Newbie, shopping around

[Steve Carr]

That's not only wrong, it's offensive.

Well sir, it's possible we are mistaken, but we've seen this type of post dozens of times. I usually end up deleting the post and banning the OP for life. We spend a lot of volunteer time on here helping people with real issues. I have a short fuse when it comes to being scammed.

 

[YuKay]

I talked to Richard Gilmore about this topic. He has a much different take on the subject:
"Its pot luck. All the talk about different countries is nonsense talk. Heard it before and I call BS. I've seen 98° & 115° come from US....UK...and Europe."

Well, I don't know Mr Gilmore, although I have watched his video comparing the lens in the 520 with the CGO3+. Should I attach more weight to his reported comment than to the words of a Yuneec employee?

Purely from a logical POV, Yuneec would be legally obliged to deliver the lens described in their website specifications - especially as they sell from their website. And the US website clearly lists the H with the 98 lens while the UK website offers only the CGO3+. And my man at Yuneec told me that had always been the case - and he didn't know (or wouldn't tell me) why.

But maybe it's possible that some US models were fitted with different power supplies and diverted to the UK to fill a temporary stock shortage?

 

[YuKay]

Incidentally, in case any other Brits are tempted by the eBay prices offered by the main Germany-based vendor, I have just received this answer from them (which may or may not be the truth of the matter):

 

[Ghostnotes]

Thanks Dilly Joat - but having done my research I am impatient to climb aboard. I am also a gambler so I'll take my chances.

I pretty much did the same,having never owned or flown a drone before. I just started out small and thought logically.Don't panic, if something goes wrong and pay attention to the LED information.My first few flights were just hovering up and down understanding the orientation relative to me and the drones direction. Then started working in conjunction with the camera. That's the hardest for me.

 

[Steve Carr]

Since you are a gambler, perhaps you need to go with your gut instinct. It appears you have sufficient information to make an informed decision anyway. Further discussion on this thread is unlikely to produce any new information.

 

[PatR]

That's not only wrong, it's offensive.

That came across much too much like a liberal snowflake using "offensive" as a distraction defense

 

[RGilmore]

That's very interesting, Steve. Without the cover on the camera it might be impossible to tell the difference.

If it ever warms up here I may consider upgrading the lens to a PixAero. I've heard and seen some good things about it. I think if I go that way I'd ship it off to CarolinaDronz to handle the chore.

Ron

Ron. I can tell tell you now. The Carolina CD3.8mm lens is every bit as good as the PixAero. You can find it here. I sold mine on as I have the PixAero too. And if im Blatantly Honest. From my testing. The CD lens, although its final finish to its exterior does not look just as well finished and it doesn't come in a Fancy Box. Its actually a little bit better IMHO.

Carolina Dronz Upgrade Lens 82 Degrees for Yuneec Typhoon H CGO3, CGO3+

 

[John Hennessy]

Hi YuKay, Welcome to the world of owning a fabulous machine. In your early posts you mentioned that you were going to fly it first in your back yard and learn from there. Please do not do that . There are countless posts about running into the sides of houses or fences when first learning. Under any circumstances do not , I REPEAT DO NOT TAKE OFF IN SMART MODE AS IT IS NOT VERY SMART, IT HAS THE 8 MTR SAFETY DISTANCE AND IF THE RECEIVER IS WITHIN THAT 8 METERS IT WILL DO ANYTHING TO ACHIEVE THAT 8 METER CLEARANCE. Go to a nice clear paddock or park and have a bit of clearance for mistakes, which we have all made learning to fly the H , also some thing is starting to go wrong TAKE YOUR FINGERS OFF THE STICKS AND LET IT HOVER IF IT DOES NOT THEN USE YOUR RETURN TO HOME (with an appropriate ht set before starting the flight mission ) AND CONTROL FROM THERE. They are a fantastic machine to fly and use and you will continually be amazed by there abilities, we have 3 working H's and 2 for spares ( these also fly) and have not had any disappointing experiences since owning them. Fly safe and enjoy. John Hennessy.
Keep flying on the green side of the grass .

 

[John Hennessy]

Hi Also Victory Pete,
I thank you for your reply to my 5 Motor mode the other day. You are correct in that rain water is not conductive , but later upon examination found that some had got down onto the main battery connection and that was the cause of my delemer. I have taken preventative measures to not have this happen again. It was raining like cats and dogs at 120 meters and not on the ground except for a few spots, lesson learnt with crazy Australian weather. John Hennessy.
Keep flying on the green side of the grass.

 

[rdonson]

Ron. I can tell tell you now. The Carolina CD3.8mm lens is every bit as good as the PixAero. You can find it here. I sold mine on as I have the PixAero too. And if im Blatantly Honest. From my testing. The CD lens, although its final finish to its exterior does not look just as well finished and it doesn't come in a Fancy Box. Its actually a little bit better IMHO.

Carolina Dronz Upgrade Lens 82 Degrees for Yuneec Typhoon H CGO3, CGO3+

Thanks, Richard. I saw that the other day and didn't know quite what to make of it. I was thinking if it was worthwhile it would be money well spent if I just sent them my older camera and let them do the installation and focusing. They're not that far away so shipping is quick. They fixed that camera once for me when my H had an argument with the ground.

Ron

P.S. I enjoy your videos!

