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That's a good idea to build out a launch pad. Is it wide and long? When the drone flies back home on its own, and you don't watch it, it might miss the mark by a couple of feet. 🙂 I was on Cat Ba Island in Vietnam when I wanted to fly the drone off a dining terrace of my hotel. It was a big terrace, big enough for emergency landing. The only problem was, there was the metal frame of an awning over my head. I wouldn't be a happy camper I lost connection with the drone and it decided to fly back on its own, but life is more fun when you take some chances. 🙂

@@ToysStewy hahaha, thats why i called it a launchpad and not a drone pad or landing pad xD when i return the home, I cancel landing at 100ft and land it into my extended hand off the balcony, adjusting its position with the right stick during landing :)

@@Robert-lx8ur 🙂 BTW, I had wanted to fly my drone off my balcony too but I'm next to railway tracks. It's a no-no here. 😞

Lol. I know. I was pushing it. I knew it would return home on its own if the battery level goes low, but I also forgot it would land on its own, wherever it is, if the battery level is too low. I had two new batteries in the bag but got lazy. I should have replaced the batteries! Yup, my fault. 🙂

@@ToysStewy It is cold here in New York State, and I flew last week in -7c and almost lost the drone at 30% due to the coldness. My motors must have not been getting all the power they needed for a few seconds, but after dropping around 50 feet it stabilized and i brought her down gracefully. First sign of trouble, I make the drone come back, no matter battery level!

@@Robert-lx8ur 😮Fifty feet! That'd give me a heart attack. Good call to bring it back home right away! You were pushing the drone's limits at -7C. I was thinking about flying it at low temperatures. I thought it should be ok as the battery heats up quite fast but I didn't think about the motors. There are some nice hiking trails along a river in Toronto where I live. Maybe I'll take it out this weekend to try it out. 'Supposed to be darn cold! 🙂

what ive noticed since that flight was when i almost lost the drone, the battery from that flight was room temp, right out of my bag. all other flights i did were with batteries straight out of the charger which were nice and warm ALREADY before putting them in the drone. I bet my lunch that the heat from the charger and putting it right into the drone was what was giving me that extra heat. Without the extra heat, I think it just got colder a little faster and surprised me with the malfunctions.

@@Robert-lx8ur 🤔Interesting. I suspect your battery was running fine--I mean, it would stay warm throughout the flight. Otherwise, the drone would have not just lost power but would also need time to restart itself, if it could at all. I'm wondering now what part of the drone wouldn't get warm during flight and that could then experience an intermittent failure because of the cold, outside of its operating temperature.

I'm always cautious about trees and water, but I'd fly the Atom everywhere. It will crash into trees if you're not careful as it doesn't have any obstacle avoidance. It will also "crash" if it runs low on battery by landing wherever it is, even over water--to be fair, it does warn you. LOL. I know the Atom LT has a longer battery life than the Atom. I guess you ended up returning it?

Oh, I'm not familiar with the FIMI Mini 3. I hope someone else reading this might be able to chime in. I've been flying the Atom over the last three weeks on a big trip and I've learned a couple of new things about the Atom that could improve. I'll create a video when I return from vacation. Cheers!

Yeah, we'd just have to learn to manage the batteries. I've been putting several hours into learning to fly the drone and understand its bevaviours. I think only the drone batteries need some management. The controller battery doesn't seem to behave like this--it feels like it retains its capacity for a long time.

LOL. Thanks for the feedback.

I was recording it straight into a GoPro. I need a new mic for sure.

Yes, totally agreed! I've been wondering about using GPS perhaps combined with visual tracking for follow-me. That would be awesome. Sideways follow-me should be possible with the current hardware--someone just needs to program it! Thanks for your comment. You really know lots about drones!

@@ToysStewy Follow-me just happens to be my specialty. Few people understand how it can and should work. All they know is DJI's visual active-track. And if they did try follow-me it was programmed wrongly. So they believe follow-me is inferior. But my $130 L109 Pro does an excellent job. I can position the drone anywhere I want, use the sticks anytime I want, and it even auto-updates homepoint! I am trying to find a drone with the same follow-me feature but with better gimbal and camera ever since. My Fimi A3 is even more accurate and responsive. I can have it fly 1 meter from me and it will never hit me. Or of course put it high and far enough to avoid any trouble. Unfortunately I now need Remote ID to be legal. While a DJI Mini 4 Pro flies exactly where it can crash into someone or something. Most drones, 99.9%, have the follow-me programmed incorrectly. It only follows from behind, or above where you can't see the landscape, or you can't use the sticks, or lack a homepoint update option. A DJI Mini that works with Maven, Litchi, or Dronelink is probably the best choice if you want a hiker/biker drone. But the Neo is is small and light and has prop guards. So it won't cause too much damage if things go wrong. I may buy one myself with controller and just hope a third party app will be available soon. As for your Atom, if only they would bring back GPS follow-me. And this time programmed exactly as my L109 Pro. Why is it so difficult for them to get it right? Real shame or it would be a DJI contender.

@@driewiel Absolutely right! It's all software. I like what your L109 Pro can do, and only if it has a 3-axis gimbal, it would be an ideal drone! I asked Potensic about updating the homepoint which I would find very useful when hiking or motorcycling. I certainly wouldn't want the drone to fly all the way back to where it started when I've already moved, say, 1 mile out! They'll look into it. I didn't know the Atom used to have GPS follow-me. They really should bring it back. I'll write to them about that! Thanks again for sharing your knowledge!

@@ToysStewy For visual tracking you need a huge amount of programming , a good camera and in my opinion also obstacle avoidance as the flight path is very unpredictable. While follow-me is just a couple lines code. A $40 GPS drone can have a perfect follow-me feature. Well if they get it right like on my L109 Pro. The follow-me on the Potensic Atom SE was completely wrong and useless. As for homepoint update; this week I was flying my $100 L200 from my bike. It's a great little drone for the price. But it refused to go any further than 500 meters from where it took off. That's a form geo-fence. Only way it top land it first before you can continue. Cheap drones (almost) never have a homepoint update option in the app. My C-Fly Faith Mini is the exception. Unfortunately the follow-me is worthless just like 99.9% of all drones. But I fly it manually like most of my drones without the phone anyway to save time. Needless to say the overall stability is just as important as all the auto-features. For example my 550 grams Fimi A3 is way safer and reliable than my $100-$150 drones under 250 grams. Not that law makers care about reality.

@@driewiel There has got to a be a unicorn out there! 🙂 We'll keep asking the manufacturers to enhance their software for just some additional features and the drones would be more perfect. Having said all that, it's so much fun flying anything that you have. I had bought many years ago a tiny (and I mean tiny) drone. I tried flying inside my home once and stopped flying it because it wasn't stable. So roll forward 6 years, I took it out to a park. Oh boy, it was so much fun. It has no camera, just a joystick and just trying to keep it still and not fly away from you was so much fun! The Potensic Atom is a beautiful drone in its own right. I really love the 3-axis gimbal and it's so easy to fly it. I'm testing things out now because I'm planning a trip and am thinking to do some videos with it. Cheers!