Beginner recommendation, don’t attach sticks to controller

[Artemis]

One suggestion, stop buying stuff for your drone. It’s the biggest temptation for new pilots. After you know your capabilities check back here for recommendations on practical additions. Or you will end up with a bunch of unused junk. Been there. Enjoy

Yeah the extra sticks might have been overkill but I feel good about the strobes and gimbal shade, I probably could have skipped the landing pad also but couldn’t resist the spacex drone ship mat, had to have that …I’m heavily in to all Things space

 

[LA 2020]

Came across a video referencing an instructor suggest newbies leave sticks off til they develop some skill, although you have access to functions that affect this and often people get longer sticks for increased sensitivity and accuracy, apparently flying with no sticks increases smoothness substantially for the newbie and reduces the chance of over reaction. This made sense to me but thought shorter sticks might Be a good substitute, these look to be sold out or discontinued but bh still had some in stock so I ordered a set to try….. I’ve been teaching myself the fundamentals using iOS app called drone simulator lite, it’s free and seems pretty good, taught myself how to orbit on it last night Ulanzi Rockers for DJI Mavic Air 2 Remote Controllers (Pair)

I find you will adapt to whatever sticks you use. Your hands and brain are amazing compensation devices

 

[Artemis]

I did screw in the shorter sticks last night, ergonomically they were a nice fit , felt more comfortable with thumbs rests on top of them than the stock… I got the batteries charged last night, I plan on powering it up sometime today and install any updates but wind is suppose to be very strong here today so I think first flight will come Sunday…. the uav website says 25mph winds with 30 to 40 gust at 300’ so probably wise to stay grounded, suppose to calm significantly tomorrow

 

[Artemis]

Btw, I removed the battery from the drone and let all three new batteries charge with the multi charger without issue… only thing I’m a little unsure of is precedure during update process since I’ve seen references to the batteries needing to be updated also

 

[Artemis]

I did just do a hover to ensure everything was working correctly between very high wind gust, all controls worked as they should and landed back on the pad safely, can’t wait til tomorrow…. Gps lock was not as good as I would like with just 11 sats showing but I was right next to the house so maybe that will increase when I get further out

 

[Artemis]

It does look like I may need to fashion a phone hood, the iPhone mini was big enough to easily read and control everything in the shade but when I walked out in to the sun it was a little sketchy

 

[DavidBlezard]

Came across a video referencing an instructor suggest newbies leave sticks off til they develop some skill, although you have access to functions that affect this and often people get longer sticks for increased sensitivity and accuracy, apparently flying with no sticks increases smoothness substantially for the newbie and reduces the chance of over reaction. This made sense to me but thought shorter sticks might Be a good substitute, these look to be sold out or discontinued but bh still had some in stock so I ordered a set to try….. I’ve been teaching myself the fundamentals using iOS app called drone simulator lite, it’s free and seems pretty good, taught myself how to orbit on it last night Ulanzi Rockers for DJI Mavic Air 2 Remote Controllers (Pair)

I don’t use it much but tripod mode might be a good choice. It decreases the drone movements. Use the joysticks. Start with very little movement. Go to a big open area. Don’t fly high, about 20 feet and get used to the drone with very gradual stick movements. Stay calm and don’t rush to go do the big flying. Enjoy.

 

[TS_Thomas02]

I was flying today with quite a lot of wind present and found it somewhat helpful to position my right thumb down around the base to get larger inputs quickly. However, this was AFTER drawing the green spotlight box around a target, then getting the drone maneuvered around a child on a bicycle as he did some starts and stops. The tracking made it smooth, my massive inputs made the fly arounds more dynamic, but this is not how I’d recommend flying all the time. I like my nice long control sticks for the smooth results with non-dynamic subjects. So I guess it’s situation dependent.

 

[Artemis]

A quicky that took forever to share haha… bright side is she did well in high wind…. I just had to stay low to ground

 

[Artemis]

Biggest surprise was getting a gps lock inside my house, I’m not going to fly inside but found it interesting

 

[old man mavic]

@Artemis not every firmware update requires the batteries to have and up date
if such an up date is required then the first battery in the drone during the update ,will be updated ,then after you have switched off the drone swap to your next battery and when you start the drone if the battery needs to be updated then just follow the instructions on the screen ,and then do the same with any more batteries you may have
if no message about battery update appears then you are good to go

 

[Artemis]

@Artemis not every firmware update requires the batteries to have and up date
if such an up date is required then the first battery in the drone during the update ,will be updated ,then after you have switched off the drone swap to your next battery and when you start the drone if the battery needs to be updated then just follow the instructions on the screen ,and then do the same with any more batteries you may have
if no message about battery update appears then you are good to go

Thank you, I guess it’s a good idea to power everything up briefly before you leave the house, I assume you can’t fly with a pending update

 

[msinger]

I assume you can’t fly with a pending update

Pending updates rarely prevent flying. I only recall DJI doing that once some years ago -- and for good reason as it included a critical fix.

 

[old man mavic]

@Artemis you can fly just ignore the message if you are out ,or if you have a good internet connection then you can download it before you take off
if i have not flown for a few weeks or i see a message that there is a new update available then i will do as you said and update at home where i know i have a reliable WI FI connection i fly using a none cellular I Pad

 

[MA2 317]

Pending updates rarely prevent flying. I only recall DJI doing that once some years ago -- and for good reason as it included a critical fix.

Spark battery firmware?

If I remember, it grounded the Sparks until you updated the firmware.

.

 

[Artemis]

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Pending updates rarely prevent flying. I only recall DJI doing that once some years ago -- and for good reason as it included a critical fix.

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Thanks… I think I just assumed that because every demo video I watched it seems like they always paused and did the updates before continuing , that’s good news because that would be bad to drive to a remote site and then not get to fly

 

[dronedoc107]

It does work, it’s just a way to reduce the input you have on the controller. A better way to achieve this is to trim down the sensitivity in the RC tuning

 

[RandyV]

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Another key factor is if you are a "pincher" or "thumber" when flying the sticks.

You can get more control while pinching, once your used to it, but a lot of people grew up playing video games with hand controllers and thumbing seems natural when flying a drone.

A neck lanyard helps when flying using the pinch method because it's tough holding the remote while doing so.

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A lanyard makes sense. I've actually never used sticks but I'm going to give it a try.

 

[Mr. Rocketman]

This one is probably a personal preference.

I feel like I have more control when using my thumbs. But, I grew up playing video games, so maybe that's why it works better for me.

I grew up flying RC aircraft and always used thumbs. BUT longer sticks are harder to use thumbs on.

 

[Artemis]

I grew up flying RC aircraft and always used thumbs. BUT longer sticks are harder to use thumbs on.

I really like the short sticks so far… the only issues I’ve had is the roll is pretty abrupt so I may need to tone it down some in settings….still getting a feel for everything but I’ll slowly get everything dialed in to match my natural reflexes

i seem to be ok making minute corrections forward and back but side to side I’m just moving the stick too much….so sensitivity adjustments should help me, different than the gimbal adjustments that I already have done, I think I have those set up great now