" Gadgets "

Flying around Brean Leisure Park

Seeing that the owners of Brean Leisure Park are friends of the family they let us test out the new DJI Phantom FC40 quadcopter I received as a Christmas present over their park and this was our first chance to try out the WiFi repeater that increased our range to about 150 metres (previously we barely made 100 metres).

The next step is to upgrade the antennas to see what sort of distance we can safely fly (and maintain a visual sighting of) the quadcopter so enjoy the latest video and keep checking out my blog for more.

The DJI Phantom FC40

Being in my early 30’s I no longer expect to receive big box presents from my parents on Christmas day but this year was a little special as they got me and my little brother a joint present… a DJI Phantom FC40 Quadcopter which is the entry level offering from DJI but it’s a powerful piece of tech which comes with a fixed mount 720p HD WiFi Camera that connects to a smartphone to provide a live video feed with a standard range of about 100 metres.

Our first flight was out in the fields by my house and I was immediately impressed by how responsive the controls were and also got to test out the automatic fly home feature when the controller loses communication, the quadcopter returned to our position and slowly descended for a perfect landing.

For the next flight I’m going to use a WiFi repeater to see if I can get a better range out of the WiFi camera as the connection cuts out between 50 – 100 metres away which limits flying distance.

My new toy!

One thing that will probably surprise most people who know me is I have never owned a digital camera! I’ve always relied on other people’s cameras or camera phones.

That all changes today, as my new digital camera the Fujifilm XP30 in green has arrived.

It’s waterproof down to 5m, freezeproof down to -10C and also dust and shockproof, perfect for any occasion. It’s a 14megapixel camera with face recognition and can shoot video in 1080p HD so I no longer have to carry around my larger video camera.

Once I’ve tested it a bit I’ll post some more information up here and you’ll be sure to see some of the results on my upcoming holiday to the USA.