My experience with beacon range

[SteveCJr]

Not a complaint, just observation. Over the last month or so flying with just the beacon and phone I would struggle to get more than 800 feet (.25 km) in range. This is in a rural setting with not much for buildings, but quite a few trees. More than enough range to get some cool shots.

Few days ago I went to the mall that's surrounded by a bunch of farm land to get some foliage shots. Much to my surprise, I was able to fly out to just over 1800 feet. (.54 km) I actually stopped before it disconnected as I was getting a bit of battery anxiety. It eventually disconnected when I turned around. Still no where near the claimed 1.5 km or 4900 feet, but still good compared to my usual experience.

 

[OldBlueHeron]

Yeah, I’ve been getting better range with the controller as well, but that’s pretty awesome range with just the beacon and phone.

 

[Lifeisfun]

@SteveCJr

In my opinion complain away, since they should NOT advertise 3.5km rage!

 

[skydioconvert]

Not a complaint, just observation. Over the last month or so flying with just the beacon and phone I would struggle to get more than 800 feet (.25 km) in range. This is in a rural setting with not much for buildings, but quite a few trees. More than enough range to get some cool shots.

Few days ago I went to the mall that's surrounded by a bunch of farm land to get some foliage shots. Much to my surprise, I was able to fly out to just over 1800 feet. (.54 km) I actually stopped before it disconnected as I was getting a bit of battery anxiety. It eventually disconnected when I turned around. Still no where near the claimed 1.5 km or 4900 feet, but still good compared to my usual experience.
View attachment 177

Apart from a different location were there any other differences (less nearby trees, flatter terrain, etc., etc) when you got the much better distance???

 

[SteveCJr]

@SteveCJr

In my opinion complain away, since they should NOT advertise 3.5km rage!

I do agree that they numbers they claim should be adjusted a bit to be more realistic. But like most people say, if you want a drone for range, then the skydio isn't the right choice. As advertised, it's designed around autonomous flight and tracking. Can't really track from a mile away lol.

 

[SteveCJr]

Apart from a different location were there any other differences (less nearby trees, flatter terrain, etc., etc) when you got the much better distance???

Less trees for sure as most of the terrain is farm land. But in both cases I am able to keep visual los on the drone. Not much difference in elevation between both locations. I believe it might have something to due more along the lines of GPS signal strength over Wi-Fi strength. I've had some occasional flights where I couldn't go more than 100 feet without the beacon losing gps signal and the drone returning to home.

On a side note, bit the bullet and ordered myself a controller and an extra battery today.

 

[skydioconvert]

Less trees for sure as most of the terrain is farm land. But in both cases I am able to keep visual los on the drone. Not much difference in elevation between both locations. I believe it might have something to due more along the lines of GPS signal strength over Wi-Fi strength. I've had some occasional flights where I couldn't go more than 100 feet without the beacon losing gps signal and the drone returning to home.

On a side note, bite the bullet and ordered myself a controller and an extra battery today.

Interesting comment about the the GPS signal strength...

Were your really poor distances gotten at the same time of day?.... GPS satellites line up differently at different times of the day so you may have just flown when you had less GPS satellites available.

 

[SteveCJr]

Were your really poor distances gotten at the same time of day?.... GPS satellites line up differently at different times of the day so you may have just flown when you had less GPS satellites available.

Different times. Could just be a dead zone around my area.

 

[skydioconvert]

Time for me to update my GPS satellite trackers on both my Android and iOS devices....

 

[Lifeisfun]

I do agree that they numbers they claim should be adjusted a bit to be more realistic. But like most people say, if you want a drone for range, then the skydio isn't the right choice. As advertised, it's designed around autonomous flight and tracking. Can't really track from a mile away lol.

Yeah, but they sell controller, that ain't for tracking only. Also They brag about the filming of cinematic footage ?

 

[scrampker]

An external aerial would solve most of these problems (or moving away from Wi-Fi for link,) but I think there might be some patents that are getting in the way. If you're in range, with the controller, it's actually very easy to get great cinematic footage. You can get more shots than you'd feel comfortable with on DJI hardware, but neither drone is a solid win. You almost need to carry both, which is a bit frustrating, given how large the S2 is.