Skydio 2 High Wind Test: Autonomous Tracking!

[@hatetequilahangover]

A sponsor!! That's great! Good for you man, you deserve it!

[@Dcrainmaker]

Thanks!

[@marvinpb9818]

Epic place with the waves to capture epic shots. I love the last part where huge wave sprays on you. Thanks for the dedication btw for making review for these gadgets, it really helps people to decide before spending.

[@targadave]

Great review! I’ve been very happy with my Skydio2 so far. Most of the negative Skydio2 reviews I’ve read are from owners who make almost no effort to actually learn the limitations of their drones, even something as automated as the Skydio2, which can easily crash when put into the wrong situation. I haven’t used my Skydio2 in any winds over 15mph, but this gives much more confidence that it can handle the 20-25 mph winds I’ll be putting it in. I love to kite foil and wing foil so wind is automatically part of the self tracking equation. The problem I’m gonna encounter with the Skydio2 isn’t wind strength, it’s the lack of any auto ‘return-to-home’ (RTH) function on the beacon. When your out in the windy surf/chop using the beacon in a waterproof pouch, you can’t just stop what you’re doing and manually land the drone back on shore. Very different from being on a bike! My Staaker ‘follow’ drone has RTH built into a waterproof beacon. I know it lacks all the OI features of Skydio2, but it has ideal RTH on the beacon. Skydio2 does not have it.

[@orvillealdrich7601]

Awesome piece Ray! Absolutely love the the epic waves in the background and you riding through the spray! Super cool video... Kinda forgot I was watching a product review 😀

[@Dcrainmaker]

Indeed, this was one test/review where I was definitely having more fun with it than normal!

[@psoon04286]

Have not seen any Skydio videos in a while. Glad to see that its still out performing the run of the mill drones out there. Fantastic test.

[@AddyOverbeeke]

That was awesome display of wind stability endurance for the Skydio 2.. I have the Sk2 now but for me it is extreme cold and bare branched that are delaying my experiments... Thank you for sharing, get edit and interesting video for sure.

[@tonymckeage1028]

Great Production demonstration vlog, under extreme conditions, great video work and production well done thanks for sharing

[@Dcrainmaker]

Thanks Tony!

[@christophersilliman1742]

This is Chris from Tampa Florida just wanted to say hi and to let you know how much I love your Channel I just love your content I love how informative you are with everything it's it's very good content once again thanks and peace brother

[@streetpigeonmtb]

Dude, I love your videos. The quality and depth is incredible. Thank you 👍

[@WatermarquePaul]

Excellent video Ray, well done Skydio, impressive 👍

[@Dcrainmaker]

Thanks Paul!

[@touring4973]

Seems your brilliant and honest reviews motivate me not to skip advertisements!:)

[@andyncaba]

Great work brother. Happy to see you had an amazing time. Keep up the good work!

[@spuds1002]

One of your best Ray 👍

[@Dcrainmaker]

Thanks Philip!

[@deanescott3331]

Wasn’t sure who to be more worried for, you or the drone. Very enjoyable review.

[@Dcrainmaker]

Haha...good point!

[@RunningOtaku]

Quote of the year, “Oh, no, no, no seagull. Leave my drone alone!”- DC Rainmaker. 😂

[@Fuegodiver]

Thats a true test. That drone is awesome.

[@caseycook738]

Way to take one for the team. My wife glance over and thought it was a video game. Thanks Ray!

[@Dcrainmaker]

Haha...thanks!

[@ChuckMcCue]

Cool video. Gotta respect a dude that is not afraid to use his equipment! Where is this filmed? I want to ride that on a calm day. :)

[@Speak_Out_and_Remove_All_Doubt]

Really cool video, thanks.

[@kentvoss2113]

Awesome video Ray! What a trooper! Thanks.

[@garyncoa]

Awesome video. No small wires or branches to run into. Amazing the drone was able to fly in those conditions. Looking forward to getting one.

[@Harko-]

Very entertaining and informative review!

[@Dcrainmaker]

Thanks!!!

