Long Range Gone Bad || Not Returned to Home 

Vote for Fox

Fox 🙂

fox for sure? i have an fpv dji drone and i really wanna catch a herd of deer with it. also the dji fpov has augmented home spot in goggles totally helpful never lose yourself

@@pkwithmeplease yeah, that home point on the DJI drone is really something. I think fox too, but only saw it when reviewing the footage.

panda

Your right about the GPS. I used to own a drone with GPS, usually, that one was sent first, then I would learn the surroundings. Unfortunately I lost that drone.

Exactly. I spent so much effort in making the GPS work well in my 5-inch fpv drone. It had issues with interference etc, but solved it by wrapping its bottom and sides using two layers of anti-static plastic sheets. Worked like a charm. Can't afford to lose the drone in this kind of scenarios.

Gee pee ess is 3 words lol

@@Todd_G_FPV 😂😂😂 word!

@@Sleeperknot interesting way to solve the GPS interference, and yes there are better places to loose a drone.

Couldn't agree more. That home point direction is very usefull. I now have a drone with GPS on the way.

Thanks a lot! Looking back now, there was a bridge just behind me that I've could have used as landmark but... I was just too hasty. I've got connected to you too. Keep it up!

Yes, thanks for the comment and totally agree about the battery 😂

Exactly what I was thinking, don't care if a kill the battery, just to not lose (another) drone.

😆 I'm not that good with making fire. There was a bridge right behind me, should have that take as reference if I wasn't that hasty.

Thank you so much! It was a spectacular view indeed, but was already low on battery and eager to return home. Indeed, the idea of lossing the drone in that area was scarry.

Thanks! I take it you've seen other of my videos 😃 I was longing for the Chimera 7 for a long time. Just had to save the money till I afford it.

That may be true, but how about crashing, lol 😉

I guess even familiar placed look different from above than we are used to, and getting lost is easy. Glad you managed to find home.

I use one of my drone strobe lights when flying at night in low light flights. Or a headlamp pointing up.

That H on the DJI drone is really something. I think it's a good drone, but all have some pro and cons.

@@adventure_boy well said 👍

Initially I found the comment a bit too harsh, but you have good points. Mistakes are also to learn from them therefore I have the GPS on the way.

@@adventure_boy I’m glad you received my post in the way it was intended, to help. Here are 3 sites that will get you all the info needed to setup, test and rely on GPS For betaflight Joshua Bardwell ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-B_Yl0wqRf68.html For Inav Pawel Spychalsky (one of the developers for INAV) ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-KeRv484ntzQ.html and Also for Inav Painless360 Most people I know use a FC setup with INAV which is much better on LR than Betaflight. In INAV you will be able to do Missions (autonomous flights controlling altitude, speed and direction). AutoLanding and many other features. I use Betaflight for short flights (under 1.6Km) and Inav for all other LR flying. One other thing if you have an ‘Open TX” radio you can download a LUA SCRIPT from GitHub that will take your GPS coordinates and display them on your radio screen using any RX that send Telemetry. And they will be saved on your screed even if you lose connection with a downed quad. I wish you Happy Flying 😊

Thanks for the links. I get more and more recommendation for iNav for Long range and I'm pretty sure I'll give it a try. I've also heard about the telemetry saving possibility and tried to look it up on RU-vid but didn't find it. Maybe you know a video on how to make this settings? I would be very thankful. Anyway, thanks so much for your recommendations so far!

Thanks! It works with DJI just the same. I had previously a drone with GPS, so I know for sure. Right now I've placed an order for a drone with GPS also more suited for long range.

I have no arrow to point the home point.

@@adventure_boy Ok then let me tell you that some kind of homepoint indicator like a RTH-arrow or similiar helps a LOT avoiding such situations. I had many situations in long range FPV flights where I would have failed the same way you did here if I wouldn't have had a homepoint indicator in my OSD.

And what would have been the story of I were to made it back with no troubles. I flew a drone with GPS, and I agree it's useful, this drone did had GPS. Point is to work best with the tools you have. You have GPS, use the arrow, you don't, then learn the surroundings. That's what I usually do. Have a run to learn the area, then go full send.

