Sometimes, everything becomes much clearer when you take a step back and take a look at a different angle. Or, in this case, from above. Photographs taken from above have always been fascinating to me especially those over Hong Kong.
Thirty years ago, I had two diving lessons at a resort on the Barrier Reef, Australia. Because it was just me, the instructor did a half hour session in the swimming pool and then it was straight out to the reef. The first dive was 75 feet and then next 50 feet (because there was something wrong with a bit of equipment so we had to return to the boat.
Apart travelling through a tunnel, that's probably the deepest I've ever been underwater. I saw giant clams, blue starfish and a baby shark. I never did scuba diving again. Someone asked me if I had ever done diving and I mentioned this story. He said, "Once you've dived on the Barrier Reef, there's no need to go anywhere else'.
After returning from the Maldives and taking the drone for its first proper flight, anywhere else seemed anti-climatic. So the drone was parked for a few months. Recently, I've had a resurgence of interest and took it up over a rocky beach named Nai Chung near Ma On Shan.
I feel more energised to explore more again. I'm still learning the Mavic Air ropes but have some observations:
Like
- Easy to use
- Simple set up
- Incredible results
- Can remove the 'bumpers' (imagine training wheels for a bike. The drone has a set of plastic bumpers to protect the blades in cases of crashes) after two or three flights.
- The speed! My highest is 63 kilometres per hour!
- The height! 200 metres above the deck outside of Hong Kong is my best so far. Breathtaking views from up there.
- The distance! I've only dared go 2 kilometres but it can go 2.5 times that.
- The controls are simple to use.
- Two years owning the drone and I still get enjoyment out of it
Improvements Needed
- The SIM card is hard to remove and made more difficult by the plastic protection flap
- Never found it easy to download photos or videos. You have to power up the drone, pair with the phone, then download. I went through a period where I kept connecting, went to download a photo and was disconnected. The remedy was to delete the cache, and download any firmware updates but this took a while to find out.
- The cable to connect the controller with the iPhone is fiddly
- The cable to power up the controller failed and I had to order another one (but ordered from a different supplier to DJI),
- I set up two profiles by accident and never found out how to delete the extra profile
- Three batteries come with the drone yet there are four spaces on the charger