[@louchalifoux-chabot7030]

Woah these waves are crazy!

[@Dcrainmaker]

Just a wee bit!

[@DavidSkok1]

Incredible footage! Great fun to watch!

[@apdjr5758]

Very impressive!!!! Thank you!

[@williamcurtis8827]

Awesome video!!

[@Dcrainmaker]

Thanks!!!

[@ErnieOntario]

Wow.. impressive.. drone and you pick the right time and place to shoot this video!

[@Dcrainmaker]

I may or may not have been waiting 8 months for the right day. :)

[@RonaldBrown59]

Great wind test, the Skydio 2 did better than I thought it would.

[@NilBangla]

so nice

[@TimFitzwater]

Great footage - and interesting info about a drone I knew very little about.

[@Dcrainmaker]

Thanks!

[@SuperKulangot1]

Wow! Thank you for sharing! 🤯🤯🤯

[@Dcrainmaker]

Thanks!

[@rik4010]

Fantastisch mooie beelden....indrukwekkend zelfs...

[@venturasurfing]

You very much remind me of a college professor I had. Not only did he look and sound like you but he was an avid cyclist. He showed up one day to teach with his nose bandaged up and marks on his face. He said that he was racing down a steep pass in our local mountains when a car slammed on its brakes in front of him. He hit the car and went through the rear window. How he survived that and then showed up to class two days later I'll never know. I think you are kindred spirits!!!

[@sabugdalantx]

Nice test!

[@gareth5000]

Incredible!

[@dendrosagu]

Incredibly epic!! 😵😵

[@WattmetryCzEN]

Such a cool video Ray !! LOVE IT. Bad idea in all in every way with all the saltwater spray in gust winds on all the cameras, phone plus your bike.... 😊👍✔👌👀😍 Next time you should make a video on how you clean all the video equipment.

[@Dcrainmaker]

Thanks! Indeed, everything got washed down at the end - even the tripod...which held GoPro’s. It’s actually the main reason the audio was tricky. While I had ‘nice mics’ at the starting locale, once I went out of range they stayed behind tethered to my nice camera inside a backpack recoding nothing but darkness. So far, three months later everything is all good still!

[@WattmetryCzEN]

@@Dcrainmaker If I can recommend a few tuning tips on your MTB bike, I would play with different types of brake pads semi-metallic vs organic or sintered to stop the noise. The front and rear pads might have to be different. Shimano had cheap pads, but they could be noisy, pads have to be clean as well. A simple sandpaper treatment with a little spray of brake cleaner will help a lot. The last thing you should check if you have nice Carbon wheels is, to make sure that nipples aren't aluminum since salt will destroy them fast and they fall apart.

[@Dcrainmaker]

@@WattmetryCzEN Thanks! Indeed, by and large I don't dork with my mountain bike much - mainly because it doesn't get a ton of use. But yeah, lots of things to think about!

[@WattmetryCzEN]

@@Dcrainmaker You're welcome. I completely understand that you don't use mt. bike much. You have a nice Canyon bike with good components and those bikes are easy to set up. If you need any help just let me know and send me PM, I can help you over the "long" distance 😎

[@brunocapel6853]

Waouh !! Félicitations, tu es extraordinaire et quelle belle Surprise et démonstration. 👏👏👏👍😉🇫🇷

[@PaulTomblin]

I've got to start saving for one of these.

[@Dcrainmaker]

Haha...indeed!

[@inspiredtotired8369]

No one does it better. Ray rules 👍

[@Dcrainmaker]

Thanks!!!

[@ArminHirmer]

pretty cool! still waiting for Skydio to sell in Europe...

[@mlegrand]

The skydio drone looks amazing. Wondering if the next round of DJI drones will have a similar level of tracking. And I love the conversation that you're having with the drone.

[@Dcrainmaker]

One can only hope!!!

[@helikopterbild]

Do love all your gear testing! How does one get hold of the Skydio here in Europe? Best regards from Sweden.

[@mikeblock8727]

Fantastic review and testing! What time of time for battery life under those conditions and any issue with the amount of moisture on the drone?

