Potensic Atom Follow-Me Mode

The Potensic Atom's Follow-Me mode is one of its "intelligent flight" modes.  It's a really nifty feature that uses visual tracking probably based on contrast and size of the subject that it's following.

So far, I found two things that will or may confuse the drone:

1) If something like a tree comes in between you and the drone, it will immediately lose visual sight and therefore visual tracking of you.  It's not a smart drone that can predict where you might go based on direction and speed, but perhaps it's a good thing.  Just imagine riding down a road and you pass under a tree with another vehicle and as we emerge from under the tree, the drone picks up the other vehicle to follow.  That would be terrible!

2) If there are objects of similar shape and size as you, the drone might get confused and might then lose track of you.  This happened to me once when I was riding a motorcycle down a stretch of a parking lot where there were some people toward the end of the stretch.  The drone lost me and stopped in the air.  It hovered there, not knowing what to do so I had to regain manual control over it.

The Follow-Me mode is certainly a very cool feature that I like a lot.  The more I play with it, the more I like it.  Perhaps, only if the drone can follow me based on the GPS location of my phone or the controller.  That would be super awesome!

You can get the Potensic Atom from Amazon.com here: https://amzn.to/3MQWWEq For Canadians, I got my Potensic Atom from Amazon.ca here: https://amzn.to/4gb6YO8

Potensic Atom: Two Bad Things About It

So, I have some gripes about the Potensic Atom.  I recharged the three batteries I have two weekends ago.  I was planning to take the Atom out last weekend to test the Follow-Me mode again but the weather wasn't great. Today, the weather was perfect so I rode my motorcycle out to find a place where I could safely test it in.

Two things I found out:

1) The batteries were already down to 60% capacity!  After just two weeks, the batteries were draining on their own by 40%!!  I had only 20 minutes of flight time per battery then.  I better make sure I recharge them fully everyday when I'm travelling.

2) The Follow flight mode wasn't great. It doesn't have smart AI that would track you as you move in and out of shades, or when you disappear for a second under the canopy of a tree. Yeah, it's not smart at all but it's expected. It's not a full blown computer inside the Atom. Well, at least I know now how to use properly.

After about 20 minutes of flying, the drone knew it was running out of juice so decided to return home. I had feared that it could happen so, as always, I had placed the drone in a clear spot with an uninhibited vertical take-off path. My test was within a short distance so I could just ride back to the starting point.

It's still a great drone!  I got my Atom on Amazon.ca here:  https://amzn.to/4d9qzeP.  You can get it on Amazon.com here:  https://amzn.to/4erWFDp

DJI Neo

Someone mentioned today they were testing this micro-drone out over the weekend.  I'm starting to think whether I should get this drone too!  It sounds so much fun.  They were testing it with their mountain bike, riding in the woods.  This drone would follow them into the woods.  It initially made me cringe until I looked at a picture of it.  The propellers are fully enclosed in a cage!  That's beautiful design I think.  Yes, the drone crashed into trees and branches and so on but it survived!  This is like the GoPro of drones.  Sturdy little bastard, I thought.  Just pure fun.  Not having to worry about breaking it.  It's super light and fast enough for mountain biking.  It does 4K video too for 18 minutes straight!

The only downside that would prevent me from buying it is, it doesn't have a 3-axis gimbal. For the type of active sports it can shoot for, you don't need a gimbal.  I need a gimbal for landscape and the aerial shots I want to make with my motorcycle.  For the time being, I'll stick with my Potensic Atom.  Later, I might consider getting the Neo.

If interested in the Neo, you can get one one Amazon.ca here:  https://amzn.to/3zl4bB5.  It's odd that Amazon.com doesn't carry the Neo.

Potensic Atom's Return Home Feature, Part 2

Somewhat disappointed but expected, I learned from Potensic via email that the Potensic Atom doesn't support a feature to reset the Return Home point during flight.  That means that if you lose control of the drone while you're biking a kilometre down the road, you'd have to go back a kilometre to retrieve the drone as it will automatically land back where it took off.  So, knowing that, I'd do only short follow-me videos.

I've asked to see if it's a feature that can be added by software only.  Hoping for a yes. 😀

Potensic Atom - Obstance Avoidance?

When my drone had to fly back home on its own, I had one immediate thought:  Did it take off in a treeless area?  There were times when I flew the drone close to a rock, and I thought, one pull of the joystick in the wrong direction might send the drone into the trash.

This is one big feature that the Potensic Atom is missing, unforunately.  I'm wondering if that can be added to the front camera.  Other drones like the DJI that have obstacle avoidance have sensors all over the body of the drones.  The Atom doesn't have any sensors except for the bottom sensors for ground detection.

So, if you're not too confident in your flying ability, don't get the Potensic Atom!  Those automatic "intelligent" flight modes like Boomerang, Circle, Follow-Me, etc. can be dangerous.  The drone will follow a pre-programmed path with no regard to obstacles like trees or electric poles in the way.  Be careful when activating these automatic modes!

