Hi
@idiogenic and the whole community.
Leaving apart other issues that are not tight to the real topic, I can only share my experience and it is not so strong to determine the right option...but...maybe can help
I received my drone around December
Have around 100 flights. 20% dense skyscraper city area, 60% huge parks (1km per 1km size) but still inside the city, and 20% totally open space far from city
Operate always under Android (4.4) with a very old phone.
I started with the previous DJI Go app, and later moved to DJI Go 4
Always updated everytime APP and Firmware.
Once the general information is clear I can say as a conclusion that the behavior is pretty random:
A) Center of the citty, sorrounded by skyscrapers, I was able to fly 250 m without loosing signal nor video...but continuous alarms, but no lost RC except with a building blocking the line of sight (obviously) so then RTH and ok. Let´s say normal but stressing.
B) Big parks (really big, 1km per 1km and hence far from buildings or so) usually cannot fly farther than 250m without loosing RC. Trees? yes...pretty dense....always flying over them but with me under...no more than 250m for RC less than 200m for video
C) Same park with me over the trees (there is like a small hill in the middle of the park) Same range 250m maximum (really weird...clear LOS...and too low range, no changes with previous situation...and should be some kind of improvement!!!)
D) Open area far from the city (with no kind of interference and high in a mountain)....I´ve been able to have total control and video with 2.7km distance!!!!! and no single bar dropped. I decided to bring it back because I was terrified, but looked like it can go much farther.
E) Open area far from city, low (with no kind of interference) but with me in a valley (not a canyon, a wide valley) low range again...around 500-600m for the RC lost of signal
F) In the city again, in a big block dedicated to sport, many fields, Olympic oval, tennis courts, soccer fields.....with me i the center of a soccer field...less than 10 m, LOST OF SIGNAL.....WHAT???....
So what I´m trying to say is that is very random.
But my experience is that if you are sorrounded by trees, they are much much much more complicated than we think. They act as a kind of "dome" and make the signal get crazy with constant loss of RC signal....even having a more than clear line of sight with the drone. I do not understand anything at all about signal, but looks like if it rebounds on all of them and make the drone RC go crazy...That has happened to me in one of those huge parks trying to shoot some good scene. Didn´t lose the signal, but being following the drone at very low altitude (2m height) and just behind it (2m distance), constant red light for the RC and loss of signal alarm....really weird too....
It is hard to understand that a "toy" that cost 1200$ can behave that random.
Of course, as someone said, we are not going to see here thousands of owners telling us how good is going everything every day, but we shouldn´t find as many incongrouences like this or many others for this drone I think. This random behaviour make us stay stressed about using it thinking that who knows what is going to happen next time you flight...and this is not good.
Sorry for the extension and bad english
ADDED: Sorry....I forgot to say. Cannot state, but I´d say that turning the phone into Airplane mode, helps, but it is not the key. The 2.7km with total control and video were reached with phone totally on, and the other situations I explained, were randomnly experienced with Airplane mode On and Off, because I do not remember always to do it...but I´d say it can help a bit. But the issue that I still think affects more than we all should expect is that "dome" created by trees....
