My Tello last flight - Lesson learned the hard way - don't push your luck and limit

zaldy · Sep 24, 2021

So, i am new to drone world.. and a month ago i bought my first drone, Tello.. and i read all this forum post, and register, learn what Tello can and can't do.. while practicing everyday..

I am content creator (Youtube) and the reason i want drone is to add some aerial video footage to my vlog..

My Tello last only a month, lost in the bottom of the lake... here i edited some footage.. have a look

Lesson learned hard way:

- Tello main limitation is VPS (Vision Positioning System) - dont fly over water for too long! it is not a GPS drone
- When VPS fail, Tello will drift.. sometimes control works, but mostly controls doesn't works... it simply drifting and searching ground reference (and small gust of wind will blow your Tello away..)
- Dont push your luck and limit.. yes, you maybe lucky 1-2 times, but if you push your luck and machine to it's limit, it will fail
- For new Tello pilots: get TelloFPV app - is a must! it got plenty features.. worth every cent!

Again, Tello is not a GPS drone, and you will not take some "cinematic" shot with it (within all it's hardware limitation), but Tello is a sturdy, simple, fun little drone... treat it that way, it will give you fun times...

Now i got Mavic Mini SE,, I can expand my shot beyond what Tello can offers (ofcourse) but i still missed my Tello... someday if i have extra money, i surely will buy Tello again..

That video shot with Mini SE.. finally i got some machine that fits my need.

Thanks for read and watching.. i hope all new Tello pilots will learn some lesson over this thread... sorry for my english.. it is not my primary language

Walleye · Sep 25, 2021

zaldy said:
So, i am new to drone world.. and a month ago i bought my first drone, Tello.. and i read all this forum post, and register, learn what Tello can and can't do.. while practicing everyday..

I am content creator (Youtube) and the reason i want drone is to add some aerial video footage to my vlog..

My Tello last only a month, lost in the bottom of the lake... here i edited some footage.. have a look

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Lesson learned hard way:

- Tello main limitation is VPS (Vision Positioning System) - dont fly over water for too long! it is not a GPS drone
- When VPS fail, Tello will drift.. sometimes control works, but mostly controls doesn't works... it simply drifting and searching ground reference (and small gust of wind will blow your Tello away..)
- Dont push your luck and limit.. yes, you maybe lucky 1-2 times, but if you push your luck and machine to it's limit, it will fail
- For new Tello pilots: get TelloFPV app - is a must! it got plenty features.. worth every cent!

Again, Tello is not a GPS drone, and you will not take some "cinematic" shot with it (within all it's hardware limitation), but Tello is a sturdy, simple, fun little drone... treat it that way, it will give you fun times...

Now i got Mavic Mini SE,, I can expand my shot beyond what Tello can offers (ofcourse) but i still missed my Tello... someday if i have extra money, i surely will buy Tello again..

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For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

That video shot with Mini SE.. finally i got some machine that fits my need.

Thanks for read and watching.. i hope all new Tello pilots will learn some lesson over this thread... sorry for my english.. it is not my primary language

Very nice! Professional, cinematic and great choice of music. Much, much better then Tello--don't bother with it and keep flying Mini.

Hacky · Sep 25, 2021

I would add one lesson:

Dont fly so close to / above uninvolved people - even with Tello!

BlowMyTello · Feb 5, 2022

Thanks for sharing, myself being a new Tello pilot have been reading all the lessons learnt. I'm confused, looks like it could fly over water but you have to assume 100% manual control.

This guy could pilot it over the pool. For Zaldy's case it seems to have rejected all joystick input and drifted off.

So anyone here got to pilot their drone over water with success ?

zaldy · Feb 6, 2022

BlowMyTello said:
Thanks for sharing, myself being a new Tello pilot have been reading all the lessons learnt. I'm confused, looks like it could fly over water but you have to assume 100% manual control.

This guy could pilot it over the pool. For Zaldy's case it seems to have rejected all joystick input and drifted off.

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So anyone here got to pilot their drone over water with success ?

Yes, in my case, as soon as Tello's VPS sees water below, Tello rejected all input...

If i can sum it up, VPS is best works on a non-reflective, non-patterned ground.. if the VPS sees something reflective and patterned (like, water surface, or indoor white ceramic tiles) it will go off..

and supposedly, when VPS off or error, the drone should react like an ATTI mode in DJI Drones.. you should have maintain manual lateral control, as the drone can drift away with slight amount of wind gust.. Correct me if i'm wrong here...

BUT.. my Tello (in my case) didnt not react like that... mine rejected all inputs, behave erraticly, if i could descibed it, like VPS is "searching" some ground references with its own behaviour... thats why my Tello (in that video) is shaking uncontrollably, with no response to all remote inputs..

But yeah, could you fly over water or not with Tello, i personally do not reccomend it.. as i said in original post, Tello is not a GPS Camera drone for "cinematic" shot... Tello is a fun little drone for learning and treat it that way, Tello should give you hours of fun...

volate!lo · Feb 7, 2022

Over water tello will (most likely) switch off VPS. Most likely because it Tello thinks it sees clear marks and patterns on the ground it will adjust to these marks. These marks may be the bottom in clear water, but also floating debris, aquatic plants, waves, shadows, even ripples made by wind or it's own prop wash. Of course the position received in these cases is most likely junk.

You have to expect VPS may switch off anytime.

If VPS switches off Tello will reduce attitude angles, making it impossible to fight any wind. Over water you will most likely see Tello enter manual mode, and also see reduced attitude angles and after a few seconds a forced landing.

ALso: If flying too low Tello will reduce attitude levels, below 30-40cm it will not react much if at all.

Bottom line: You can be lucky, but most likely not.

BlowMyTello · Feb 7, 2022

Thanks for the advice. I’d probably avoid flying it over water to be safe.

That said, this sharing of one guy below made me wonder if swimming pools would be an exception. No way to tell unless we try with a spare tello perhaps. I don’t have spares to risk

After seeing the swimming pool video, my take is that the guy was flying on a pretty windless day. You don’t see much ripples on the pool water surface. The reduced attitude angle as mentioned by vo!latello was still enough to steer the drone around.

The danger with the poor tello at the lake in this thread was that there probably was stronger wind and it blew into the jetty and hit the railing.

volate!lo · Feb 7, 2022

The swimming pool is no exception. You can see tello looses VPS and starts to drift until it reaches fixed ground. With no wind even small attitude angles are enough to drive slowly, but if there was any wind it's "byebye Tello!"

Simple rule: Never (!) fly Tello over water unless you can afford a new one.