Xiaomi Mi Drone 4k - 393 euro including delivery

eringobragh · 10-11-2017 2:34pm

Whats the craic with charging the LiPo batteries - heard they are quite unstable from drone chat around the office over the past few years.

Any of ye use LiPo bags?

Must wrap it up and stick it under the christmas tree and video her reaction when I open it

tedpan · 10-11-2017 3:03pm

eringobragh wrote:

Whats the craic with charging the LiPo batteries - heard they are quite unstable from drone chat around the office over the past few years.

No, that's with the cheaper batteries and drones. It's basically a laptop battery, LiPo batteries are brilliant if manufactured correctly. The charger is very similar to a laptop power supply which has an integrated voltage regulator.

She's going to be a happy bunny!

eringobragh · 10-11-2017 5:02pm

tedpan wrote: »

She's going to be a happy bunny!

"We don't need it" apparently

we shall see :pac:

tedpan · 10-11-2017 5:22pm

eringobragh wrote:

"We don't need it" apparently we shall see

Oohhh.. lol

eringobragh · 10-11-2017 5:33pm

-what SD card are you using? Long term user of memoryc - I hear sandisks these days aren't great in the likes of dashcams so doubt they'd weather well with 4K rewrites. I tend to steer away from PNY as I had one fail on me before

Assume 64GB is good enough - they've really come down in price

https://www.memoryc.ie/flash-memory-cards/microsd.html#Capacity[]=64GB&orderby=price&page=0

tedpan · 10-11-2017 6:34pm

eringobragh wrote:

Assume 64GB is good enough - they've really come down in price

Yeah, 64GB is the max stated from the manufacturer although I think a firmware release has allowed the quad to take a 128GB card.

I have transcend and adata cards, none of which have failed. The high endurance card would be nice but a little pricey. I would recommend buying the fastest card you can afford.

11-11-2017 3:53pm

So i had my first flight. Probably shouldn't have had the camera attached, but such is life.

Anyway, i need anew camera and some spare propellers. Can anyone tell me if this would be an easy fix? or where to get a replacement? (I presume gearbest? i'll check there in a sec.. hopefully won't be mega money).

My auto-land didn't work.. or at least, not how i expected it to. Perhaps it's just my new-ness to it.

The Bebop drone has a thing where, once it touches anything, it automatically cuts out, as a safety feature. I presumed the same would be true for this, but nope.. just keeps on going. The propellers were shattered and the drone just bounced off things. It fell upside down, and i grabbed it by the 'landing gear' handle and it still kept on firing away on all cylinders. Not sure how i got it to stop in the end to be honest.

All drones really should have that cut out feature. The Mi Drone would mangle a person/animal if it hit them.

gimpotronitus · 11-11-2017 4:15pm

[Deleted User] wrote: »

So i had my first flight. Probably shouldn't have had the camera attached, but such is life.

Anyway, i need anew camera and some spare propellers. Can anyone tell me if this would be an easy fix? or where to get a replacement? (I presume gearbest? i'll check there in a sec.. hopefully won't be mega money).

My auto-land didn't work.. or at least, not how i expected it to. Perhaps it's just my new-ness to it.

The Bebop drone has a thing where, once it touches anything, it automatically cuts out, as a safety feature. I presumed the same would be true for this, but nope.. just keeps on going. The propellers were shattered and the drone just bounced off things. It fell upside down, and i grabbed it by the 'landing gear' handle and it still kept on firing away on all cylinders. Not sure how i got it to stop in the end to be honest.

All drones really should have that cut out feature. The Mi Drone would mangle a person/animal if it hit them.

Sorry to hear that man. What happened?

tedpan · 11-11-2017 4:32pm

Deleted User wrote:

So i had my first flight. Probably shouldn't have had the camera attached, but such is life.

Disastrous news..

No, you were right to fly with the camera, it works as a complete unit.

Deleted User wrote:

Anyway, i need anew camera and some spare propellers. Can anyone tell me if this would be an easy fix? or where to get a replacement? (I presume gearbest? i'll check there in a sec.. hopefully won't be mega money).

Unfortunately its mega money, 2/3 of the drone. You're best buying the whole thing again, removing the camera/gimbal and selling the the drone and everything else individually. You'll get the majority of the money back.

What happened, were you in an enclosed area? I think most new users are expecting the drone to move with the wind, the safest thing is to let go of the sticks and it will lock onto GPS.

I've never used the land/take off feature, I just take off like any drone.

