Where and how to keep the controller in Follow Me mode - Snowboarding

[supergrobi]

Hi folks

so the winter season is almost there. I really want to shoot some great footage of myself snowboarding in a few weeks. Follow me sounds like a good idea, yet my question is what to do with the controller once everything is set up. From the Flight Academy footage from 3DR (

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), it is not clear where he puts the controller - his backpack? (and how he keeps the controls from being accidentially shifted once he starts riding).

My questions:

- How do I secure the controller so it does not move around while I am snowboarding and accidentally moves my drone?
- Where do I put my phone? Would I lose the GPS signal if I put the phone in an outer pockedt of my snowboard jacket?

Has anyone done this?
Thanks!
Jens

 

[Lon Snyder]

Are you planning on doing this at a U.S. Ski Resort? If so, be careful as most have bans on UAVs.


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[supergrobi]

Thanks for the heads up - nope this will be in Austria. Not (yet) banned over here so I want to make use of the season while it's still not yet banned

Have you done Follow Me in snownboarding?

 

[Lon Snyder]

I have not yet. For me, the Solo, the P3, the Q500, the Hexo+ are all too big to carry while snowboarding. I'm waiting for AirDog | The Auto-Follow Drone For Adventure Sports
to see if it really works as advertised (it looks compact & quick to deploy)
No more getting a 1st generation product when it first comes out as "ready to fly" shouldn't really mean "ready to tinker".


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[Maddog]

You can put your phone in an outside pocket- should be no problem getting GPS, but you might test it before going.

Normally the controller is held by a safety pilot to take over in case of a problem. He can also move Solo to different vantage points as you ski if you want.

I don't think the developers thought about skiing/snowboarding!
I don't ski so I have no idea how you could carry it with you.

Maybe another skier could follow you down, holding the controller?

 

[supergrobi]

He

You can put your phone in an outside pocket- should be no problem getting GPS, but you might test it before going.

Normally the controller is held by a safety pilot to take over in case of a problem. He can also move Solo to different vantage points as you ski if you want.

I don't think the developers thought about skiing/snowboarding!
I don't ski so I have no idea how you could carry it with you.

Maybe another skier could follow you down, holding the controller?

Hey maddog

My use case is actually exactly like the one that is mentioned in the official 3dr training video- except he is on a quad in warm territories and I will be in the cold - we both are by ourselves and want to make use of the follow me mode - I don't need a follow me mode if I have an extra skiier wth me

Thanks!

 

[Troiano27]

Ok, you mention you don't need follow me more if you had someone else with you. So I'd assume you're bring solo up the mountain in some sort of backpack? Are you planning on wearing the backpack on the trip down, or leaving someplace at top? If not, you'll just carry solo, controller and phone/tablet out in the open up the mountain, leaving everything else secured at bottom somewhere? If it's the first, maybe you put controller in the backpack. Get some sma (I think those are the type of antenna connectors on the radio) extensions. You might be able to rig an antenna that peaks out of the top of the pack. Keep phone in front pocket of your jacket? Or if it's second. Maybe a small light weight pack to hold just the controller?

Might have to get creative. Not sure how far you plan on being from solo, but can't imagine it more then a couple hundred feet. Also not sure how connection might suffer if controller secured in a pack?

But I'm going to assume that once follow mode is activated, all the stick inputs are turned off until a press of a button to deactivate follow mode.

Also keep in mind, if your home point is at top of mountain and you are almost to bottom and lose contact, it will return to the top and wait for you.

 

[Pogo]

Ok, you mention you don't need follow me more if you had someone else with you. So I'd assume you're bring solo up the mountain in some sort of backpack? Are you planning on wearing the backpack on the trip down, or leaving someplace at top? If not, you'll just carry solo, controller and phone/tablet out in the open up the mountain, leaving everything else secured at bottom somewhere? If it's the first, maybe you put controller in the backpack. Get some sma (I think those are the type of antenna connectors on the radio) extensions. You might be able to rig an antenna that peaks out of the top of the pack. Keep phone in front pocket of your jacket? Or if it's second. Maybe a small light weight pack to hold just the controller?

Might have to get creative. Not sure how far you plan on being from solo, but can't imagine it more then a couple hundred feet. Also not sure how connection might suffer if controller secured in a pack?

But I'm going to assume that once follow mode is activated, all the stick inputs are turned off until a press of a button to deactivate follow mode.

Also keep in mind, if your home point is at top of mountain and you are almost to bottom and lose contact, it will return to the top and wait for you.

You are very correct Troiano, OP should consider "Return to me" in Tower app to get dynamic RTH target.

 

[Rich]

I think this is why the Solo backpack has straps to hold the controller in place.

I haven't tried it yet, but put controller I the backpack, the wear the backpack while snow boarding.

Or put smartphone in pocket, but have a friend stay very close to you with while he wears the backpack. You need to have him stay in wifi range of the smart phone.

Test it before your trip, maybe with a bicycle or a skateboard.