As a guy that has been quite heavily involved with RC's, the RC community and ran an RC business I would ponder a few questions that pretty much all relate to power. Everything you are talking about needs it. You need to charge up the camera, the RC plane or quad copters have proven useful as the army can attest too. Even if you go Nitro you will not have but more than a few gallons of it at 40-50 bucks a gallon and still you need to charge up the unit for all the servos and drivers. Electric is the way to go for stealth but again lots of power. Most things in the air only have a 10-20min top flight. You will need power to monitor the viewer for watching at the base and still you need a pilot if you are to view the screen yourself. Solar may be able to cut it and it would be a pretty small unit to try and take out of the air so its kind of a sound idea if you can power the stuff up. I would suggest a solar option with a battery bank of at least 2 fullsize batteries on a constant feed of solar and yes you just might make a go of it. Just make sure your not flying and viewing as your adversary walks into your hut. With some care and attention it would not be hard to find your location as the range on most all of the stuff in question is quite short. like 1/4 mile only and thats a good estimate. You can PM me if you have any personal questions on RC stuff in general.

As a guy that has been quite heavily involved with RC's, the RC community and ran an RC business I would ponder a few questions that pretty much all relate to power. Everything you are talking about needs it. You need to charge up the camera, the RC plane or quad copters have proven useful as the army can attest too. Even if you go Nitro you will not have but more than a few gallons of it at 40-50 bucks a gallon and still you need to charge up the unit for all the servos and drivers. Electric is the way to go for stealth but again lots of power. Most things in the air only have a 10-20min top flight. You will need power to monitor the viewer for watching at the base and still you need a pilot if you are to view the screen yourself. Solar may be able to cut it and it would be a pretty small unit to try and take out of the air so its kind of a sound idea if you can power the stuff up. I would suggest a solar option with a battery bank of at least 2 fullsize batteries on a constant feed of solar and yes you just might make a go of it. Just make sure your not flying and viewing as your adversary walks into your hut. With some care and attention it would not be hard to find your location as the range on most all of the stuff in question is quite short. like 1/4 mile only and thats a good estimate. You can PM me if you have any personal questions on RC stuff in general.

You're absolutely right. Quite a lot of power I can imagine, especially some of the more expensive kinds. It would be a good idea for sure, but the situation I'm referring to probably wouldn't have any power involved. Oh well, guess theirs other stuff to buy then that will be more useful. Still, I'm keeping it on the list, such a thing could come in handy.

there was one came to the market not to long ago. Penguin UAV I think, for civilian purchase. It will take a 10kg camera and has a 36 hour flight time at 1,000 feet...bout 36mph from what I recall.

I enjoyed the article. Since this thread was a bit old, I figured that it was time to do a followup. I researched each drone and even excluded some as they weren't even worthy of mention due to price or ability. I added statistical data such as flight time, altitude, etc., and even customer reviews sometimes . I always copy and paste this info into a word document and convert it to a pdf file when complete. In this way I can view it with pretty much anything, my laptop or cell, in Windows, Linux, or Android.

Since I can't upload my pdf, I've had to rethink how to share the data. For now I'll paste the text for the best ones:

Darkwing:$167

Features: Amazing high tech look Tough glassfiber fuselage Massive payload capability Easy and fast field assembly Plug in wings for easy transportation Low build cost
Specs: Wingspan: 1727mm
Length (fuselage): 762mm
Wing Area: 49.3dm2
Dry Weight: 1400g
Requires: Your own 4 channel TX/RX with delta mixing
42mm Brushless Outrunner motor 60A~80A
ESC 2 x Standard size MG servo 3700mAh~5000mAh 4s Lipoly battery

Lehmann LA100 GoPro Drone $1330
Specifications LA100
Range (m) Up to 150
Endurance (min) 2.5
Weight (gr) 250
Wingspan (cm) 92
Wind capabilities (km/h) Up to 15
Temperature conditions (°C) from –5 to +40
Launch Hand launch
Landing Independent (no parachute)
Control Fully autonomous flight
Flight path Pre-programmed
Altitude 330

4-Channel Predator/Reaper-Style UAV Plane $460
Wingspan:63 Inches (Over 5 Feet!)
Fuselage overall length: 36 Inches
Wing area: 372 Square Inches
Flying weight: 1.75 pounds

Features:
1.4 channels proportional R/C airplane
2.Quick Climb 3.Suitable for flying environments as it has a large size. After simple assembly and recharge you are ready to fly.
About 20 minutes flight time for each charge.
Package Includes
Motor: Brushless Motor
Battery: Lipo Battery
Propeller: 8X6 Two-Paddles Propeller
ESC Charger: Lipo charger Servo: micro servo (2 pcs) R/C system: PPM-FM 4 channel proportional system
has great reviews