Turning the propellers off is the same way as turning on, both sticks down and to the centre. When the drone lands it has an auto shut off feature, but it hadn't landed in your case. I've never had an accident, so not sure what happens. I think there is a shut off option in the app.

It's just terrible, really disappointing on the first flight.

11-11-2017 4:39pm

gimpotronitus wrote: »

Sorry to hear that man. What happened?

I was out in the garden, and i tried to take off. Kept getting lots of error messages and it wouldnt take off. 'Low GPS', 'compass interfered with' or some such.

Decided to call it a day when all of a sudden it said it was okay to take off. So I tried the 'pigeon toe' thing on the controls (where you hold the joysticks down diagonally to each other, to start the drone) and i let go.

The drone powered up but didnt take off. So I tried it again and the drone took off. Unfortunately it also pulled back towards me (I was standing behind it) so I pushed it forward. It began to hover and all was well.

So I was happy enough with that to be honest. Was prepared to call it a day. Had no interest in flying, just wanted to get it off the ground and make sure it was working. So i pressed the 'auto land' button and nothing happened. Tapped it, held it, nothing. So I got confused and figured i maybe had to do the pigeon toe thing again, so i tried that and the drone went flying (as it does) into a wall.

At that point i said feck it, I'll let it crash land, because the Bebop drone cuts out when it hits something. Not this drone, though, this is like the terminator. So I panicked, as the drone bounced off the wall, the propellers starting breaking and flying off, so I tried to move the drone away but, having never used it before, I ended up swinging it towards another wall.

Again, it hit this wall (now with only 3 propellers) and refused to stop, but the impact of hitting this wall caused it to bounce off it and flip over upside down. So it was effectively propelling itself, upside down, into the ground. Cue lots of plastic flying everywhere as the other propellers started to break.

I grabbed it by the landing gear/leg, and it stopped for some reason randomly then. At this point two propellers are completely gone, and one is broken at the top.

I like drones, and all that, and I'd be confident using them in day to day life oir technology in general, but it's genuinely dangerous that it didn't cut out on impact. If you accidentally took off in a house (say xmas morning or something) you'd very seriously hurt people. As I was in the garden i was wearing socks, and when it flew towards me I lifted my foot/leg to block it from hitting me, and it cut the foot of me. I've 3 small slices on my foot from it. If that got you in the face you'd be in serious trouble. :eek:

11-11-2017 4:44pm

tedpan wrote: »

Turning the propellers off is the same way as turning on, both sticks down and to the centre.

That's what I was attempting, but maybe I was just doing it wrong, perhaps. It was moving towards me when I tried that, so I dunno. Inexperience, i suppose.

I'll try get to a wide open space. I've to photograph a house for sale tomorrow, so i was hoping I'd be able to use it for that.

tedpan wrote: »

No, you were right to fly with the camera, it works as a complete unit.

I think you can fly it with and without the camera? For a beginner run, i realistically should have probably not had it attached. Just incase this happened. Mind you, hindsight and all that :rolleyes::(

Lanshane · 11-11-2017 5:07pm

So sorry to hear of your accident on your first flight. Hopefully you'll get some cash for the spares. As said the camera is the costly bit but at least nobody was seriously hurt. It just goes to show that these things should be taken seriously and all precautions taken. Now I'm even more nervous when mine arrives.... whenever that will be!!

11-11-2017 5:22pm

Ah in fairness, I'd say I probably could have avoided it completely if i had a little more space. I suppose the best lesson is make sure you're not practicing in a confined area.

A chap that repairs Apple stuff on facebook messaged me saying he could probably fix it, if it's just the cable that's broke. Makes it sound like a simple job, so hopefully that'll be the case.

Once I get that connected then I can see if the camera itself is still up and running properly. I've ordered another complete drone in the meantime anyway.

tedpan · 11-11-2017 5:32pm

Yeah, it's quite a large machine, you just got very unlucky.

Once you get used to it you'll realise it basically flies itself and you won't crash again. I just feel terrible that it's happened on the first go.

Anyone worried, feel free to give me a shout if you need setting it up or demo flight etc.

logistic · 11-11-2017 6:11pm

You can shutdown the motors by

Safety tips:When motors can’t properly turn off, press and hold power button and auto take-off/land button simultaneously for 5 seconds to shut motors.

I would become familiar with the details in the manual before taking for first flight and also run through the beginner guide in the app.

http://www.xiaomi4k.com/xiaomi-mi-drone-4k-user-manual/

JabbaTheHut · 11-11-2017 8:30pm

Aww, man, so sorry to hear what happened.

