Seems to me that flying VLOS is damn near impossible beyond a few hundred feet.  Soon as you take your eyes off the drone it's difficult if not impossible to find it again.
What's the feeling among experienced pilots regarding strobe lights?  Are they essential, nice to have, a waste of money or somewhere in between?

I guess if you're going to use strobes, you should have one on top and one on bottom.  I haven't done any evening or night time flying to date, but I'd like to at some point.

The Firehouse ARC V 2-pack for $65.99 looks interesting.  Just don't want yet another accessory that ends up collecting dust.  I bought a lot of accessories for my MA that I ended up rarely using, so I don't want to make the same mistake with my MA2.

I am looking at that one also. I do wonder how much it drops the S mode top speed when mounted like shown in the ad.

I just ordered the Lume Cube Strobe - Anti-Collision Lighting for Drone for $39 when they are on sale a few day ago from Amazon. Its got good reviews!

GaryDoug Posted at 7-28 08:10
I am looking at that one also. I do wonder how much it drops the S mode top speed when mounted like shown in the ad.

Not all of us are trying to catch up to a speed boat....most of the time I'm trying to slow this puppy down.

I've thought about getting strobes for my Air 2 also. Primarily for visibility.

https://forum.dji.com/forum.php? ... D757%26typeid%3D757

Northwood Posted at 7-28 12:09
https://forum.dji.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=221266&extra=page%3D1%26filter%3Dtypeid%26typeid%3D757%26typeid%3D757

Thank you, but I saw that which is what got me thinking about buying a strobe again.  It does seem useful, but that was one person's opinion and was looking for any other pros vs cons.

pretty much have all the firehouse strobes so here is my quick opinion on each of them:

on my mm, I have mounted 3 firehouse dual 2s, these are the smaller strobes that have clearance for the blades.  not my brightest but still plenty bright for daytime.  no noticeable impact on performance but they will often trigger the payload mode so you will need to speed some time switching this trigger on/off.

on my ma2 and m2z, I have arc3 I'm a big fan of strobes so I have them mounted on all my drones, a separate set for each drone.  I hate velcro do trust it, I use 3d mounts.  green and red in the front and white in the back. helps tremendously with the orientation and as mentioned, even in daylight you can maintain vlos and just plain fun to fly at night....looks like an aircraft.  I don't have issues with manned aircraft so I forgo the top and bottom since I have found it difficult to see top and bottom mounted lighting at a distance.  as a result, I have idle lume cube red/white/green cap thingy...I honestly do think it is all that bright.  if I can't find use for it, get rid of it. I also have this firehouse lightning strobe and not really impressed.

and finally for the autel evo 2 pro I have 3 of the new arc v strobes but I haven't seen any 3d mounts for them.  prob need to use sticky or velcro.  imo the arc v doesn't seem to be brighter than the arc 3 but it hasn't been up in the air yet to compare.  arc v is bigger and heavier and I think these are more suitable as top/bottom strobes.  will have to see.

if you fly at night, strobes are a must if you plan to actually see your drone at all in the pitch dark.  as a recreational flyer it will keep you safe but be aware, practically everyone else will see your drone for sure; no way to hide.  I've never had a problem with vlos with drone during daytime flight even when I take my eyes off the drone but I have found when the strobes are flashing, you can pick them up much quicker and a little bit further away.  again, this is with front and rear facing strobes and I also use them for orientation since white is easiest to see, red is pretty easy, green pretty ok.

I had a crash once and as I drone over to find my drone as soon as I turned to corner it was impossible to miss it over 100 yards out on the ground with all those strobe lights flashing in the evening.  so strobes will help with recovery as well.  I have a lot of strobes because I don't like frequent mounting and unmounting but be aware strobes can interfere with folding arms for storage or transportation.  and btw, never pay full price for these, there are various way to discount. ;)

Rustic17 Posted at 7-28 08:46
Not all of us are trying to catch up to a speed boat....most of the time I'm trying to slow this puppy down.

Boooooring ....... ;-)

Hi. Thank you for creating this post and sharing your personal insights regarding this accessory. Just a friendly reminder using a third party accessory may affect the performance of the said drone during flight and may lead to an incident that can void the warranty. Please fly with caution and thank you for your valued support.

I'm considering a strobe too as it will help with VLOS

The Saint Posted at 7-28 12:31
pretty much have all the firehouse strobes so here is my quick opinion on each of them:

on my mm, I have mounted 3 firehouse dual 2s, these are the smaller strobes that have clearance for the blades.  not my brightest but still plenty bright for daytime.  no noticeable impact on performance but they will often trigger the payload mode so you will need to speed some time switching this trigger on/off.

Thank you, that was very helpful.  I was thinking about top/bottom strobes, but I really don't fly anywhere near manned aircraft so perhaps front/back would be better for VLOS purposes.  I'm not crazy about exposed PCBs but there's no mounts yet for the Arc V and they're somewhat large.  If you have a chance to compare the arc 2 with the 5, let us know what you think.  

