"Some of these quads can travel at very quick lateral speeds. I would think they would be able to travel to quite a distance out in a short amount of time, do some quick surveillance and return home quickly. With these auto missions how is the speed…"

"I've done it multiple times with arduplane in a 375g foam swiftII and over scarcly populated areas.  It works very nice.  But start out with small mission in line of sight and just turn of your tx to see if it works ok. Use common…"

"In theory yes of course it would, but it is not recommended you do that. Keep missions within LOS - Line of Sight and below 400ft keep it within visual range. Also note, most quads do not have the battery capability to pull off long range missions,…"

"Yes, one of the FailSafe settings in 2.9 is to continue an Auto mission."

"Not to mention quieter operation as well. Swinging bigger props at lower speed does not sound like a pack of pissed off insects. I had picked out some 1000kv motors but now think I will take a look at some 870ish motors."

"It's probably safe to assume that the figures advertised are max thrust, and you can extrapolate down from there to get a general idea of %50 throttle, just remember motor curves are just that -- a curve. I'm going to try the T-motors…"

"The motors I have picked out have a chart like that but no throttle percentage. I can only assume that the #'s provided are at 100% throttle."

"Look for a retailer who will provide you with the info. Something like this."

"Is there any type of formula to figure this out without actually just buying stuff and trying it."

"Doss,  I didn't mean to ignore your question. If you shoot for a hover at %40-50 throttle, that's probably going to leave you PLENTY of climbout authority, and keep your motors in their efficiency happy spot. I would focus amp draw to…"

"Honestly, most multi-rotors, by their nature, have plenty of power. I would think about your system design in terms of prioritizing the weight.  For example: If you want to maximize endurance and don't need to lift a heavy payload, then…"

"Yes to all of that. Good idea on the test stand. As far as power to weight ratio for picking a motor setup I read that I should try to maintain a 60% weight to available thrust ratio to have a good responsive craft. Meaning that say I have a max…"

"I assume you have a lipo charger and a prop balancer if you've been flying RC already. Mission Planner needs a machine running Windows or Linux, a laptop or tablet is most convenient. I would strongly recommend installing LED position lights on…"

"I figured that would fall under the hardware I had mentioned."

"Props.  Buy eight because you're going to go through a few while learning to fly."