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Recent content by Rob Hodges

  1. R

    Can you make a good part-time income from Zeitview and Fly Guys?

    With PrecisionHawk's reported chapter 7 bankruptcy, does anyone know what will happen to Droners.io? That should shake things up quite a bit, but unfortunately may push a lot of clients to the lowest possible paying job bundler.
  2. R

    Can you make a good part-time income from Zeitview and Fly Guys?

    About a half hour ago, a 19 Phantom battery job popped up for $100...and I thought the last one was bad.
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    I can convert any DJI or EVO 640T Thermal file to FLIR

    I just checked. The Evo II 640T is listed as in "BETA" on their website. No way would I pay $1000 for "Beta" software.
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    Can you make a good part-time income from Zeitview and Fly Guys?

    The only jobs around here in Zeitview for over $100 require 8-14 Phantom batteries, an hour of driving 1 way and several miles of walking, usually on old rotten railroad tracks while looking up. I had a couple of decent commercial real estate jobs last year, but one was pretty far away and...
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    Can you make a good part-time income from Zeitview and Fly Guys?

    I think it's actually getting worse. A few years ago, when I was starting, I was getting $120 Dronebase jobs that took 1 Phantom battery, or at most 1.5 and not more than 10 miles from home. Now, a $70 mapping job comes up and people jump on it in a couple of minutes. They recently wanted...
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    Beware: DRONE WORK SCAM

    I often work with a higher end real estate photography agency. The owner has been hit by this numerous times and avoids it by requiring payment up front. I require up-front payment, at least partially, if I don't know where the request is coming from. I also check the client out and make...
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    Exynaero VS Skydio x10

    Enthusiastic, but nothing more than I can get from their brochure. Skydio didn't just get out of the consumer market. They reduced functionality for those of us who used it for business by closing their software. I can no longer use Dronedeploy with it, which is what I used with it for...
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    Can you make a good part-time income from Zeitview and Fly Guys?

    I only have experience with Zeitview, but I would say no. Zeitview competes with a lot of other companies for work. Most of their jobs are listed in the 70-100 range, at least in this area, but they boost the price when no one takes it, which is when I sometimes take them. Most of my...
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    Zero Grid Authorization Request Question

    They used to give me a date range when asked. For the last few years, I've only been able to get them for one day. That may just be local policy, but I don't think so. I usually file at least three and in one case, five for one job (looking at the long-range weather reports). I still get...
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    Zero Grid Authorization Request Question

    When I have to do one 30 days out, I have to put in a bunch of them for following days, since weather doesn't always cooperate on the day you ask for the approval for.
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    (Edited by Admin) I thought I was a bottom feeder...lol

    Saw another one the other day. He had raised the budget to a huge $60. I had one job, the other day, where the guy contacted me back with a list of requirements for a job. It was decent pay for a regular job, but this required you to make sure you have people move their cars and ask the...
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    (Edited by Admin) I thought I was a bottom feeder...lol

    Posted on Droners.io There were two posted, one at $45 and one at $50. 140 photos, required training and a field test before you could do this? One is near Hatteras NC...someone in Nags Head couldn't afford to do this... "We need one pilot to do a Premium 4-Point Underwriting. This...
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    Another Job offer.

    Drive two hours and work a job for 75 bucks? Sorry, not me. That's 8 gallons of gas for me and 5 hours. Even without considering the insurance, drone/battery replacement costs, taxes, processing time, and other stuff, that's about $7 per hour.
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    Just Starting a Small Drone Business...Have a Lot to Learn

    The first thing you have to decide is whether or not you are in a business or a paying hobby. If you have a business, you need to carefully consider all the costs you have, before you quote a job. You have predictable costs, like insurance and ones that have to be calculated by job, like...
  15. R

    Mapping 850 acre site

    You'll be fine for control and video, but not so good on keeping visual sight of it, if you take your eyes off of it for a second. It's much easier to maintain sight than re-aquire it. It also depends on the background and color. I've lost my grey P4P pro at 300 feet with trees behind...