I have a White Phantom 1 that's a couple years old. Several times in mid afternoon light, I've lost sight of it in the bright daylight. Each time, I shut the controller off to initiate RTH and searched the sky looking for it. Before I could find it, I'd begin to hear the motors overhead. I'd look straight up and it would already be desending to land. It really limited the distance for keeping the drone in sight. So I purchased the Obsidian P4P+. It's easy to see at extreme distances. At least double the distance I'd lose sight of the White P1.

Just my 2 cents. But I'll never buy a light colored drone again.

Jeff

Agree, like that I can not only hear the Obsidian but see it when coming in for a landing.

I have exactly the same issue with my Alpine White Mavic Pro - just disappears! I'm thinking about commissioning a high-visibility custom skin, or simply adorning it with day-glo tape - perhaps hot pink or fluorescent orange in order to contrast against various sky conditions ... anyone tried this approach?

Beeworld Posted at 2018-1-16 16:46
I have exactly the same issue with my Alpine White Mavic Pro - just disappears! I'm thinking about commissioning a high-visibility custom skin, or simply adorning it with day-glo tape - perhaps hot pink or fluorescent orange in order to contrast against various sky conditions ... anyone tried this approach?

Decalgirl has an American flag skin I'm thinking about, red, white and blue should be visible.

But them white drones sure do stand out purdy against a clear blue sky!
Truth is, depending on lighting conditions and direction, each color or shade can be hard to see. I’ve flown RC gliders for many years and if you fly far away about any combination of color(s) will vanish. And yes, white and clouds don’t mix. Dayglo lime green?

White ones look black against an overcast sky at 600m away

I bought the Obsidian exactly for the reason of being able to acquire it from a distance. The white Phantom gets lost in the sun light and is very difficult to find whereas the dark Obsidian is very easy to find and keep track of. For that reason alone the Obsidian is a joy to fly and generates a much more enjoyable experience.

FatherXmas Posted at 2018-1-16 18:57
Decalgirl has an American flag skin I'm thinking about, red, white and blue should be visible.

Yeah, some of their skins are amazing.

I am exactly the opposite. I can easily see my white Phantom 600mts away but cannot see the Mavic anything over 400mts.
Definitely only white for me. The only other colours I would consider are bright pink or lime green.
Black or dark is impossible to see and is hated by birds.

“Agree, like that I can not only hear the Obsidian but see it when coming in for a landing.”

I was hovering behind the house yesterday, checking some settings. At the end of the day my neighbor asked my wife if she heard a swarm of bees around noon. ;-) She came in and asked if I was flying... So yeah, easy to hear.

Jeff

You can paint the skin of the white drone as long as you spray plastic paint.

MJLSTUDIOS Posted at 2018-1-17 01:47
You can paint the skin of the white drone as long as you spray plastic paint.

I was actually hoping there was an aftermarket obsidian shell to be had on eBay. The paint is an option though.

Jeff

BigBlueTsunami Posted at 2018-1-17 01:43
I was hovering behind the house yesterday, checking some settings. At the end of the day my neighbor asked my wife if she heard a swarm of bees around noon. ;-) She came in and asked if I was flying... So yeah, easy to hear.

Jeff

" At the end of the day my neighbor asked my wife if she heard a swarm of bees around noon"

This is the all Black ECLIPSE wet suit from phantomrain and not only do you get the color change but you also get the all weather suit and it locks in the battery and props and leg clips from falling off.   

Everything looks black at range.

Get some 3km strobes and arrange the colours like real aircraft do, red left, green right white forward.
The colour will tell you rough orientation aswell as simply being able to locate the drone.

This should probably be standard on drones.

Just get a black skin from Decal Girl , so much cheaper, the poor mans Obsidian

BigBlueTsunami Posted at 2018-1-17 02:20
I was actually hoping there was an aftermarket obsidian shell to be had on eBay. The paint is an option though.

Jeff

Aloha Jeff,

     Then there is the creative use of existing DJI product.





Aloha and Drone On!

You could try Lume Cubes they are highly visible especially in strobe mode even in daylight.

Thank you everyone for replying! There are some great suggestions here. I ordered a P1 body, that I'm going to paint with shiny black plastic paint. It might be a few weeks before I get a chance to do it, but I'm going to give it a try.

Jeff