When we were away in Pembrokeshire, there was an other bloke doing some dronage with a drone that had collision avoidance. We exchanged a few words on drones and it transpired he had a DJI Phantom 4 Pro - or so he said.
Anyway, when we got home I thought I'd have a look on e-Bay to see what they sold for, and it was anywhere from £800 upwards, which was way out of my league, especially as I have a history of losing them. You can get them cheaper occasionally, but not by much.
I did, however, spot one on an auction that had reached the grand sum of £160 with another day to go. Thinking I'd place a punt on it, but never win it, I lodged a £265 snipe - and won, much to my surprise.
I'm not sure the bloke I spoke with in Pembrokeshire gave me the correct information, as the device I received a few days later in the post was huge - much larger than the one he had, which was only marginally larger than my (or No.1 Son's) Mini 2. I suspect he actually had a Mini 4 Pro.
The carry-box alone is almost the size of an aircraft carry-on case. It is almost brand new, having done, according to the info on the DJI site, which tracks usage, only 6 previous flights.
It's pretty complex but, being complex, you can control so many more features. Because it's above 250gms you should strictly apply for a CAA licence, which I have applied for. You also have to do a theory test, which I'm studying. Once qualified you're a licenced drone pilot - watch out Putin!
The downside is that you're much more restricted on where you can fly it, be it where people are gathered, residential, or commercial areas. Also it's too large to casually put into a rucksack - the box is the size of a rucksack itself, leaving no room for clothing or food when on yomps.
However, a nice piece of kit with an alleged 7km range and a 30 minute flying time. When I think my first ever drone had a range of only 300m, which got me to the end of our field, it's a world apart. At top speed it can do 45 MPH, but to get to that speed it has to tilt forward a bit, which can bring the spinning rotors into view, but Sport mode is only for quickly getting to places you want to video.
It's noisy as hell and so I've ordered some low-noise rotors, which will probably affect the range, but will help in reducing the din in makes.
The collision avoidance feature is handy - for me, anyway - but only functions in the slower speed mode. If you put into Sport Mode, the drone would hit an object before the collision avoidance system registered any obstruction in its path. I've already clipped a tree in the garden in Sport mode and broken off the end of one rotor. They're cheap enough though at £9.14 on Amazon for 2 sets of 4, delivered, on Prime.
Another handy feature is being able to point the drone at an area on the nav screen and it will automatically head for that position.
For ad-hoc droning while away on long weekends, however, I think I'll stick to the Mini 2, purely because it's easier to carry in a rucksack and you are not so restricted by CAA regulations.
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