FPV - What a hobby...!

[Klown]

I can’t remember how long I have been saying “I will start a new hobby this year” but it’s been, well, years!!
For fun, me and a couple of friends said we should get some little drones to learn to fly and fly together next time we meet up. So we jumped on Amazon, knowing flip all about drones and simply searched “drone”. The next day this tiny little drone turns up and I’m super excited to get going! I skimmed the instructions (not much point trying to read the terrible English…), plug it in, move the throttle up and down to bind, then flick the throttle straight up…launching it straight into the ceiling…Luckily the wife wasn’t around! It didn’t matter, I was hooked! Tiny, crappy toy but something I could get stuck into and try to master. It’s that challenge that appealed to me, particular as a programmer; human controlling a machine and to get a desired result.

But it’s so much more than that! A true art form. Being able to fly and command a device so powerful that could cause so much damage but taming it and creating insanely impressive footage at the end of it all.

Most importantly to me (and unexpectedly) is the community I’ve found myself part of. As anyone who is in this hobby or has looked into getting into the hobby knows, it’s expensive! I was looking for an AIO camera on my super cheap setup (that’s another story) when I came across Unmanned Tech shop. One of those chat windows popped up in the corner and I wanted to ask a question. I found I got really helpful feedback and discovered the Discord server. Now I’ve never met any of the people on there (fingers crossed for Sunday!) but they have been more helpful and happy to help than pretty much anyone I’ve met in my life. We all have the same end goal - great flight but there is no competition; everyone just wants to see each other be the best pilot they can be. That is a rare find and for that I am so grateful to be a part of this hobby.

Anyway, I’d love to open this thread up to hear how you got into the hobby and what you love about it?

Cheers!

[Maximilian]

Awesome thread Klown

About March 2018 my little boy kept pestering me saying he wanted a drone. I was non plussed about such an idea but he kept banging on and on about it. I searched on Amazon and stumbled across the Cheerson CX10WD, a tiny FPV drone that you can link to your phone and it only cost about 30 quid.

At the time the boy pretty much lost interest after a week but I was hooked! I used to fly helicopters about 10 years beforehand but had sold them all to buy a motorbike, which I crashed just after my boy was born injuring myself (you can image how that conversation went)… not had a bike for 6 years now.

Anyway so there’s this little drone peeking my interest but I wanted something better so started searching. I ended up buying a Happymodel Mantis 85 and a Taranix QX7, which I flew line of sight for a few months, emulating my helo days. Then I found Unmanned tech and bought the FXT Viper Goggles.

First proper FPV flight and that was it. I was in. 6 months later and I have some serious drones, some serious goggles and some serious lack of talent. But the thing I loved about helo’s was the building, and it turns out I’m pretty good at that with drones too (sorta). I’m learning to fly it properly and constantly pushing myself more than I ever did with the Helos because these things are almost indestructible, unlike a helo which basically tears itself to pieces at the slightest sniff of the ground.

Much like this forum, the community over on the discord is full of really cool people, the UMT staff who bend over backwards to help you out even in the dead of night and a bunch of likeminded individuals who just wanna see each other fly and help each other out. This is a great place to be, a great place to buy stuff and a great hobby to be part of. I fully intend to keep on keeping on…

[speedybrit]

Super post great idea look forward to reading the posts.
I’m new on ere but have noticed how friendly and helpful everyone are. My interest started as an engineering apprentice wanted to build a heli but were so expensive anyway 30 years later our boys are men and i brought a heli soo scary still scare me… so i brought a simulator best thing i did started flying planes on it which i enjoyed. While on google who was my only rc friend i came across rcexplorer David Windestål and his scratch built tricopters. Well that was me hooked multirotor that flies like a heli. Built and crashed loads now. Joined a local club mainly planes but have a few heli guys few multirotors. Best thing i did was to join a club i get as much fun watching as flying so although im prob 8 years or so on now i’m still learning have a few quads can rag them around los well until i lose sight of it have one set up for fpv at mo i only connect to phone and still fly los brought the simulator see u guys using velodrome wow love it. So next stop goggles so i agree with Klown what a hobby