RECORD STORE TALES #1242: How My Brand New Ruko U11MINI 4K Drone Ended Up on the Bottom of Lake Huron

It was like watching time stand still.  First, I heard the motors fall silent.  Then, I watched it begin to fall like a stone.  I calmly and solemnly thought, “There is nothing I can do.  It is going right into the water, and there won’t even be point in fishing it out.  It is what it is.”  It made a satisfying “THONK!” sound as it crashed into the nearby rock pile.  I stood a moment in silence as I considered any options, and concluded there were none, so I turned around and walked the path back up to the cottage.

How did we get here?  Let’s rewind.

In 2024,  I took a chance and indulged myself in my first and most trustworthy drone:  the Potensic Atom SE.  It was a revelation to me, as readers know.  I took the drone to the cottage and flew it over Lake Huron repeatedly.  Stunt flying over the rocks is a treat and results in amazing “feels like flying” video footage.  My review of the Potensic went viral with a modest 4000 views.  It was enough to get the attention of the Ruko company in 2025, who offered to send me their brand new U11Mini 4K in exchange for a review.  It had two advantages over the Potensic that I hoped to exploit.  The first is the 3-axis brushless camera gimble, which enables level images no matter what angle your drone is flying at.  The other is the 4K camera, a step up from the Potensic.  Imagine the video of Lake Huron I could capture with that!

First Flight of 2026 with the Potensic Atom SE drone

I flew the Ruko twice and wrote a positive review.  I did struggle a bit with the controls, but chalked it up to inexperience.   I expected to get the hang of it, but that never happened.  It was just a really difficult drone to fly, and that did not improve after I wrote the review.  Landing on a specific target was simply impossible, and the drone would fly off on its own without any input from the controls.  I re-calibrated the Ruko and fiddled with the settings.  It could not hover in place, moved on its own, and crashed into a tree.  I sent an email to the Ruko company, who asked for my flight logs.  After reviewing them, they sent me a replacement Ruko.  This arrived in the winter, so I had to wait until spring 2026 to try it.  I fully expected all issues would be resolved.

One thing I noticed about the Ruko is that it couldn’t handle light winds as well as the Potensic.  The Ruko tends to drift while the Potensic is still as a stone.  I waited for the first quiet morning before removing the second Ruko from its packaging and preparing it for first flight.  I had already had my first flight of 2026 with the Potensic, which performed up to its exemplary standards.  There was less wind on the morning I tested the Ruko.  I began in a small clearing as I usually do.  The Ruko always takes time connecting to the GPS, which is a much faster process with the Potensic.  (On my original Ruko, there were days it could not connect to GPS at all, and I had to pack it up again.)  Once connected, I started the motors and began to hover.

The new Ruko was still not as rock-steady as the Potensic, but it was a marked improvement over the original Ruko.  I felt reassured that whatever was wrong with the original drone (they never told me) had been fixed.  I had a very early U11Mini, one of the first in Canada.  It is possible improvements or corrections were made after.  With my new drone now in the air, I marveled at the clarity of the video.  I took it up higher, with the intention of flying it over the lake and capturing those misty greens and blues.

With great care, I drifted slowly over the trees, and down to the beach.  The drone seemed to be performing acceptably.  Time to test the camera.  I wanted to get some footage of the rock piles and compare the quality to the Potensic.  Already, I was impressed with the level camera.  I panned straight down to capture the rocks.  The drone seemed to struggle a little over the rocks.  It lost altitude, so I raised it again.  It started to drift downwards again, so I raised it.   I panned back up to the horizon with the intention to fly back in, when suddenly the motors died.  They just stopped completely, and the drone fell from the sky, into the water and rocks below.

First and Final Flight 2026 with the RukoU11Mini 4k drone

“It didn’t cost me anything,” I lamented I walked back up the trail to the cottage.  “Except the memory card!”  I shared the memory card between the Potensic and the Ruko, so there would be no more flying at all for me this weekend.

The Ruko company advised me not to fly the drone over water, but at this point I have two years’ experience doing just that with my Potensic.  I have a cottage on Lake Huron:  of course that’s what I’m going to film with my drone!  If I cant fly over water, then I’m not interested in a drone.  The Potensic flies like a slalom skier through the rocks, but the Ruko couldn’t even hover over them.  Even if I chose to ignore the Ruko company’s directions, it was with the experience I’ve gained, and the certainty that I would chose the Potensic over the Ruko every time if I couldn’t fly over water.

When the water levels drop in the coming weeks, I’ll walk out to the rocks and fish what remains of my drone from the water.  Maybe some adventurous canoer will have already found it by then.  I will never fly a Ruko drone again, but my experience with the 4k camera and the 3-axis gimble was positive.  Potensic have a drone similar to mine, but with the 4k/3-axis camera option.  It’s pricey (about the same as a super deluxe Rush box set), but I am seriously considering that upgrade.

I have flown three drones to date, and I’m still flying the first.  Now that I have a newer and bigger memory card in hand, I look forward to our further adventures this summer.

Rest in peace, Ruko, in your watery grave at the bottom of Lake Huron.