DJI Go 4 Vs. Litchi for Mavic

[Xtreme Drone Pilot]

Auto updates are on (why?)

Go 4 currently back to .18

That's why it's crashing. .15 is stable for most users.

 

[Xtreme Drone Pilot]

I recommend having a dedicated phone and keeping it offline all the time. Even though auto-updates can be disabled, DJI is known to inject executable code directly into Go 4 app (virus-like) to modify its behavior. Somehow both apple and Google tolerated that, although it's strictly prohibited in app stores.

 

[CCTjohn]

That's why it's crashing. .15 is stable for most users.

However I am set for auto update on wifi only and had that if when I was on .15 so not sure that was the case...

BUT willing to try anything so I will kill auto update, and do. 15 again and test.

I also agree a dedicated device would be nice. For now with the holidays it's just not in the cards.

 

[Simmo]

I used a dedicated Samsung Tab A 6 and it has been fine for over 6 months. The last upgrade killed it, went back to .15 still the same. Frozen black and white picture however telemetry can still be seen through the frozen picture to be still working correctly, even though top left says 'disconnected'. Even pressing auto-land on the frozen picture works?? Anyway, I bit the bullet and bought Litchi and it works flawlessly. Still have the normal flight modes, plus obviously the automated ones. A bonus is being to plot a mission on the big screen of your PC and send it to the Mavic. I like it!!

 

[AAPhoto]

I've had the same issue with the last few versions of GO 4. When I upgraded my phone to the Samsung Galaxy Note 8, I hoped the issue would go away, but nope. I've never had an issue with Litchi crashing and currently no signal issues either with the latest firmware.

My only gripes with Litchi are
- no 'full screen' mode to get the menus out of the way.
- Slow pano compared to DJI's new pano (but end result is nicer and isn't as over exposed).
- as mentioned before, some settings can't be changed in Litchi, but they are settings you set once in Go4 and then forget about them.

 

[Dynata]

Summary: Litchi is great app, well worth the money. Read on for the details.

As a UAS test pilot, I have flown just about every control app out there. And, of course, I fly the DJI apps half a dozen times per day.

DJI Go and Go 4 are the standard apps supplied from the manufacturer, so you have to have use them. DJI's app is always going to be the most up-to-date, and there are a lot of features that are simply not available in other apps (mostly related to UAV maintenance and calibration).

That being said, DJI's software is simply not very good. They have been very straightforward about their goals: They want to sell hardware. They don't want to maintain hardware, support customers, or develop more or better software than is absolutely necessary to meet that goal.

The DJI app tends to be buggy, with frequent poorly-tested releases. This last month, as they attempted to improve the on-screen video quality, DJI released a version of their app every few days because it failed to run on many devices, reporting "poor connection" or "lost connection" and displaying really poor video. For times like these, it is essential to have a backup app that you can use to verify that you are looking at a software problem and not a vehicle problem.

Also, there are a lot of features in Litchi that are not available in the DJI app. For example, if you have a new vehicle and you want to check out the electronics without going through the registration process (which essentially makes it a used vehicle), you can power it up and check it out in Litchi. You can not do that with the DJI app.

Also, Litchi gives you the ability to plan a flight, load the flight into your UAV and then execute it. This is wonderful if you are planning out a complex shot for TV, film or construction progress. You can store the complete flight instructions and execute them over and over, enabling you to fly the same exact course on a different day, in a different season, or simply repeat it because the talent wasn't doing what they were supposed to do.

Even more remarkable is the ability to plan an entire shot on your desktop computer. Smartphones are wonderful for their portability, but drawing with your finger on a tiny screen is no match for being able to use your mouse with a big desktop monitor. Flight plans are stored in the cloud and made automatically available to your handheld device when you log in, so all you need to do is load and fly. I save hours of on-site time by planning a series of flights before I arrive on-scene. When I get there, I make a few adjustments as necessary and then fly the course.

Litchi also makes a number of the latest intelligent flight modes available on older craft, giving the Phantom 3, for example, follow-me, panorama, orbit and other capabilities.

Compared to other apps, Litchi is kind of expensive at $25. But I think it pays for itself every time I use it.

 

[efowler]

If you are having that much trouble running the latest Go4 app on your device then litchi is not going to help as litchi uses the same base code and applets that DJI go4 uses. You will be able to run litchi but will still have problems and may experience slow video feed and pixiated video as well. Also slow down and delay in app.
Ideally your device should/must run Go4 well to run Litchi properly as well.
Either upgrade to better or correct device or go with Crystal sky but if the device you using now is crashing/running slow or has bad video pixlation, then its not compatible.

I have a note8 and had the same problems with the app crashing. Somewhere I picked up that the DJI App was written\designed for IOS (Apple) gear. Somebody correct me if I am wrong there. In any case - I picked up a used Ipad Mini 4 with cell option and have had zero problems with crashing and I use both Go 4 and Litchi. Absolutely no problems with anything. I do admit I hear reports of people using a Note8 without any problems but that was not my experience.
As far as wich program I like better - I would say if I am just flying around i would use Go4 but I really like Litchi for sending my mavic pro on missions - a pre-determined route where it can even fly out of range of my controller and then back into range as my designed flight path comes back into range of my controller. When it is on it route it is like I am riding with it and can point the camera anywhere down, up, to the side, to the back and it keeps moving dead on the path through all of that. I am still new with Litchi and learning it but I have already been on several cool missions with it. One thing I haven't figured out with Litchi is how to abort a mission and have it come straight back or how to record a RTH point. I guess if I can't have it abort a mission there is no use for a return home point. Any way I hope this was helpful.

 

[Simmo]

You just switch to sport mode and back dont you???

 

[Pegasus1]

I have had nothing but headaches trying to get to DJI Go4 (esp latest versions) to work on Android. Tried rolling my phone OS back to 7.1.1 from 8.0 Oreo, but still too many problems. The breaking point was Go finally totally trashed its own FPV video feed right in fron tof me, 0 interference, reset everything, still no good. I dumped Go4 and spent a few $$ and bought Litchi. Haven't looked back since, happy flying, 0 issues. Plus I can pre-plan waypoint missions thru the app or the hub, recording autostarts on takeoff (how many times have you forgotten to hit record) and stops on landing. Too many pluses to mention for such a small cost app.