Tello! - why did i wait so long?

[umanbean]

I've wanted a good indoor quad for a long time, never could make up my mind on a good cheapie, which one? Finally decided to go ahead and spend 100 on a Tello... so last week I joined the TelloPilots forum and started reading and shopping.

Three days ago I stopped at a Best Buy to pick up a computer for a friend, and came out with a Tello too!

Got the 150 package with three batteries, a 3-bay charger, a spare set of props, and a micro USB cable. Got it just in time too, it's been mostly rainy here all week so no Phantom flying.

This thing is a amazing! No compass or GPS, but it's very stable... even outside in breezy conditions! I thought I'd be fighting the wind the whole time, but it was very easy to fly outside. Inside it's a blast!... my old house has 12 ft ceilings, so above 8 feet there's nothing to run into except a 4' long ceiling fan rod in the middle of each room.

In addition to the Tello app I bought the aTelloPilot app and side-loaded aTello(free). Each app has its pluses and minuses, and I eagerly await aTelloPilot to fully mature.

In the meantime I'll be having the most fun I think I've ever had outside the boudoir!

 

[Richard K Hill]

I've wanted a good indoor quad for a long time, never could make up my mind on a good cheapie, which one? Finally decided to go ahead and spend 100 on a Tello... so last week I joined the TelloPilots forum and started reading and shopping.

Three days ago I stopped at a Best Buy to pick up a computer for a friend, and came out with a Tello too!

Got the 150 package with three batteries, a 3-bay charger, a spare set of props, and a micro USB cable. Got it just in time too, it's been mostly rainy here all week so no Phantom flying.

This thing is a amazing! No compass or GPS, but it's very stable... even outside in breezy conditions! I thought I'd be fighting the wind the whole time, but it was very easy to fly outside. Inside it's a blast!... my old house has 12 ft ceilings, so above 8 feet there's nothing to run into except a 4' long ceiling fan rod in the middle of each room.

In addition to the Tello app I bought the aTelloPilot app and side-loaded aTello(free). Each app has its pluses and minuses, and I eagerly await aTelloPilot to fully mature.


In the meantime I'll be having the most fun I think I've ever had outside the boudoir!

I couldn't agree more, I have a Phantom 3 SE and a Mavic Air and so far the little Tello has given me less headaches. I can't believe how much of a pain it is to get the heavy's off the freeking ground. Good luck enjoy the Tello. It may be the only DJI (sorta DJI) that I'll fly. I also have two Holystone HS 100's and an HS 400 Avenger they don't have gimbaled cameras but they do fly.
And when an idiot shot my first Holystone out of the air Holystone sent me two brand new ones and spare parts for my Holystone Avenger 400.DJI can't match up to that.
There is a neat little device you can get that will hold your phone to give the feeling of an actual controller , it is called "STARTRC" Look for it on Amazon, good luck.

 

[Richard K Hill]

]I couldn't agree more, I have a Phantom 3 SE and a Mavic Air and so far the little Tello has given me less headaches. I can't believe how much of a pain it is to get the heavy's off the freeking ground. Good luck enjoy the Tello. It may be the only DJI (sorta DJI) that I'll fly. I also have two Holystone HS 100's and an HS 400 Avenger they don't have gimbaled cameras but they do fly.
And when an idiot shot my first Holystone out of the air Holystone sent me two brand new ones and spare parts for my Holystone Avenger 400.DJI can't match up to that.
There is a neat little device you can get that will hold your phone to give the feeling of an actual controller , it is called "STARTRC" Look for it on Amazon, good luck.

 

[MotorCycle-Man]

YEP........them simple ones are a real blast.....i had one too and i still have it.... and like the tello no gps or compass and a fixed crappy camera....and i really got good at flying it off my porch and across my yard and across the street between a few trees and i flew it around a open field and then flying it back and landing it back on the porch...i had 8 battery's and they only lasted at the most 7 minutes.....I still take it out even so often and some times i fly it around inside the house and YES..Simple Drones are such fun....I have a really funny story of something i did flying it but i need to get back outside and rake the leaves as we are having a sunny day But lower 30s and a COLD wind !

 

[DKG13CC]

I've wanted a good indoor quad for a long time, never could make up my mind on a good cheapie, which one? Finally decided to go ahead and spend 100 on a Tello... so last week I joined the TelloPilots forum and started reading and shopping.

Three days ago I stopped at a Best Buy to pick up a computer for a friend, and came out with a Tello too!

