I have flown the mini drones for years responsibly and have had some good fun. The appeal is the difficulty learning the art. Sadly I have stopped using them because of irresponsible people abusing the privilege. Like everything in Britain the government huffs and puffs before bringing in registration and flying certification. Every drone, however small should have an identity chip fitted. Unfortunately, like guns you will always be able to avoid regulation by purchasing on the internet.
Co-incidentally...I spotted my 30's something built like a brick outhouse neighbour looking over my fence about 30 minutes ago... hey, have you lost something I said''...*yes ..I've lost my drone it's in your garden... sure enough there was this tiny little thing no bigger than about 2 inches square with flashing lights lying in my garden . I called him a Big kid as I handed it over and he laughed out loud. He must have got it for Christmas from his wife,... but I fail to see the point of that tiny little thing, perhaps someone can enlighten me...
My guess would be that the fun part is having the camera, and being able to fly the drone overhead and then take pictures. Even though it is small, it would still have a camera that connects with his smart phone. My son in Idaho has one, and he enjoys flying it around and looking at the pictures. I imagine that if your neighbor got it for Christmas, he is probably still learning how to fly it and have it go where he wants it to go. Just as an idea of how that works, @Holly Saunders , here is a short video that my son made from flying his drone over one of the local lakes where he often fishes and hikes.
That's superb @Yvonne ...I never thought of it having a camera in it... the one I picked up today was like a tiny bleeping toy!! Hubs reckons it's too small to have a camera
Maybe learn how not to crash and burn with the inexpensive one before graduating to the camera ready version.
Think that this is becoming stupid Shoot down every Drone in the sky and even any bird that is in the sky over an airport. Link not as bad as Gatwick but just as stupid. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-26/drone-interrupts-fire-fighting-efforts-bruny-island/10668374
I haven't read the link Tom, but judging by what you say - Its a fact that drones are not allowed near an airfield If they chose to ignore that, then why not shoot them down. Better to be safe and better not to waste vast sums of money and time, the poor passengers being stuck there too - because of them
That seems sensible to me, too, @Patsy Faye . There is no person in a drone, so shooting one down is not like they have to shoot at an actual person, and if it is at an airport, it is not even where there are homes, or people outside who might get hurt when the drone falls to the ground. Since it is remote controlled, maybe the signal could even just be jammed, and they would not have to even shoot it, and if it came down in one piece, they can probably even track who was flying it. I can’t see why something like this should be allowed to stop planes from flying on schedule. Pretty sure that if it was at some kind of military airport, it would be dealt with immediately !
Here are my Drones: The small one is basically a Toy, but the big one has an on-board Camera that can be commanded from the transmitter to shoot Stills or Video, and with live full-time imaging, it always shows the controller what it is "seeing" at the moment on the transmitter's video screen. It also has a "Fail-Safe" feature that will bring it back to the launch location if it exceeds its distance limit or loses signal from the transmitter. Pretty smart drone! Hal