Mods to aid recovering lost Phantoms?

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Lost my Phantom yesterday in an area of deep weeds, underbrush, etc. which makes the chances of finding it very slim

What mods can I add to my new one?

I've seen references to beepers that go off when the voltage drops, GPS dog tags that use Bluetooth to transmit the location, etc. but I have not found a post reporting a successful installation of that type of mod.

Any ideas or links to previous posts that I missed?

One thing that would help but I can't figure out how to do is to record the video seen in my Fat Shark glasses. That way could replay the tape which might help me pin down the crash area better.

Anyone know of an inexpensive battery operated video recorder that I could hook up to the Fat Shark?
 
A number of people use the Garmin GTU-10 GPS tracker. I have had one on my Phantom for a couple of months now, and it has performed well enough to find it if lost.

In fact, due to my stupidity, I let the battery run down one day until it "self-landed" in some tall grass. I knew where it landed, but pretended to not know and averted my eyes as I followed the tracker in real time on my android phone just to see how well I might be able to locate it for real. If I wasn't ready for it when I came up on it, I may have actually stepped on it by accident! So, in that case, it was pretty darned accurate.

I would say that the vast majority of the time it is accurate enough to find a lost Phantom in just about any kind of environment, unless, of course, the poor thing has decided to crawl under something to die. :shock:

Here it is on Amazon. Read up on the details of the associated service and such when you to the page:

http://www.amazon.com/Garmin-GTU-GP...ie=UTF8&qid=1373661741&sr=8-1&keywords=gtu-10

Some places advertise it for $199, but don't pay that. The real price is no more than $115.

Sorry about your Phantom - don't give up yet. Everybody's rooting for you, believe me!
 
Dslr pro's is listing a new phantom without radio and battery for 590.00. Wish it was closer to 540.00 because I'm sure it doesn't come with a charger so there is less of a cost there as well. Better then 680 I guess if have a radio already.
 
Number one mod.

Name and telephone number with the word reward on your phantom.

I have to think the kindness of strangers will be the best defence.

D
 
It was for me!
 
That Garmin unit looks like the ticket except that the cell service they use isn't at all functional in my area. Bummer!

Does anyone know of a radio beacon type device that could be used, something like they use to track wild animals?

My much of my flight area is covered with a wild jungle of underbrush too thick to get through on foot unless you have some sort of a signal to localize the Phantom.

It's looking like the only other option is to have something on the phantom that makes enough noise to home in on.
 
eyeinthesky: I'm looking forward to your report on the beacon. I've read some of the posts in the rcgroups thread and it sounds as if the beacon isn't exactly "plug & play". Nonetheless, I live far outside of cell phone coverage so this type of beacon may be my only option.
 
I'm reading the long rcgroups thread and getting more and more interested in this tracker. It certainly isn't as sexy as using Google Earth and GPS but it looks very effective... assuming you can puzzle out how to program the tracker and then how to use the radio to find your Phantom. It continues to amaze me that so much RC equipment comes without clear instructions!

Well, I guess this will just have to be another "two steps backward, one step forward" in my DIY training :?
 
Claust said:
Sac D said:
Claust said:
I am waiting for this

http://trax4you.com/

Only 30 grams...

TRAX looks like almost exactly the same thing as BluTracker... which is STILL not available...

Blutracker looks Nice - Can't find any specs (Weight) on it anywhere?

I used to have the specs... can't find 'em now. I think Adam can help... he was the one that got me interested in it...
 
Remember that both of those, I think, need good GSM cell phone service to work. Make sure your area has it!
 
What I didn't like about Traxx is that they want a $5.99 subscription fee per month after 2 years. That seems high to me. $72.00 per year?

I could, of course live to regret that statement.....

D
 

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