Got the 150 package with three batteries, a 3-bay charger, a spare set of props, and a micro USB cable. Got it just in time too, it's been mostly rainy here all week so no Phantom flying.

This thing is a amazing! No compass or GPS, but it's very stable... even outside in breezy conditions! I thought I'd be fighting the wind the whole time, but it was very easy to fly outside. Inside it's a blast!... my old house has 12 ft ceilings, so above 8 feet there's nothing to run into except a 4' long ceiling fan rod in the middle of each room.

In addition to the Tello app I bought the aTelloPilot app and side-loaded aTello(free). Each app has its pluses and minuses, and I eagerly await aTelloPilot to fully mature.

In the meantime I'll be having the most fun I think I've ever had outside the boudoir!

Go back to BB with your receipt and get them to price match for current sale. Tello boost combo now $99 i just bought one

I will agree thats its a ton of fun. It smacks the wall and falls and takes right back off again [emoji4]

 

[JazzAir]

I too Telloed this week.

I guessed that if I took my P34k off to a hover in my living room, not only would the ashtrays be ash free but the curtains pulled to horizontal too. I truely believe that would do one of two things. Piss my wife off or have her believe there was a fool in the house.

The Tello solves this issue nicely. It stalks around quietly like the neighbors cat, finds spots on the floor to hover over like my mother in law and I can keep control over it better than I can my 3 year old.

Nice addition to the house and family

 

[umanbean]

Go back to BB with your receipt and get them to price match for current sale. Tello boost combo now $99 i just bought one

Fantastic! Thanks @DKG13CC

I too Telloed this week.

I guessed that if I took my P34k off to a hover in my living room, not only would the ashtrays be ash free but the curtains pulled to horizontal too. I truely believe that would do one of two things. Piss my wife off or have her believe there was a fool in the house.

The Tello solves this issue nicely. It stalks around quietly like the neighbors cat, finds spots on the floor to hover over like my mother in law and I can keep control over it better than I can my 3 year old.

Nice addition to the house and family

That was a fun read, thanks.

My wife is still asleep and it's raining, think I'll go to the other end of the house and fly around the kitchen for a while. yeeehaaa!

 

[umanbean]

Go back to BB with your receipt and get them to price match for current sale. Tello boost combo now $99 i just bought one

I will agree thats its a ton of fun. It smacks the wall and falls and takes right back off again [emoji4]

THANKS again! @DKG13CC

I was in and out in less than 5 minutes, $50 back to my acct.

Easiest $600/hour I ever made. LOL

 

[Jgreg]

Who had the yellow boost combo for sale for 99.00
Thanks Jim

 

[Jgreg]

Oops Tello boost

 

[Dragonfly Joe]

YEP........them simple ones are a real blast.....i had one too and i still have it.... and like the tello no gps or compass and a fixed crappy camera....and i really got good at flying it off my porch and across my yard and across the street between a few trees and i flew it around a open field and then flying it back and landing it back on the porch...i had 8 battery's and they only lasted at the most 7 minutes.....I still take it out even so often and some times i fly it around inside the house and YES..Simple Drones are such fun....I have a really funny story of something i did flying it but i need to get back outside and rake the leaves as we are having a sunny day But lower 30s and a COLD wind !

Holding you to that story my friend. ;-D

 

[MotorCycle-Man]

OK......The Story : while i was outside flying the "Toy" drone my neighbor came home and walked to the mail box...i walked to the her mail box as i hovered the toy drone about at 5 feet level..when i got close i said Hello and said Oh "do you like my new toy"...HOWEVER when i did that i turned to talk to her and ...I HIT the FULL SPEED ^ "UP" ^ stick and when i turned around....the DRONE was GONE !....the neighbor at the house next door to the lady i was talking to was on the porch watching me and and when see seen me turn around and "NO Drone"...she yelled IT'S UP Their as loud as she she could...i could not see it as trees were all around me....i was hovering it in a the ONLY open spot !.....I Immediately PULLED the left throttle stick to as FAR back it would Go.......THE Drone came crashing down as fast as it could DROP and then.....CRASHED in the exact spot it was at when i was hovering 5 feet from the ground i !.....Guess what LOL ?.....NOT a thing was broke on the "Toy" drone... and i have NO idea How high it went ?....i flew it back to my yard and its still flying after near 2 years of )))) hard * crashes (((( and getting caught in trees ! that toy Drone been worth ever penny of the $54.00 i paid for it ....as I've had a blast with it.....I hope that you enjoyed this story ....Thank you.