[@Osvaldo4885]

Great job! As always! What waterproof do you use for your phone?

[@Dcrainmaker]

Nothing, just an iPhone 11 Pro, which is already waterproof.

[@sammenil1498]

Thanks for the spectacular tests and filming ? Will you put up som information when it’s possible to purchase ? I’m from Sweden.

[@irunovermountains]

That was a good test. Good work, Ray. Hey, where do you get your vert living in the Netherlands? I'm struggling after a move to the 'dam last summer

[@gooders9093]

Great video, cant seem to see this on sale in UK ?

[@Dcrainmaker]

Sadly not yet...

[@gooders9093]

@@Dcrainmaker Ah well, and no chance of a purchase on a USA holiday anytime soon. :(

[@jasonhicks3323]

I see a new version of your current mtb after this test. That salt water is going to eat it up!

[@Dcrainmaker]

Haha...surprisingly, it’s doing pretty good (three months later). I washed it both within 20 mins of finishing the test with water bottles, and then again an hour later with full hose down.

[@eertmann]

@@Dcrainmaker and what about the drone? More difficult to wash...

[@Dcrainmaker]

@@eertmann Not too bad, I used a bunch of baby wipes directly afterwards, and then again later on.

[@bocycle7585]

Amazing 👏 brilliant video.. no reason not to use these drones in the grand tours and classics

[@IchimokuCloud]

I've watched this video like 4 times and gotta say I wonder one year later did all the equipment rust out from the salt water? Its a great video!

[@Dcrainmaker]

Everything is still perfectly good! I rinsed everything out pretty well afterwards pretty quickly, both at the end of the pier with some jugs of water, and then a short bit later when I got home with the hose.

[@TripleU-E]

insane drone! There was a lot critism in the past weeks, but this video tells them "shut up" and watch!

[@RCModSquad]

Very impressive test. Where is that lighthouse?

[@Dcrainmaker]

Netherlands at the IJmuiden pier.

[@MaximusPanin]

Extreme!

[@selen1775]

コレは凄い！It's cooool!!

[@lotramirez]

Hey buddy. I absolutely love the videos. I am trying to decide whether to buy the DJI Mini 3 or the Skydio 2+. I am looking for the autonony or follow-me option which apperantly the Skydio is really good at, but the size of the Mini is very appeling, specially as I am looking to bring the drone during my scuba diving trips. Which leads me to my question: How can I find information about flying restrictions for these types of drones in other countries?

[@damFr]

Nice but it doesn’t seems to be available in France or Europe yet...

[@Dcrainmaker]

Sadly not yet, have to purchase in the us.

[@AntonisK]

dont dieeeee!

[@jimpeyton1459]

Tracking feature rocks. How the drone survived the wind and the water is beyond me. How much flight time did you get out of each battery?

[@Dcrainmaker]

Roughly 15ish minutes. But I was coming back with more battery than usual - usually stopping around 15-20% to allow for any finicky landings with the Skydio 2 - since I was using a wet phone and such, in case I was having problems getting it back atop the thin pier. Whereas for DJI drones, I tend to run it down to 3-4% remaining, since I trust the landing aspect a bit more.

[@michaellaframboise7646]

How about using Rain X on lenses!

[@LifeofAccro]

any particular reason you chose to go with motion track feature vs fixed postion? seeing as the main view point (and safest from the incoming waves) was staying on one side of the jetty as went back and forth....

[@Dcrainmaker]

Merely because my brain was too cold/wet to think about it. 😂 But yes, that would have been a more ideal way of doing it. Though, while hard to see in the video, the Jetty actually makes a bit of a 'J' towards the lighthouse, so that wouldn't have quite been as ideal in that scenario, it wouldn't have been totally lateral to me by the end. I suppose the most 'perfect' solution would have been setting up a long cable...though unless something has changed, that's still limited to only two points.

[@LifeofAccro]

@@Dcrainmaker u know a J shape maybe could make and interesting shot for another day...maybe its starts rear left on the way out and by the end its front left maybe? Food for thought and at the right distance....