Thank you so much!

Oh, thanks for letting me know, but be aware there are plenty of RU-vid videos I've seen doing 3 - 4kms saying they are doing long range, please make sure you update them as well. As for the beeper, that is very useful indeed if you are able to reach the place your quad falls. I have lost another drone that had GPS and beeper, I know very well we're it is but it just not reachable by foot. So both GPS and beeper were pointless.

Good point, should have picked the bridge near to where I was standing as reference, but I was too hasty.

😆 Now I also do a plan on how I can retrieve the drone just in case. I remember when reviewing the GoPro footage, I was able to easily spot the home point, but believe me, in the goggles I had no idea where it was.

Thanks! My new drone has this specs, hope to mele the most of it.

Thank you! I was able to further use that battery after this flight, with no problems, but by now it's long gone.

Presuming you refer to the DJI FPV drone, which indeed has really nice safety features like return to home, but it just has no crash-ability, which is a big downside in my opinion.

@@adventure_boy exactly. One more point : DJI owners can be content and happy but their comments in a self built fpv drone's video aren't really solicited. Building something yourself is in its own league. Not every DJI can dream of doing that.

@@Sleeperknot true. I believe that building and then flying your own drone adds even more excitement.

No GPS, flying by surroundings.

I've heard this suggestion before and starting to seriously consider this. Thanks!

I know there are a lot of people suggesting to use GPS, especially for long range, but if you are familiar with the area, I honestly don't prefer the GPS. It's sometimes distracting.

@@adventure_boy I absolutely agree bro

I'm not sure it would have worked. I mean it sounds like a good idea, but I had no idea about the place around me especially how it looked like from above. But I haven't tried so really not sure, maybe it would have worked. Thanks for the idea 👍

Man, good point regarding the sun, thanks for the tip! And Yeap, no GPS on that drone, was the only one left at that point and the scenary was to spectacular.

really? do you use GPS when you're flying your hang-glider?

​@@adventure_boy Yes. I made a custom device includes GPS, barometer, G sensor, etc. It's OK to fly with a hangglider without any devices but your flight zone is pretty confusing everywhere looks same 🤣 Anyway, nice scenery 👍

yes, that was the terrifying part, that everything looked the same and was very hard to decide where to go. Anyway, the point I was trying to make was that I was accustomed to fly without GPS as I done it in several other areas, but always was familiarized with the surroundings, except this time where I immediately took off into the distance without knowing the area. But in my opinion, if you know an area, flew there before you can go easy without GPS. I've now flew here multiple times and know every corner of the area, every slightly higher tree or places where not to go.

Flying air planes, that something I would like to try as well. Hopefully this year.

Yeah, totally agree 👍

Hope it is just a lesson learned and you were able to retrieve your drone

Would it make sense me saying I don't know where home is if I had GPS?

On another occurrence when I couldn't find home I return with the help of sound. On that occasion, I was closer to home so I could do punch-outs to hear the drone and navigate to where I was.

It's great when it all ends well.

Thank you, and indeed it's a great place to fly, I've now returned here many times and by now I know the area very well. I now have GPS on another drone, and it proves not always useful but that is for another video.

@@adventure_boy definitely, nothing in this life is infallible, but you do have a lot less chances of losing you equipment with a gps module than without, especially for LR. The new M10 chips are great and lock more than 20 sats in seconds. Stay safe🤙🏼

Happy new year to you too! Glad you enjoyed the video😊

@@AndrewHollywood with this drone, yes

Thank you!😊🙏

I had a drone with GPS, and I know exactly what you are saying, it is very usefull indeed.

I would definitely highly recommend the TBS M8.2 GPS Glonass module. It's a great one for long range flying and gets satellites very quickly, usually up to 8 sats in well under a minute. I've spent much more on Matek units and they take forever to get sats.

Thanks for the advice! I do plan to get another drone that is more suited for Long range and surely that will have a GPS.

