hey guys,
i was thinking about the difference between these military grade drones and the hobby grade ones or we may call it recreational rc multirotors...
now what i have in mind is even the hobby grade multirotors are called "drones" and are considered among drones
next question was does dji stuff comes under hobby grade ? as a hobby to photography ? as it doesnt do any thng that military grade drones actually does ?

can you all pls. give ur inputs to jot down points regarding drones also help me mentioning somethng that will make the hobby different from the drones and make it sound less harmful as in i want to remove the drone word from the hobby grade stuff ...
help appreciated

While hobbyists contend that multirotors should not be called drones, the fact is that the whole world is calling these multirotors "drone". The reason is that hobbyists and fliers themselves like to call these things drone to attract attention. This year "US Drone National Championships" were held and got enormous popularity. In Dubai,  "World Drone Prix" was held in March 2016. So multirotors will be called "drone" whether we like it or not. The terminology is here to stay.

The problem with the term "drone" arises from the fact that military grade destructive UAVs are called drone. But if you go through the technology, you'd see that those are in fact Unmanned Fixed Wing Aircrafts which can carry payloads and have autonomous flight capability. In layman's term, those are related to aeroplanes. Multirotors are related to helicopters. In my opinion the term "drone" should have actually been attributed to multirotors (because they make buzzing noise and can hover like a real drone in the insect kingdom) and the military grade "drones" should have been named something else. But there is nothing to be done at this point. "recreational rc multirotors" is not as easy to say as "drones". It wouldn't matter what you call multirotors now. The "drone" terminology is here to stay.

As to whether DJI stuff comes under hobby grade ... we need to define "hobby" first. Some have the hobby of building multirotors, some have the hobby of flying, some have the hobby of fpv racing, some have photography or videography for a hobby. These are not always mutually exclusive.

Personally, I see an analogy with buying a branded PC and self-assembling one. Maybe making multirotors is a bit more technical than assembling a PC but its similar. Most of us don't make the flight controllers or the motors or ESCs. We buy parts and assemble and then use software to calibrate the system. Flying is an entirely different thing. Like those assembling a PC are not always proficient in its various use. Similarly those building multirotors may have different flying skills. Similarly for FPV and photography. Each field have its experts. And all these can be called hobbies.

Quote from: sundaram on May 25, 2016, 10:15:17 AM
Continuing from Reply # 404 The reply which I had PMed to Rohit for the right question he asked me, I am posting here.

If you ask me as far as I know, there is actually no differentiation left between the military grade drone and the hobby grade drones left in modern times in terms of their capability, performance, usage, wt class, payload, ruggedness or in terms of which one can outperform the other. If you ask me the hobby grades have capabilities to out perform the military grade ones multiple times over now a days.

That's also with no denial to the fact that R&D of military drones are greatly depended on open source, free thinking developers in the hobby scene.

The differentiation now is only left in the intent of the operator to what purpose he is intending to use its capabilities. As long as the both military and civilian grade UAS retains the same capability in terms of surveillance and potential or to effect a lethal package. They will continue to be called for eternity as "DRONES". "That's the irony of the whole situation".

"Cut to the chase and long story short"

As long as this is going to be the situation for eternity, its now left to the operator of these so called drones to act responsibly and use these in only those spaces where with prior permission of all stake holders and law where you have reasonably established the legitimacy of the hobby activity in which you are involved in or for the purpose of commercial activity you desires to employ these for your own cause of sufficient legitimacy in legality aspects.

That would be the exact same case even after when we manage to establish the most simplest process for obtaining that golden number, or if when majority don't cooperate with DGCA and law traces you, comes to your home with folded hands, hands you over the golden number and pleads with you that you paste it on your Drone. (That's in reply to the query of @ voice of deaf at post #400)

awesome thanxx to both of you .... i will surely use that example for assembling a pc common people would easily understand that