[@Dcrainmaker]

@@LifeofAccro Definitely! For this one, I was aiming for a very specific shot of having the pier/path laterally across the frame, and then the wave breaking over the top of me. But yeah, for other purposes having a different framing would definitely work out!

[@ΧαλαραμετονΜπαμπινο-ψ7μ]

nice!

[@motorcyclejournals]

Lovely

[@shamsulazhar]

What mic are you using? The audio performance is impressive given the conditions.

[@Dcrainmaker]

When at the start/end standing there, I'm using a Rode Wireless Go. However, the rest of the time I'm using a combination of a GoPro Hero 9 on a chest mount, and a GoPro Max on my handlebars. I was switching between the audio tracks during the video, basically depending on which one sucked less. :)

[@Grunge_Cycling]

Those waves were making me anxious lol

[@Dcrainmaker]

Me too! I wasn't quite sure how powerful they'd be when they hit me while riding, in terms of slipperiness and such.

[@AdventureTomek]

If you have the app on to see what the drone can see, can you use the Beacon to track you.? Or is it one or the other?

[@noka7776]

where's that at, it's so cool

[@rpjwhite]

Full commitment. I hope the bike cleaned up okay. It did not sound happy.

[@Dcrainmaker]

Haha...it’s doing all good!

[@damorgman]

Yes but did you get any Strava bling for your ride? How many PBs?

[@Stealthwealth1001]

Leave it to DCR to real world review these products!

[@Dcrainmaker]

Thanks!!!

[@rappergrunzel9]

Hey nice video! Does in your experience the autotracking work better when you wear high kontrast colours?

[@Dcrainmaker]

My first instinct would be to say yes, but in reality, I haven't actually seen it make a ton of difference. In this case, I went with red since it'd make a more visibly popping photo/video than grey or something.

[@rappergrunzel9]

@@Dcrainmaker You very much helped me choosing the fenix 6 and now again with drones thank you for your videos!

[@mareckik]

8:29 epic

[@invalice123]

That's actually an impressive drone.

[@kaushikiyer3859]

Would be interesting to see how it works on a regular road in city or highway ride.

[@samuelgu1]

can you put rainx on lens maybe it would help. I put it on my go pro lens when filming at oceans.

[@hofster]

I wish Skydio would be available in Europe.

[@TheVickersDoorter]

I'm in the UK and received my Skydio 2 in Dec 2019. Simply order one using a US forwarding service and they'll forward it anywhere in the world. I used ReShip.com. Not very expensive either. One tip, order you spare batteries with the main drone order, as ReShip surcharge you $100 for forwarding batteries on their own.

[@hofster]

@@TheVickersDoorter thanks! What would you if you‘d need other replacement parts or a general drone failure?

[@emp777]

How come it doesn't colide with the lighthouse?

[@Dcrainmaker]

The Skydio has 7 cameras on it, 6 of which are used for obstacle avoidance (the 7th for the video recording). It's pretty much the most advanced obstacle & tracking drone out there (albeit, inversely, not the most advanced drone for things like video/resolution or other features that DJI usually wins at).

[@michizer0]

Any tips how to buy it in europe?

[@Dcrainmaker]

Sadly none. I bought mine in the US a year ago. Though you could use a US mail forwarder, which would work just fine.

[@KasperTaylorLarsen]

Btw I doubt Skillshare have reached 1000 clicks yet - but it says it is a 14 day premium trial not 3 month?

[@Dcrainmaker]

Hmm, odd. When I click it I see that the start day for payment is April 28th, 2021. I can check.

[@KasperTaylorLarsen]

@@Dcrainmaker The headline when you click the link for me says "14 days premium" - I have not entered my details

[@dang.s]

Skydio needs to implement voice commands.

[@hayabusa27]

Was everything rusted a week later? 😂

[@liamhealy5336]

The only problem with Skydio, they don't sell sell into Australia 8-(

[@JVJF7]

Looks like the IJmuiden pier

[@Dcrainmaker]

Yup!