I could be wrong, but I do not think DJI osd has a home arrow?

@@taggerung890 arrow is available if enable in BF and, of course there is a GPS installed. I can tell for sure as I had a drone with GPS and the arrow was available on the DJI as well. I believe you can get the same OSD on the DJI as well. The main downside to the DJI system is that the OSD is not recorded.

It's not always you want GPS on your quads. I had a quad with GPS that I would normally fligh in a new area then take this one out as well. But back then I had lost my GPS quad and was left only with this one. Anyway I've previously done many long flights without GPS with this quad as well, but knowing the area I had no problems. But this time, being in a new spot I didn't know the surroundings. That's the point I'm trying to make.

I may have been to hasty.

Thank you so much 👍

Probably because it immediately drops to that voltage after take off. For most of the cruising my battery stay at around 14.8v, 14.5v, and because I was climbing I was not worried at all about the low voltage. It was my first run here, and first of the day, but also last because of the thrill. However, there must have been something off with the battery I can't tell because it did a total of 4 minutes if flight time, when I usually get 5 with no problems. Oh well, it lived to tell the story.

@@adventure_boy a fully charged 4s is 16.8v, there is no way you are dropping to 15.x right off the bat or you are buying extremely low-C batteries (I don't even think you can buy them that bad anymore), or your charger is set up incorrectly.

@@hotliner2872 I'm flying tattu fun fly 100c lipo batteries, don't know if those are the best or not, but surve the purpose I'm expecting of them.

That's what I've should have done indeed.

Not on this quad, no.

Probably the reason why I got distracted and forgot to check surroundings 😅

I have no GPS on this drone, was never a problem before as I usually learn the surroundings. But in this case I was to eager to fly in this new place and didn't check around.

@@adventure_boy yeah this trees around look scary with this voltage you had, glad everything end up well

@@bezimienny_fpv yeah, I was also very happy I could tell the story with GoPro footage and not only from goggles. Anyway, it was a lesson learned and never had problems ever since.

Thanks! I used to have a drone with GPS, and usually have that one sent out to scoute the area, it was really usefull.

@@adventure_boy It's always risky, but that's also part of what makes it so fun! Again, awesome flight!✌

@@DANKFPV thanks! Keep it up!

Yes, as I'm trying to point in the video, you can do it very well when you know the surroundings. The reason I'm saying this is because I've done it many times before but in known places.

@@adventure_boy you can do long range without necessarily knowing the surrounding and this is where rth is handy

of course you can, I'm just stating my case. For my drone I have no GPS, and usually I have no problem with that, except this mistake I did as described in this video.

I think it's something smaller than a deer.

Glad you like it. Just make sure to check surroundings before going long!

Or, as I've more recently found out, difficul to fly low to the ground over snow.

I was trying to avoid the trees, just as you say, it would have been a goner in that dense tree area.

@@adventure_boy stuck to big open fields for range tests and watch the battery 😂 glad you got it back though dude

Thus is in Romania, near Călinești-Oaș maps.app.goo.gl/7CCH3Qd4k7m6sHGu5

Hey, thanks!😀 That was my main objective indeed, try to find a spot from where I could retrieve it. Happy flying to you too!

Glad to help! Everyday is a good day to learn something new and push it a little further. Keep it up!

Thank you, yes I've noticed.

😆 indeed, that's a goner.

Especially in a new place, the GPS is a must, but I'm not saying it can't be done without. I hope you were able to retrieve your drone eventually.

@@adventure_boy After alot of crapping myself I found the platform I was standing on. Got pretty lucky

But all is good when it ends good.

Drones that have GPS usually have the home arrow as well. What do you mean?

😆 I don't know, doesn't look that big

ok... that must be a nice adrenaline rush. i know the feeling. long range without GPS home direction arrow? the quality of a black 6 is stull stunning. even we are more than 6 generations later now. for flights like this i always turn around midway to the top of wherever i wanna go and remember a picture the launch point in my mind.

Yes, a very beautiful place. I was initially planning to have 2, 3 flights here, but after this, one I was very eager to leave.

