Have been considering buying a drone. With camera and follow Me capability.
For me, the exciting first use would be to find a couple of good spots to show myself riding nice countryside.
Then I wondered about a second good use and came up nearly empty. Skiing days are waaay down, hiking is too slow to document, and drones not allowed in Wilderness areas.


What does the 50+ crowd think of drones as an occasional cycling companion?
Product recommendations?
Only $100 - $200 price range for this toy. But I have a lot of old "used-less" toys.

I can't see a reason for one. I'm not into posting videos of stuff I do, and I'm not paranoid of my surroundings, so it wouldn't be useful for me. Just my thoughts. Although it would be fun for screwing with my neighbor's dog that barks at just about anything.

I've not used one, but I can think of places (descents in particular) where some pretty sweet videos would result. Sounds like a fun toy.

DC Rainmaker has done a lot of drone reviews. https://www.dcrainmaker.com/product-review-types/drones

I use to be interested in getting one that could follow me. However those places I'd want it following are also places where drone use is not permitted or very limited. Such as going up Mt. Bluesky. I don't think they are allowed on Pikes Peak either.

My son has a drone, but not with following capability. He has on occasion snuck up on me with it when I'm riding solo and gotten some shots. Once I heard the noise, but thought is was a group that I'd just passed catching up. You could see that I sped up and climbed the next hill like a bat out of h e double toothpicks.

yeah restrictions in many areas is one bummer. An expensive fine might be another.


edit: For clarification = I am supportive of many of those restrictions - without knowing the full list. Keep them out of designated Wilderness areas for the general public. and obvious places - like airports, crowded stadiums, military installations, Washington DC airspace, etc. But that is not what this thread is about. Though I would hope they would be legal if I traveled to Moab or rode the Colorado National Monument (outside Grand Junction).

???

Flying cars?
High speed tunnel transport?

Ocean mapping?

The next step?


edit: In many Forums the discussion is about Cameras and Radars and twin cameras and 360* radar, and on-bike collision sensing and emergency reporting, GPS everything...... Why not a new toy to play with? That is a fraction the cost of most inexpensive on-bike power meters? Just asking.

Rental drones would be good for this purpose. Occasional use, no storage or worry over batteries, etc. ..... Maybe.

Maybe if they delivered themselves to you and came with the extra batteries. But likely the overhead costs and the needed demand won't match up.

Hover Air makes one but it’s pretty expensive. www.hoverair.com

Looks really cool, but $$$$

I own a DJI Mini 4 but using it to film myself while riding my bike is not something I use it for. Unless you're an extreme mountain biker screaming down the side of a mountain for a Red Bull competition, few people are going to care to watch the video other than yourself. All sorts of cycling vloggers have YouTube channels and I actually find it somewhat annoying when they film while riding as staring at them while riding their bike and trying to form complete sentences doesn't add value to the video in most cases.

As I somewhat anticipated when I bought my drone, I don't use it very much. One gets tired of "drone shots" and unless you live somewhere with spectacular scenery, the final product is rarely worth sharing. I have my drone for those rare instances when I want to capture something in an area I can't get to by foot and don't want to ~trespass~. However, I am surprised as just how many places are no-fly zones or are very restricted due to the many small airports near me.

Or the same price of a Campagnolo Super Secord Cassette. Dinner in a fancy restaurant. Upgrade to Premium Economy on an international flight.

Less than the price for a top tier bicycle GPS computer.

yeah that would be fun, but honestly, I don't need another hobby w/ gear & accessories & batteries & chargers

I thought about getting one once. But realized that it was just a novelty for me. I'd likely mess with it until I learned how to use it. Do a ride or two with it, then realize that was that. I have no reason to video myself riding. If I were a content creator that would be a different story. But, I'm not. So, I didn't.

Still it is cool tech.

Drones are aircraft and the operator is a pilot. In the case of a "follow me" drone, how does the operator maintain control of the flight? There is a requirement to avoid flight over people and yield right of way to other aircraft. Drone operators have the rights and responsibilities of traditional pilots, and if you refer to a drone as a "toy", you may have the answered, in the negative, the question of whether to get one. Drones are aircraft in the same sense sense that bicycles are ground transportation and likewise need to be taken seriously. Both, of course, are also fun.

Don't start!!

Glad to see that land is being used for a better purpose than just knocking tiny balls around with a stick.

