I've wanted to get hold of a quadcopter for a while now. Ever since I saw the Parrot AR Drones on youtube, I thought I had to have one. I couldn't really think of a reason that I needed one but I wanted one nonetheless.
Then I saw the DJI Phantom 3. I hadn't really bothered to look for other options while I was considering the Parrot, but when the P3 came along I knew I needed it more than any gadget I've ever bought myself.
Things came to a head in Florence recently when I went to a wedding and found out that the Bride & Groom had a guest coming that also flew drones. Well! That was like a red rag to a bull. I didn't really get the chance to meet the guy as I didn't want to be the un-cool person drooling over it at the wedding but when I saw it in the air at a few moments during the wedding week, the seed was sown.
Fast forward all but 2 weeks and I bought it! I went for the Phantom 3 Professional and I've had nothing but fun with it in the last few days.
It's a serious bit of kit, don't get me wrong. This isn't a toy. But I knew it was going to be amazing. As soon as I ordered it I began reading all the info I could while I waited 2 days for it to arrive. I joined the forums and I read people's stories of triumph and failure.
There are plenty of posts about 'fly-aways' which freaked me out a bit as I didn't want to go out in a field and lose the damn thing on day one. There were other stories about birds attacking these things in the air and unexplained crashes.
Suddenly I began to think I had made a mistake and I questioned my decision to buy one but by that time it was too late - the Phantom was on a fast ticket to South East London.
It arrived in work on Tuesday. Like the holy grail, I paraded it through the office and initially not many took notice. I'm forever getting deliveries to work so I guess it looks the norm. Then when I couldn't contain my excitement any longer I started pointing it out to people to see their reaction. Sad I know, but I was mega excited to get it home and try the thing out. For the rest of the day I had other accessories and things arriving in work until it was time to go home.
When I got home, I did the sensible thing. I waited until I was comfortable with the controls and the app. I didn't take it out that night because I knew by the time I was ready to fly it, it would be too late. So I went to work the next day with only one thing on my mind, leaving work at 5pm.
I was a little nervous. I've never rocked up to a field with a remote control flying blender before let alone had a go of one. So I didn't know what to expect in terms of reaction from people or whether the outing would end in misery.
See for yourself. This is the video I put together after my first attempt at flying one of these bad boys!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUPZoObaXMI
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