New guy, lookin' for tips

Brewsir · Jun 14, 2016

Hello. My Typhoon H will arrive Friday, and I'm trying to familiarize myself with as many aspects of the H, and the controller. It should be said that this is my first drone. Usually beginners in their hobby of choice, are better off starting with beginner equipment. In this one, I'm not sure that applies, though I'm sure you'll inform if I'm way off. I just couldn't get passed the idea of spending $200, $400 or $600, fire it up, and watch it fly away, never to be seen again

Now that that's out of the way, I'm sure that there are going to be some sizeable disadvantages for this being my first drone. Other than the obvious, like experience and familiarity, any particular I should be aware of? I know "Google is my friend", but, if you know a particularly good beginner website? Any tips for beginners that may apply specifically to the H, would be helpful as well. Thanks.

Dragonflyerthom · Jun 14, 2016

Kinda like buying a Harly for your first bike. Get yourself a cheap quad to practice with and crash.

gregreh · Jun 14, 2016

Get a Hubsan X4 and practice. The Typhoon like any Phantom or modern drone is relatively easy to fly with GPS and all of its smart modes but its when these fail or you become panicked/disorienated that the practice of learning to fly a cheaper drone that teaches you how to fly in aerial mode pays off.

Brewsir · Jun 14, 2016

Hubsan X4 ordered, thanks.

CAPTAINDRONE · Jun 14, 2016

Brewsir said:
Hello. My Typhoon H will arrive Friday, and I'm trying to familiarize myself with as many aspects of the H, and the controller. It should be said that this is my first drone. Usually beginners in their hobby of choice, are better off starting with beginner equipment. In this one, I'm not sure that applies, though I'm sure you'll inform if I'm way off. I just couldn't get passed the idea of spending $200, $400 or $600, fire it up, and watch it fly away, never to be seen again

Now that that's out of the way, I'm sure that there are going to be some sizeable disadvantages for this being my first drone. Other than the obvious, like experience and familiarity, any particular I should be aware of? I know "Google is my friend", but, if you know a particularly good beginner website? Any tips for beginners that may apply specifically to the H, would be helpful as well. Thanks.

Welcome! Well, if you are really good at playing video games on a Playstation or XBox then your hand eye spatial coordination will allow you to grasp flying quickly. If not, then my only advice is to download a drone or helicopter simulator on your PC or tablet or phone (anyone is fine), and just get a hang of moving things around. The other advice is to fly in a wide open field so you have lots of room to practice. Perform all the setup as per instructions. This assumes you will fly in ANGLE mode. On your first flight, make certain the drone is facing away from you and raise it (with the left stick) to at least a 20 foot height (release the sticks). It will hover in place. (If it begins to drift, it's because the compass needs to be calibrated). Move it around with the right stick first (forward, backwards, sideways). With the left stick you can spin it clockwise or counterclockwise, then fly it in whatever direction the nose is pointing with the right stick. Finally, when you land it, bring it down to waist height. From that point to the ground make certain you commit to landing (i.e., keep the left stick down until it touches the ground, then with the left stick down, press the red start/stop button). Good luck!

SeabeeCDR · Jun 14, 2016

It is easy to fly. It will fly into a tree if you command it to. It is also easy to get over confident. When you do, come back to the forum and just read about crashes from the newbies and experts alike. Pray you don't have a bad one. If you have a good one, try not to command it to do cartwheels. The forum has been a great source of knowledge. Good luck! If you crash it blame it on the moon's gravity.

Brewsir · Jun 17, 2016

Ok, my first flight today, everything went off without, er, well, not exactly. I got a checklist for the Q500 and failed to edit it, so, I never got the landing gear up, which is kinda ok, because, I didn't forget to put it down

I can hear it now, "well duh, couldn't you see the gear was down?" Well, yeah, but since I'm new, nothing looked different, because, everything looked different. Besides, I was busy thinking, "****, that's high", and, "Please, don't anything go wrong". Like anything else, it'll just take practice. Very happy with my purchase, just wish they'd hurry up with my batteries.

Brewsir · Jun 17, 2016

Oh, and, I DID calibrate my compass, prior to flying.

Christopher Philips · Jun 22, 2016

Brewsir said:
Hello. My Typhoon H will arrive Friday, and I'm trying to familiarize myself with as many aspects of the H, and the controller. It should be said that this is my first drone. Usually beginners in their hobby of choice, are better off starting with beginner equipment. In this one, I'm not sure that applies, though I'm sure you'll inform if I'm way off. I just couldn't get passed the idea of spending $200, $400 or $600, fire it up, and watch it fly away, never to be seen again

Now that that's out of the way, I'm sure that there are going to be some sizeable disadvantages for this being my first drone. Other than the obvious, like experience and familiarity, any particular I should be aware of? I know "Google is my friend", but, if you know a particularly good beginner website? Any tips for beginners that may apply specifically to the H, would be helpful as well. Thanks.

First thing when to familiarize yourself with when flying the H for your fist time is the difference between smart and angle mode. ALWAYS take off in angle mode, because in smart mode, the drone will want to get 26 feet away from the controller and its movement can be unpredictable and send it into a potential crash. Same for landings. Always land and take off in ANGLE mode. That's the biggest tip for taking off and landing.

n3srj · Jun 23, 2016

Brewsir said:
Hubsan X4 ordered, thanks.

Good trainer and not a bad drone at all!

druiz100 · Jun 23, 2016

First off, don't fly drunk or high, Don't drop water balloons from your Typhoon H, Don't fly over Nudist club, don't put razor blades on tips of your props for cutting tall grass, oh and don't crash it

n3srj · Jun 23, 2016

druiz100 said:
First off, don't fly drunk or high, Don't drop water balloons from your Typhoon H, Don't fly over Nudist club, don't put razor blades on tips of your props for cutting tall grass, oh and don't crash it

What.. can't invert and make a weed whacker out of it.. lol

druiz100 · Jun 23, 2016

n3srj said:
What.. can't invert and make a weed whacker out of it.. lol

I have seen a few videos where people glue those one use barber blades on to Phantom 3s props and fly thru that grass that grows real high. Crazy people.

n3srj · Jun 23, 2016

Found out with my p2 that they do a great job of blowing Leaves off the patio!

Ralphy · Jun 23, 2016

I read all the responses and I also received my typhoon H about a week ago. Is there anything that could be downloaded to get the screen on the controller to show the direction or path of travel relative to the point of departure? I flew in angle mode and I learned that if you rotate the knob on the control for the camera you can loose orientation of the drone because the camera won't recenter even if you recenter the knob.

glider · Jun 23, 2016

Ralphy said:
I read all the responses and I also received my typhoon H about a week ago. Is there anything that could be downloaded to get the screen on the controller to show the direction or path of travel relative to the point of departure? I flew in angle mode and I learned that if you rotate the knob on the control for the camera you can loose orientation of the drone because the camera won't recenter even if you recenter the knob.

The switch next to the knob will center to the front of the copter. Flip it to the forward position IIRC.