3DR X8 is a good choice?

Hi.

I want to buy a drone for video footage to start a new business.

I have no experience  flying UAVs.
The 3DR X8 UAV is a good choice for me?
I have read that it is very difficult to set up initially.
A maximum load of less than one kilo, it is a problem?

Anyone could talk about this?

You need to be a member of diydrones to add comments!

Join diydrones

Email me when people reply –

Replies

    • For what? Very vague question, they all do different things better than one another.

  • X8 is probably a fantastic machine however if it's your first one you will be in way over your head. I bought an Iris and it has performed well thus far. Lost some battery time flying at 4600 feet but that was to be expected. Get a trainer and if you are going to fly missions and take money you better be a good "stick." Its just a matter of time before someone does something really stupid and ruins it for the rest of us.
  • Hi Victor,

    The X8 could well be a great choice for you, but as a first multicopter it is a terrible choice.

    Please read this Wiki article I put in which details exactly the situation you are facing:

    http://copter.ardupilot.com/wiki/if-you-are-new-to-multicopters-sta...

    I promise you that If you do not take the route of the writer of that top part you will remember the article and wish you had. 

    The little Hubsan X4 and the UDI 818A are both excellent small safe quadcopters with all the normal handling characteristics of a multicopter.

    You can learn on them without a lot of expense, breakage and pain (I love my little Hubsan and my wife is learning on it.)

    When you have you will also be in a better position to determine what you want to do next. 

    Best Regards,

    Gary

  • An x8 is a good choice, they are compact, powerful and still fly well if you lose a prop or motor midflight (provided it's not overloaded)

    However, if you have no flying experience, then yes buy an X8 but don't learnt to fly with it, it will cost you a fortune in spares (8 props - 8 motors all vulnerable in a crash, and yes you will crash.

    So buy yourself something small cheap and crashable - like a hubsan x4 - (they even do an fpv version now) and fly it until you can confidently fly figure of 8 circuits around your local flying field, or lounge if you go for something as tiny as the hubsan (you can pick one up with transmitter for less than $50.

    Sorry oliver, I took too long to post - good advice! And yes, if commercially flying in the UK, after you have passed your exams it's taking nearly 3 months for the permissions to come through from the CAA

  • It does not matter what you buy, if you do not first learn how to fly manually you will fail sooner rather than later and quite possibly very expensively and spectacularly. A better business model would be to simply take all your money to a casino, there you have at least some chance of success.  Buy, for less than $200, a small "toy" class quad, perhaps even with a little camera on board, such as for example a Hubsan H107D or a Heli-Max Si, and learn to fly it competently indoors and outdoors. While you are doing that, which will take time, maybe months, follow conversations on this Web site and similar ones to get a feel for what is likely to work for you in a larger machine when you are ready. Also be aware that in most places in the world today there are all sorts of problems relating to the legal use of these machines for commercial purposes.

    • Thanks for the advice.
      But I need good equipment to do a job in a couple of months, which is how long I have to learn.

      • Thanks for the advice.
        But I need good equipment to do a job in a couple of months, which is how long I have to learn.

        As you can see from my and the other responses here, this is unrealistic. And we are not a bunch of elitists trying to shoo away a noobie, to the contrary several of the people who have responded are folks who I know for a fact have spent all sorts of time helping beginners. Even an experienced pilot might be hesitant to commit to a deadline a couple of months off if it involves getting a new, unfamiliar aircraft/camera system all dialed in. Sorry to be negative. But if you want to try, you still need to start with that little quad. So get one ASAP and see how you do. Maybe, just maybe, you'll be one of the fortunate few who is something of a "natural" pilot, in which case maybe there's a slim chance of success. But don't bet the farm on it.

This reply was deleted.

Activity