 

[YuKay]

Ron. I can tell tell you now. The Carolina CD3.8mm lens is every bit as good as the PixAero. You can find it here. I sold mine on as I have the PixAero too. And if im Blatantly Honest. From my testing. The CD lens, although its final finish to its exterior does not look just as well finished and it doesn't come in a Fancy Box. Its actually a little bit better IMHO.

Carolina Dronz Upgrade Lens 82 Degrees for Yuneec Typhoon H CGO3, CGO3+

It's a shame I can't spec a new H with this lens (or with my choice from a range of lenses) so it's a mod that some folk wouldn't want to do until after their warranty period had expired. But it's great that your new lens brings prices down. I was interested to read your comment about pilot skill having to increase in inverse proportion to lens FOV. Is that just because a narrower FOV demands more positional accuracy?

 

[YuKay]

Hi YuKay, Welcome to the world of owning a fabulous machine. In your early posts you mentioned that you were going to fly it first in your back yard and learn from there. Please do not do that . There are countless posts about running into the sides of houses or fences when first learning. Under any circumstances do not , I REPEAT DO NOT TAKE OFF IN SMART MODE AS IT IS NOT VERY SMART, IT HAS THE 8 MTR SAFETY DISTANCE AND IF THE RECEIVER IS WITHIN THAT 8 METERS IT WILL DO ANYTHING TO ACHIEVE THAT 8 METER CLEARANCE. Go to a nice clear paddock or park and have a bit of clearance for mistakes, which we have all made learning to fly the H , also some thing is starting to go wrong TAKE YOUR FINGERS OFF THE STICKS AND LET IT HOVER IF IT DOES NOT THEN USE YOUR RETURN TO HOME (with an appropriate ht set before starting the flight mission ) AND CONTROL FROM THERE. They are a fantastic machine to fly and use and you will continually be amazed by there abilities, we have 3 working H's and 2 for spares ( these also fly) and have not had any disappointing experiences since owning them. Fly safe and enjoy. John Hennessy.
Keep flying on the green side of the grass .

Thank you, John. Looks like sound advice although my garden is about 1 acre so it gives me some margin for error. Also I was planning to get a RealSense H…how does that feature work in confined spaces? I was kind of hoping that it would prevent me crashing into the house or my trees - when flying forwards at least.

 

[John Hennessy]

YuKay,
Don't forget that you can not switch realscense on until you are up in the air and also landing is a nono with it on . But the realscense should be used as an aid for when you forget just to possibly prevented an accident. Touch wood it has worked for the times when I get close to roof antenas and vent pipes that you forgot about after you did you JSA ( job safety assessment) . They are fabulous machines and if flown safely you will get many years of enjoyment out of it. That is not a bad size back yard like mine is 3 acres and I have another 12 acres out the back I can use, and some times it is good having that much space. Have fun and fly as much as you can to get a feeling for your H . John Hennessy.
Keep flying on the green side of the grass.

 

[Victory Pete]

That came across much too much like a liberal snowflake using "offensive" as a distraction defense

Thanks for proving my point.

 

[YuKay]

Well sir, it's possible we are mistaken, but we've seen this type of post dozens of times. I usually end up deleting the post and banning the OP for life. We spend a lot of volunteer time on here helping people with real issues. I have a short fuse when it comes to being scammed.

One or more of my posts seems to be missing for some reason. Have I broken any rules?

 

[PatR]

Thanks for proving my point.

Any time

 

[PatR]

YuKay,
You can spec an H order from CarolinaDronz with a different camera lens but you have to be aware there is no factory camera warranty afterwards. I did that a year ago with installation of a PixAero 3.77 lens for a new H. There have been no regrets.

 

[Victory Pete]

Any time

Many times

 

[YuKay]

Thanks Ty Pilot. I do take a somewhat sceptical view of blogger comparisons since there's no way of knowing whether any coin changed hands. But the comparison I referred to was this one - which allegedly shows footage from the DJI 4k/12MP camera:

It may well be that the Typhoon wasn't properly set up or that the Phantom footage was enhanced in post (if so, it needed more work on colour balance and saturation in my view) but, at face value and imho, the Phantom video focus looks much superior - especially in the sequence starting at 1m22s. Which is why I'm hoping that the current Typhoon models/camera/lens and firmware are better than they were then. If not, I will live with it…but I might just wait for the next Yuneec announcement in case it makes me jump off a bridge.

Well, waddyaknow, I have stumbled across a YouTube video by Andreas Baumann which not only gives me renewed enthusiasm but also surely does cast doubt upon the authenticity of the above "comparison" test.

Especially considering that he was a newbie at the time, I thought Mr Baumann's video was excellent - and I was particularly impressed with the early sequence looking down on a house rooftop and the late sequence looking down on a back yard swimming pool because they are so much superior to the similar rooftop sequence in the "comparison" video which, presumably intentionally, cast doubt on the fitness for purpose of the H camera/lens.

Mr Baumann's video is doubtless already known to most here, but for those who haven't seen it:

I'm now back in the game! (But still waiting on any possible new product announcements from next week's CES.)

 

[Ty Pilot]

yeah, I spent about two months combing through hundreds of videos from Typhoon H before buying and the comparo from page one was a clear example of someone literally working to make the H look footage bad. This video you just posted is a typical example of Typhoon H footage and shows it to be about equal to any other 12 mega pixel camera currently out there. Welcome back.