 

[DKG13CC]

THANKS again! @DKG13CC

I was in and out in less than 5 minutes, $50 back to my acct.

Easiest $600/hour I ever made. LOL

Glad to hear it! Sweetens the experience even more, eh?

 

[DKG13CC]

Oops Tello boost

Best Buy, and right now DJI is running the same deal on their site also.

 

[natnatroswell22]

I like Tello because it is not complicated and very easy to use. Also, the price and the size works for me. I just hope they continue the franchise and release a 2nd version of it with a better camera.

 

[umanbean]

So far I only have a couple of problems to solve, none of which are the fault of the Tello.

I want to use a game controller and finally decided on a direct-wired Gamesir T1s instead of the Tello-only bluetooth-connected T1d... and I'm kicking myself for not ordering a T1s in time for this holiday weekend.

I have a recent tablet that will run all four apps I want to fly with, but use an old phone that won't run them all... so now I'll need a newer phone to be able to mount it on the controller and have good enough specs to run all the apps. I probably should move on up from this Galaxy S3 anyhoo, lol... it's been a good 'un.

The apps installed on my tablet:
•Tello DJI
•aTello (free, sideloaded from GitHub)
•aTelloPilot (on Google Play, costs 4.50, not same author as aTello)
•Drone VR+ (supports fpv phone goggles, free for Tello)

 

[bdooley]

So far I only have a couple of problems to solve, none of which are the fault of the Tello.

I want to use a game controller and finally decided on a direct-wired Gamesir T1s instead of the Tello-only bluetooth-connected T1d... and I'm kicking myself for not ordering a T1s in time for this holiday weekend.

I have a recent tablet that will run all four apps I want to fly with, but use an old phone that won't run them all... so now I'll need a newer phone to be able to mount it on the controller and have good enough specs to run all the apps. I probably should move on up from this Galaxy S3 anyhoo, lol... it's been a good 'un.

The apps installed on my tablet:
•Tello DJI
•aTello (free, sideloaded from GitHub)
•aTelloPilot (on Google Play, costs 4.50, not same author as aTello)
•Drone VR+ (supports fpv phone goggles, free for Tello)

Let us know if you have success with the T1s controller. I bought the T1d (bluetooth) controller because it was supposedly made for the Tello. But I am experiencing latency problems with it. I bought it like the OP to practice indoors (in fps mode) during the Winter. But with the latency issues it is really difficult to fly indoors in fps mode. Will buy the T1s if that works better.

 

[umanbean]

Let us know if you have success with the T1s controller.

I'll definitely report back... just got around to ordering it today, should be here Tuesday evening.

I joined the Tello Pilots forum a week or two before I actually bought one, and had already read of the latency problems and dropped video frames people were having with the T1d, so that was not an option for me.

BTW... One of my son's friends is an avid gamer so I borrowed a controller from him, a PS4 controller w/ bluetooth... it also has a micro USB port and works great with an OTG adapter and the aTello and aTelloPilot apps. Can't get the bluetooth to connect to any of my phones or tablets though, must have Sony proprietary encryption that will only connect to a PS4 console.

 

[Ansia]

Let us know if you have success with the T1s controller. I bought the T1d (bluetooth) controller because it was supposedly made for the Tello. But I am experiencing latency problems with it. I bought it like the OP to practice indoors (in fps mode) during the Winter. But with the latency issues it is really difficult to fly indoors in fps mode. Will buy the T1s if that works better.

I use a Steelseries Stratus XL to fly my Tello. The latency is acceptable for FPV. I recommend using a Xiaomi Wifi Range Extender. It helps A LOT with frame drops and latency.

I'll definitely report back... just got around to ordering it today, should be here Tuesday evening.

I joined the Tello Pilots forum a week or two before I actually bought one, and had already read of the latency problems and dropped video frames people were having with the T1d, so that was not an option for me.

BTW... One of my son's friends is an avid gamer so I borrowed a controller from him, a PS4 controller w/ bluetooth... it also has a micro USB port and works great with an OTG adapter and the aTello and aTelloPilot apps. Can't get the bluetooth to connect to any of my phones or tablets though, must have Sony proprietary encryption that will only connect to a PS4 console.

Press the PS button and share button on the controller. It puts it in pairing mode and will pair with an android device, although the latency is horrible. It works best with OTG.

 

[Ansia]

This is my setup for low range flights (100’ AGL, 200’ distance). If I want to fly further out, I use an OTG cable to remove the 4ms latency of the RC and bluetooth interference.