[@AdolfoMelilli]

Hello, I have a Samsung Note20 5G phone, the Skydio app has been installed without problems, but I can't do the optical motion track, when the drone sees me, or sees a car, a bike, or a group of people, it applies a "+" on each of them, but if I click on them, nothing happens, the spinning trail I’m expecting to see, does not appear around the subject, So I’m missing the best features of the skydio, orbit, dronie etc., only the cable mode works, to be motion-tracked I must do it on the beacon ... does anyone else have this issue?

[@eugenerichter8185]

out of curiousity, have you ever crashed this drone in high winds? am very curious as I've been thinking of buying one but just curious how well it does when you have high winds.

[@Dcrainmaker]

Never. This video above is about as high winds as you'll get, but I've used it in similar winds before without issue.

[@eugenerichter8185]

@@Dcrainmaker thank you as I wondered how good it was and I see it handled it well

[@klemmr3233]

Noordpier. Brave. Aren't FCC drones illegal in NL?

[@Dcrainmaker]

The EU EC has an MRA with the FCC that allows for bilateral coverage of radio devices. You can use your device in the EU, but before Skydio can *sell* a device into the EU, it needs the paperwork filed.

[@klemmr3233]

@@Dcrainmaker Aaaah cool - I so want one. I fly a Mini 2 and Air 2 from Zandvoort and fish off both those piers. I love your videos.

[@Dcrainmaker]

@@klemmr3233 I suspect we'll see them finally get to the point of expanding beyond the US soonish. I saw recently they had the backlog finally down to a reasonable timeframe, and atop that, the were talking a while back about spinning up non-US facilities. one can hope! Thanks!!!

[@DonnieKluck]

What do you think is better The Skydio 2 or DJI Air 2S and what would you recommend?

[@sidbrun_]

Could the Skydio dodge a seagull?

[@woeliemedia3691]

Did you use a computer voiceover???

[@Dcrainmaker]

Nope.

[@aphinion]

Just followed the link in your last video here... holy fuck you are hardcore man :D Any idea, if there is a Skydio 3 coming out at some point? I if that thing stays as it is but gets a proper cam... good bye dji...

[@Dcrainmaker]

Hahaha…thanks! Skydio seemed to hint at things yesterday in a tweet of theirs, so who knows!

[@aphinion]

@@Dcrainmaker *keeps thumbs pressed* 2k for a 2 year old drone is a bit much. But a Skydio 3 at this price would be amazing!

[@Dcrainmaker]

@@aphinion The good news is that the Skydio 2 is down to sub-$1K these days - and I believe that's the permanent price now.

[@larsborgman3443]

That saltwater so close to the bike, soooooo much rust everywhere😥

[@Dcrainmaker]

Fear not, immediate (and heavy) application of fresh water solves all!

[@jede_farbe]

Hi . I did not find this drones in Germany. And it can not be bought online. To European countries. Sold to the US and Canada only.

[@Dcrainmaker]

Sadly still correct. I bought mine in the US.

[@tangoadvance8393]

If only they sold them in the UK !

[@RubenKelevra]

Next level: Track a seagull 😎

[@motoacquatico1967]

👍💪

[@veryevildentist]

Was anyone else waiting for a beat drop / wave crash sync?

[@CheeseOnEverything]

lol where do u live? in a wind tunnel? lol and how have you not lost a dozen drones by now 😂😂😂

[@Dcrainmaker]

Haha...pretty much! That wind tunnel is called...The Netherlands. :)

[@Errr717]

HAHAHA gotta hand it to you ... you use the execuse of testing the drone to get your salt water shower.

[@4TEXbmsX]

Currently the video has 300 likes and 1 dislike. The latter was probably made by the drone :)

[@Dcrainmaker]

Hahahaha!

[@ChuckMcCue]

I think the down vote was from the bottom bracket bearings.

[@uk-expat]

Mountain bike? That’s cheating! 🤣🤣🤣

[@Dcrainmaker]

I was tempted to do it in road bike, but honestly wasn’t terribly sure on how strong the waves would be when hot. Frankly, still wasn’t sure how strong on a mountain bike! 😂