chirp / whistle locator

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so i did a little search and couldn't really find much on the idea "i may have just used crappy keywords"
but would anyone think it a good idea to have some kind of sound locator.
Background for the idea:
My friend that got me into Quadcoptors was up at the mountains flying his phantom 2 around and it got away from him and landed in a field of 3-4ft Grass, he eventually found it after about a good 2 hours. his props where all F'ed up by the grass.
ive also read stories of people loosing them in wood/trees never to be found again, for what ever reason (wind, user error, etc)
so my idea was to have a Chirp or whistle that can be heard from say 50-100 feet that turns on when connection with the controller is lost for a certain amount of time say 5min or something. this way it wont just turn on right away and be annoying.
several issue i have with this would be battery life, speaker size and weight. also would need to stay on while you are searching for it. say you are trying to find it and you have the controller in your hand. you dont want it to stop just because you are back in range.

I dont know, is it a silly idea, Yep but it may be a useful one. let me know what you think
 
Not a silly idea at all... I asked Kenargo to see if the SDK yields this ability, he's asked DJI to look into adding it to the SDK. Basically this will give app makers the ability to add this function.
 
yeah i commented. i have that device, i bought it for my mom. the range isnt all that good. and the sound isnt all that loud. in perfect silence and condition. youll get 50-100 but usually its around 50 ft
 
yeah i commented. i have that device, i bought it for my mom. the range isnt all that good. and the sound isnt all that loud. in perfect silence and condition. youll get 50-100 but usually its around 50 ft

Yes, I'll give you that. On my old version - attached to my car keys - it's not all that loud, but it works in a fairly quiet environment. The newest one is better.
 
Would strapping a small chicken to the quad work? Not cooked of course. That would be just dumb.
Happy hour already?:cool:

I think the idea of a loud chirp/whistle is a great idea. It's only a matter of time before my bird tries hiding in the trees or tall grass.
 
This idea isn't all that great because you might get into a situation where you actually don't want to attract attention so that someone doesn't steal the bird. Ideally you'd want a GSM gateway so you can first get several hundred feet closer from your take off point and then set the alarm off when you know (based on last known position) that you're within approx. 100ft.
 
Yeah that was a thought i had as well, but its also along the ideas if you "loose the birds somewhere" it will be remote, not to many ppl away. this brings me another idea, if you can sync the GPS to your phone, or have another device that sets up viva wifi that as you are walking around it tried to connect to your phone then based on signal strength it tells you if you are closer or not.

also another idea if your phantom is stolen
http://www.phantompilots.com/threads/lo-jack-for-phantoms.39230/
 
regarding tracker; here is cc of what I just posted on iflyinwy new thread.

STAY AWAY - IT IS NOW A FRAUD COMPANY! DOES NOT WORK!

They started life as stick-n-find. got in so much trouble for shipping stuff that did not work they closed up shop and reinvented themselves as tracker.

I did not do my due diligence and bought 2 on ebay a month and half ago. google reviews on them and you will find 99% bad and only 1% who say it worked somewhat.

I figured it was perfect to stick inside our units. no on/off, battery could last a year, bluetooth to 300ft on phone, internet network to register so anyone else will tracker can find yours for you too - anywherer in the world.... NONE WORKED!

1 of the 2 did show radar to about 30ft, but no sound. Their internet site is reported to not work, and guess what, it didn't - no way to register my units.

2nd unit was simply dead to the world.

selling in CA refunded my money 100% in about 2 nanoseconds.
 
regarding tracker; here is cc of what I just posted on iflyinwy new thread.

STAY AWAY - IT IS NOW A FRAUD COMPANY! DOES NOT WORK!

They started life as stick-n-find. got in so much trouble for shipping stuff that did not work they closed up shop and reinvented themselves as tracker.

I did not do my due diligence and bought 2 on ebay a month and half ago. google reviews on them and you will find 99% bad and only 1% who say it worked somewhat.

I figured it was perfect to stick inside our units. no on/off, battery could last a year, bluetooth to 300ft on phone, internet network to register so anyone else will tracker can find yours for you too - anywherer in the world.... NONE WORKED!

1 of the 2 did show radar to about 30ft, but no sound. Their internet site is reported to not work, and guess what, it didn't - no way to register my units.

2nd unit was simply dead to the world.

selling in CA refunded my money 100% in about 2 nanoseconds.


Alrighty then,
Thanks for the heads-up yorlik
 
regarding tracker; here is cc of what I just posted on iflyinwy new thread.

STAY AWAY - IT IS NOW A FRAUD COMPANY! DOES NOT WORK!

They started life as stick-n-find. got in so much trouble for shipping stuff that did not work they closed up shop and reinvented themselves as tracker.

I did not do my due diligence and bought 2 on ebay a month and half ago. google reviews on them and you will find 99% bad and only 1% who say it worked somewhat.

I figured it was perfect to stick inside our units. no on/off, battery could last a year, bluetooth to 300ft on phone, internet network to register so anyone else will tracker can find yours for you too - anywherer in the world.... NONE WORKED!

1 of the 2 did show radar to about 30ft, but no sound. Their internet site is reported to not work, and guess what, it didn't - no way to register my units.

2nd unit was simply dead to the world.

selling in CA refunded my money 100% in about 2 nanoseconds.


The website works just fine, here's a link to their blog wherein they acknowledge the hiccups a start-up can experience.....I have to ask, would someone out to steal your money refund it in two nanoseconds? Or are you being just a tad bit theatrical?

https://www.thetrackr.com/blog/star...-it-matters-and-what-it-has-changed?locale=en


Here's a link to a review:
http://techcrunch.com/2015/03/23/the-trackr-bravo-keeps-you-from-misplacing-your-valuables/


You can even check out the backgrounds of the guys who started this. Do you have any idea what it takes to build a product like this from scratch? To deal with manufacturing in China?...to develop the software? Not to mention marketing, sales, shipping, etc. I give these guys an A for effort.

My friends will tell you I'm not one to throw my money away and I had read reviews and numerous endorsements from first adopters of the early units....I held off buying because I knew they had a ways to go and that the technology had to only get better. While I know it's not quite perfected even in this third iteration, I thought I'd give it a try.

Perfect? No
Right for finding lost quad Copters? Maybe, under the right circumstances and only with enough users running the app.
Are there better trackers for this purpose? Undoubtedly.

Sorry it didn't work out for you, but I just Googled TrackR Review, as you suggested. The first that came up was Amazon, 4 Stars- 9174 reviews.

In my opinion you are a bit quick to hit the caps button and label these guys a fraud.
 
Maybe a buzzer on a simple timer, that would begin 30 min after flight starts. That's long enough that if your bird is not back and you have not reset the buzzer, then it is probably lost.
 

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