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Hello from San Antonio, Texas

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Just got my very first drone in the mail today, the Typhoon Q500 4k. Having searched high and low, I came to realize that the Q500 seemed to be the perfect "entry level" drone for me with all the functionality I personally was looking for... well, almost all, but hey, no drone is perfect...

I sort of lied, this is not my first, its my second. Several years ago, I ordered a cheap one, a sygma X3 I think? I dunno, its like a knock off of one of the Phnatom drones or something, for $60. You get what you pay for, after several attempts to just take off and land and being unable to keep it stable, I never got confident enough to use it more than a few seconds in the air for longer than 30 seconds. I put it away, and fast forward to today.

I started looking for something for photography and decided, if I want something that can stay stable, I might need to spend more money. I started down the path of looking at drones. Weeks and weeks of drudging through drones that all look the same. Quads that all seemed designed for everything but what I was looking for. Features like, fly your drone to other continents, fly faster than a car, and silly selfie crap with gimmicky motion gestures, and all while draining your cell phone battery. The only thing I could find that seemed to be photography focused was the DJI series of drones, but these drones felt... wrong for what I wanted. The only other drone that looked appealing was the Autel 8k drone, but holy cow, too much money. In my searching, the Air 2, the Autel, and the Typhoon series were my choices.

Then I stumbled across your drones last week. A youtube drone nut by the name of Captain Drone has the Typhoon H and has done dozens of videos on it. This clued me in to Yuneeq. I got an idea of what the Q500 was going to be based on the Typhoon H. I mean, sure, the landing gear doesnt go up, I cant rotate the camera 360 degrees (or can I? the one thing I am not yet clear on), and its a quad instead of a hex, but hey, they seem very similar. Oh, and sure, I dont get as many of the "smart" features (which all seem gimmicky to me), and the setup time is a bit more involved with the Q500. But, these differences dont bother me, especially for the price difference.

I came over to the Yuneeq site thinking, hey, lets see what they offer. I stumbled across the Q500 and decided, hey, this is a great photography drone, has full camera control with ISO and shutter speed functionality, it is not designed to fly around the world, it is slow, and deliberate, and has all the functionality built into the controller. Im going to start looking into the Q500. I stumbled across another Youtube guy, the Gadget Guru, a well known guy for those of us who have listened to podcasts on the Twit network. I found another Youtube fellow, Jeff Sibelius who has taken it upon himself to create, what could possibly be, the most in depth setup process of the Q500. I watched just about everything from these guys and pulled the trigger on the Q500 4k. It now sits downstairs, waiting for me to plug everything in and start charging.

Why the Q500?

1. The most contentious feature of the higher end Yuneec drones seems to be the built in screen. Personally, this is a huge selling point for me. Is my phone compatible? I dunno, who cares, I dont need to worry about it.
2. Is it easy to fly? Can I take off and take my hands off the sticks and just let it stare at me while I watch it in amazement? It seems to do that. The large props also seem to make it less susceptible to wind. Big plus. Also related, it doesnt fly around the world. I personally like the limited range. I have zero interest in flying more than a km out.
3. Is it slow, deliberate, non-erratic? It seems so based on what I have seen. I want to use this for photography.
4. Do I have full control of the camera? Will things like colour correction be an issue? How bad is the fish eye look going to be, and is this correctable? Thanks but no thanks on the GoPro Hero cameras, I have zero interest in fish eye images that have to be heavily corrected in post. From what I can tell, the Q500 has a very slight fish eye look that can be easily fixed in post, and should I forget to do that, it is barely noticeable. Full control of the camera is also there so big plus in my book.
5. The handheld gimbal. This seems like a strange, gimmicky thing. However, while waiting for it to come in the mail, I have been thinking about this, and what came to mind is, taking some ground footage that can appear to be from the same camera, without having to colour correct to make it look similar to my aerial photography. A flyover of a river or lake in conjunction with a few ground shots might be a cool way to create some variety, so, hey, this is kinda cool. Ill see how this works out.
6. Price. I found a reputable seller on ebay that sells refurbed Yuneec drones at a drastically reduced price. I paid $500 after taxes and shipping.
7. The case. Another after thought many people never factor in. To my amazement, the case was better than I expected, having a handle and wheels to roll it around. Sure, its not as durable as a husky case or something more expensive, but its good enough, and if you treat it well, its plenty durable enough for my needs. You cant sit on it, but as we were all raised to understand, its not a chair.
8. It makes french fries. Ok... All indications tell me, this is not true, but I can dream, cant I?

