Do Not Fly In The Cold and Into Somewhere Warm!

[Lon Denard]

I've done this a hundred times with other drones but it's a no no with the Skydio 2. Lenses fog up and the drone does not like it! It even refused a "LAND" command.

Skip to the end if you aren't interested in it flying indoors.

 

[leenanj]

That's kinda funny, The cameras i"m sure got wet also with it snowing and blocked OA. Going to have to add a deicer to the wings. lol

 

[Lon Denard]

That's kinda funny, The cameras i"m sure got wet also with it snowing and blocked OA. Going to have to add a deicer to the wings. lol

Nah it was fog. It did it at the beginning too but I had just hand landed outside, walked inside for a minute and then relaunched. It doesn't surprise me that they fogged but the drone's behavior was weird. I would prefer a hover in place response. It kinda panics! I'm wondering what will happen if you suddenly turn the lights off?

 

[dash]

Hah that makes sense. I know my glasses fog up like crazy. There is a coating you can put on glasses to keep the fogging down. Wonder if it would work on the SD2?

 

[VEGASROBBI]

It’s standard practice to place the drone/cameras in the environment you intend to fly for 1/2 hour or so before flight. This allows the equipment to acclimate to the environment. Keep the batteries warm and don’t fly between environments on the same flight.

 

[Lon Denard]

Hah that makes sense. I know my glasses fog up like crazy. There is a coating you can put on glasses to keep the fogging down. Wonder if it would work on the SD2?

I looked at the stuff I use on my motorcycle helmets but I hesitate to do anything to the lenses.

 

[Lon Denard]

It’s standard practice to place the drone/cameras in the environment you intend to fly for 1/2 hour or so before flight. This allows the equipment to acclimate to the environment. Keep the batteries warm and don’t fly between environments on the same flight.

Yea? I've read the manual 3X now, triple checked before I sent them an email, and there's nothing about that in there.

I've flown every drone (and a few RCs) I've ever owned out of that warehouse over the course of 25 winters. None have reacted like that! Besides, it's MY standard practice to keep my batteries and my old butt warm!

My opinion, based on hands on experience, is that the drone should defer to manual control when in doubt. In this instance, the drone completely ignored my commands, including several commands to land. The Skydio 2 views your input as suggestions to be considered, rather than hard orders to be followed.

In another instance, I had it following me, supposedly straight behind me. The drone decided it wanted to be off to the right. There was an extension cord hanging down on the right, so I flew it to the left in anticipation. It went back to the right 2x after I moved it left before it decided to take my "advice"!

For someone like you, that may be acceptable, but I find that quite annoying. It falls in line with all the videos I'm seeing of the drone following down a straight path and suddenly deciding to fly off into the woods for no apparent reason. I didn't buy this drone to follow me, so other than some tests for fun, that behavior isn't my number one concern but not obeying my manual controls is. Short of an actual crash situation, a breach of their so called "1 meter bubble", this drone should do whatever I command it to do with the controller. It does not.

 

[VEGASROBBI]

Your right the SD2 is crap, sell it on eBay for a profit and do us all a favor.

 

[dash]

I looked at the stuff I use on my motorcycle helmets but I hesitate to do anything to the lenses.

Me too. I may contact skydio and see what the thought on that would be.

It’s standard practice to place the drone/cameras in the environment you intend to fly for 1/2 hour or so before flight. This allows the equipment to acclimate to the environment. Keep the batteries warm and don’t fly between environments on the same flight.

True but when trying to get some cool where shots from inside to outside or vise versa with 0 cuts, this could happen. Simply accepting this as a possibility and knowing what the outcome should allow the user to accept any risk associated with this kind of flight. In colder climates it is harder to avoid this. Although there is the Skydio recommendation to not fly in temps below 23°F (-5°C). This could be for a number of reasons. Such as the plastics becoming too brittle in temps below that, or even the ambient temp coming off the cameras and other electronics causing the fog from the inside in those temps. Only Skydio knows the reason why at this point i think.

 

[VEGASROBBI]

It’s important to understand with technology comes compromise which must be learned from experience.

I doubt in the last 25 years any drone has had AI or OA the SD2 offers. Having extra sensors adds benefits and compromise.

My DJI birds have fogged the lenses also. Use SD for what it’s good at and something else where it’s not. I usually carry three drones on a shoot, my H for speed, Anafi for autonomy and Mavic 2 for manual flight.

I still have not flown my SD, over time I will learn it’s strengths and weaknesses. I don’t fly in low light or indoors. When flying in difficult environments I try to normalize the drone, camera guys know this. This is a couple days ago notice the lens on Anafi is a blurry from the the cold, moisture and snow.

 

[Lon Denard]

Your right the SD2 is crap, sell it on eBay for a profit and do us all a favor.

I have no idea why you read my comments or open my threads. Just ignore me and do us both a favor.

 

[Lon Denard]

Me too. I may contact skydio and see what the thought on that would be.


True but when trying to get some cool where shots from inside to outside or vise versa with 0 cuts, this could happen. Simply accepting this as a possibility and knowing what the outcome should allow the user to accept any risk associated with this kind of flight. In colder climates it is harder to avoid this. Although there is the Skydio recommendation to not fly in temps below 23°F (-5°C). This could be for a number of reasons. Such as the plastics becoming too brittle in temps below that, or even the ambient temp coming off the cameras and other electronics causing the fog from the inside in those temps. Only Skydio knows the reason why at this point i think.

The temps was about 35 degrees or so. Not "nice" by any stretch but well over 23 degrees.