My Skydio videos

skydioconvert · May 22, 2020

Concur ....without side sensors an MA2 wouldn't be in a fair fight... kind of like a quarterback without any peripheral vision.

Ridefreak · May 23, 2020

Ridefreak · May 24, 2020

VEGASROBBI · May 24, 2020

Looking smoother, and picking better lines. Vids like this show the SD2 has no equal in follow.

Ridefreak · May 24, 2020

Thanks Robbi, I agree, the others have a long way to go to catchup in this kind of use.

Slick · Aug 29, 2020

It's a pleasure to watch your videos. Nice work.

Ridefreak · Aug 29, 2020

Slick said:
It's a pleasure to watch your videos. Nice work.

Thanks Slick, glad you enjoyed them.

Ridefreak · Sep 15, 2020

Flew for a total of 80min sunday, it's the first chance I've really had to test the longer distance tracking. So far I'm really liking the improvement it's made. My only gripe is the gimbal shudder I see once in awhile. I had so much video from the 80min of flying I didn't feel that it limited my usable footage, it would be nice if they could address that though.

skydioconvert · Sep 15, 2020

Some really nice and different angled shots of your ride... !!!

P.S. Any pattern in when and why the gimbal shudder occured?

Ridefreak · Sep 15, 2020

No pattern that I could tell, it's something I've always seen occasionally since day one, hopefully it will be addressed in an update. Something interesting I noticed, since I was alone when filming, there were no other possible subjects to confuse it, because of that the tracking worked extremely well, 4 batteries worth of flying at speed, lots of sudden direction changes, up/down hills and not once did I get a loss of tracking. It's the best it's ever tracked me. I also turned the floor height on, (normally off) and what I noticed was that kept the altitude up high enough where it could accommodate obstacles smoothly at higher speeds. Mainly it didn't get caught close to the ground when I went behind a tree or other obstacle, which can be a sure fire way to have it loose tracking if the subject is moving fast like I was.

skydioconvert · Sep 15, 2020

The ability to distinguish between different targets is a mind blowing capability.... sure it will get even better over time.

The floor height setting change is also nice to know.

You're consecutive flights were the most I've seen to date.... how hot was the S2 between battery changes?

Really surprised an over heating problem didn't occur.... was it cooler day?

Ridefreak · Sep 15, 2020

Yes, it was cooler out. Above about 96 degrees out is when I start seeing heating issues. The transition from one battery to another was smooth, I've gotten pretty good at it with practice. I hand catch the drone, turn it off, turn off the beacon, then close the app and turn off wi-fi on the phone. Swap the battery and turn on the drone. Then I turn on the beacon and as soon as it's syncing the GPS turn on WiFi on the phone and connect to the beacon, then open the app and make sure it's ready to fly. Stick the phone in my pocket and tell it to fly on the beacon, while it's starting the Autonomy engine I put my backpack and gloves. By then it's ready to launch, I hit the button to launch and as soon as it takes off I jump on the bike and ride off. With the additional range I don't fly it without the app connected to the beacon. I've spent a couple tense hours looking for the SD2 and with the app open you can go right to the drone if needed. Luckily that's only happened a couple times.

skydioconvert · Sep 15, 2020

Helpful answer... thank you.

P.S... Don't think heat will be an issue where I fly but your "reload" process will be a nice reference.

VEGASROBBI · Sep 15, 2020

RF - Similar to my MO but I leave the app and Beacon on during battery change.

Ridefreak · Sep 15, 2020

VEGASROBBI said:
RF - Similar to my MO but I leave the app and Beacon on during battery change.

If I leave the phone's wifi going it connects to the drone as soon as the SD powers up, before the beacon does. Then when it detects the beacon the app instructs me to connect the phone wifi to the beacon as opposed to the drone. Do you get the same indication? Probably not a big deal ether way it doesn't take long to switch the wifi over.

VEGASROBBI · Sep 15, 2020

Yes, when it prompts to connect to the S2 wi-fi hit cancel then it should revert back to the beacon.

Ridefreak · Sep 15, 2020

So I think it's a phone thing, because I turn everything off the Pixel I use connects to the first available network without prompting me. Not a big deal ether way, I usually need to take a drink by that time.

VEGASROBBI · Sep 15, 2020

I'm using an iPad.

Ridefreak · Sep 21, 2020

Another great day of flying, flew 4 batteries worth all over the desert. Here's a cool section of that presented a unique challenge to SD2. I'm the lead rider in the front on the orange bike, the SD looses visual sight of me and attaches itself to the rider behind me. In this situation that was ok with me, I'd rather it captured others in the group also. Had I realized it was homed on someone else and wanted it's attention a slight use of the wand puts it back on the right person.