STORM Drone FF Flying Platform $360
Storm Drone 4 includes :
- 1 X 100% Assembled Drone
- 4 x Sponge balls
- 1 X Walkera DEVO 7 2.4GHz LCD Digital Transmitter
- 1 X Storm 11.1V 2200mAh 20C High Capacity Li-Po Battery
- 1 X Battery Strap
- 1 X Li-Po Battery Charger
- 1 X 100V-240V Power Unit
- 1 X Transmitter manual in CD-ROM Storm Drone 4 Specification
* has many great reviews :
Dimension : 490mm x 490mm x 140mm
Motor to Motor : 450mm
Propeller Size : 8" X 4.5" Carbon Fiber Propeller (Clockwise and Counter Clockwise)
Take off weight : 850g (Max safety 1350g)
Motor : 2208 Brushless Motor
ESC : 10A with BEC
Battery : 11.1V 2200mah 20C (8-12 minutes flight time)

Seems the one that authorities use most is the Skate. I can't find a price but heres the link http://www.aurora.aero/Products/Skate.aspx .
Also found the SpyHawk which seems pretty decent for $219 at http://www.spyhawkfpv.com/collections/aircraft/products/hubsan-spyhawk-fpv-plane .

Imagine that you suspect an enemy force is moving in on your location. You have the defensive position(which is good), but you lack the people to defend all your assets properly. What you need then is intel to better determine the proper plan of action. The drone you purchased is likely limited by the investment made. If it has have real time viewing and some decent flight time, you can obtain intel that could be the deciding factor in the outcome of such an event.

Amazon asks for FAA approval to fly drones for package delivery https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOf22_d9nEs
Wonder what happens if folks start shooting them down for the packages 😀

another interesting video I found, The Future of Drones over the US https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwkxx84wXNo

i think its total waste and useless
come fly ur drone over my land and il shoot them down whit 4$ bullet

i think its total waste and useless
come fly ur drone over my land and il shoot them down whit 4$ bullet

LOL, thanks for reaffirming that some others don't quite agree with this concept yet either 😆

Now for another eye opener, this next video show just how advanced drones may yet become https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=UUAuUUnT6oDeKwE6v1NGQxug&v=w2itwFJCgFQ
Imagine that the global positioning could easily become that GPS system we use daily. If a fast enough CPU were installed on a drone, could it eventually be capable of reacting to maneuver out of the way of a speeding bullet?

i have buy just for fun a quadcopter named hubsan x4 it has camera and built in lcd on controler for 200$
wich is fun but cant really fly good just using the camera

there one drone it couldnt be shoot eassy look this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zncK2XyA7Yw
amazing but the price is insane and i doubt it has long range but for recon its a must 🙂

Israel's Killer Robots https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLw613M86o5o4TmP6XzBpva4awkEhVvrmH&v=zCAOUlF-nAg

Seems drones are now becoming a new Christmas present...buy one for your kid and you still get to play with it too......2 birds with one stone!

But there are now aspects coming out about personal privacy. Seem many of these new drones now come equipped with cameras. The following video shows that some have even managed to place a gun on it and shoot targets https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXZGzJI6To0

And just think of all the creative things that will happen as soon as your kids starts in with their creative thoughts on how to use this new Christmas toy?

i think its total waste and useless
come fly ur drone over my land and il shoot them down whit 4$ bullet

LOL !

I think the whole idea is to keep an area under surveillance for security purposes and not necessarily to spy on you on your land. I doubt the average prepper storing one of these are thinking he or she is going to use it to raid other preppers. Some of these drones can fly preprogrammed patterns at altitudes where you may find it difficult to spot or hit them. So Paranoia out of the way I think they are best used as a Defense Multiplier and for providing close range Intel on potential incoming dangers either planned or random.

I am definitely interested and one of these will find its way into our preps soon.

Saw this one on the news last night. 65K per unit. Like a lot of things, uses can be good or bad.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/waterloo-s-aeryon-labs-lends-drone-for-philippines-storm-relief-1.2865523

I too want to play with one but my kids are all grown and gone...that means the excuse that it is for the kids won't sell either. 😕

So my new excuse is that I want to sell aerial shots of friends tourist camps to put on their websites. What do you think? Will the wife buy that one? 😆

I know that if I saw one flying around my house I'd likely try some target practice on it so I therefore expect the same from my neighbours on this point (and I live in the bush...). The video showing the birds attack it have me suspecting the bald eagles will definitely chase it. If it does get attacked, the chance of locating it is slim in the heavy bush here, swamp regions would be even worse and the many lakes will swallow it whole for sure. Maybe a drone with a bull horn is the best option. 😯

But hey, I just considered that a guy could also use it for moose spotting...did I say that aloud? 😯 Seems I now hafta buy one for the circuit judges too so they can't ban them here 😳