Forest Cruising with the DJI FPV Drone

 

Cruising through the complex web of the temperate rainforest with the DJI FPV drone, one discovers just how grand our wild forests truly are. Layer upon layer of green and growing things living together in perfect harmony, which every level from canopy to the mossy carpet of the forest floor being it's own secret world thriving with an ecosystem that twines together in a sprawling interconnected web of life. Join me as I embark on this journey of discovering through the woodland realm.

DJI FPV - Troubleshooting activation issues

 

The DJI FPV Drone is a fantastic device, but activating it for the first time can  be the source of frustration and headaches. In this video I'll help you troubleshoot two of the big sources of difficulty typically encountered when activating this drone. Hopefully after watching this you'll be able quickly and easily take to the skies!

DJI FPV Motion controller - Setup Guide & First Flight Video

I put together this how-to video on setting up the DJI FPV motion controller, and included my first flight with it. It's a ton of fun, and way easier to pick up and fly than I had expected. It's remarkably intuitive and makes flying feel more natural and immersive, though it will take some getting used to for me to be completely comfortable with this input method. I do have a few complaints though, it's really easy to hit the record button by accident (hence why the footage from the drone picks up midway through the flight!), and it was pretty annoying having to bind the controller to my account and activate it. Overall though, this controller is pretty cool. I'll be making a review video about it when I've had a chance to really get to grips with it.

Mountain Surfing with the DJI FPV Drone

 

I packed my my DJI FPV drone up into the mountains for its second flight ever this past week. It poured down snow for most of the trip, so I was worried I wouldn't get a chance to fly, but fortune favored me and I was granted a 15 minute break in the weather to cruise through the snowy alpine forest and try my hand at mountain surfing right at the edge of a wall of falling snow.

Now, as some may point out, this isn't a traditional long range mountain surfing video which typically begin with an ascent from the foot of a mountain and end with the descent in one long cinematic experience. Since the DJI FPV drone is limited to 500 meters above its takeoff point, this isn't really possible for this drone. For me this hasn't become a serious limitation yet, as I'm still getting used to flying FPV at all, and I don't feel comfortable taking it far away from me or trying really daring high speed stunts. For this video I aimed to get the feel of mountain surfing more than the full lengthy experience of long distance mountain surfing.

Next up I'm going to try flying in thick forest, so stay tuned for that!

DJI FPV Drone - First Flight

I finally got my DJI FPV drone activated, updated, and took it out for a spin - my first time flying FPV! I've got to say, as someone coming from the Mavic 2, even just flying in N and S modes with this thing is quite a thrilling experience. I honestly hadn't expected to be flying through fairly tight spaces and doing close passes to the ground so confidently after just a few minutes.

I'm not even going to try to fly in Manual mode until I can find a decent flight simulator to try on Android/PC - I had planned to learn via the DJI flight simulator, but I don't own an IOS device. To be honest, I'm perfectly happy with N and S modes right now, since they allow me to get that FPV style footage that I want to capture. So, first impressions from my first flight are very positive indeed - I love this thing and am already thinking of a dozen different places that would awesome to fly at.

DJI FPV Drone - Unboxing & Troubleshooting

I realize there are a bazillion DJI FPV drone unboxing videos out there, but I couldn't resist filming my own since this is such an exciting new piece of tech! I picked up the drone plus the fly more kit (which I know from experience I will end up buying anyway), and the motion controller (which was too cool to resist!). Unfortunately, I couldn't get through the activation process in time to take it for a spin on the day I filmed/edited the video.

For anyone else having trouble with these issues I'll explain what happened and how I finally solved the problem.

Wild Birds in the Snow

In the lowland temperate rainforests of the Pacific Northwest snow falls but rarely, and when it does the wild birds that hide themselves in thickets and brush come out to forage in profusion. It is surprising that these delicate creatures, even hummingbirds, used to a moderate and gentle climate survive through such harsh conditions, yet their song seems all the louder for the snow.