Did I make a mistake?

[bsshog40]

I agree with some of the comments about you seeing more negativity than positive. That is usually the case with forums. You will always here more from the individuals with problems because the ones that aren't having problems don't have much to post. I'm a drone newbie and bought the mavic specifically because it has features that help new flyers like me. I've only been able to fly 3 times so far, and I've enjoyed each flight and have been highly impressed of how easy it lets me fly. As long as I don't get stupid with it, I see no reason to have any issues. Fly it, I believe you will be really surprised.

 

[flightmike]

Haven't bought my Mavic yet but still intend to do so. I had the same misgivings and was going back-and-forth also so I downloaded the Phantom forum and started reading it. Guess what same thing. A lot of the post I read are people asking questions on how to so they don't lose or crash their drone. I am trying to learn all I can before purchasing that way I feel more comfortable. And from what I've read I am going to be patient and not yank it out of the box and go fly without having correct set up. Also I want to buy all the accessories, programs and such that everybody has had the best success with. Now if I can only talk my wife into letting me spend $$ then all would be grand. Good luck and go fly.


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[Wombat55]

Now if I can only talk my wife into letting me spend $$ then all would be grand. Good luck and go fly.


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I actually found a practical home use for the Mavic. The other day I used it to fly above the roof of our 2-story split-level house in order to inspect the rain gutters by rotating the camera straight down and taking pictures of them. Yup, they were all clear and not clogged by leaves. Mission accomplished.

So there you go for a convincing argument to your wife: "Honey, I found a great tool that will allow me to inspect our rain gutters for clogs! Can I go buy it? Very important to make sure all our rain gutters are clean, you know."

 

[farmboy999]

What SteelFlyer said: when in doubt... let off the sticks. Don't start pushing them every which direction in panic mode.

Fear not, the Mavic is very forgiving and stable. Make sure you understand the settings, get good gps signal then fly. Stay close until you get the feel of it. The beauty of an advanced bird like this is that once you let off the controls it stops and hovers and gives you time to think.


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[Rnl]

Keep in mind how many are being used now and most troubles are user mistakes

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[Rnl]

Glad I'm not the only one with Wife magic issues so darn fun

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[Rnl]

I and many others fly in the cold 25 is the lowest I've been in magic did great

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[Evo1668]

To the OP. By all means read as much as you can and familiarise yourself, with the manuals, video clips, tutorials, forum member experiences.....but above all else take it all on board and go out and fly. Just remember, to establish your limits - fly close, get used to the controls, try small moves. As your confidence grows....it gets much easier. Remember, when something doesn't appear right don't panic, let go and think. And the Mavic, over many drones, builds your confidence....it's an amazing piece of engineering technology....for example I have flown my mavic about 25 times since I got it and I still consider myself a novice.

I was outside the other day just flying around where I live keeping to within 200ft radius about 30 ft up in the air. I hadn't moved from the take off point. The MP was about 5 m ahead of me 15 ft upI thought I would get the MP to land automatically. I hit RTH and expected the MP to land at its take off point. The MP shot up in the air 30 m and started to make its way over to land on what seemed my neighbours roof. First thought panic! And then I hit the pause button on the controller. The MP stopped and just hovered, and I just brought it back to me and landed manually....Phew!

It was only later when I checked the logs and realised the home position had been registered around 30m from my take off point. (Where I live has erratic mobile reception) I heard the confirmation message, but never checked the map. A mistake/oversight on my part, but another lesson to check the map on take-off.... oh and the hand trembling on the sticks is getting less now

 

[knownbug]

Not in Belgium there are. Still not available. Should be any day now. Was on the verge of buying one. The problem posts I read here, as well as the stringent regulations in my country, made me change my mind. 1500 euro remains a lot of money, not to be spend lightheartedly. I will"try" to wait for the Mavic 2, with sideways and backward collision detection, a less fragile gimbal , better image quality/check , as well as a crash free app for Android. ( too stupid that only the IOS app works as it should)...[emoji6]

Don't buy from local stores. I had a pre-order at kamera-express. After 4 month still no mavic. Cancelled the pre-order and bought on dji site. After 7 days I had my mavic. And yes it is amazing.

 

[nealh]

I just got my Mavic a week ago...and maybe I spend too much time on this site...because all I ever read about is people having problems.

I don't plan to fly my Mavic fi a couple more months. I bought a flightlife simulator, and practice in that. I also bout a ton of accessories. I hate to give up before starting, but this site makes me think maybe I should have gone with the Phantom 4?

Am I just worried about nothing?...or should I try to return everything while I can?

Sorry... but it's my first drone and I don't want to report a horror story with it.


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It's normal to have some fear, but don't worry so much, the Mavik is so well engineered that you have to make a gross error for anything to happen.
Start slow in an open field and practice. It's a lot of fun. As your skills improve you will enjoy not only flying but taking beautiful videos that you will enjoy over and over.
Yes there is a learning process. But a very enjoyable one.
Fly safe and have fun!

 

[Johnmcl7]

I was feeling the same with the Mavic even knowing that forums will always be biased towards negative comments just by the way they are in that people who have a problem are far more likely to post on the forum than those without issues.

The DJI app comes with some helpful videos and in particular there's a good one on top ten common mistakes which is also on youtube:

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While a lot of these are common sense it's good to know what the most likely issues are and how to ensure you can avoid them. It's also useful to look a the circumstances when someone posts about a crash, there are a small amount where the Mavic has gone wrong itself but in many cases there's been a poor choice of environment with flying around trees, flying over water and flying indoors regularly coming up.

