Whatcha got, is whatcha have.

That saying is gonna ring true far more than any of us would like from here forward. If’n ya ain’t got it, ya ain’t gonna have it. We had a saying on the road;”I’d rather be looking at it, than looking for it.”

So, with that in mind, what have you done about “immediate recon” in your preps?  By immediate recon, I mean ways of gathering quick Intel about the state of your area.  Here is mine.  It’s simple, cheap but effective.not exact but link is good

Capable of 100’altitude easy, camera is 120° wide angle and crisp, and streams straight to your smartphone.

An example of it here

Yeah, that’s my place.  The tree in the lower left is a poplar that is easily 65′ and you can see the drone is well above that.  

Yeah, it’s cheap at <$100, but is well built, modular so parts can be replaced easily if needed, and easy to learn on.  

Downsides are, it’s really small (though this can be an advantage as well) so breezes can make high altitude moving challenging.  Second downside is short flight times.  8 mins  maximum, recording cuts that even more.  Still, anybody that has ever been in the suck can tell you minutes are infinitely long at those times.  8 minutes is an eternity on a two way firing range.

The up side is this: this little beastie will be able to give you a broader view of your locale, right now!, and make some of your life easier in potentially bad situations.  
So, whatchagot?  

There are oodles of cheap quad copters out there now, and Christmas approaching, betcha you’ll see even more. They ain’t gonna haul gear or anything, but they give you eyes where you may be blind and that’s a bonus.