Huge dilemma with DJI return home policy

[abellodentro]

I am having a big problem with DJI.

They are always trying to turn the situation in their adavantage.

All they do in case of flyaway and lost drone is offering 15% discount on the next drone and if/when you dispute it they just attach the manual .pdf to the previous reply without even taking in account what the customer is asking. BAD AND POOR AFTER SALE AND TECH SUPPORT.

They have no respect for their customer, their after sale is terrible, and their analysts are lazy and with the fakest courtesy incite you to write again should you have other doubts. Of course, all of this will stays unanswered.

Long story short I was flying my drone on a wonderful day:

Compass calibration perfect
No obstacles on the way
Clear sky
0 wind
Antennas full stretched (90 degress)
100% battery

Wow it seems that this is the ideal condition to test what they sell on their specs. With all the above condition the drone should go about 7km in lenght, also because the new Mavic Platinum has a battery that lasts 30 minutes. WOW.

Well gents, that's the first lie.

Secondly, I was flying at about 5km with 62% of battery left. Battery was going down tremendously despite of the good weather and 0 wind. BRAND NEW BATTERY. 2 weeks new and very few flights beacuse it was raining last week.

Hang on a second, 10:07 flight with all the ideal weather conditions and no wind and with a full battery, without obstacles on the way, and you are telling me low battery? Something must be wrong in the specs isn't it? It should have said that at about 15:00 minute. Otherwise write somewhere that the flying time is 70% of the 100% because after 30% this thing goes crazy.

So they blame me for canceling the return to home.

Now, how about when the app disconnected from the RC at 51% then?

I couldn't control anymore the drone. The screen freezed, no signal, aircraft disconnected ... and the fantastic following features didn't activate:

How to use DJI’s Return to Home (RTH) Safely

Failsafe RTH:

Failsafe RTH happens when your drone loses signal for 3 seconds when using the remote controller or 20 seconds if using Wi-Fi. When it kicks in it will do one of three things depending on how you have set it up. Firstly, if you have it set to RTH then it will ascend to the set RTH height and start to fly back to you, and once you get the signal back, then you can cancel it. Secondly, if you have it set to Hover then your drone will just hover in its current position, so you can walk towards it and re-establish your signal. However, if you fail to re-establish your signal and the Battery RTH is triggered then the drone will either return home or land depending on your Battery RTH settings. Thirdly, it can be set to land, so it’ll just land in its current position.

MY SETTING WHERE TO RETURN TO THE HOME POINT.

ARE WE SERIOUS HERE?

Do you know what DJI took in account?

The last seconds of the flight record when the drone had only 28% and it wasn't enough to go back home.

This is so low from them.

They didn't mention at all the return home failing trigger when with 51% battery.

The drone should have gone back horizontally them start discending.
with the drone getting closer to the home point and with 21% battery from 51 to 30% I could have certainly got it closer, regained connection with the app and have an eye, the gimbal, to look where the drone was and even if it start descending I could have controlled it and landed it safely.
They only want to see what they want to see and for this reason if they don't send me a full refund or a brand new drone, I will charge it back to the credit card company and invite all of you to do so.

#irresponsible

 

[JMF]

That's the way it is in this day and age, money, money, money, and DJI doesn't want to part with their's, sorry for your loss.

 

[msinger]

Your story would make more sense if you included your flight log. Feel free to upload it here and post a link back here.

 

[abellodentro]

Your story would make more sense if you included your flight log. Feel free to upload it here and post a link back here.

Done

 

[abellodentro]

That's the way it is in this day and age, money, money, money, and DJI doesn't want to part with their's, sorry for your loss.

So true

 

[Plawa]

Done

We still need the link...

 

[abellodentro]

Done

DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

 

[abellodentro]

We still need the link...

DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

 

[colinfowler]

Secondly, I was flying at about 5km with 62% of battery left. Battery was going down tremendously despite of the good weather and 0 wind

at 5k away you can only assume that the wind is 0

"Battery was going down tremendously" indicates that there is in fact wind that it is trying to fly against.
hence it has estimated that to continue would not give you enough battery to return. it notified you of this and you cancelled it.

 

[abellodentro]

Thanks. I believe you are assuming more than I do. On the actual flight record there is never vertical speed above 0 m/s so I assume that wind wasn't coming in neither way, why horizontal speed is constant . Moreover I was flying it at 72m and I didn't get any "high wind velocity fly with caution". If there was wind and I didn't get a message this is another good reason to say that it is an extra manufacturing problem.

 

[Mike4884]

Sorry to say pilot error.. why did u cancel the rth? Just because there is no wind on ground doesnt mean there wont be any in the sky up higher

 

[abellodentro]

They are just bullshitting me and they don't want to admit that something happened at 51% when the app disconnected and the drone should have tried to go back to the home point, no matter what. I paid 1299€ for a top drone, not for an average product. And I never failed to respect the specs. If a battery last 30 minutes at 10:07 of mid flight from full it has another 19:43 secs fly. I didn't buy this Drone to keep it VLOS. Thanks

 

[colinfowler]

Thanks. I believe you are assuming more than I do. On the actual flight record there is never vertical speed above 0 m/s so I assume that wind wasn't coming in neither way, why horizontal speed is constant . Moreover I was flying it at 72m and I didn't get any "high wind velocity fly with caution". If there was wind and I didn't get a message this is another good reason to say that it is an extra manufacturing problem.

vertical speed is irrelevant, horizontal speed could also be constant but at the cost of battery consumption, without a high wind warning.
that's why the battery time line is constantly updating on the app screen, with battery failsafe marked on it.