I purchased the Firehouse ARC 2 along with a mount I found on ETSY.  I did this primarily for my part 107 as it is required for twilight flying (30 minutes after dusk).  It is super bright, but can't really see it far away as it is mounted on top.  Seriously considering getting the arm mounted strobes to maintain VLOS.

Yes, arm mounted is the way to go (IMO).  Lots of situations where the top/bottom might not be visible, but only very rarely (directly under or directly on top) would the arm mounts not be visible.  

dcaton Posted at 7-29 07:05
Thank you, that was very helpful.  I was thinking about top/bottom strobes, but I really don't fly anywhere near manned aircraft so perhaps front/back would be better for VLOS purposes.  I'm not crazy about exposed PCBs but there's no mounts yet for the Arc V and they're somewhat large.  If you have a chance to compare the arc 2 with the 5, let us know what you think.

there is no problem with exposed pcb, they are protected and covered.  doesn't appear to be an issue.  of course I've only had arc V for short period but at first blush, I'm still an arc 3 fan.  I really can't tell the difference from 100 yards (even though 5 vs 4)  but again that was on the ground and white only.  I will mount and fly all colors eventually and will let you know.

I think the primary advantage to arc v is angle of visibility meaning you can see this easier from all different angles including side and overhead whereas arc 3 not so much.  but as you mentioned, if vlos is all you need, I don't see why you wouldn't go with the arc 3.

JEZ2 Posted at 7-29 07:47
Yes, arm mounted is the way to go (IMO).  Lots of situations where the top/bottom might not be visible, but only very rarely (directly under or directly on top) would the arm mounts not be visible.

also wanted to point out front mounts have choice:  arm or foot.  on mm I have foot and ma2 I have arm  and I'm not sure there is a huge difference (I don't think it affect antenna performance).  with foot, you can completely stay away from blade and you can angle strobes outwards.

for me, mounting has lately been all about easy of removal since I have changed my mind and now would like to fold up the drone which means strobes have to come off.  I can live with taking them on and off since I now use them for limited daytime and I rarely fly at night these days.

The Saint Posted at 7-29 08:58
also wanted to point out front mounts have choice:  arm or foot.  on mm I have foot and ma2 I have arm  and I'm not sure there is a huge difference (I don't think it affect antenna performance).  with foot, you can completely stay away from blade and you can angle strobes outwards.

for me, mounting has lately been all about easy of removal since I have changed my mind and now would like to fold up the drone which means strobes have to come off.  I can live with taking them on and off since I now use them for limited daytime and I rarely fly at night these days.

Do you have leg extenders?  I have the Pgytech extenders for my MA2 and wondering if leg mounted strobes would have enough mounting room.  I tend to fly on or near beaches, and had an issue with my MA where I had to land in the sand.  It was soft fluffy sand and got all over the gimbal.  Took quite a while to get it out, and now I generally don't fly without leg extenders.

Would be nice if DJI built extenders into the legs so the gimbal wasn't so darn close to the bottom. I don't understand why such a delicate piece of equipment is mounted in such a vulnerable position.

dcaton Posted at 7-29 09:45
Do you have leg extenders?  I have the Pgytech extenders for my MA2 and wondering if leg mounted strobes would have enough mounting room.  I tend to fly on or near beaches, and had an issue with my MA where I had to land in the sand.  It was soft fluffy sand and got all over the gimbal.  Took quite a while to get it out, and now I generally don't fly without leg extenders.

Would be nice if DJI built extenders into the legs so the gimbal wasn't so darn close to the bottom. I don't understand why such a delicate piece of equipment is mounted in such a vulnerable position.

yes if you have leg extensions, it's going to be a tight fit for strobe mounts; you are better off mounting on the arms.  have you thought about a landing pad?

The Saint Posted at 7-29 10:30
yes if you have leg extensions, it's going to be a tight fit for strobe mounts; you are better off mounting on the arms.  have you thought about a landing pad?

I have a landing pad (actually, two).  I would never intentionally land on sand or similar surfaces, but things don't always go as planned.  

I hand land more than landing on the pad, depends on the amount of wind.  I chose the arm mounts as I pretty much take off every time from a pad.  I have yet to actually do a night flight, I think the pad landing would be logical given all that flashing light... better than sliced fingers.

I bought four of these for my Mini:  https://carolinadronz.com/collec ... -for-your-uav-drone
I have two red and two green.  I also bought some 3D printed mounts for them, but have largely elected not to use them after a couple of flights.  I have ended up using small zip ties to attach one strobe to the front and rear face of the rear arms.  I have tried several arrangements so I may change that again.  One big disadvantage of using zip ties is that I have to remove the lights in order to fold up the Mini, so I have to cut the zip ties.
Over the weekend, I made several flights out in the desert MANY miles from any source of light, and it was a new moon - so it was REALLY dark!  During daylight, I don't find that the strobes help very much, but in dusk and DARK, they were great for maintaining VLOS.  I flew out almost 7,000 feet and had no trouble seeing the drone at all.

I went for some Stobon Cree strobes mounted on velcro

Velcro is cut to avoid sensors underneath