Which drone for Real Estate?

Lrod1707

New Member
Hello,
This is my first post. I am a newbie and need some advice. I just learned how to fly a drone. I bought a cheap Syma to learn and I'm ready to upgrade. I am a real airplane Pilot/Flight instructor and I just got my FAA drone license as well, but these drones are something completely different. Hats off to you guys that are experts. I see it takes months of practice to become proficient. Anyways, here is my issue: My wife is a realtor and I'm gonna start doing videos and indoor stills for her home listings. I have already done a ton of research and I'm down to 2 possible drones. The Autel X-star premium and the Yuneec Q500 4k. I will not buy a DJI so please don't suggest it. I have read to many negatives on service, reliability issues, cracked frames, failures etc.. I get that they have all this great technology but for me that is useless if the thing does not work as advertised. Also, for what I need it, I can do away with certain features. My budget is $1000. The big differences I see in the two is that the X-star is much smaller than the Q500 and the Q500 has the steady grip which for indoor shots seems good. I did see a video though of somebody taking indoor video with the X-star by holding the drone and walking it through the house. I think the MOST important thing to me would be reliability and the quality of the product and of course customer service and turnaround times in case I need to send it in. If I get the Q500 I can just use the steady grip for the indoor stills. I also like the idea of the Q500 having a built in screen on the controller. Seems more functional than a phone or tablet. It also seems more professional if I do any filming for hire. Which would you choose and why?
I look forward to your responses and expert opinions.
Thanks
 

JCLs

Member
Somebody will send their UAV on a suicide against me but I bought a Harmony (GoPro) just for picture taking and videos. I have built 3 other drones including a larger QAV540G with a Go Pro on it. I was put off by reviews etc. but tried anyways as I really like my GoPro cameras. If you look at GoPro videos etc. on their I think you will see stuff is pretty good and the Grip is pretty good and would work well for interior work you are talking about. The drone is easy to fly. It does not have some of the avoidance features that some DJI drones have but I do not see need for that in what I am doing or what you would be doing. I did wack mine into a tree and it tore up all 4 blades ($20) and crashed sticking an arm into the ground. New blades and cleaned out motor and flying fine. They also sell a complete maintenance program that I would recommend for any newer flyer. I started out flying RC helicopters so the UAVs were easy for me to fly. My 2 cents. ( PS:Working on 107 now)
 


Lrod1707

New Member
Hey thanks for the responses. I chose a Q500 4K. I just received an offer from B&H last night. I got the deal for $499 New not refurbished with free shipping. It was a 1 day deal that they had so at that price to start, I could not say no. It's a nice kit that includes the case, 2 batteries, steady grip etc.. I think at that price it was a deal. I will start with that since it didn't break the bank and in the future I'm sure I will be purchasing another one. Again Thanks!
 

Vection

There's a fly in my Zen
If you're serious about this kind of drone work consider eventually upgrading to (or better yet build) an Octocopter, either 8 arms or 4 arms with back to back motors. In case a motor goes out on you while flying you have a better chance of landing safely with your expensive camera, a quad just falls out of the sky... I'm thinking somewhere in the 500mm size w/ 10 -15 degree dihedral on the arms or motor mounts. The dihedral helps stabilize the drone for better photo work. Good luck with your new venture.
 

Old Man

Active Member
The Yuneec 4K will work just fine but it has the same "issue" all drones have when it goes up. The lens viewing angle is much too wide. R.E. agents do not want to show the entire neighborhood, or the property next door. They want the one, and only one property or structure. Lenses can be changed so look into some narrower view lenses.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

dadaas

Member
You are new to big drones, but you don't use most popular drones? Don't you like DJI?

Man Phantom 2 is so cheap and so powerful, you can buy 2 of them and make amazing videos.

I don't know, but I think DJI is most valuable brand in semi professional recording, agree?
 


David Rogers

New Member
I was going to suggest the Yuneec Tyhpoon H, I have heard pretty good things about that. It has a 360-degree rotating camera and duel operator control very similar to that of the Inspire. Its landing gear lifts up during flight which allows the drones camera to have an unobstructed 360 view which is pretty neat. The only bad things about Yuneec is that they're quite big, especially the transmitter for the Typhoon, its huge! It does come with an inbuilt screen though, so you don't have to worry about buying a tablet or monitor. If anyones interested you can see a bit more about it here.
 

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