Need Help! Have a DX6i - Best GPS Drone

[warb]

howdy, new to this, have a few model aircraft however want to grab a drone, do some aerial vids and such.. looking for a good economical GPS solution (one that i can possibly put altitude and waypoints into, however importantly a return to home function) , just need an idea on where to start, not afraid to build something, or even one thats done, just no idea where to start, had a flick through the hobbyking site however cant seem to find what im looking for (im sure its there).. any suggestions appreciated.

I'm thinking ill need a frame, motors, esc's (how many) a receiver, battery, GPS unit, some sort of stabilization unit, etc ... or just buy something thats ready to go?

 

[DroneTalk]

Using a Pixhawk for a controller is a great start. Building versus RTF is up to you and how skilled you are at soldering and programming.

 

[OldGazer]

Using a Pixhawk for a controller is a great start. Building versus RTF is up to you and how skilled you are at soldering and programming.

I second that.

I have 3 aircraft (2 quads and a Hex) with Pixhawks.

The learning curve is on the steep side, but once you get the basics down, you will find that Pixhawk is reliable, accurate, feature rich, and much less expensive that a comparable DJI NAZA or Eagle Tree Vector system. Coupled with a laptop running Mission Planner, an aircraft with a Pixhawk is capable of flying fully autonomous aerial photography missions, and the built in fail safe functionality will return the aircraft to its initial launch point on loss of radio contact, loss of contact with the Ground Control Station computer, and low battery capacity.

Pixhawk supports multiple flight modes including Stabilized, Altitude Hold, Loiter, Position Hold, Land, Return to Launch and so on...

The difficulty of the build process will depend on the frame and power system (motors, speed controllers and battery) and some soldering will be required. For frames I prefer Tarot. They are straight forward, very robust, and they don't look bad either...

You can find out more about Pixhawk, Mission Planner, and the ArduCopter firmware here: http://ardupilot.org/ardupilot/