No, it is not a Typhoon H. However, I dont feel like I need a Typhoon H right now. For someone just getting into this hobby in a serious way, this seems like a fantastic drone with no worries about phone compatibility, and has great camera functionality. Does the Phantom / Mavic Air 2 / Autel drones provide better pictures? Only marginally and certainly only noticeable with a side by side comparison with scrutinization of the image. I guarantee, if I put random photos from all four drones, not side by side comparisons of the same image, just random pictures, no one could tell the difference, and this certainly does not justify 3x or more the price.

Now, I just need to get some ND filters and Yuneeq needs to get spare batteries in stock.

We have a thunderstorm that just rolled in, so no flying tonight, but Ill be updating firmware on all the components, getting the batteries charged up, and maybe, tomorrow, Ill take it out for a short maiden voyage at the local park across the street.

Having just written war and peace, I think this might be enough of an introduction. Well, almost. Let me introduce you to why I wanted a drone. I am a composer. I write orchestral music. This video contains drone footage of a cemetery and of Mount Rushmore. I used this footage for an orchestral piece I wrote, in fact, the music you hear in this video was written by me. I want to do more of this kind of footage. Historical landmarks, buildings, nature, all with permission from the property owners of course.

A word of warning, this video is somewhat political in nature, while there is nothing in my opinion that is controversial about it, it does contain language used in the Declaration of Independence and contains imagery of several historical landmarks considered important to American history, culture, and our way of life. The aircraft flyover seen at the end of the video is not meant to illustrate military strength, it is a video of a common flyover known as the missing man formation (I will leave it to you to google it, the context will become apparent once you understand the importance of its meaning). The man walking is footage from the tomb of the unknown solider, which again, I will leave to you to Google, the context is specific to the content of the video. This video is both a remembrance of 9/11 and meant to give a positive message about ideals that should be important to all of us, regardless of where you live.

I want to create footage myself to compose music to. That is my goal, the reason I bought this drone.

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Welcome to the BEST forum on the planet for Yuneec info!!

I have the Q500 4K and the Typhoon H 480. I wasn't looking to purchase a 480 but came across a deal that (at the time) was irresistible.

My flying is strictly LOS and (with my vision not being what it was 20 years ago) pretty much stays within 200 feet of myself. And that works just fine for the drones intended purpose: Surveying buildings and areas of the property I manage.

The biggest difference I have noticed between the 2 is wind stability. This is not to say the 480 can fly regardless of what the winds are. But it definately inspires more confidence when the winds pick up.

It does feel a bit "sportier" in terms of handling but then again considering it's purpose this is something that is not noticeable on the videos I do shoot. The gimbals on both aircraft work superbly.

One interesting note is that the Q500 is SLIGHTLY easier to visually orientate when it is up in the air compared to the Typhoon H. Then again, once either aircraft is far enough away from me I find myself referencing the video display to double check craft orientation.

The flight time is longer on the 480 vs the Q500. Then again, my time spent in the air is (usually) within the time limit of either aircraft.

Lastly, when it comes to battery replacement, you may want to seek out posts by lostindark. He makes a GREAT battery tray that allows the use of "standard" size lipo batteries for the Q500.

Happy flying!!
 
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Yup, saw his thing on a battery thing, requires 3d printing a tray. I may consider this, for now, I am ok with the single battery, going to try flying it today for a bit. Its going to take me some time to get comfortable enough to do anything major with it, I consider myself to be a cautious person, not overly cautious, but cautious and as such, I want to be confident with it. I picked up an ND filter yesterday and Ill probably play with the camera on the handheld gimble deal and see what the camera characteristics are as well.
 
