Transitioning from my Staaker to the Skydio 2

[Foilguy]

Greetings from the Outer Banks of NC. I’ve owned a “Staaker” beacon following drone for a couple of years (it’s no longer in production) and finally have a Skydio 2 on pre-order (Batch 5 so probably not till Dec-Jan). Also had a couple of years with a Mavic pro. I do mostly water-wind sports like kiteboarding, kitefoiling and more recently wing foiling. So self drone filming for me is all about filming over water, which has its own challenges! I still use my Staaker but it’s no longer supported hence the switch to Skydio. It’ll be interesting to compare the two. Here is a recent wing foiling clip from my Staaker. I’m sure the Skydio 2 will make a great replacement

Wing foiling with a Staaker drone

 

[skydioconvert]

Welcome to the forum... the S2 has both its pro's and con's so you've picked a good forum to come up to speed.

 

[dirkclod]

Welcome to the forum .?

 

[Ridefreak]

Greetings from the Outer Banks of NC. I’ve owned a “Staaker” beacon following drone for a couple of years (it’s no longer in production) and finally have a Skydio 2 on pre-order (Batch 5 so probably not till Dec-Jan). Also had a couple of years with a Mavic pro. I do mostly water-wind sports like kiteboarding, kitefoiling and more recently wing foiling. So self drone filming for me is all about filming over water, which has its own challenges! I still use my Staaker but it’s no longer supported hence the switch to Skydio. It’ll be interesting to compare the two. Here is a recent wing foiling clip from my Staaker. I’m sure the Skydio 2 will make a great replacement

Wing foiling with a Staaker drone

I also own a Staaker, great drone. No complaints with it when you consider there's no OA. In an obstacle free environment the Staaker is hard to beat with it's speed and flight time but that reverses 180 degrees if there's anything for the Staaker to run into. It's 47mph speed is pretty impressive.

 

[Foilguy]

I also own a Staaker, great drone. No complaints with it when you consider there's no OA. In an obstacle free environment the Staaker is hard to beat with it's speed and flight time but that reverses 180 degrees if there's anything for the Staaker to run into. It's 47mph speed is pretty impressive.

Ridefreak, yeah that’s why Staaker is pretty well suited to water use; you just don’t have as many obstacles to run into. The beacon is waterproof as well. That being said all these drones (Skydio, Staaker, DJI) have some added risk flying over water.

I definitely have no illusions that Skydio will be some perfect method of capturing my foiling activities on the water. I have a State Farm PAP policy for my Staaker (had it for 3 years and never filed a claim) and will certainly extend it to the Skydio. Might even get the Premier coverage as well. I don’t see very much over water use of Skydio 2, especially RTH performance so I’ll have to tiptoe into it lightly

With a 36mph top speed I’ll probably have to limit wind speeds to ~22mph and stay mostly upwind of the home point to ensure it can get home. With Staaker I could almost get away with wind in the high 20’s, but even then tracking gets challenging.

 

[Ridefreak]

Ridefreak, yeah that’s why Staaker is pretty well suited to water use; you just don’t have as many obstacles to run into. The beacon is waterproof as well. That being said all these drones (Skydio, Staaker, DJI) have some added risk flying over water.

I definitely have no illusions that Skydio will be some perfect method of capturing my foiling activities on the water. I have a State Farm PAP policy for my Staaker (had it for 3 years and never filed a claim) and will certainly extend it to the Skydio. Might even get the Premier coverage as well. I don’t see very much over water use of Skydio 2, especially RTH performance so I’ll have to tiptoe into it lightly

With a 36mph top speed I’ll probably have to limit wind speeds to ~22mph and stay mostly upwind of the home point to ensure it can get home. With Staaker I could almost get away with wind in the high 20’s, but even then tracking gets challenging.

What's the damage for one of those policys from SF? I insure everything else with them. I've had a few anxious moments with the SD2 where knowing it was insured would have made me feel a little better.

Looking forward to seeing some of your vids.

 

[Foilguy]

What's the damage for one of those policys from SF? I insure everything else with them. I've had a few anxious moments with the SD2 where knowing it was insured would have made me feel a little better.

Looking forward to seeing some of your vids.

I pay about $60/ year and that gets me ~$5,000 in coverage, which includes my drone and some other items like my tablets and GoPro’s. I don‘t have any other policies with SF. Not sure that every SF agent in every state will insure drones under a PAP, but I assume many still do. I understand that once you file a claim they will cover it, but not always renew the policy. I look at it as one-time replacement insurance.

I almost wince when I read some of these threads about Skydio crashes after putting it in environments with thin power lines all over the place and/or a maze of thin branches, and wondering why it crashed,..... and then getting angry that it’s not covered for replacement. Unrealistic expectations imho despite the “fly anywhere” promotion

 

[skydioconvert]

Are there any written exclusions on your SF policy?.... am thinking of looking into some similar insurance.

P.S. Agree with you 100%... much if not all of the posters expressing discontent about the S2 haven't even taken the time to read and/or heed warnings in the Skydio 2 manuals.

 

[Foilguy]

Are there any written exclusions on your SF policy?.... am thinking of looking into some similar insurance.

P.S. Agree with you 100%... much if not all of the posters expressing discontent about the S2 haven't even taken the time to read and/or heed warnings in the Skydio 2 manuals.

I haven’t read my SF PAP (Personal Articles Policy) for some time regarding exclusions. I just remember that there is no exclusion in it regarding damage/loss from flying. It seems crazy that any insurance company would insure consumer drones from flying crashes. I figured SF would have gotten tons of claims and made the corp decision to cancel policies for consumer drones,.... but hey, I still have mine in place.

i am pretty methodical with my drones (insurance or not, no one wants to crash a drone); start out cautiously and build up expertise. With my Mavic Pro I made modified hand-grab legs and eventually got the point of highly reliable boat launch/landings for many of my flights. With my Staaker I started testing in an open field and discovered I had a faulty GPS unit in the drone (It would loose gps signal and just start landing). I documented everything, sent it back, and got them to replace it. Had I started flying over water right away, I would have lost it, with no proof of a faulty gps.

I see these Skydio 2 posts of owners screaming about crashes and false advertising after just a few flights. These people just don’t get it. No such thing a fool-proof drone. You need to learn it’s limitations in a controlled environment, adapt to those limitations, and slowly build your way up to more aggressive flying. Even then be prepared to lose it any time. My worthless 2C

 

[skydioconvert]

Too bad a couple of the posters here that always complain aren't as realistic as you ...

Getting to know how the S2 handles different situations will be the real fun part of piloting this one of kind drone,

AI is a fascinating technology that's only at the very beginning of some very important advancements.