How long are the rides you intend to document? Battery life on the small drones isn't very long, and once the battery is depleted, you're going to have to stop, retrieve it, and somehow carry it.
I have no idea how much the drone you're considering weighs, but if it's over 0.55lbs, you have FAA regulations (licensing and registration of the drone) to deal with. It's no joke. I used to fly RC airplanes (now considered drones) and was at a large RC event shortly after all the FAA rules went into effect. FAA officials showed up to check for registration numbers on the aircraft. If you didn't have one, the fine was pretty steep. Once word got out that they were writing fines, a lot of flyers packed up and left rather quickly.

When I was coaching a Cooperative Group Cycling Skills course I would've found videos from a Follow-Me Drone invaluable for creating training materials. E.g.,
- Here's a perfectly executed double-rotating paceline
- Here's an example of textbook Late Apex Cornering at high speed
- Here's how not to lead a group safely around an obstacle
etc.

But admittedly, once you've recorded and edited that training video, no need to make a new one every year, so yeah, still a limited use case.
I'd still like to have one just for fun though.

As an update with info tidbits:
Small drones with camera are available under the 0.55# weight limit for registering with FAA.
They may come with 2 or 3 batteries, but I think only about ~15 min flight time per battery.
Many offer a collision avoidance option.
Some are moving beyond 4k recording for greater quality (if needed).

I decided against a drone.
It would be the editing of too much video and soundtrack adaptation that would become likely more a burden than a joy. Or I'm just lazy toward new things? Or maybe I'm not liking the buzzing.

butt, but, .... but a walking/hiking buddy always has a new toy story to bring to the small neighborhood group - RC airplane club, now with drones, trail camera for morning viewing of the local night wildlife (deer or coyote or occasional bear), audio parsing equipment of the frogs in his nearby pond with time of day/interval duration, GPS data on hikes, etc ... He is generally quiet about being the restless one. Entertaining an active mind seeking engagement is his new set of hobbies. Not bad on a piano and maybe other instruments, too. Unfortunately, not inclined toward bicycles.

I got a DJI Neo last fall. Footage from the Neo starts at about 0:12. At ~0:52, you can see it recover after hitting a branch.


It's fun, super small and easy to use. I haven't gone on any trips since purchasing, but I'm sure to bring it. I have my FAA Part 107 certification and try to be aware of local restrictions and no fly zones.

In Spring 2024 I brought a larger Mini 3 Pro to the GAP and C&O. No follow features. Drone footage at 1:53 and 2:47 of this video.


I also use the Mini 3 Pro to take stills at a higher quality than is possible with the Neo





The Mini 3 Pro and batteries fit in a small case less than 2 liters volume. There is a newer follow-me drone, the DJI Flip, that's a combination of features of the two drones that I have. That may be my next drone.

I've been a motorcycle travel writer for 20+ years, taking photos and writing stories for publication. I'm now trying to learn how to tell bicycle stories with video. I'm enjoying the creative challenge. I like to mix up different types of shots to keep things visually interesting. A small, follow me drone helps.

For me the simplicity of starting my ride from my front door and knowing that all I have to do is pedal and go wherever I want without any complicated gadgets is relaxing and adds to the pleasure. Of course, some of that changed with cell phones and now I'm expected to be tethered to it 24 hrs but, Oh well. Anyways, I really hate to see another device with a camera as I feel like every second I'm out of my house there is the potential I'm on someone's device (my neighbor has several cameras on the side of her house which I'm probably in view of and across the street is a city owned crime camera and gunshot detector which can see me in front of my apartment) and would rather have at least a little sense of privacy. Then there is the distraction of videoing yourself even with an autonomous drone that you want to find the right positioning of yourself for the perfect shot which takes away from giving your attention to not hitting something or getting hit by something and I find that seeing drones flying around anywhere near me very annoying. I lived near Seattle about 60 yrs ago as a kid and have really great memories of all the trees and scenery and imagining a drone flying around there just kills it. Just opening my grouchy little box of life to rant a bit.

I guess you’d be limited to riding with zero overhead trees, power lines, hanging traffic control lights (across intersections) and stop -hover-start control of the drone? Sounds like a big distraction for the cyclist, possibly.

What if a bird “likes” your drone?

Call me a pessimist but I don’t see an offsetting upside to running a drone while out for a nice bike ride!

john m flores I appreciate and envy those like you that can take a bunch of video footage and perform the tedious editing to put sequence together that make them enjoyable or just interesting to watch.

I use to ride with my son's camera's on my bike for certain events. And he'd do all the editing to put something interesting together. He also has a knack for that. But not the time any more. He's told me, now that I have my own cameras, that I have to learn to do it myself. <grin>