Me too, I've been flying this drone with out GPS a lot, and I've always checked the area before committing to long range, except this time. Can't understand why.

@@adventure_boy eager to leave? cant blame you haha! put a bigger battery on next time. and GPS. see the home direction arrow didnt safe me only once before.

@@cloudpandarism2627 I've solved the GPS ever since, got a Chimera7 for proper long range, but about the battery, something was wrong with that one from the start.

I had previously lost another drone, due to different circumstances, so I was very determined not to lose another one.

@@adventure_boy glad you retrieved it ;) I recently bought an Flywoo explorer 4 v2 and it has a GPS. With the pointing arrow to how on the OSD, I feel like I will never fear this again (but… never say never ;) )

Do you mean, Flywoo explorer? I very much enjoyed that drone, it was the one I mention I lost before. Do make sure you set your return to home properly, not only when you hit the switch, but also for when you lose signal. I followed the instructions from this video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-GE6K9HiTO90.html

@@adventure_boy my mistake: Flywoo and not iflight. Thanks for the precious advice. I think I only have the switch set up, but not the radio failsafe. Need to double check this… never had ha problem with crossfire but you’re right, this is definitely a must have

Best of luck and keep it up!

That would have been useful, indeed.

I had no GPS.

yes indeed, but it was scary all the way back.

@@spotLV ok, but which dji camera unit? The original air unit or the o3?

@@adventure_boy I'm just learning stuff, so I've got no idea, but I rarely see people mounting gopro on drones with dji units

@@spotLV would like to clarify a few things. There are the DJI consumers drones, like the Air3, Mini4Pro or Mavic3 that have very good cameras, even better than GoPro but for different purposes. Then there are the fpv drones that may use, what is now, the old air unit which is far less performant when compare to the gopros. But more recently this unit was upgraded to what is so called o3 system that is very comparable to GP. However it may have some limitations and still some will prefer a GP on top of drone. In my opinion the o3 is almost as good as the GP, but not quite there. However, if I were to have a small drone, like a 4", I would fly without a GP for more flight time.

@@spotLV hope this helps

@@adventure_boy thanks!

Thank you! And I do hope it can help others from loosing their quads. Usually, I also check the surroundings first, but this time was stollen by the scenary.

Subscribed! More of such adventure please (minus the bad flight planning hehe). City dwellers like me can only dream of flying at such places..

Initially I was freaking out. But then, that's exactly what I was thinking: keep it cool, don't let other mistakes make things worst.

This is a question I don't see that often. Usually, but mostly in the DJI groups everyone is asking how to record sound from the drone, therefore I don't really get your question or the reason for asking. Maybe you can elaborate a little bit.

@@adventure_boy Sure...I don't see the point in placing a microphone onto a device that screams, whines or hums to the point that most drones do since the only sound that mic will likely be recoring is the sound of the drone. I can kinda get it for fpv freestyle guys who just love the sound of hearing the motors and props doing their job as they crank it through the moves...kinda. I find drone videos more enjoyable to watch with sounds that are added in later in post. Maybe it's just me, but I don't really care for the sound drones make and do see the point in recording audio from a drone, which is why I asked about doing it.

In my videos I sometimes leave the drone sound and sometimes not, depending on the scope of the video. When I go for some cinematic shots, like this one, ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-7lGIJIq_0Aw.html, I take out the drone sound completely, because the focus is not on the drone, but the scenery. When I try to emphasis what the drone is doing, like in this case, then I leave the sound in, it's for better immersion into the act. And as you mentioned, some drone pilots, like those that run analogue actually have an earplug through which they listen to the drone sound live, helps them fly better. To me the sound of an FPV drone, makes sense, because it follows the movement the drone makes. In the end its a subjective thing, you can either like it or not.

Hi! For sure I've should have check the surroundings first. Usually that's what I do when flying in a new place, but this time the landscape distracted me. That's such a good plan you have for return home, impressive the use of way points. I'm from Romania, that's in Europe.

