Buyer Beware Never buy DJI again (Flyaway)

[yann8301]

Just wanted to post my experience with DJI with my Mavic Pro Flyaway issue... So Last Friday i decided i would fly my drone. I don't fry it as often as i should considering the money spent on it, but that besides the point. Right before i was going to flt it it had a firmware update that i needed to install. I didn't think anything of it since most times i take it out there is an update i need to install. Installed the update and went through the calibration and everything was good. Took off from a clearing so a home-point was sent and stated to fly around. Was about 100 ft in the air 2500 ft away from me with half battery when i lost connecting with the drone. Didn't think anything of it since they say if it loses connection it will just fly back to the home-point. Waited about 5 min and started to get worried so we hoped in the car to drive closer to get a better connection. We had no success. Then we walked to the point where it said my done was (thought the find my drone) and it was not anywhere to be found. We walked the entire field and could not find it anywhere. Went back the second day with another drone to try and locate it and we were still unsuccessful. Could not contact DJI customer service since they are close on the weekend so i contacted them first thing Monday and they just said the would not look into it since the drone was out of warranty. I get that is is out of warranty but if they really stood by there products they would have at least helped me out. The drone was basically brand new only flown about 15 times and the only time i lose connection with the drone it just disappears? and i just installed their firmware update and did the calibration. After this incident i would never buy DJI again and i would not recommend DJI drones to anyone.

 

[BD0G]

Post your flight log here and let others examine it to determine the last known location and where it may have landed. You would be surprised to understand what these flight logs can uncover.

There have been similar instances in which a person has lost thier Mavic and recovered it by allowing other knowledgeable people on the forum to dissect and extrapolate data from thier flight logs. Just be aware that in the large majority of cases pilot error is determined.

You can find the process by following this link: DJI Flight Log Viewer | Phantom Help

Upload the .dat file to the forum.

 

[Cyberpower678]

I can probably already claim that error as pilot error before I see the logs. You turn that drone around the moment it shows signs of disconnecting. Unless someone shot it down, it is on the pilot to ensure the connection holds.

 

[Starz]

100 foot elevation from home point at 1/2 mile out may have been part of this one.
I wonder why the calibration and or the firmware update comes into the mix?

 

[Aww@Mavic]

But no low battery warnings were displayed. The drone should have returned home.
Are you in UK by any chance? It was very windy last week, I recall checking the wind profile in my area and was surprised to see winds in excess of 100mph just 100ft up, 30 - 45 Gust on the ground.
I think you should post your flight records here for folk to examine. The wind may be to blame and it may be resting somewhere waiting for you

 

[BD0G]

Hmm, 1 message and a new member signed u

I can probably already claim that error as pilot error before I see the logs. You turn that drone around the moment it shows signs of disconnecting. Unless someone shot it down, it is on the pilot to ensure the connection holds.

Its quite possible it was pilot error , but without the Flight Logs then its really inconclusive.

 

[Cyberpower678]

Hmm, 1 message and a new member signed u



Its quite possible it was pilot error , but without the Flight Logs then its really inconclusive.

True, but judging by the OP's long post, it seems like a case of not correctly reading the manual.

 

[Meta4]

The drone was basically brand new only flown about 15 times and the only time i lose connection with the drone it just disappears?
After this incident i would never buy DJI again and i would not recommend DJI drones to anyone.

Thanks for the warning ... but since you don't know what happened or if it was a DJI issue, it's a bit premature.

There are a hundred possible explanations for your incident but so far the cause is a mystery.
Without seeing flight data, no-one has any idea.
Since connection was lost, it might still be difficult to tell even with data but we won't know without checking it.

Find my drone could only tell you the last location of the drone when it was in contact.
Unless the drone landed there, it's going to be somewhere else.

It's quite normal that DJI don't offer any help for a drone that's past the warranty period but that isn't really a big deal.
If you post data here, there are people that can analyse it for you and give you the same explanation that DJI would - and probably a much better explanation.

If you do want help go to DJI Flight Log Viewer | Phantom Help
Follow the instructions there to upload your flight record from your phone or tablet.
That will give you a detailed report on the flight data.
Come back and post a link to the report it gives you.

 

[brett8883]

Post your flight log here and let others examine it to determine the last known location and where it may have landed. You would be surprised to understand what these flight logs can uncover.

There have been similar instances in which a person has lost thier Mavic and recovered it by allowing other knowledgeable people on the forum to dissect and extrapolate data from thier flight logs. Just be aware that in the large majority of cases pilot error is determined.

