DJI Mavic, Air and Mini Drones
Friendly, Helpful & Knowledgeable Community
Join Us Now

DJI GO 4 Active Track Speed Priority

caleb1

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 1, 2018
Messages
128
Reactions
23
Age
27
Hi all,
New here.
I got a Mavic Pro Platnum a few days ago and in the DJI GO 4 app during flight in Active Track mode there is a slider for speed priority.
Would anyone know what this is for? Is it the max speed that the drone will go to keep up with the assigned subject? I can not seem to find very good information as to what this slider is exactly.

Thanks in advance.
 
Is it the max speed that the drone will go to keep up with the assigned subject?
yes.

But don't use it until you're a confident pilot knowing what to do when it sucks. Because it sucks often and you have to take control back in split second, Active track is not safe. It is really NOT something to try out during first flights. In spite of what DJI might have made you think.

It's a wonderful little drone but there's no real magic. It only can do what it is programmed to do and a lot of times the program simply can't cope with the circumstances.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ksmusa
Thanks for the fast reply. So if I set the Speed Priority to 40 MPH and I tell it to follow my boat with Active Track the Mavic Pro Platinum should keep up with my boat as long as the boat is not going faster than 40 MPH, right?

I can see how using Active Track to follow a car moving at 40 MPH along a hilly mountain road lined with huge un-cut trees could end up with a disaster but the only scenario that I plan to use Active Track at high-speed (for now) would be following a boat, so at least there would be no obstacles or anything. As long as I would watch my drone and be sure to stop the boat and take control of the drone if it stops tracking the boat I should be fine right?
"When it sucks" is when it looses track of the subject, correct?
 
When it sucks" is when it looses track of the subject, correct?
when it crashes into the subject with full speed like it happened with me.

40Mph is far to fast for active track and very unsafe. Think of 10Mph at most.
It loses the subject quite fast and when it finds it again it sometimes does weird stuff. Again, not worth the risk. You could better use follow me with AutoPilot, which will follow your phones live GPS coordinates. Way more reliable but still not anywhere you would want it to be. Sorry, but that's still the way it is.
 
Ah, ok.
"follow me with AutoPilot", would that be safe to use at 25 to 30 MPH or still no?
Also would you be able to provide a link as to where I can find out more about "follow me with AutoPilot"?

Thanks again.
 
Ah, ok.
"follow me with AutoPilot", would that be safe to use at 25 to 30 MPH or still no?
Also would you be able to provide a link as to where I can find out more about "follow me with AutoPilot"?

Thanks again.
25mph is still quite fast but if you monitor it actively and sre prepared to disengage any second it might work. I used AP follow me with my boat at 15mph max and had a handful to keep it safe with regards to passing sail yachts. Problem is that the GPS position and altitude are not always updated correctly on your mobile device. It might shoot from the following to leading in front or sideways left or right with enormous swings at high speed. Can be nerve wrecking if your encountering a yacht with high mast and full sail. I decided to follow manually by flying myself from then on.
 
  • Like
Reactions: caleb1
Ok.
I might fly it manually to follow the boat.
Can I make use of the Mavic's full speed in P mode or do I need to be in S (Sport) mode?
 
Ok.
I might fly it manually to follow the boat.
Can I make use of the Mavic's full speed in P mode or do I need to be in S (Sport) mode?
Depends on the wind speed and direction. In sports mode it's much faster. But no obstacle avoidance, which is useless in that situation anyhow. Most crashes during follow me are when it flies sideways and it has no sensors on its sides.
You can find a lot of video's about Autopilot on YouTube. Or on Hangar Autopilot site. It's only for IOS. If you are on Android try Litchi. That has a follow mode too
 
  • Like
Reactions: caleb1
Ok. Thanks for all the valuable information.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Lake_Flyer
...Can I make use of the Mavic's full speed in P mode or do I need to be in S (Sport) mode?
For flying over water you should turn off the front obstacle avoidance. It will get the speed up to around 31 MPH and eliminate the false obstacle detection that sometimes happens if the sun is low enough. If flying low you should also turn off the downward obstacle detection since it has problems with water.
 
For flying over water you should turn off the front obstacle avoidance. It will get the speed up to around 31 MPH and eliminate the false obstacle detection that sometimes happens if the sun is low enough. If flying low you should also turn off the downward obstacle detection since it has problems with water.
What he says, I forgot to mention.
 