@@adventure_boy yeah I get easily distracted! After I lost my 3rd long range due to my lack of being prepared /wrong gear/and lack of experience my Gf at the time made me a check list of things I need to check and or do before I even arm! Also I don't do long range now without having checked the area the day before or have inav setup with a emergency point pre planned! I even have a hard time controlling myself just fun flying with my 3 and 5 inch quads! 800mw and 2w crsf it's easy to get carried away! So much so even my 2.5 inch has a m8q tiny gps on it for rescue ! Having new noob fpv pilots with me I always seem to lose my video to someone plugging in on my channel! Lol! Im the one who reports the clean channels to them! Wish I Diddnt teach them about smart audio or tramp! Lol

@@adventure_boy beautiful area and great video by the way! I'm in the u. S. A.! So hello from the north east! Almost in Canada! Lol

@@jbizzbuildsmanstuff9932 I guess it's easy to get distracted, and I believe we are all looking for the adventure, that's why we fly FPV drones, for the thrill. I've checked one of your videos, you're pretty good at flying. Keep it up!

@@adventure_boy thanks! I don't hardly post anything on the tube or Facebook anymore! Been doing fpv 7 years now and have learned hard lessons with dealing with public and the faa! Lol. (damn meta data) lol! But this spring I will be posting alot more content that is more appropriate for sharing now that I got my old school rotor riot mentality settled out of me and take much more precaution!

sounds like a good idea.

Thank you! 👍

Waw. I've seen your video and I can totally understand why you got lost. It's a beautiful landscape but so easy to get lost in it. How did you manage to retrieve it? And one advice, don't set your video for kids, that disables the comments.

@@adventure_boy oh I didn't know about the comment. Thanks. I'll keep that in mind. I divided the area in sectors and then searched. Took me another day but I recovered the quad and the action cam both.

@@adventure_boy I didn't have dvr coz I forgot the record. I didn't have gps sats coz I was impatient and didn't wait for the lock. And I didn't have daylight on my side.

@@jumpstartfpv good plan how to retrieve the quad and I'm very glad you find it. I remember I've once lost the GoPro from the quad, search the area for two hours until it was dark, came back the next morning and found it in 1 minute, it was unreal.

That's what I was expecting as well. But is not that easy to tell when you turn exactly 180 degree. And since the scenary is new, hard to tell what it should like on the opposite direction.

@@adventure_boy I see. So you didn't use any Gps then?

@@k1ortia No GPS on this drone. I usually know the place when I go long, but this time it was the first time in this place and forgot to learn the area.

@@adventure_boy Personally any type of medium to long range flying, i would always use a GPS. It's a no brainer. Nothing worse then losing your pride and joy.

@@k1ortia good point. But at that moment it was the only drone I had left. In the meantime I got a new one for long range ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-CS1qLJDvjLA.html

I had no GPS on this drone, but flew long range with it quite a lot. Point was, I never flew here before and I didn't knew the area.

I think you can get pretty much the same info on both systems. But the home direction you get only if you have GPS installed. Don't know how it would work otherwise.

@@adventure_boy dji head sets can't show as much info on fpv head set

@@adventure_boy you should install a gps on a better drone

@@staydown.normal5323 I do plan for the next drone to have GPS, that is a must now.

@@adventure_boy I have videos on my channel on how to connect gps and how to enable gps rescue and more

I agree, but sometimes you try to make the most with what you've got.

Yes, for sure, comming next.

Cu mini am inceput și eu acum un an. Dronele de FPV nu au predominant GPS. Cele destinate pt Long range deobicei au, sau se pot adăuga ulterior. Pe Nazgul nu este GPS by default, dar s-ar putea adăuga

Thanks! And yes, GPS comming next.

@@adventure_boy It happened to me and like you said, I didn't survey the area. It was not even big, LOL. I flew around a baseball field. I got confused with the 4 walkways. I thought there was only 1. I was trying to fly back my quad but what I was seeing was neighborhood houses that I wasn't even thinking. I was like "where the hell am I". HAHAHA! I decided to fly 4 directions and finally I saw the parking lot, LMAO.