You can find the process by following this link: DJI Flight Log Viewer | Phantom Help

Upload the .dat file to the forum.

How are they gonna get the log file if they don’t have the drone?

 

[Simmo]

How are they gonna get the log file if they don’t have the drone?

The .Txt file is on the mobile device?

 

[Air_Joe]

Whether its pilot or manufacturer defects, its yet to be seen. Not jumping into any conclusion.

To be fair, im not against anyone, rather i just had a replacement from dji, they have been very fair, helpful and understanding for my case.

However in this instance, i can see that, once warranty is over, dji wouldnt even bother tracking a last location for u, thats not very right i guess, after all the bird we are having its still have a dji brand on it.
Understand its business, but they can always charge a small fee for this service , im sure most of us would be willing to pay to retrieve our ac.

Lost my bird once, so i guess i can understand what threadstarter is feeli g right now. At least for me, I was desperate for any help last time.
Then again thk goodness i found this forum, with so many experts advices.
Dnt flame me pls, just my 2cents

 

[brett8883]

The .Txt file is on the mobile device?

Oh like the thing that gets uploaded as a flight record. That might tell us something. I was thinking of the .dat file which would tells us exactly what happened. But yea try the .Txt file thing

 

[Meta4]

How are they gonna get the log file if they don’t have the drone?

Post #8 explains that.

Oh like the thing that gets uploaded as a flight record. That might tell us something. I was thinking of the .dat file which would tells us exactly what happened. But yea try the .Txt file thing

The data files on the phone or tablet can only show what was happening up till signal was lost.
That might (or might not) be enough to work out what happened after that.
We won't know until data shows up.

 

[yann8301]

Here is the flight record.

 

[Meta4]

Here is the flight record.

Any chance you can follow the instructions in post #8 or at least post the text file rather than the .dat file?

 

[yann8301]

Here is the txt file too. Thanks for the advice

 

[Vader869]

Just wanted to post my experience with DJI with my Mavic Pro Flyaway issue... So Last Friday i decided i would fly my drone. I don't fry it as often as i should considering the money spent on it, but that besides the point. Right before i was going to flt it it had a firmware update that i needed to install. I didn't think anything of it since most times i take it out there is an update i need to install. Installed the update and went through the calibration and everything was good. Took off from a clearing so a home-point was sent and stated to fly around. Was about 100 ft in the air 2500 ft away from me with half battery when i lost connecting with the drone. Didn't think anything of it since they say if it loses connection it will just fly back to the home-point. Waited about 5 min and started to get worried so we hoped in the car to drive closer to get a better connection. We had no success. Then we walked to the point where it said my done was (thought the find my drone) and it was not anywhere to be found. We walked the entire field and could not find it anywhere. Went back the second day with another drone to try and locate it and we were still unsuccessful. Could not contact DJI customer service since they are close on the weekend so i contacted them first thing Monday and they just said the would not look into it since the drone was out of warranty. I get that is is out of warranty but if they really stood by there products they would have at least helped me out. The drone was basically brand new only flown about 15 times and the only time i lose connection with the drone it just disappears? and i just installed their firmware update and did the calibration. After this incident i would never buy DJI again and i would not recommend DJI drones to anyone.

As soon as I read the first half of your message I can tell you likely reason why it didn't return.
Because you did a firmware update just before flight and when it does the update it often resets many settings in go4. One of them is what do u want aircraft to do if connection lost. I bet it reverted back to the Hover setting. If you did not set it to return to home after the update then. That's way it didn't return. It's a real trap to lookout for this setting whenever updating

 

[Meta4]

As soon as I read the first half of your message I can tell you likely reason why it didn't return.
Because you did a firmware update just before flight and when it does the update it often resets many settings in go4. One of them is what do u want aircraft to do if connection lost. I bet it reverted back to the Hover setting.

There is zero chance of that.
The default setting is RTH.
That never changes with an update.
I think it's most unlikely that the update had anything to do with the incident at all.

 

[SandiSCE]

As soon as I read the first half of your message I can tell you likely reason why it didn't return.
Because you did a firmware update just before flight and when it does the update it often resets many settings in go4. One of them is what do u want aircraft to do if connection lost. I bet it reverted back to the Hover setting. If you did not set it to return to home after the update then. That's way it didn't return. It's a real trap to lookout for this setting whenever updating

Thanks for this. I did not know to check RTH settings after firmware update.

 

[Meta4]

Thanks for this. I did not know to check RTH settings after firmware update.

It doesn't matter if you forget to check since it will never change in an update.
The only way that setting will change is i you change it.