You're experience sounds similar to mine once. I found that if I was taking off in longish grass, or an uneven surface, it's reluctant to let you fly, with " cannot take off " coming up.
On my 3rd or 4th flight, I had this happen, so I put a strong shopping bag on the grass, and it then took off. But when it came to land, there wasn't a lot of flat ground, so I just flew it low, and caught it. As a result, it went crazy trying to compensate for me holding it. Had to get the brother to hold down the left stick, and it shut the props off. Since then, I made a rule of making sure there a good place to land, even before I take off.

Anyway, hopefully the Apple guy can sort you out. The price of replacement props, is a fraction of the cost of a new gimbal.

Oh, I find the auto take off and land buttons to be finiky. Could take a few attempts for it to work.

11-11-2017 9:18pm

Would I be correct in saying this has no internal memory? and you need a micro SD (that slides into the camera itself?)

tedpan · 11-11-2017 10:05pm

Deleted User wrote:

Would I be correct in saying this has no internal memory? and you need a micro SD (that slides into the camera itself?)

Yep, you need to have the micro SD inserted to update the firmware etc before flying.

RonTon · 12-11-2017 12:59pm

Been following thread for awhile and have learned so much&#55357;&#56397;&#55356;&#57339;&#55357;&#56397;&#55356;&#57339;pulled the trigger and ordered one few days ago ,also got a sdcard from Boots this morning from the bargins thread ...
Can’t wait for it to arrive

Oh is it a micro sd card I need?&#55357;&#56900;

ibrahimovic · 12-11-2017 1:32pm

RonTon wrote: »

Been following thread for awhile and have learned so much��pulled the trigger and ordered one few days ago ,also got a sdcard from Boots this morning from the bargins thread ...
Can’t wait for it to arrive

Oh is it a micro sd card I need?��

yes you need a micro one

RonTon · 12-11-2017 2:17pm

The order got cancelled for some reason for the sd card from Boots ,lucky me

JabbaTheHut · 12-11-2017 4:03pm

You'd really want a class 10 card too. I think tedpan linked to one the got from memoryc.ie

Standard Toaster · 14-11-2017 9:03pm

Sorry to read about your crash KKV

Mine arrived today, exactly 2week from order. Just did all the firmware updates. Will take her out tomorrow if weather is decent.

tedpan · 14-11-2017 9:19pm

Standard Toaster wrote:

Sorry to read about your crash KKV

Yeah, it wasn't the best flight ever for kkv...

Standard Toaster wrote:

Mine arrived today, exactly 2week from order. Just did all the firmware updates. Will take her out tomorrow if weather is decent.

That's great news, nice and quick.

If you're taking it out tomorrow, make sure you are in a wide open space. Once in the air, you'll realise how well it flies. Take it slow, get used to it and then go fast after!

Give me a shout if you have any questions..

Best of luck!

Anonamoose · 15-11-2017 10:21pm

What is the Best site to order off shipping from European Warehouse from everyone's experience. Ready to pull the trigger on one of these.

tedpan · 15-11-2017 10:27pm

Anonamoose wrote:

What is the Best site to order off shipping from European Warehouse from everyone's experience. Ready to pull the trigger on one of these.

Not sure, think the majority have got their's shipped from China on Gearbest. No issues with customs and delivery has been within two weeks for the last few orders.

ArthurG · 16-11-2017 9:56am

Ordered one of these from TomTop as a Christmas present, on November 8th.

The order is marked as 'dispatched' but UPS tracking lists it as 'awaiting pickup' a week later. The broken English response I got from customer support indicates delays out of Hong Kong.

I'm tempted to cancel.... anyone experience such delays with TomTop in the past?.

JabbaTheHut · 16-11-2017 1:12pm

ArthurG wrote: »

Ordered one of these from TomTop as a Christmas present, on November 8th.

The order is marked as 'dispatched' but UPS tracking lists it as 'awaiting pickup' a week later. The broken English response I got from customer support indicates delays out of Hong Kong.

I'm tempted to cancel.... anyone experience such delays with TomTop in the past?.

I ordered from Gearbest, and it took a week for it to ship. The tracking number I had meant nothing really. Took 5 weeks to arrive.

I know that doesn't relate much to you, but what I am kinda iffy about for you is customs. Gearbest ship in a way that customs don't get charged ( in the case of this drone, anyway ). With Toptop, I don't think they have the same shipping system. You could have a bill of around €100 when it arrives at your door.

