Spread thin, getting bit by the bug again

Yesterday was one of those days where I felt like I just had too many things on my plate.  In addition to the big project at work that has been consuming hours by the dozen I also had a number of running club items that I was working on simultaneously.  By the time I got home I just wished I could unwind by playing the Starcraft II expansion I bought last week, but instead I found myself still muddling around doing running club related work for a couple hours.  Finally, around 8:45 I was able to get into the game and at least play through one mission.

Complaining about having too many people requesting too many things of me really shouldn’t garner any sympathy as I have put myself in that situation.  Just stating it is enough of a pressure relief valve for now.  It sure would be nice to get away on a road trip where I could unplug from things for an extended period of time.

So on July 4th there was a guy at the race that shot awesome aerial video with his quadra-copter.  It pulled a couple of the RC enthusiast strings inside me that have been collecting dust for years.

Back in the early 2000’s I got pretty into RC planes.  I owned 5 or 6 of them and flew them on a very regular basis.  I had a buddy that lived nearby that was more into it than I was.  He and I would meet up to fly every week or two and enjoyed doing so.  Heck I had a whole section of my website dedicated to it.  Well Mike moved away to Colorado and once he did I found my interest in the hobby fading.  It has remained dormant for years despite two of my planes still residing in the hobby room.

Well over the weekend I was in Brookstone. I saw the Parrot AR Drone 2.0, a $300 “toy” quadracopter that has some very cool features like two integrated cameras, an altimeter, control via Iphone/Android app and two flying frames, one for indoors and one for the wild blue yonder.    Being out of the RC loop for years, I was quite impressed by the tech they built into the AR Drone 2.0.

I actually was considering buying one, thinking it would be sweet to get some aerial photography of my property and other venues although the AR Drone has a rather small control range of only 150 feet via it’s odd Wi-Fi control system.  The idea of getting one seemed even cooler when I saw there is a big variety of improvements/mods available for the copter.

As I was watching YouTube videos of the AR Drone, I stumbled across another quadra copter, the DJI Phantom. (this is what the race video was shot with)  I did a little digging and quickly realized the Phantom is no toy, it is a rugged, powerful unit with much more lifting power, durability and safe guards.  The Phantom has an integrated GPS which allows the copter to automatically come back to the spot where it took off and land without the pilot having to touch a single control.

The Phantom has 10 times the range of the AR Drone utilizing a more conventional RC radio system, allowing you traverse 1500 feet high and still be in control of things.

On the downside the Phantom is significantly more expensive. It does not include an integrated camera although it does include a GoPro compatible mount to capture video of significantly higher quality than the AR Drone.

So anyway, I think if I would jump back in to the hobby I would do so with the Phantom.  The consensus seems to be that even though it is twice the price of the AR Drone it is about 10 times the copter in terms of quality, power and versatility.  Of course until I once again have disposable income, it will just reside on the back burner with several other items.