Neat new personal camera drone. I love the design of the body with fold up propellers and (i think) retractable arms.
That drone is very interesting. At only $500, it is attractively priced. Thank you for sharing…
I am still waiting for AirDog to start shipping… I am sure you have heard of it. It does cost twice as much but, the batteries can be exchange amongst the many other features. www.AirDog.com
Airdog in my opinion is almost too good to be true, but I have kept up with their progress since just before kickstarter. Its real and August is coming in a hurry! Lily is way cheaper and it does mostly what AirDog does… Arg… the tyranny of choice…
…X…
Edit: corrected sentences; grammar.
1 Like
Wow, that is very cool! I’m looking forward to the day they make an ultra compact one I can throw in the air and take great panning shots at concerts. Of course, that’s cool until everyone has them, then I’ll be annoyed.
I wonder why no manufacturer (that I know about) has thought of failsafe parachute mechanism to allow recovery of drones that are either flown until battery exhaustion or as a bail out scenario for newbies who just panic and lose control of their drone.
Anybody see an estimated date for release? I couldn’t find one. And by the look of the video, I don’t think the arms are retractable. There’s that shot of them sliding it into a back pack and the arms are still out.
AirDog has sensors and programming that will send it back to point of launch; landing it safely. It is a natural step for a drone that autopilots.
I encourage all to read-up on it. It has the potential to raise the bar in what is expected in a ~$1,000.00 dollar drone, and what should be standard across the board.
…X…
The Lily drone is schedule to ship Feb2016.
According to Forbes Online Magazine
…X…
Edit, added Subject of the first sentence. Corrected link to correct link.
If I’m not mistaken, other drones return to GPS home as well, like the DJI Phantom. Seems like a natural choice for automated camera drones as well, I could see problems if the Lily decides to go into auto-land mode over a canyon and the battery dies before it reaches the ground.
Worth noting on the Lily is that they plan to sell it for $1000 once it’s in full production. Still cheaper than the AirDog by about $300, but not as big a difference as the pre-order price.
I pre-ordered the Airdog in Feb 2015 and am waiting (patiently) on the 2nd shipment as of May 2015. I believe they are scheduled to be in-hands Sept 2015.
I like the look/feel of the Lily better, it’s half the cost, and you can throw it up in the air to launch. My hesitation is around the price, why is it so inexpensive comparatively?
I want a $1,000 to $1,500 drone that has a longer battery life and “just works, everytime”.
Can anyone help me understand the differences, or make me feel better that I ordered an Airdog vs a Lily? One big thing is the replacement batteries. Lily’s are non-replaceable, with Airdog, you can bring back-ups. So you can shoot for 20 min, then add another 20 min. “Can you imagine snowboarding for only 20 min?”
Otherwise, I’m going to pre-order a Lily and put the Airdog on eBay. Thoughts?
The AirDog:
Is specifically an air plataform design to employ a GoPro. It even has a cable to connect the GP directly to the body of the AD that charges it using the AD battery system. I dont know what camera Lily has onboard, I am sure a GP Hero 3+ will take its lunch! and we are on Hero4
AD has a 2 axis gimbal, and the platform(being controlled by the motors) acts as the third axis. It shoots a much more stable video when moving at high speeds(bike, Motorbike, Snowboard, boat) Oh, and the AD speed is up to 45mph!
It has the ability to be program with your PHONE, and a computer for Exclusion zones. Planned flight based on a google map designation or by executing the follow me mode as first record then execute. It also has the ability to pay attention to two different tethers(remotes).
It has a compass, Lidar, GPS, amongst the other sensors/radios. It will do a preheat up/calibration of the sensors so you will never have to adjust the sensor manually. It lands it self, it knows what the ground is and it can fly very low to the ground to get those super Low-then-high vid shots. Or you could have it do a terrain scan-pan from point a to point B, further than what Lily current appears to do(deduction) AD does not have to be with in Tether range to fly.
I am sure we(DMS) can replicate and update the battery packs, by Reverse Engineering them, thus saving a ton of money, specially since the batteries are interchangeable by design.
I mean seriously, where do I stop. AD seems to be an intermediate drone with potential for modifications and Lily is a closed system from the gate more suitable for those not knowledgeable/agile with tech or drones in general(<my opinion.)
…X…
Some of us in electronics were discussing getting a mini spot welder made for building battery packs.
1 Like
@bmose14 @Awesomer I’ll say this about both, and it’s something y’all probably already know: I’m not jumping at either since pre-order is such a gamble. Every product sounds good on paper, but the final result after production, who can say? Both companies clearly have people who are experienced in their field and know their work, but both are new companies and there is a lot they have to learn. Manufacturing is a cruel mistress. I would be amazed if either of them release even in the same quarter they estimated or keep the full feature sets they are promising.
I like what both represent: a move to very approachable, automated camera drones that opens up video and photography options immensely. On the other hand, I get the feeling early adoption is going to be rife with disappointment on these.
1 Like
@CaffeinatedPanda I agree that manufacturing is very difficult to predict reliably. and YOU ARE RIGHT!! AirDog has already pushed back their delivery date twice, if memory serves me right.
However, before KickStarter they where looking for investors and the demonstrations they where giving to prospected investors where convincing that what they had was a product ready for production at the cusp of commercialization.
As far as being disappointed with early adoption… Only if we are unrealistic with our expectations. Both of these products, are pretty amazing on their own right just the way they are.
…X…