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New owner. New pilot.

CRXPanda

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I have yet to fly my drone. I purchased it in the kit with the Hero5 a few days ago. In those days, I have read a lot of stories (horror stories) of them going rogue, bad GoPro Care, loss of signal and crashing, and more.
I got a tile tracker (some phantom pilots have retrieved theirs using this item), hopefully to make me a bit more confident when I do finally fly.
 
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I have yet to fly my drone. I purchased it in the kit with the Hero5 a few days ago. In those days, I have read a lot of stories (horror stories) of them going rogue, bad GoPro Care, loss of signal and crashing, and more.
I got a tile tracker (some phantom pilots have retrieved theirs using this item), hopefully to make me a bit more confident when I do finally fly.

To boost your confidence, practice with the built-in flight simulator before you first field test.
When you're ready for first flight, go somewhere away from WiFi sources, and without any obsticles such as building or trees that may affect GPS reception and may be collision hazards. Before first launch, allow the drone enough time to acquire a stable GPS signal. You might also have to do a calibration. (The controller will prompt you how to do the calibration). Before first launch, think about where your landing options are (ideally, hard surface free of dust/dirt) -- you might not land where you launch from. First flight should be focused on takeoff/hover/land. Once you got that, just putz around (i.e., short area flight) in a small area. Try and practice flying a pattern (e.g., follow lines on a football or baseball field) at 10 foot elevation until you can build your confidence and skill. If you're really concerned, bring a friend who can act as spotter (in case someone/animal/bird encroaches into your flight area). On your first flight, you should focus on flight movements based upon line-of-sight -- don't get distracted with what the camera sees on the controller's screen. You'll get to that once you get muscle memory built up on how the control sticks work. Practice flying with the drone facing away from you. (Left is left, right is right). Later, try flying with the drone facing you (input on the controls will have a mirrored/reversed appearance (left stick makes the drone move to your right). The flight controller will give you a verbal warning when the battery is low -- you'll want to have the drone near you before you get the warning. You don't want the drone to auto-land in general, let alone when its farway from you. It make come down on something you might not see if it's a 100 feet away (e.g. tall weeds get caught up in the props). If you want to record your first flight, press the Record button before you launch, then stop after you land -- this will save you the hassle of trying to figure out what fingers to use to press what button when you should focused on the sticks when drone is in the air. Don't worry about what gets recorded during early flights. Once you get the hang of the flight controls, you can then try and keep targets center-framed on the camera view. For example, if you fly down a painted line, are you keeping the line centered. Then try flying parallel to the line with the drone turned to the left or right. Finally, try and do an orbit (manually) around something like your self, a small tree or some other ground target. Don't try any of the auto-flight features until later -- you want to have the skill to take control of the drone in case you have to abort an auto-flight (e.g., in case the Dronie is going to fly the karma into a building or tree).

Remember, fly with line-of-sight. Not only to keep an eye on things, but you may loose signal if something (trees/buildings) gets between you/controller and the drone. And, if the return-to-home kicks in, the drone might straight line into whatever is between it and the "home" point is.

Sorry, I didn't mean to ramble on like that. I hope this helps
 
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One more thing: tape your name & phone number on the drone (and controller). If it flies away, you might have a chance of someone nice returning it to you if they find it.
 
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I have yet to fly my drone. I purchased it in the kit with the Hero5 a few days ago. In those days, I have read a lot of stories (horror stories) of them going rogue, bad GoPro Care, loss of signal and crashing, and more.
I got a tile tracker (some phantom pilots have retrieved theirs using this item), hopefully to make me a bit more confident when I do finally fly.
I just received my package, same as you last week. T
I have yet to fly my drone. I purchased it in the kit with the Hero5 a few days ago. In those days, I have read a lot of stories (horror stories) of them going rogue, bad GoPro Care, loss of signal and crashing, and more.
I got a tile tracker (some phantom pilots have retrieved theirs using this item), hopefully to make me a bit more confident when I do finally fly.
I just received my package, same as yours last week. I practiced with the simulater a bit and read a book "The GoPro Karma Drone". Today I took my first flight, nervous as heck, but was so pleasantly surprised how easy the Karma is to fly! With the sim Iwas all over the place but when it came own to the real thing it was a dream! Once you hit the self take off it rises up and hovers in place. Just slowly move the controls where ever and it only takes minutes before you're flying all over the place!!
Have fun!!
 
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Today I took my first flight, nervous as heck, but was so pleasantly surprised how easy the Karma is to fly! With the sim Iwas all over the place but when it came own to the real thing it was a dream! Once you hit the self take off it rises up and hovers in place. Just slowly move the controls where ever and it only takes minutes before you're flying all over the place!!
Have fun!!

I'm glad things worked out. I know all of the pre-talk may have been overwhelming / disconcerting, but like most things, the more you know, the better prepared you are if something unexpected had occurred.

Yes, the Karma is a really good platform for a My-First-Drone experience. In fact, I'm glad I had my experience (except for the flyaway event....) with the karma before getting the Mavic Pro.

Keep us posted on how things go
 
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I just received my package, same as you last week. T

I just received my package, same as yours last week. I practiced with the simulater a bit and read a book "The GoPro Karma Drone". Today I took my first flight, nervous as heck, but was so pleasantly surprised how easy the Karma is to fly! With the sim Iwas all over the place but when it came own to the real thing it was a dream! Once you hit the self take off it rises up and hovers in place. Just slowly move the controls where ever and it only takes minutes before you're flying all over the place!!
Have fun!!
A HINT: WHEN YOUR BATTERY HAS ABOUT 3 MINUTES LEFT , THE KARMA WANTS TO GO HOME. MAKE SURE YOU DO NOT HAVE ANY TREES, BUILDING ETC ON THE WAY BACK TO YOUR TAKE OFF AREA. SINCE MY KARMA DID NOT HAVE ANY AVOIDANCE SOFTWARE, IT TRIED TO FLY THROUGH A WALL ON THE WAY BACK TO THE ORIGINAL LANDING SITE. THE KARMA, NEVERTHELESS, IS CERTAINLY A GREAT DRONE FOR A BEGINNER.
 
The main thing in this situation is to set your "return home altitude" to a sufficient value that the drone will clear any obstacles.

A classic example is when someone tries to orbit a tall structure (building, lighthouse, etc.) and when the drone is on the far side, it loses connection and tries to RTH. So long as you've set the RTH altitude at a level that can clear the structure, you'll have no problems.

This means you need to do a little looking and thinking before you take-off, but really, these things aren't toys and that level of pre-flight preparation should be bare minimum.
 
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