For flying over water you should turn off the front obstacle avoidance. It will get the speed up to around 31 MPH and eliminate the false obstacle detection that sometimes happens if the sun is low enough. If flying low you should also turn off the downward obstacle detection since it has problems with water.
How do I turn off the front and downward obstacle avoidance? Put it in S mode?
 
Sport mode only turns off the forward sensors. I don't recall where in Go 4 the settings are but they are separate. I have my forward sensors off but the downward sensors on for softer landings.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: caleb1
Sport mode only turns off the forward sensors. I don't recall where in Go 4 the settings are but the are separate. I have my forward sensors off but the downward sensors on for softer landings.
So are you saying that turning off the obstacle sensing will allow you to go faster, safer while using active track or is it still that dangerous?

I will look around so I can find where to turn of the obstacle sensing.
 
So are you saying that turning off the obstacle sensing will allow you to go faster, safer while using active track or is it still that dangerous?...
OA limits your speed because it needs time to stop after detecting an obstacle so turning off forward OA allows you to fly faster. It is not as fast as sport mode but from what I have read is more efficient power-wise. Since you are flying over water it makes no sense to have OA on because there are no obstacles to fly in to.

As far as active track is concerned, in your case since you are flying over water, it is no more or less safe. The majority of crashes in any kind of autonomous mode happen because the craft side-slips into something, usually a tree, because the forward sensors could not detect it. If I were using active track on land I would leave OA on for that instance where it would detect an obstacle.

But to answer your question, I feel active track is not dangerous if set up properly. It will either work or not depending on your movements. However, YouTube has a lot of crash videos showing what happens when not set up properly.
 
  • Like
Reactions: caleb1
Everyone is forgetting that you have to disable smart RTH on a boat. Otherwise it's going to go into RTH with a lot of bat left. you can cancel it and keep flying or you can reset the RC homepoint every so often during the flight that will reset the RTH point closer to where you are. I learned this the hard way!!
 
  • Like
Reactions: caleb1
Thanks for the replies.
OA limits your speed because it needs time to stop after detecting an obstacle so turning off forward OA allows you to fly faster. It is not as fast as sport mode but from what I have read is more efficient power-wise. Since you are flying over water it makes no sense to have OA on because there are no obstacles to fly in to.

As far as active track is concerned, in your case since you are flying over water, it is no more or less safe. The majority of crashes in any kind of autonomous mode happen because the craft side-slips into something, usually a tree, because the forward sensors could not detect it. If I were using active track on land I would leave OA on for that instance where it would detect an obstacle.

But to answer your question, I feel active track is not dangerous if set up properly. It will either work or not depending on your movements. However, YouTube has a lot of crash videos showing what happens when not set up properly.
What would I need to do to "set up active track properly"?
Everyone is forgetting that you have to disable smart RTH on a boat. Otherwise it's going to go into RTH with a lot of bat left. you can cancel it and keep flying or you can reset the RC homepoint every so often during the flight that will reset the RTH point closer to where you are. I learned this the hard way!!
Ok, I will see about turning RTH off.
 
I used Active Track to video a couple of oar-powered sculls on a lake today. Even going downwind (3-8mph breeze), the Mavic Pro wouldn't keep up with a single-person scull.
I was on a dock with the speed slider set to 30mph.
Sometimes the Mavic was oriented forward, other times sideways or backwards (shouldn't make any difference), and the OA was disabled.
Any thoughts on what I'm missing to get more speed out of it?

Thanks
 
Hi all,
New here.
I got a Mavic Pro Platnum a few days ago and in the DJI GO 4 app during flight in Active Track mode there is a slider for speed priority.
Would anyone know what this is for? Is it the max speed that the drone will go to keep up with the assigned subject? I can not seem to find very good information as to what this slider is exactly.

Thanks in advance.
Notice no one can answer the question "What does the slider do"?
 
Good question, I'd like to know too. I'm getting ready to do some AT with a car on a bridge and would be nice to know. I'll figure it out and let you know. Bolton
 
Lycus Tech Mavic Air 3 Case

DJI Drone Deals

New Threads

Forum statistics

Threads
130,583
Messages
1,554,083
Members
159,586
Latest member
DoubleBarS