Just got my very first drone in the mail today, the Typhoon Q500 4k. Having searched high and low, I came to realize that the Q500 seemed to be the perfect "entry level" drone for me with all the functionality I personally was looking for... well, almost all, but hey, no drone is perfect...

I sort of lied, this is not my first, its my second. Several years ago, I ordered a cheap one, a sygma X3 I think? I dunno, its like a knock off of one of the Phnatom drones or something, for $60. You get what you pay for, after several attempts to just take off and land and being unable to keep it stable, I never got confident enough to use it more than a few seconds in the air for longer than 30 seconds. I put it away, and fast forward to today.

I started looking for something for photography and decided, if I want something that can stay stable, I might need to spend more money. I started down the path of looking at drones. Weeks and weeks of drudging through drones that all look the same. Quads that all seemed designed for everything but what I was looking for. Features like, fly your drone to other continents, fly faster than a car, and silly selfie crap with gimmicky motion gestures, and all while draining your cell phone battery. The only thing I could find that seemed to be photography focused was the DJI series of drones, but these drones felt... wrong for what I wanted. The only other drone that looked appealing was the Autel 8k drone, but holy cow, too much money. In my searching, the Air 2, the Autel, and the Typhoon series were my choices.

Then I stumbled across your drones last week. A youtube drone nut by the name of Captain Drone has the Typhoon H and has done dozens of videos on it. This clued me in to Yuneeq. I got an idea of what the Q500 was going to be based on the Typhoon H. I mean, sure, the landing gear doesnt go up, I cant rotate the camera 360 degrees (or can I? the one thing I am not yet clear on), and its a quad instead of a hex, but hey, they seem very similar. Oh, and sure, I dont get as many of the "smart" features (which all seem gimmicky to me), and the setup time is a bit more involved with the Q500. But, these differences dont bother me, especially for the price difference.

I came over to the Yuneeq site thinking, hey, lets see what they offer. I stumbled across the Q500 and decided, hey, this is a great photography drone, has full camera control with ISO and shutter speed functionality, it is not designed to fly around the world, it is slow, and deliberate, and has all the functionality built into the controller. Im going to start looking into the Q500. I stumbled across another Youtube guy, the Gadget Guru, a well known guy for those of us who have listened to podcasts on the Twit network. I found another Youtube fellow, Jeff Sibelius who has taken it upon himself to create, what could possibly be, the most in depth setup process of the Q500. I watched just about everything from these guys and pulled the trigger on the Q500 4k. It now sits downstairs, waiting for me to plug everything in and start charging.

Why the Q500?

1. The most contentious feature of the higher end Yuneec drones seems to be the built in screen. Personally, this is a huge selling point for me. Is my phone compatible? I dunno, who cares, I dont need to worry about it.
2. Is it easy to fly? Can I take off and take my hands off the sticks and just let it stare at me while I watch it in amazement? It seems to do that. The large props also seem to make it less susceptible to wind. Big plus. Also related, it doesnt fly around the world. I personally like the limited range. I have zero interest in flying more than a km out.
3. Is it slow, deliberate, non-erratic? It seems so based on what I have seen. I want to use this for photography.
4. Do I have full control of the camera? Will things like colour correction be an issue? How bad is the fish eye look going to be, and is this correctable? Thanks but no thanks on the GoPro Hero cameras, I have zero interest in fish eye images that have to be heavily corrected in post. From what I can tell, the Q500 has a very slight fish eye look that can be easily fixed in post, and should I forget to do that, it is barely noticeable. Full control of the camera is also there so big plus in my book.
5. The handheld gimbal. This seems like a strange, gimmicky thing. However, while waiting for it to come in the mail, I have been thinking about this, and what came to mind is, taking some ground footage that can appear to be from the same camera, without having to colour correct to make it look similar to my aerial photography. A flyover of a river or lake in conjunction with a few ground shots might be a cool way to create some variety, so, hey, this is kinda cool. Ill see how this works out.
6. Price. I found a reputable seller on ebay that sells refurbed Yuneec drones at a drastically reduced price. I paid $500 after taxes and shipping.
7. The case. Another after thought many people never factor in. To my amazement, the case was better than I expected, having a handle and wheels to roll it around. Sure, its not as durable as a husky case or something more expensive, but its good enough, and if you treat it well, its plenty durable enough for my needs. You cant sit on it, but as we were all raised to understand, its not a chair.
8. It makes french fries. Ok... All indications tell me, this is not true, but I can dream, cant I?