I could be wrong about this, though. Someone with better experience with Tomtop may be able to help you.

tedpan · 16-11-2017 1:24pm

ArthurG wrote:

Ordered one of these from TomTop as a Christmas present, on November 8th.

JabbaTheHut wrote:

I could be wrong about this, though. Someone with better experience with Tomtop may be able to help you.

Unfortunately I haven't from tomtop either. I know the boardsie "SuckIt" has the most dealings with tomtop. Maybe he could advise..?

ArthurG · 16-11-2017 2:17pm

JabbaTheHut wrote: »

I ordered from Gearbest, and it took a week for it to ship. The tracking number I had meant nothing really. Took 5 weeks to arrive.

I know that doesn't relate much to you, but what I am kinda iffy about for you is customs. Gearbest ship in a way that customs don't get charged ( in the case of this drone, anyway ). With Toptop, I don't think they have the same shipping system. You could have a bill of around €100 when it arrives at your door.

I could be wrong about this, though. Someone with better experience with Tomtop may be able to help you.

Thanks, might just be a lenghty delivery process.

TT do claim on their website that all customs charges are paid for, so I'll give it a few more days before escalating.

tedpan · 16-11-2017 2:29pm

ArthurG wrote:

TT do claim on their website that all customs charges are paid for, so I'll give it a few more days before escalating.

Yeah it's the downside to buying in Asia. Their customer service is pretty poor - talking for all suppliers of course..

JabbaTheHut · 16-11-2017 3:17pm

ArthurG wrote: »

TT do claim on their website that all customs charges are paid for, so I'll give it a few more days before escalating.

Ahh, that's not too bad so. No nasty surprises.

Hopefully you're tracking number will show movement soon.

Standard Toaster · 16-11-2017 5:18pm

Can't get it to calibrate the compass. Any tips??

Edit:
Never mind, figured it out. Man, this thing can haul ass

tedpan · 16-11-2017 6:10pm

Standard Toaster wrote:

Edit: Never mind, figured it out. Man, this thing can haul ass

Yeah, the first time calibrating can take several attempts, but then it doesn't have to be done again!

Glad you're enjoying it, an awesome machine!

All the beginner settings are default, but you can change the speed and range settings under the GPS tab in the app.

Standard Toaster · 16-11-2017 6:38pm

I switched off the beginner settings pretty quick. Big difference.

What's the usb dongle that came with it for btw?

tedpan · 16-11-2017 7:43pm

Standard Toaster wrote:

I switched off the beginner settings pretty quick. Big difference.

Nice one! How did you find it, have fun?!

Standard Toaster wrote:

What's the usb dongle that came with it for btw?

That's if you don't want to use the usb cable. You can connect your phone to the controller via WiFi. I really like the charging feature and don't mind the cable and usb tethering.

Up to you I spose.

gimpotronitus · 16-11-2017 8:49pm

Hi,

Pulled the trigger and got one for 332, fingers crossed on customs!!

Can someone link to an sd card that will definitely record 4k without issues on this bad boy? 4k Sd cards are a bit of a minefield.

Thanks.

Edit:
Will this do for 4k 60 fps?

https://www.mymemory.ie/samsung-64gb-evo-plus-micro-sd-card-sdxc-adapter-100mb-s.html?utm_source=google_shopping&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIhom4zvDD1wIVS7ftCh1JvgrREAQYBSABEgLXqfD_BwE

tedpan · 16-11-2017 9:34pm

gimpotronitus wrote:

Edit: Will this do for 4k 60 fps?

It has two options for 4k

2160p at 30FPS
1440p at 60FPS

Get a class 10 card at minimum, the faster the better. Standard class 10 cards work at 4k during testing.

gimpotronitus wrote:

Pulled the trigger and got one for 332, fingers crossed on customs!!

Nice one, I paid 100euro more only 3 months ago, you'll be happy.

JimFin · 16-11-2017 9:59pm

gimpotronitus wrote: »

Hi,

Pulled the trigger and got one for 332, fingers crossed on customs!!

Can someone link to an sd card that will definitely record 4k without issues on this bad boy? 4k Sd cards are a bit of a minefield.

Thanks.

Edit:
Will this do for 4k 60 fps?

https://www.mymemory.ie/samsung-64gb-evo-plus-micro-sd-card-sdxc-adapter-100mb-s.html?utm_source=google_shopping&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIhom4zvDD1wIVS7ftCh1JvgrREAQYBSABEgLXqfD_BwE

How did you get it for 332? Its showing up for me as 343 with US plug or 352 with CN plug?

