New to drones Any advice?

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So, I just last night purchased my first Drone. The 3DR Solo, and I will be using a gopro hero 4 Silver with it. I havent even unboxed anything yet, as tomorrow is my day I can spend learning and playing with it. Does anyone have any advice for me, including good safe spots to fly? I live in southern California, (west covina) and honestly haven't learned much as of yet regarding the specifics of where I can and cannot fly (other than the 5 mile aiport rule of course)
Any help is appreciated as I am all about know as much as possible and doing things the right way.
Thank you.

`Chris
 
Go back as far as you can and read as many posts as you can. There is also a help section (above) with FAQs. Also use the search function. 3DR has videos in the support section of Solo and there are a bunch on helpful stuff on YouTube.

Take your time.
 
1) Register with the FAA and put your certificate number on your drone. Inside the battery compartment is ok, but it has to legally be on there and not need tools to get at it. Study those rules. You will be held accountable for them.Getting Started

2) Read the manual cover to cover. Then do it again. You can be charging your battery in the meantime :)
3DR - Drone & UAV Technology
User Manual | 3DR - Drone & UAV Technology

3) Go to a very wide open area to learn. Your backyard in a city won't cut it. Become very familiar with flying.

4) Learn to fly in manual mode or you will get in trouble eventually when you lose GPS or something else and it starts drifting and the controls don't act the same way.
 
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Exactly what @PdxSteve said. With lots of emphasis on getting comfortable with manual mode. Wait for GPS lock, then take off using the 'Fly' button. Then Start by switching to manual after Solo takes off. If you start getting uncomfortable with what Solo is doing, tap the 'Fly ' button. Re-orient yourself and Solo and do it again. As you get comfortable, start doing figure 8s. Easy movements on the sticks and stay in the 6-10' in height range. You will quickly start to get comfortable with manual and then practice takeoff/landing in manual. Remember, manual mode will hold the altitude for you so you can concentrate with slowly moving Solo around and keeping it close. If you are in a nice wide open area, you will have plenty of time to react and use the 'Fly' button if necessary. The majority of mishaps with new pilots come from relying on GPS and not knowing what to do when it's lost. Here is a video I did last year that might make you a little more relaxed about it..
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You might find that as you get comfortable with it, you actually enjoy flying more since it is you then that is more the pilot than the spectator.

Have Fun and Be Safe...
Jubal
 
So, I just last night purchased my first Drone. The 3DR Solo, and I will be using a gopro hero 4 Silver with it. I havent even unboxed anything yet, as tomorrow is my day I can spend learning and playing with it. Does anyone have any advice for me, including good safe spots to fly? I live in southern California, (west covina) and honestly haven't learned much as of yet regarding the specifics of where I can and cannot fly (other than the 5 mile aiport rule of course)
Any help is appreciated as I am all about know as much as possible and doing things the right way.
Thank you.

`Chris
Congratulations. Solo is awesome I use hero4 and black both are amazing for picture quality. DO NOT buy or use a android device you won't be able to use 100% of its capabilities because of new updates only ios users can.
 
Congratulations. Solo is awesome I use hero4 and black both are amazing for picture quality. DO NOT buy or use a android device you won't be able to use 100% of its capabilities because of new updates only ios users can.
Not very good advice without knowing his applications. I certainly would not trade the abilities of Tower for fence and AR. Tower & MP are extremely powerful and useful utilities that are not available on ios devices. I use Tower more than the Android app, but still would not tell a new user "DO NOT" anything. And because of 3rd party apps, he can certainly be closer to "100% of capabilities" without ios.
Just my opinion. YMMV
 
That's your opinion but please remember that if you use tower and you crash your not covered under warranty that's good advice. It is important to no that 3dr favour ios over android eg the latest update
 
That's your opinion but please remember that if you use tower and you crash your not covered under warranty that's good advice. It is important to no that 3dr favour ios over android eg the latest update
Yes, 3DR includes the warranty while using Tower. That was covered extensively last year.
 
Amazing info so far!! And I have been doing my best to educate myself, I'm realizing this is a never learn it all hobby, as there is soooo much info to know. I just woke up and am getting ready to take it out to my local park that has a ton of open space, I'm hoping to get really comfortable with the drone so I can actually take it places and explore, but not doing any of that Til I'm 100% confident. Again thank you all for the info, and please keep it coming. :)
 
Yes, 3DR includes the warranty while using Tower. That was covered extensively last year.

With a caveat though. 3DR will honor the warranty as long as you DO NOT change the parameters of the Solo in Tower. It must be left as default for it to be covered.
 
I find if you can practice flying on a daily basis your confidence and skills will improve very rapidly. At a minimum of one battery per a day.

Always remember altitude is your friend when flying a multi-rotor.
 
With a caveat though. 3DR will honor the warranty as long as you DO NOT change the parameters of the Solo in Tower. It must be left as default for it to be covered.
No, they clarified that last year. Because of the amount of data they can get from the logs, a changed parameter from stock has to be a contributing factor to the loss. and that only makes sense. You can change the speed in guided for example and lose a motor, but the parameter change did not contribute to the crash.
 
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