Tracking Devices.....

I bought the black props from Best Buy. I doubt if that will help with contrast while flying, but maybe. The black props just look good while non operational. My props arrive next week, I'll find out then what the sky view is like.
Check out my effort to hide my P4 craft when lost in the wild (so I'll have to buy a new P4P), the black props significantly help my camouflage vinyl wrap in this effort. I'm doing my best to lose this craft. :p

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Regarding prior posts, I found my P4 after it hit the top of a 100'+ Ponderosa Pine Tree using my Marco Polo. It had fallen over 100' and evidently bounced from branch to branch and came to rest upside down under a fallen tree trunk with one broken prop and light visible damage to the Landing Gear. The Battery was about 8' away. I carried it home, changed all the Props, snapped the semi opened landing gear together, installed a freshly charged Battery, took it outside and test flew it initially vertically to 200' and then a five minute circle and landed it. It flew fine. Then I found that my Compass 2 located in the Landing Gear was disconnected when I re-calibrated the IMU. It cost me a $5.00 Compass Cable Assembly and I had the Landing Gear replaced with new just because I had a spare set. Even though I have repaired everything my whole life I sent it in to DroneFly to change out the Compass Cable. I've challenged friends to find any scratches or anything that might show that it had a tree strike. My P4 is like new and everything works fine! The P4 is a tough actually hard to break Drone.

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This is in reply to jlrsn story about crashing into a tall tree and recovering his drone.

The Phantoms are tough birds. My P4 has crashed twice due to tree strikes and fell 75-100 ft. Damage was a broken prop each time and a slightly deformed shell on one arm from the first crash. Also both landing skids have some cracks near their mounting points but still function okay. I always hand catch to avoid damage to the camera, gimbal or landing gear. The shell damage to the arm was to both upper and lower halves so the seam opened up and was misaligned. I just pushed the plastic back in line enough to rejoin the halves, not perfect but no functional impact, just cosmetic.

What about obstacle avoidance? The first crash was on day one when I looked down at the controller and screen while flying upward; it struck a pine branch from below and gave it a slight mowing job. The second crash was while doing an autonomous point of interest circle and the drone was flying sideways to keep the camera pointed at the center, so there was no OA to save it. The 150 ft. tall redwood tree it hit was directly across the circle from me, and far enough away that it looked like the drone would pass behind the tree, and it almost made it, but hit a branch. It automatically shut down and was hanging from the branch. I goosed the controls a bit to try to free it, and it came loose, but it bounced off a couple of lower branches on the way down. The battery had popped out, but after replacing the broken prop and using a fresh battery it took off just fine.

Since the thread is about tracking devices I'm seriously considering springing for the $220 Marco Polo UAVFind RF tracker. I live in a forested mountainous area with little to no cell coverage so none of the cellular based GPS trackers would do me any good. I tried a Bluetooth tag device and found it worthless due to short range.

Like I said, based on my experience these Phantoms are tough birds.
 
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Trackimo...........some where on here I have a long post on the testing I did....that notwithstanding....Trackimo is the only way to go
 
Trackimo is worthless if there is no cell service where you're flying. Same as all GPS and cell based trackers. That's why the only one I know of that works here is the Marco Polo UAVFind RF tracker that includes a RF beacon that you attach to the drone and a handheld directional tracker that tells you which way to the beacon and how strong the signal is. It is completely independent of GPS and cell service. It's only good for about a mile range, and less than that if the drone is in the woods somewhere, but that's way better than nothing, and better than GPS trackers or Bluetooth trackers that only have a few yards of range.
 
Trackimo is worthless if there is no cell service where you're flying. Same as all GPS and cell based trackers. That's why the only one I know of that works here is the Marco Polo UAVFind RF tracker that includes a RF beacon that you attach to the drone and a handheld directional tracker that tells you which way to the beacon and how strong the signal is. It is completely independent of GPS and cell service. It's only good for about a mile range, and less than that if the drone is in the woods somewhere, but that's way better than nothing, and better than GPS trackers or Bluetooth trackers that only have a few yards of range.
Must have got a free one you did :)
 
Must have got a free one you did :)
Okay, I challenge you to furnish a link to where someone can order or get info about a Trackimo device that does NOT need a cell phone signal to work. I think you caught a case of that new virus, "the trumps", that makes you refuse to admit you're wrong.
 
I am not wrong and darn sure not afraid to admit it....as for the trumps comment on a Drone site, you are not worth me telling you to look up and find my other test I did on Trackimo the 3G one....

Not sure you can figure this out on your own.....I have done 3 months worth of tests and I did not get a free one I had to buy three on my own...but that makes me have money so who am I now.

....OF Course you could have JUST Googled it but the Trump comment must have blinded you!!!
So any time now I will get an apology:rolleyes:

Trackimo: Best 3G GPS Tracker Devices
trackimo.com/
Trackimo offers the best 3G GPS tracker devices that could help you locate loved ... Fortunately, Trackimo's GPS drone tracking technology can help ensure that you can .... Easy to use, cost effective, worldwide real time tracking for everyone.

How a GPS Tracking System Works - Trackimo
trackimo.com/gps-tracking-system-work/
Sep 9, 2016 - GPS devices can provide the exact location information of an object by using the global navigation satellite system network. They receive data ...

How GPS Is Used in Car Tracking - Trackimo
trackimo.com/car-tracking-gps/
Sep 8, 2016 - The GPS for car tracking works through the network of satellites that ... incredible tool that can be used in ways we never imagined in the past.


Closing:
If you would loose the comments....WOW how cool...I tested extensively in cars, walking, hiking, biking I took them on planes and across the Southwest about 700 miles...and never got paid a penny ....I am just a drone owner that wanted to make sure he could find his investment if it decide to go on a jaunt without him. :D
 
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I am not wrong and darn sure not afraid to admit it....as for the trumps comment on a Drone site, you are not worth me telling you to look up and find my other test I did on Trackimo the 3G one....

Not sure you can figure this out on your own.....I have done 3 months worth of tests and I did not get a free one I had to buy three on my own...but that makes me have money so who am I now.

....OF Course you could have JUST Googled it but the Trump comment must have blinded you!!!
So any time now I will get an apology:rolleyes:

You are flat wrong. Here is the reply that Trackimo Sales sent me this morning:
From: Nick
Message: I fly drones in a forested area with no cell phone service. Will your device work where there is no cell tower around?

From: Trackimo Sales <[email protected]>
device will not work on the ground where there is no cell tower around
but may work in altitude and can connect to far towers

Yes, the Trackimo uses the GPS satellites to find its location. However, in order for it to report its position so you know where your drone is it has to use the cellular data network. No cell connection means it doesn't work. It may know where it is, but it can't tell you about it.
 
Trackimo™ devices can be tracked via web or smartphone app, where GSM cellular reception exists worldwide.

Well I am glad you can use it where you have no cell service but their own information indicates that you have to have cell service.
 
Me too........and living in the SW there is a ton of areas with no cell coverage
 
Primary function is to track position, then upload data to a server as data source for display. Trackimo can be setup to record it's GPS position and store information internally at certain frequency. Then once connected to cell tower he can flush data to a server. You've been able to display full tracking history once Trackimo flushed all pending data once connected to cell tower.

Do you recon can be the case?
Just an attempt, I don't have any Trackimo, yet.







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