The beauty of the Mavic's small size is that it's easy to take anywhere so I've been chucking mine in a little backpack and heading out on the bike or with the dog to nice wide open areas to practice with the Mavic so there's nothing to hit and if something does go horribly wrong, it's likely to have a soft landing where I can easily retrieve it. I've had a few hours with it now and I haven't had a single moment where the drone has done anything I haven't told it, I'm just working on getting better at the controls as I'm not used to this setup.

 

[brettseattle]

I sure appreciate everyone's encouragement. I do think I have been overwhelming myself with reading all the problems. It was simply a thought, that maybe a bought a technology too early in its release, which is why I was asking if I made a mistake...and should have purchased a Phantom which has worked out all the bugs.

I mentioned waiting a couple months because I understand you should not fly in cold weather. We have. Nice weekend coming up, but don't want to take a chance with my new hobby doing something it's not supposed to, do to cold weather.

In any case, I'm going to practice ice with my computer simulator, and venture out in a month or two when the weather is better. I did by the DJI care policy, so if I have any issues, I hope they will take care of them promptly.

Thanks for all the positive comments. I will keep my Mavic.


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Be courageous and use the beginner mode like training wheels - it is a great feature. I have had mine for 1 month and am stretching the limits more each flight. Confidence and control can only be learned in the field - so go fly and let your smile tell everyone you have a Mavic Pro! I absolutely love mine - no issues at all thus far.


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[Geezer]

After about 30 years of RC fixed wing, helis, and a couple of quads built from mongrel parts, I think the Mavic in Beginner mode is easier than anything I've ever flown. The gentle response and the ability to just let go of the sticks and have it hover waiting for your next input makes it perfect for beginner and novice pilots. If all the sensor and battery indicators are "in the green", it'll pretty much fly itself.

 

[WIMMPYIII]

I just got my Mavic a week ago...and maybe I spend too much time on this site...because all I ever read about is people having problems.

I don't plan to fly my Mavic fi a couple more months. I bought a flightlife simulator, and practice in that. I also bout a ton of accessories. I hate to give up before starting, but this site makes me think maybe I should have gone with the Phantom 4?

Am I just worried about nothing?...or should I try to return everything while I can?

Sorry... but it's my first drone and I don't want to report a horror story with it.


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Dont wait to fly it. Just go do it.

 

[shevlin]

I just got my Mavic a week ago...and maybe I spend too much time on this site...because all I ever read about is people having problems.

I don't plan to fly my Mavic fi a couple more months. I bought a flightlife simulator, and practice in that. I also bout a ton of accessories. I hate to give up before starting, but this site makes me think maybe I should have gone with the Phantom 4?

Am I just worried about nothing?...or should I try to return everything while I can?

Sorry... but it's my first drone and I don't want to report a horror story with it.


Sent from my iPhone using MavicPilots

I am a first-time drone owner. I've flown my Mavic at 6-8 locations, with several flights at each location. I have not had one single issue, other than me nearly running into a tree branch (twice). I don't have a scratch on it. Seems to me that when I read of catastrophes on here people are in sport mode or doing things that that push the limits. In my opinion, you are worried for nothing. Don't let fools pushing the limits of their toys stop you from enjoying yours. Go fly your Mavic, be safe about it and have lots of fun.

 

[PharmAir]

As for me, I initially really couldn't grasp the setup of the toggles. After trying the two presets, I decided to do custom and put the steering (left-right) and forward /reverse (front/back) on the right stick and altitude on the left. Since I'm right handed, you can virtually fly without having to think and concentrate on the stuff (battery, signal, etc.) that matters. Makes for much smoother turns and video too, and inflight shutdown is almost impossible to do with one toggle always up. Just that one simple change alleviated many of the fears I had naturally instilled by reading these forums.

 

[Kestrel]

You can't let a forum make you paranoid about your own drone. Reading everyone elses problems won't do you any good, if you can learn from those threads and try NOT to replicate them. Just go out and fly it.

 

[Advexure]

Off subject but @Wauwatosa Drone are you from Wauwatosa, WI? Just a guess! Great to see some fellow WI pilots here on the forum.

 

[Qoncussion]

I just got my Mavic a week ago...and maybe I spend too much time on this site...because all I ever read about is people having problems...

Think about it, these are support forums. You're not going to find a bunch of threads entitled, "Everything's Great! Nothing to report here!

Seriously, it sounds like you've done your homework. Just as others have said, take it slow, BUT, the longer you wait to launch it, the more hesitant you will be. Go now, and fly! Do not fear that which has not happened. You'll do fine.

 

[hkdman]

I completely understand your concerns. I am on my third drone. I started with a Phantom 3 standard, then Phantom 3 Pro and now a Mavic. I had 1 flyaway (and drone lost) with the Phantom 3 Pro. I learned a valuable lesson with that experience - and that is to never forget your preflight checklist (which shouldn't take you more than 1-2 minutes). By doing this, you cut down on actual fly aways tremendously. The Mavic itself is incredibly stable and many of the issues are user created issues and not really a fault of the Mavic or P3/P4 for that matter. Would be interested in everyone's thoughts (and additions / subtractions) to my checklist.
1) Visually inspect Mavic looking for any stress cracks. (10 seconds)
2) Feel the blades to check for any chips (5 seconds)
3) "pull" each blade to make sure they are connected securely and did not come lose in the bag. (5 seconds)
4) Start Mavic and remote. -check IMU and Compass to ensure both are reading "green" -20 seconds
5) Launch Mavic up about 10 feet. Let it hover for 20 seconds to determine if it is holding a stable place during stationary rotation. Rotate Mavic 360 degrees both directions. Go forward 5 feet and go reverse 5 feet. (50 seconds).
6) If everything checks out - go have some fun! Total pre flight prep = 90 seconds.