 

[colinfowler]

I didn't buy this Drone to keep it VLOS. Thanks

yes you did

 

[Mike4884]

The battery never lasts 30 min thats in perfect conditions. U have to take into account everything how fast you are going, the wind speed at ground , 400ft up, etc. I noticed one anomaly where it said your battery was at 48 then jumped to 31 a second later. I still wouldnt have canceled rth tho

 

[Drakenn]

I see a couple things with your post I’d want more info on. I’m a relatively new quad pilot, but I’ve done airborne RC stuff for years.


1] Altitude - winds at altitude can be significantly different than those on the ground. I’ve had several occasions when winds at 50 feet were calmish and at 200+ feet it was gusting. You could have been dealing with a headwind that wasn’t apparent on the ground.

2) App disconnect? Did the entire controller disconnect or just the app. You can lose visual from the camera and have DJI Go disconnect without losing control of the drone. If it was just the app the failsafe RTH would not have engaged

3) You canceled RTH for low battery. Enough said. Once you are past the point where the drone believes it will take your battery down to 10% or less to get back and land, this kicks in. If you continued to fly it from 62% down to 51% after that engaged and you canceled, then there’s no way it’s getting back to you.

4) You flew well past visual range. A spotter with binoculars would have been very handy.

Remember DJIs 30 min flight time is constant speed, no wind, perfect conditions. On top of that I believe this time would also require the battery to be reduced to near 0%. Any maneuvering, using sport mode, or winds reduce that time. In addition for battery longevity you want to maintain at least a 10%charge. So now your looking at 27 minute flight time with ideal conditions, which means about 13 minutes out and 13 minutes back if you max out it’s range.

 

[abellodentro]

Sorry to say pilot error.. why did u cancel the rth? Just because there is no wind on ground doesnt mean there wont be any in the sky up higher

Again, why would you tell to someone before selling a product that with perfect weather condition it will reach 7km. Do you mean return? Write it. Why wouldn't you tell to a customer that battery counts only up to 70% then the rest it's ********. Therefore just above 20 mins. It's good to attract customers then they cannot do what advertise. This is inglorious and low. Also, even if I cancelled the return home, how come that at 51% with the app disconnected the drone didn't go back automatically and start descending when the battery was critical? With 21% I'd have regained the control of the drone and have 30% battery and the camera to see where I landed? Wouldn't you expect something like this is if you buy such a great drone? Would you feel confident that even if I pilot miscalculate something the magic Failsafe RTH kicks in, yes or no?
Also would you be so kind to tell me why Find My Drone up led me to the exact GPS location and I didn't find the drone?
Would you expect something like this from the number 1 commercial drone company in the world?
THEY HAVE TO REFUND ME 100% or I'll CHARGEBACK TO THE BANK AS THE PRODUCT WASN'T AS ADVERTISED.
FAILED TO RETURN HOME Failsafe RTH and FIND MY APP MISLEADING AND TOTALLY USELESS.

 

[abellodentro]

I see a couple things with your post I’d want more info on. I’m a relatively new quad pilot, but I’ve done airborne RC stuff for years.


1] Altitude - winds at altitude can be significantly different than those on the ground. I’ve had several occasions when winds at 50 feet were calmish and at 200+ feet it was gusting. You could have been dealing with a headwind that wasn’t apparent on the ground.

2) App disconnect? Did the entire controller disconnect or just the app. You can lose visual from the camera and have DJI Go disconnect without losing control of the drone. If it was just the app the failsafe RTH would not have engaged

3) You canceled RTH for low battery. Enough said. Once you are past the point where the drone believes it will take your battery down to 10% or less to get back and land, this kicks in. If you continued to fly it from 62% down to 51% after that engaged and you canceled, then there’s no way it’s getting back to you.

4) You flew well past visual range. A spotter with binoculars would have been very handy.

Remember DJIs 30 min flight time is constant speed, no wind, perfect conditions. On top of that I believe this time would also require the battery to be reduced to near 0%. Any maneuvering, using sport mode, or winds reduce that time. In addition for battery longevity you want to maintain at least a 10%charge. So now your looking at 27 minute flight time with ideal conditions, which means about 13 minutes out and 13 minutes back if you max out it’s range.

Thanks for the detailed answer. Weather was perfect and there was no sign of wind. Not even at 72m otherwise as usual I would get a message.
Now assuming that I have 13 minutes and I have done 4.2 in 12 I should do the same and have still battery. Why this didn't happen? Why the Failsafe didn't activate although the drone wouldn't have descended to the home point but half way back to regain visual? If the app disconnects it has to be mandatory.
If the battery is critical you will get a message that the drone is descending. This is what you expect from this super drone. Spark does it.

Now how about the FIND MY DRONE app. Is that also inaccurate?

In the end, are we saying that we should by this drone for 1299€ in fly it in the garden?

 

[colinfowler]

Also would you be so kind to tell me why Find My Drone up led me to the exact GPS location and I didn't find the drone?

because it did not land there, as you said it diconected

 

[abellodentro]

The battery never lasts 30 min thats in perfect conditions. U have to take into account everything how fast you are going, the wind speed at ground , 400ft up, etc. I noticed one anomaly where it said your battery was at 48 then jumped to 31 a second later. I still wouldnt have canceled rth tho

Ok. Cancelling the flight would have been the wiser thing, but still what happens next is inadmissible for a drone of such capacity specs and for how they sell it well.

Basically, I should buy this thing and feel anxious about the great performances I bought it for? Is it like a show off? Wow I have the Mavic Pro Platinum but I fly it as I do with a a Spark.

Sorry nothing personal with you being also so kind to reply. I mean those people at DJI. Disgusting.