If you can afford a DJI, this $1239 CAD DJI Air 2S will do it for you!  https://amzn.to/4d8vcpz

Potensic Atom's Return Home Feature

 Here's a tip for flying the Potensic Atom's Return Home feature.  First, take off from an open space with no obstruction such that you can go straight up at least 120m (400 ft.).  You can change the return altitude if you like under Settings -> Safety -> Signal Lost.  This is important!  If you ever lose connection with the drone for whatever reason, the drone will return home on its own, but it will do so by flying to the return altitude first directly above the Return Home point and will descend to that Return Home point.

This happened to me once when I was flying the drone in Follow Me mode.  I made the mistake of flying the drone when the controller had just a little power left.  When the controller ran out of battery, the drone was left flying on its own, so to speak.  It was high up in the sky and I couldn't do anything to bring it back down.  Lucky me, after maybe a minute or so, the drone decided that I've lost control of it and returned home on its own.  I thought I lost it!  It had disappeared as it went high up in the sky and while I was walking toward it, I lost sight of it only to find it back at where it took off initially.

The drone's landing very exact.  It's important that it can detect lots of GPS satellites (at least six) for it to be able to land back at the exact Return Home location.  Remember though, make sure the vertical take-off is completely unobstructed up to 120m!

This landing pad is not needed but if you could be flying from a thick grass area, you want to take off from an even surface:  https://amzn.to/4cQZ6hC

Where Can You Fly Your Drone in Canada?

I'm in Canada.  There are regulations around where you can fly a drone.  Depending on weight, you might need to obtain a license to fly your drone as well.

Here is a resource that everyone flying a drone should know about:

https://nrc.canada.ca/en/drone-tool/

There is a map to show what you can do and where you can fly.  Remember to select the type of drone you have.  By default, the "Basic" drone type is selected.  If you have a micro-drone (under 250g), you need to change the drone type and the map will be completely different for you.

Potensic Atom With 3-Axis Gimbal

This is the most exciting tool I've added to my photographic camera chest!  Recently, I purchased this Potentic Atom micro-drone in preparation for a month-long trip to South East Asisa.  I've been testing it at a cottage and what an awesome drone it is!

The new perspectives that it gives me, to be able to see things from the air, has been breathtaking.  It can do great still images and 4K videos while flying.  It has features similar to the more expensive DJI cousins like circling around you, following you, and boomeranging out.  Videos are smooth and the drone is easy to fly with the joysticks.  Extremely stable with GPS positioning, it can fly back home when the battery starts to run out of juice or when you lose connection with it.  Also, with the 3-axis gimbal, it can keep the camera horizontal with the horizon in wind.  That I thought everything it does was very impressive.

I'd say it's not cheap but for what it does, it's completely worth every dime I spent.  Hopefully, you'll be able to get one at some discount on Black Friday or Boxing Day!  If you don't want to wait, just get one from Amazon.  As of this writing, it's about $460 CAD after a $70 discount.  I bought mine from Amazon.ca here:  https://amzn.to/3AO4iFM.  It's also available on Amazon.com here:  https://amzn.to/4emS1GI

Because it's a micro-drone (under 250g) I don't actually need a license to fly it where I live in Ontario.  There are plenty of spaces where you are allowed to fly it, as long as you are being careful (e.g., not flying too close to people or airports!)

How to Back Up Your SD Cards on Trips?

Here is a tip for those who loves taking pictures or videos with their camera, GoPro, or drone when travelling without the weight of their laptop:  use your phone and a USB drive!

When I travel, I leave my laptops at home.  They're heavy and clunky.  I try to stay disconnected from work as well so I don't really want to bring a laptop along because chances would be that I'd be checking my work emails while on the road!  Instead, I'd just bring an iPad along for looking things to do or reading some local news.  Along with the iPad, I'd have my phone with me.

But, the question is, how will you protect the photos or videos you take?  I've lost photos a couple of times because my SD card crapped out on me.  I might have overused them and I know not to do that anymore.  Even then, there is a small chance that I could lose my photos from theft or other damages.

The solution is a USB hub with On-the-Go (OTG) capabilities.  I have a Samsung A32 Android phone that supports OTG and all that I'd need is a USB hub.  So, here is my setup now:

1) Samsung A32 phone

2) Benfei USB hub bought from Amazon here:  https://amzn.to/3AGPyZe

3) USB drive--I bought a 1TB NVMe SSD with a USB NVMe enclosure:  https://amzn.to/3X7QNs6 and https://amzn.to/3Xq6bkN

The Benfei USB hub has support for both the micro SD and SD cards.  It also has power delivery so you could keep your phone charged while it transfers files from an SD card to the USB drive.

Just connect everything up to the USB hub and the Samsung phone will see both the USB drive and the SD card.  Simply use an app like File Explorer to manage your files to transfer the files over.

Simple and light!