No, it is not a Typhoon H. However, I dont feel like I need a Typhoon H right now. For someone just getting into this hobby in a serious way, this seems like a fantastic drone with no worries about phone compatibility, and has great camera functionality. Does the Phantom / Mavic Air 2 / Autel drones provide better pictures? Only marginally and certainly only noticeable with a side by side comparison with scrutinization of the image. I guarantee, if I put random photos from all four drones, not side by side comparisons of the same image, just random pictures, no one could tell the difference, and this certainly does not justify 3x or more the price.

Now, I just need to get some ND filters and Yuneeq needs to get spare batteries in stock.

We have a thunderstorm that just rolled in, so no flying tonight, but Ill be updating firmware on all the components, getting the batteries charged up, and maybe, tomorrow, Ill take it out for a short maiden voyage at the local park across the street.

Having just written war and peace, I think this might be enough of an introduction. Well, almost. Let me introduce you to why I wanted a drone. I am a composer. I write orchestral music. This video contains drone footage of a cemetery and of Mount Rushmore. I used this footage for an orchestral piece I wrote, in fact, the music you hear in this video was written by me. I want to do more of this kind of footage. Historical landmarks, buildings, nature, all with permission from the property owners of course.

A word of warning, this video is somewhat political in nature, while there is nothing in my opinion that is controversial about it, it does contain language used in the Declaration of Independence and contains imagery of several historical landmarks considered important to American history, culture, and our way of life. The aircraft flyover seen at the end of the video is not meant to illustrate military strength, it is a video of a common flyover known as the missing man formation (I will leave it to you to google it, the context will become apparent once you understand the importance of its meaning). The man walking is footage from the tomb of the unknown solider, which again, I will leave to you to Google, the context is specific to the content of the video. This video is both a remembrance of 9/11 and meant to give a positive message about ideals that should be important to all of us, regardless of where you live.

I want to create footage myself to compose music to. That is my goal, the reason I bought this drone.

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Absolutely breathtaking video.All of us understand it's meaning and purpose. No one living in this country should have anything but heartfelt feelings of freedom and dedication. Very nice.! Keith C.
 
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Absolutely breathtaking video.All of us understand it's meaning and purpose. No one living in this country should have anything but heartfelt feelings of freedom and dedication. Very nice.! Keith C.

Thanks much and I could not agree more <3
 
Did my first flight ever yesterday...its embarrassingly bad and boring haha... I mean, I put it on a private Youtube channel for posterity, in case I need a laugh later.
 
Did my first flight ever yesterday...its embarrassingly bad and boring haha... I mean, I put it on a private Youtube channel for posterity, in case I need a laugh later.

Welcome aboard, great video as well.

Don’t fall too much in love with the Q as the more time you spend on this board, and with this hobby, your wallet will open up and you’ll be sitting with the H-and H-plus fairly soon..lol. Apologize to your significant other ahead of time.

All kidding aside, I started out with the Q as my first drone, spent 2 years with it, and it’s a great drone..very capable. Looks killer as well.

Best of luck and any question you’ll ever have about the Q, or any other yuneec product, will be answered, diagnosed, and fixed in a matter of hours by the folks on this forum. These guys are dialed in. After a crash or drone issue, post your question in the right area (search function as first step) and these folks will save you a lot of time, a lot of money, and a lot of your sanity. Calling yuneec will more often than not just waste your time.
 

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