No D85's Yet?

[just_hoss]

Wow! I can't believe that there are no other D85 pilots out here yet...

I just purchased it but a week ago and only have a couple of flights so far, but it appears to be quite a good flier.

A couple of things I found out about the little bird: It appears that it is identical to the MJX Bug 3 Pro, and rumor is that its guts are also the same as the Holy Stone HS700. That said, I ordered spare props for it (B3 Pro, HS700) and they came out at 186mm (7 3/8"), where as the D85 OTB is 204mm (8") - so any feedback on this would be awesome!

The 5G 1080p camera it came with is not too bad, and one of the reasons I bought this bird was so I could upgrade the camera on it with a GoPro or the likes, so I did just that; but... the OE micro usb to micro usb cable is not long enough to connect the GoPro to the bird (darn it). I've ordered an 8" cable and will post some feedback once it arrives.

That's it for now, hopefully more will join in with their experience with the D85.

Cheers!

 

[Gary]

Wow! I can't believe that there are no other D85 pilots out here yet...

I just purchased it but a week ago and only have a couple of flights so far, but it appears to be quite a good flier.

A couple of things I found out about the little bird: It appears that it is identical to the MJX Bug 3 Pro, and rumor is that its guts are also the same as the Holy Stone HS700. That said, I ordered spare props for it (B3 Pro, HS700) and they came out at 186mm (7 3/8"), where as the D85 OTB is 204mm (8") - so any feedback on this would be awesome!

The 5G 1080p camera it came with is not too bad, and one of the reasons I bought this bird was so I could upgrade the camera on it with a GoPro or the likes, so I did just that; but... the OE micro usb to micro usb cable is not long enough to connect the GoPro to the bird (darn it). I've ordered an 8" cable and will post some feedback once it arrives.

That's it for now, hopefully more will join in with their experience with the D85.

Cheers!

Hi, I just got a D85. Drone is excellent. Camera sucks. I bought an Apeman yesterday but the app sucks and the WiFi keeps going off. Also why did you buy a cable if you cannot use it?

 

[just_hoss]

I was being polite; yes the OE camera on the D85 is pretty bad, one step above the one you might find in a cereal box (but still better than a $50 drone w/ camera).

So the thought was; if the D85 powers its OE camera, why not power an aftermarket camera and save the weight of carrying the camera battery(?)

And this is how far I've gotten: I bought an Akaso Brave 4 and an 8" cable; as hoped the camera fits just fine and the cable is just long enough to plug into the bird; and the camera powers up (sweet)! But...

What is sad is that the OE camera is proprietary to the bird, and without it, you cannot use the Potensic app, nor can you FPV the bird. And since you can't use the Potensic app with the non-OE camera, you can't command the drone to take pictures or videos, or use the follow me, circle a point or program in a flight path. At this point, you've just got a drone to fly with no glamorous features.

Ok, moving on, the Akaso also has an app for remote functions, but the darn thing keeps dropping out (losing connection). When it does stay connected, you can "poorly" FPV the bird, but the range is sadly limited in comparison to the OE.

At the moment, I am mostly disappointed in the Akaso camera as a whole because not only does its connection drop, it typically won't reconnect, and I have yet to capture a good video as that seems to shut down as well (looping is off). Is the Apeman the same knock off like the Akaso (same factory different badge)?

Summary - the D85 is a great flying drone, very stable and albeit high priced for an entry level bird, it is an exceptional beginners drone. If you're looking for something that takes great pics, well, this will just wet your appetite for something better. Upgrading the camera as so profoundly described in the all the literature is not as straightforward as it should be.

 

[Gary]

The Apeman is a complete disappointment. But I only paid $49 for it. Maybe I can find another use for it, but not in this drone. Yes, I found out the same as you. Still need to use the battery with the camera, cannot use Potensic app and also my wifi keeps dropping out. I removed it and put the 2K OE camera back in. Live and learn. I did contact Potensic by email and they said they were working on a better camera, but it won't be out until next year. I love the drone itself since I am a beginner. Only issue other than the lousy camera is that my distance reading on the controller is always zero.

 

[just_hoss]

Bummer on the controller, do they have a fix? Mine seems to read correctly (in meters) even without the OE camera hooked up.