Also what's the diff, which plug shoud we go for in Irl?

tedpan · 16-11-2017 10:08pm

JimFin wrote:

How did you get it for 332? Its showing up for me as 343 with US plug or 352 with CN plug?

There's a discount code a page or two back.

JimFin wrote:

Also what's the diff, which plug shoud we go for in Irl?

Makes no difference, it will ship with an adapter and the charger works worldwide.

JimFin · 16-11-2017 10:25pm

tedpan wrote: »

There's a discount code a page or two back.

Makes no difference, it will ship with an adapter and the charger works worldwide.

Thanks Tedpan. Unfortunately the most recent code on here has expired.

tedpan · 16-11-2017 10:39pm

JimFin wrote:

Thanks Tedpan. Unfortunately the most recent code on here has expired.

No worries.

Hmmmm, maybe Gimpotronitus can advise?

Anonamoose · 16-11-2017 10:43pm

https://www.gearbest.com/rc-quadcopters/pp_363299.html?utm_source=linkshare&utm_medium=linkshare&utm_campaign=linkshare&siteID=TnL5HPStwNw-53S3ydgfgpIpvF0.rI_o6A

gimpotronitus · 16-11-2017 11:57pm

tedpan wrote: »

No worries.

Hmmmm, maybe Gimpotronitus can advise?

Hey, I ordered it November 5th.

Just getting around to ordering the SD card now. As others have said there is a code in the thread.

If not, maybe wait until a possible Black Friday deal?

JabbaTheHut · 17-11-2017 12:27am

gimpotronitus wrote: »

Hi,

Pulled the trigger and got one for 332, fingers crossed on customs!!

Can someone link to an sd card that will definitely record 4k without issues on this bad boy? 4k Sd cards are a bit of a minefield.

Thanks.

Edit:
Will this do for 4k 60 fps?

https://www.mymemory.ie/samsung-64gb-evo-plus-micro-sd-card-sdxc-adapter-100mb-s.html?utm_source=google_shopping&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIhom4zvDD1wIVS7ftCh1JvgrREAQYBSABEgLXqfD_BwE

I think that's the exact one i got, but from Amazon.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B06XFZV9JY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

When recording, the files, in my case anyway, split into 5 min segments. Once, and only once mind you, one of the segments got corrupted, and wouldn't play. Apart from that, it's spot on.

JabbaTheHut · 17-11-2017 12:29am

gimpotronitus wrote: »

Hey, I ordered it November 5th.

Just getting around to ordering the SD card now. As others have said there is a code in the thread.

If not, maybe wait until a possible Black Friday deal?

Yep. Always worth a wait. I know some people say that prices are raised before the sale, so it looks like a bargain, but no harm in looking anyway.

tedpan · 17-11-2017 12:31am

JabbaTheHut wrote:

When recording, the files, in my case anyway, split into 5 min segments. Once, and only once mind you, one of the segments got corrupted, and wouldn't play. Apart from that, it's spot on.

That's usually down to unplugging the battery prior to ending the recording and the file is not finalised. I haven't had any corrupted footage unless I forgot to press stop!

JabbaTheHut · 17-11-2017 3:47am

tedpan wrote: »

That's usually down to unplugging the battery prior to ending the recording and the file is not finalised. I haven't had any corrupted footage unless I forgot to press stop!

That's strange. I have only one battery, and never take it out until I get home so I can recharge it. Plus, as force of habit, I always shut down the remote, and then the drone, and finally the phone/tablet, before I pack everything away. I've learned due to my own stupid mistakes to return the sd card back into the gimbal after downloading the video files.

With a lot of tech going on, I just put it down to one of those things.

Mind you, forgetting to press stop would be very possible in my case.

gimpotronitus · 17-11-2017 5:41pm

Ordered November 5th, arrived today. So two weeks. No customs either.

Will have some fun later

Lanshane · 18-11-2017 12:39am

gimpotronitus wrote: »

Ordered November 5th, arrived today. So two weeks. No customs either.

Will have some fun later

Same here. Thing is I am waiting for a 64 gig SD card to come in the post. I just didn't think the drone would arrive so promptly. I have a 2gb lying around, could I plug that in just to get it flying and replace it with the proper one when it arrives? Plus the firmware update, where exactly is that being installed does anybody know?

Xiaomi Mi Drone 4k - 393 euro including delivery

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