@@neilfpv that can be confusing, but great that you had enough battery to search the area. On another occasion when I got confuse where home was, but was much closer, I was doing big punch outs so that I could hear the drone and find my direction.

@@adventure_boy great tip on that! You should watch one of my videos where I didn't have a gps module but I had a beeper. I crashed in a weed farm. OMG! It was scary, LMAO.

found it - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-42G57jO4yBM.html

Not sure I follow, what do you mean?

@@adventure_boy in failsafe tab. If you don't switch from stage 1 to stage 2 the craft can't engage "RTH"

Happened to me a couple times.

@@trumpone4443 ah, I see why you mean. Well, that would have work if GPS was available, but not on this drone.

Yes, beautiful autumn colours, probably the reason I was so hasty in the beginning.

Hope you also managed to retrieve it!

@@adventure_boy I did thanks. Glad you got yours back too. Beautiful countryside where you flew! I put it mine down on a track I knew I could find on Google maps satellite view. Weirdly I lost my ELRS link once I disarmed, but managed to keep some video. I'm wondering if the Rx went into wi-fi update mode or something.

@@sligit smart thinking to use the track as reference.But weird with regards to the link.

Glad you were able to find it, bat too bad it was run over. Were you able to fix it afterwards? I also had many crashes with several drone, not in such dense forests, but still difficult to find places, and what helped me the most in finding them was the buzzer. Now, that one is for me the must have.

@@adventure_boy unfortunately it's not worth/Impossible to repair. The only good parts are 2 motos the rest went under the wheel. I'm building a 5 Inch right now and am waiting for the Mobula 6 to arrive :)

@dronesndstuff626 that's a pity 😞 Best of luck with those new drones!👍

Yes party, but you need to learn where home is.

@@adventure_boy indeed, but with gps you have a ARROW in your screen that help you so much to return to home, btw i need gps against failsafe crash gpsrescue is awesome imho

@@zaphyrfpv6671 I know, and you are right. I had a drone with GPS and it was very usefull. I usually sent it first to learn the area, then went with this drone with no worries. This time I was too hasty.

And if you don't have one?

@@adventure_boy don't fly long range.

@@carboncubss or, maybe a crazy thought, as I'm trying to suggest in the video, learn the surroundings first then knock yourself ;)

@adventure_boy using all the resources available in this hobby is the smartest thing to do. The obvious is that whenever anyone flies, they should learn and understand and know their surroundings before lift off. 😉

My pleasure! Thanks for stopping by!

👍 Only funny when you get the drone back😅

@@adventure_boy always funny when its not yer quad ;) but srsly everyone did this at least once and every long range fpv tip vidi has this warning XD

And that's why, in my opinion, it's the most basic mistake.

@@adventure_boy not that I didnt went to the different buliding and lost signal after 6km safe trip to the top of the mountain XD

@@FUFUFUFPV you don't have to be a rookie to make mistakes, it can happen to the best of us.

No GPS.

@@adventure_boy Why are you going LR without GPS?

@@MarcelloScardi cause you don't need it, if you know the area. Which is the message I'm trying to send with this video.

@@adventure_boy it's not an absolute 'must have', but it's a cheap insurance against a lot of troubles like rc link loss or video link loss. If you've configured your failsafe correctly, your quad will come back and land...err crash in your vicinity in the case of a rc link failsafe. If you lose your video (terrain masking or vtx fail), you can activate the RTH manually and safely recover the video as soon as the quad is unmasked, or land your vtx-less quad LOS when it comes back to you. The latter happened to me during one flight, right after I had configured the RTH failsafe, I was very lucky!

@@pascalroman3027 yes, GPS is very usefull, but eithe if you have it or not, from my point of view you should check surroundings first. Which in this case I failed to do. But indeed a GPS is a cheap unit that is worth the investment.

Oh yes, GPS is very useful. I plan for my next drone to get one with GPS, and better Long range capabilities. Besides the INav software improvements, do you know if there are any effects on the range maybe?

I've only noticed it after reviewing the footage, I was quite surprised.