Professional Droning - My journey regarding one small link in a very long chain...
It's funny. But when friends or people in the forums ask about "getting into the drone business," I try not to be too discouraging, but I must warn them that there are a LOT of things to know, lots of equipment to maintain and lots of protocols to fully understand before one can deliver a professional product. From door to door (or sometimes called "portal to portal"), there are 100 things that can go wrong, any one of which can stop you from delivering a product. This short story is about just one cog in a vastly large machine.
An example...
Just today I decided that I was tired of messing around with substandard Apple Lightning cables. Regardless of who makes them or where I buy them, they seem to be saddled with either low data rates, low current ratings (for charging), are flat-out unreliable or are inconsistent. Some are even rejected by Apple peripherals (actual warnings in the app about the cable). I just want a 10' Apple Lightning cable that will carry 2 Amps (the rating of their chargers) and pass data at a rate that won't choke out any of my peripherals or apps (40Mbps seems reasonable). I ASSUMED that OEM factory (or MFi certified) cables would fulfill those specifications. Well, it turns out I was wrong. First off, factory cables never come in lengths over 2 Meters. I need roughly 3 meters for my mapping jobs. Is a 10 ft. USB->Lightning cable really that much to ask?
Second, even the OEM Apple cables sometimes have to be unplugged and replugged to work. Maddening.
My hunt started on eBay. After purchasing well over a dozen very fancy looking cables from Chinese vendors that wouldn't charge OR pass data (received refunds for every cable), I decided to use domestic vendors. I found vendors that sold 10' Lightning cables under the guise of being "OEM." But those cables would either not pass data or would not charge. I need a cable that does both at the same time.
So then I started looking into high-end aftermarket companies like Noyce, Alta, McDodo and Nomad. But first, to cut through the hype, I wanted to see user reviews. So I did a Google search, and stumbled across this ****** "review" of a Noyce 13' cable. This "review" was nothing more than 2.5 minutes of unboxing. Yes, you read that right. 2.5 minutes of opening a ******** box. Jerk.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucyBVVeklQ8
Fortunately, I found another, more comprehensive review for this long, FOUR meter Noyce cable from a guy named Jeff Geerling.
https://www.jeffgeerling.com/…/review-noyce-13-4m-lightning…
Unlike the previous ****stick, this guy actually ran tests on the cable.
I checked Amazon reviews, which were good - not excellent, but good. Overall, the reviews were good enough that I decided to pull the trigger on one of these Noyce cables. So I clicked on the Amazon link only to find that the "item is unavailable." No worries. I'll search eBay. Nope. Nothing there. No worries. I'll go straight to the Noyce website. What's this?? NO WEBSITE!??!?!?! Are you ******** kidding me?!?! ARGH!!!
Okay...time to start over. Apparently Noyce either went out of business or is in hiding. Time to move on to Nomad cables, which are available in only 2 lengths; 1.5M and 3M. 10' is long enough, so I decided to move forward.
Unlike the Noyce cable, I could find no comprehensive tests done on the cable. I found plenty of "Macworld" type reviews that, in typical Apple user fashion, talked about "fit" and "finish" and how nice the cable fit in their bag and the pretty color, but not one of those ****sticks actually ran any data or power tests on the thing. ARGH!! And while the "Macworld" community touted this as "the last Lightning cable you will ever need," the Amazon community seemed to take exception to that assertion. Amazon reviews ran the gamut. 75% of users thought it was the best thing since sliced bread. 25% of the users thought it was **** with comments like, "Laster 6 weeks" and "Connector broke off in my iPad" and "Stopped working already" and "Worked for 2 weeks" and "These cords are terrible" and on and on.
So then I moved on to Anker cables, which netted almost identical reviews to the Nomad cables.
So then I moved on to McDodo cables. Those reviews were even worse, but the hype was better.
So $70 later it seems I've purchased one of each + a USB tester and will have to conduct my own reviews and tests.
I've just spent over 2 hours (and $70) researching these lousy Lightning cables. 2 hours! The Lightning cable is just one of many, many components I rely on as a drone professional. Imagine batteries and/or Firmware and/or propellers and/or software and on and on and on. For every paid hour, I spend 2 or 3 on R&D.
Are you SURE you want to get into this business?
L8rz,
Donnie Frank