A New Toy

 Do you ever see something that looks really cool and fun but after you buy it, you find out that it isn't really that cool? Well, a drone isn't one of those. Recently we picked ourselves up a new Mavic Pro from DJI to add a little more depth to our videos and to see what all the hype was about. This is what we learned.
  First of all, until a few weeks ago I had only flown small helicopters that cost around $20 to $50. The tech in those types of units are very limited and the batteries last around five minutes if you're lucky. Not a lot of time to get the hang of flying. They are also very hard to keep in the air for long which is why a kid only plays with the goofy thing for about a week before it gets set aside to collect dust. They just aren't fun. Well, I now know that a nice drone makes a huge difference. The Mavic has been very easy to get the hang of and is way more fun to fly than it should be. The controller resembles a video game console controller that adds to the ease of use for those of us that grew up playing video games (and they said games were useless.)
  The fact that you have to register a drone is somewhat annoying but I understand it. A lot of people aren't willing to do the research into the proper procedures on how to do things and by going through the registration process you learn some important facts. Mainly, you are sharing air space with everything that flies. Spooky. These drones can fly quite high and the last thing I want is to cause issue with a helicopter or a plane. In fact, one of the things about drones that I didn't know was how difficult it is to find a place to fly them, in California at least. There are a lot of helipads and small airports scattered everywhere that you must call and communicate with in order to fly within five miles of. Here in SoCal a lot of these five mile radius' overlap and in short, makes it a hassle.
  Once you find a place to fly, you'll never want to put it down. The day we took the Mavic out for the first time we went through three batteries as my dad, my wife, my son and I took turns getting the feel for it and we were disappointed when the fun was over. I got a little more flight time in our recent trip to Moab, Utah, but the winds kept flying to a minimum. You'll see that footage in an upcoming YouTube video.
 Over all, I'm very happy with our new tool, yes tool. This really isn't a toy, after all. I'm very excited about getting more flight time and perfecting my aerial photography/videography. It's an exciting new hobby that I wish I had gotten into long ago.
 Join me again on Friday when I begin to recap our experiences at this years' Easter Jeep Safari. See you then.

Brandan