What is the lowest you have gone?

strider · May 27, 2017

So what is the lowest you have flown from your starting point?

Yesterday I went to the edge of a canyon that I had been eyeing for a while but was nervous to fly down into it because if something went wrong it would be a huge pain to hike down and get my bird. Finally I said screw it and made the flight down. This was as far as I could get before video transmission stalled on me.

Former Member · May 27, 2017

Nice shot and good proof that the altimeter will read up to -1000'. Never seen one go that low before.

How much battery did you have left when you landed? You were 1000' down and 3952 away with 62%.

Kestrel · May 27, 2017

I think the lowest I went was minue -300-400 feet.

strider · May 28, 2017

Thunderdrones said:
How much battery did you have left when you landed? You were 1000' down and 3952 away with 62%.

I brought it back pretty close to the RTH mark. After this screen shot I flew around the river some more and then brought it back up and got some sunset shots.

I am hoping to get out tomorrow to a slightly different spot for better reception and try to get to the bottom. I think I might know a place close to 1500 to 2000 feet deep.

CanberraMavic · May 28, 2017

Around 300m down in Katoomba, Australia. Flew from next to the Three Sisters rock formation, straight down.

sonof40 · May 28, 2017

Curious as to what your antenna orientation was.

strider · May 28, 2017

sonof40 said:
Curious as to what your antenna orientation was.

Stock antennas and they were at 45 degrees position. Right between being straight up and and straight out. This is where I usually keep them.

sonof40 · May 28, 2017

strider said:
Stock antennas and they were at 45 degrees position. Right between being straight and and straight out. This is where I usually keep them.

I wonder if straight out would have made a difference. Maybe try it to see if bars change.

strider · May 28, 2017

I just edited my comment to say Straight UP and straight out, but you understood what I meant. For the mission today I plan to get closer to the edge of the canyon and hopefully get better recep. But i'll try your idea when I do start to lose recep.

strider · May 29, 2017

So here was today's. Same waterfall as before but I was able to get on top of it this time, with plenty of signal to spare. Goes to show how important launch point is, or rather where you stand with the controller! Nxt go around should be a different set of waterfalls in the same canyon, with hopefully a deeper distance.

Ziggy01 · May 29, 2017

strider said:
So here was today's. Same waterfall as before but I was able to get on top of it this time, with plenty of signal to spare. Goes to show how important launch point is, or rather where you stand with the controller! Nxt go around should be a different set of waterfalls in the same canyon, with hopefully a deeper distance.

View attachment 13870

You are a braver man than I'll ever be.

ceirsik · May 29, 2017

Wow.. I was wondering how well it would do at a - alt. This is interesting... Thanks for photo. Do have any video of it yet? Where was this taken? Thanks.

darklordtom · May 29, 2017

Is it possible to go lower than -500m? Or is 500m in both directions a hard limit?

strider · May 30, 2017

I am hoping to find out if there is a spot where I can go lower to test the limits of 500m. I thought this spot would be the one but I guess not. I'll have to keep hunting.

I do have the video but I have never edited anything so it will be the whole, rather boring video. I will try to get it posted up tonight.

strider · Jun 2, 2017

So I was able to get lower and prove that the 500m/1640' limit does not apply when you go to negative flight altitude.
Here is a Hanger 360 from above the low point:
Hangar 360 Photo

And here is the low point I got to:

Different waterfall from the last one, but the same launch point. I merely went further down canyon so I could achieve a lower altitude with relationship to my launch point.

Also, some one had asked about my antenna position. When I had the antenna straight OUT(parallel with the controller) I found that I had worse signal than when the antennae were straight UP (or perpendicular to the controller). In my opinion, since the antennae are omni directional, when I have them straight OUT the signal goes up/down and slightly forward/backward, but when they are straight UP the signal goes forward/backward and slightly up/down. So even thought my bird is in a deep canyon, since I am so close to the edge of the canyon, the UP position for the controller antennae works the best. This is purely anecdotal and I am sure other have more insight.

So has anyone else pushed the negative altitude limits?!?!

Robbyg · Jun 2, 2017

strider said:
So I was able to get lower and prove that the 500m/1640' limit does not apply when you go to negative flight altitude.
Here is a Hanger 360 from above the low point:
Hangar 360 Photo

And here is the low point I got to:
View attachment 14138

Different waterfall from the last one, but the same launch point. I merely went further down canyon so I could achieve a lower altitude with relationship to my launch point.

Also, some one had asked about my antenna position. When I had the antenna straight OUT(parallel with the controller) I found that I had worse signal than when the antennae were straight UP (or perpendicular to the controller). In my opinion, since the antennae are omni directional, when I have them straight OUT the signal goes up/down and slightly forward/backward, but when they are straight UP the signal goes forward/backward and slightly up/down. So even thought my bird is in a deep canyon, since I am so close to the edge of the canyon, the UP position for the controller antennae works the best. This is purely anecdotal and I am sure other have more insight.

So has anyone else pushed the negative altitude limits?!?!

Very cool picture. Making videos like that are exactly why I bought the Mavic.

Rob

strider · Jun 3, 2017

So I went low again tonight but didn't beat my record from the last flight of -1700'. But on another battery I flew over to an unused fire watch tower across the canyon from my launch point and noticed something irregular. Look at my VPS altitude in this screen shot:

It shows my VPS altitude as 10k+'! This was a normal-ish flight reading because as I went up and down in altitude, this 10k' reading registered each foot. Very weird.

Otherwise, I had 3 good flights, just no negative altitude records.

Anyone else beat -1700'?

Grey Wolf · Jun 3, 2017

What was your return to home setting?

strider · Jun 3, 2017

Grey Wolf said:
What was your return to home setting?

I have it set at 400' and to actually return to home and NOT hover.

MavPro75 · Jun 3, 2017

strider said:
So I was able to get lower and prove that the 500m/1640' limit does not apply when you go to negative flight altitude.
Here is a Hanger 360 from above the low point:
Hangar 360 Photo

And here is the low point I got to:
View attachment 14138

Different waterfall from the last one, but the same launch point. I merely went further down canyon so I could achieve a lower altitude with relationship to my launch point.

Also, some one had asked about my antenna position. When I had the antenna straight OUT(parallel with the controller) I found that I had worse signal than when the antennae were straight UP (or perpendicular to the controller). In my opinion, since the antennae are omni directional, when I have them straight OUT the signal goes up/down and slightly forward/backward, but when they are straight UP the signal goes forward/backward and slightly up/down. So even thought my bird is in a deep canyon, since I am so close to the edge of the canyon, the UP position for the controller antennae works the best. This is purely anecdotal and I am sure other have more insight.

So has anyone else pushed the negative altitude limits?!?!

Impressive and "gutsy" ,over a mile away. Stunning photo.