What I'd like to know is if anyone has put a real "GoPro" under it? I know each model is a bit different in size and may or may not fit. I just can't spent that kind of cash for trial and error...

So far the $79 Akaso is in the same category as your Apeman.

 

[Gary]

I did ask Potensic that same question about the GoPro. They said we could not use the Potensic app for that also. The GoPro would not do anything more than these two cameras for what we need. I think that Potensic should not even advertise that we can upgrade to a GoPro because it isn't what we need.

 

[Gary]

Does anyone here have a recommendation for FPV goggles to use with the D85?

 

[Neil evans]

Hi can any one help I can’t seem to locate any pics on my iPhone from my first little flight today

 

[just_hoss]

Hey Neil -

If I understand the "brief" documentation on storage, pictures (and videos?) will only be stored on the viewing device when there is no micro sd card in the OE camera.

So try popping out the card, go fly your little bird and try taking more pics; they should now save on your phone.

Also with the card out, you may need to take the picture or start the video from your phone, not from the controller.

Best of luck. If it works, maybe do a quick little post here.

Cheers!

 

[just_hoss]

Does anyone here have a recommendation for FPV goggles to use with the D85?

Hey Gary -

Did you ever find any?

That might be a brave task still using the OE camera. I find that for fun I can slowly fly it FPV behind my garage, but I think the lag time in the video is so long that I'd hate to try and do anything with precision or speed using VR goggles.

Just a thought.

Keep us posted if you find something.

I'm actually thinking about giving up on mine and going with a home-built and Pixhawk controller so I can pack a real camera and better FPV.

Cheers!

 

[Neil evans]

Hey Neil -

If I understand the "brief" documentation on storage, pictures (and videos?) will only be stored on the viewing device when there is no micro sd card in the OE camera.

So try popping out the card, go fly your little bird and try taking more pics; they should now save on your phone.

Also with the card out, you may need to take the picture or start the video from your phone, not from the controller.

Best of luck. If it works, maybe do a quick little post here.

Cheers!

Ok thank you but I have no micro card yet I’m currently useing an I phone on 4 g will it still hold photos ??

 

[just_hoss]

Hmmm, I have an android phone but have never tried. It might be a day, but I'll try to run it without the card and get back to you.

Are you using the Potensic app to use the FPV feature? If so, in the android version there is a "red" button on the right of the screen that you can press to take pictures, just below that a button to switch from camera to video. It is my belief that you use these controls when there is no card installed in the camera.

About the 4G; that's your carrier, LTE, etcetera... 5G in this case is the wifi speed; 5 ghz vs. the older 2.4 ghz. Most newer phones have the 5 ghz capability. If you can use the app and connect to the bird, you're fine. If it doesn't connect, check that your phone has the 5g wifi capability.

 

[Neil evans]

Hello
Thank you so much just got it going now I went into settings got ty e app up that I’m using and allowed switched on camera pics to be saved

 

[garrisonusa]

Just got mine....pretty cool...camera is that 5G 2k HD version....looks pretty good on facebook etc...I do have the new Black GoPro 8 as well but I'm hesitant to slap it on the drone until I am a better pilot. I've been trying to fly just by using my iPhone screen and not actual visual on the drone so much...I was doing that a lot at first and realized I was having a stiff neck all the time...to get better at flying by screen I set up some hulahoops to fly through and poles to fly closely around just so I'm more comfortable with it....mine came with the extra batteries and extra blades in the carrying case bundle....the only thing I want to find a better solution for is the battery power...I was there was a faster charge...but I guess the better I get at flying will help reduce battery time as I wont need to keep re-flying the same route to get the better shot...hence using up my batteries....the blades are pretty strong....as noted by my two fingers getting chopper when I wasn't looking....they don't seem to bend after I crashed it once or twice....so it keeps it wind displacement consistent...I'm going out now with my GoPro attached to the top of my remote control race truck and I'm going to try and have the drone chase it like a police chase...hopefully add some narration to that effect just for a goof...

 

[martyzion]

It's a strong flyer but to echo other comments, the OEM camera is hardly 2K and has enough lag to make FPV flying rather challenging. I've use the power from the USB micro port on the drone to power a micro FPV camera/transmitter which sends 5.8ghz wifi video to standard Fat Shark goggles; there's minimal lag with that setup and video up to 300m since it's not dependent on the phone/app.