered? You DO still need these in the UK for drones under 250g.

The DJI Mini 2 is under 250g and does not require a licence.

 

[Birdseye]

Register and take the test to fly | UK Civil Aviation Authority

And the enforcement? Guess it will be like ships radio licences.

 

[Concerto]

The idea of a car mat is a good one. However I have decided on the boat to try a hammock stretched across the lifelines on the foredeck. It should make it easy, possible adding a flat surface (I have some 5mm plywood onboard) in the middle to ensure it does not slide anywhere. The rotors would be stopped by then, so no possible damage to them from the netting. I do not like the idea of catching the drone as I have heard of several people cutting badly cut forearms.

I already have a waterproof backpack, bought for keeping many things dry.