A new Kickstarter for a waterproof drone is now successfully funded with about double their original goal. The Splash Drone has a pretty impressive out of the box spec sheet for the price. 5.8 gHz internal video transmitter, payload release mechanism, waterproof camera gimbal, emergency flare carrying system, and an app based autonomous flight controller. It is marketed towards a few different uses. It is very interesting to be able to start a shot just under the surface and then take off and continue the shot above water. However, the $799 price point does not include a gimbal or app control. At $999 you get the drone + gimbal, and at $1299 you gain app control. Finally at $1499 you get all of the above with the addition of a monitor, three batteries and extra props. It is not clear how well any of these components function, especially since it is in the preproduction phase. Electronics and seawater do not play well together. It will be interesting to see if Splash Drone is successful. Anyone who has flown a drone has a bit of fear flying over water, but with a buoyant and waterproof drone, operators could take significantly larger risks, and perhaps transition their shots from above to below water. Splash drone in its current iteration won’t provide the most professional looking footage, but its an interesting concept.
Source: Kickstarter