Drone Flights.

My latest toy, and it is a toy, is a Syma X8C drone... I am getting better at controlling it BUT I have found that it does not like even the slightest wind. Last night with very little wind in the garden, at about 70 metres the wind started to push it away and even with the control fully back it only just returned.

It has a range of about 300 metres and if it gets out of range it will just fall from the sky, there is no return to base GPS on this one. If that happens from any height it is likely to be fatal as it is quite a heavy beast especially if it has the HD action camera attached.

Syma X8C with HD camera strapped on

The camera that comes with the drone is not very good but you can take pictures remotely with it. The HD is mainly for video but you can take snapshots from the video that are acceptable.

HD Video snapshot.

Enhanced photo taken with the drone camera

Here are a couple of my YouTube videos taken with the Drone with the HD camera attached. The first one is new but some of our readers may have seen the second one via my facebook page.

I just love flying it both with and without the camera attached and it is quite easy once you get the hang of it. I still have the occasional crash landing but to date nothing that has done any damage. It has also been stuck up our trees on more than one occasion.

I learnt most of how to handle the controls with a very small drone (of which I have two and a broken one) Costing less than £10 delivered free from China. They are great fun to fly and crash really well... The small ones have a range of about 50 metres.

You can get spare parts for both drones from China and I am currently awaiting a replacement motor for the tiny one, cost £1.25 delivered free.

If you have any interest in flying I can thoroughly recommend a drone. My next problem is do I buy a bigger and better one !!! 

A view of the village.

Yes It's about time we posted something!

This video was taken from my quadcopter which I have now got a little better at flying. It gives a different perspective of the village.

For the geeks... The quadcopter is a Syma X8C and the camera is a Vivitar action camera DVR 749HD. The camera that comes with it is pretty limited.

I am having great fun flying it and it's baby brother the H8 mini, which is only about 12cm across and buzzes around like a gnat. Without it though I would not be able to handle the Syma as due to its size it does not crash well.