Every Flight Is A White Knuckle Experience

Endeavor · Jun 2, 2018

I have had 5 different DJI drones so far and the only time I get compass errors is if I try to take off from the hood or back of my truck. I do have one site that shows a compass error when the copter flies over a 86000 volt power line however it is brief and does not affect the flight. Never gotten a GPS error but have had problems with lost connection in residential surroundings. BTW all my units have been refurb not brand new and all of them came from DJI directly or eBay. It makes me wonder if Costco is buying rejects?

mfc · Jun 2, 2018

Like truckstop, I have a Mavic Pro (15+ months old, now), it has never needed/requested calibration, and it flies as solid as a rock .. both here in the UK and in the mountains of Spain. Last week I was flying it in a limestone gorge with GPS often unavailable, and it was still safe to fly, with barely visible drifting.

lukemil · Jun 2, 2018

I have only had my MPP for a few weeks and the first one came with a defective fan, but one thing I have noticed is that there is a metal backstop at the ballfield where I have flown that seems to play havoc with the drone’s compass and gps. It isn’t huge but it is like a giant evil antenna.

DroningOn · Jun 2, 2018

I think it’s been established that the OP was just unlucky and got 2 defective units before finding a keeper. It happens.

Copepe · Jun 2, 2018

VintageDude said:
Yes, I can return the bird to Costco for a refund and that's what I'm probably going to do. Unfortunately, this is the second defective MPP I've had to return in less than a month. Not sure if I want to try another yet, but getting the thoughts of other more experienced Mavic users is why I started this thread.

I bought my MPP in February and it came with a defective gimbal. Sent it back to DJI and have been loving my drone ever since. Don't give up on MPP; best drone money can buy.

RobH2 · Jun 2, 2018

I've been watching this and everyone has exhausted all of the things I thought might be the culprit. I've had a flawless experience with my Platinum and I live in a pretty good size city, Baltimore. I fly around infrastructure all the time without issue.

I'm leaning towards the Costco "bulk damage" thoughts. I believe a whole palette of drones may have been damaged during shipment (EM, heat, vibration, impact, etc.). I saw the Costco deal and was impressed with the pricing. DJI keeps a tight grip on what vendors can charge for their products. That's why everywhere you go, DJI products and accessories almost always cost about the same with only small differences. It just goes to show you what power Costco has in the retail industry.

I think you are smart to consider using a different Costco. Get one from a different shipment. However, if they are close to each other, it is likely that they got the other half of the shipment that was dropped off at the 1st Costco. You might ask your Costco if they have gotten any others back? If they are honest and say, "yes, we've gotten a bunch back" then you'll know something is up. If they say, "no" then just try another aircraft. The best thing about Costco is their return policy. None like it.

The MPP is a great machine. Once you get your hands on a good one your knuckles with get some color back to them. Please do update us on what happens.

VintageDude · Jun 2, 2018

As I said in my last post, this 3rd AC is now working great after upgrading everything to the latest firmware. No strong magnetic interference, no disconnects, no losing GPS, no strange behavior. The first two were clearly defective out of the box. This last one has become a joy to fly and I'm using it in exactly the same area as the first two using the same Galaxy S7 and Fire HD 10.

VintageDude · Jun 2, 2018

I've truly appreciated the thought and encouragement that you all have put into your comments. I'm now confident enough in my AC that I am learning how to use the DJI goggles with it and bought Litchi. Now I'm really looking forward to my next trip to the coast !

ted35 · Jun 2, 2018

VintageDude said:
I've truly appreciated the thought and encouragement that you all have put into your comments. I'm now confident enough in my AC that I am learning how to use the DJI goggles with it and bought Litchi. Now I'm really looking forward to my next trip to the coast !

FWIW....I've been flying Quads since 2010 (made from shower curtain rods and an arduino board...fire it up and run like hell!). I currently have a number of homebuilds and racing quads, a MP, an Inspire1, and an Autel. I live in Ocean Shores and would be happy to meet up sometime. Unfortunately, I'm travelling for work and won't be back until late July. But if it works into your schedule and want to get together let me know.

Have a good one.

VintageDude · Jun 2, 2018

ted35 said:
FWIW....I've been flying Quads since 2010 (made from shower curtain rods and an arduino board...fire it up and run like ****!). I currently have a number of homebuilds and racing quads, a MP, an Inspire1, and an Autel. I live in Ocean Shores and would be happy to meet up sometime. Unfortunately, I'm travelling for work and won't be back until late July. But if it works into your schedule and want to get together let me know.

Have a good one.

I live in Battle Ground. My wife used to have a friend who lived there, so we would drive up and spend a couple of days once or twice a year. I grew up in a similar area in Oregon, Pacific City, and love the Pacific Coast.

I'm retired, but in the middle of a big project, so wouldn't be able to meet up until Sept. or later anyway.

Top Drone · Jun 2, 2018

VintageDude said:
I'm new to drones and have had 2 MPPs in the last 3 weeks. I spent a week working with DJI trying to get the first one to activate, but they told me to take it back for a replacement.

I was able to get the second one to activate and fly. However, I'm finding that nearly every flight is a white knuckle experience with random "Recalibrate compass...", lost GPS, RC disconnects and "Extreme interference..." issues along with a few short uneventful flights. For every battery worth of flying, I end up stressed out and spending hours researching, installing firmware/software and trying to download and analyze the fight data in an effort to find out why I keep having these issues.

Everything is up to the latest version installed multiple times to make sure it sticks, but every time I start to fly, it's a whole new adventure. Sometimes the problems start as soon as I get everything powered up, other times it's after flying for 1-x minutes. All my flights have been in a semi-rural area with no power lines and only 3 houses with barns in about 20 acres. I always put my Galaxy S7 in airplane mode.

Is all this normal for drones in general, DJI products, the MPP in particular ? If it is, I think I'll find another hobby. If not, was I just unlucky and got another defective MPP ?

My friend it is not common I’m a proud owner of an MPP and have been for quite some time and before that I own the MP I can tell you from first-hand experience they are one of the most stable most reliable drones in the world I absolutely love my DJI equipment you might want to check with the DJI website to see if your firmware update has a bug or glitch in the software and go out away from any metal objects or powerlines power your machine on go into your advanced settings where you can see your compass calibration this way you can monitor the interference and do a calibration once complete confirm through your go 4app that all updates are current 9’

Top Drone · Jun 2, 2018

I had very similar issues out of my MPP and my MP when I first got them I found that by doing all my current updates and firmware upgrades getting myself away from all metal objects powerlines moving water turning off all electronic devices except for the one that I’m using doing and IMU calibration and a compass calibration fixed it for my machine sometimes I think as new Pilots we are a little bit jumpy about every single warning that pops up sometimes there is just no explanation as long as your battery voltage is good you have good transmission good RC reception I would fly the machine enjoy it just keep track of all the warnings that pop-up if the problem consist I would consult DJI

Flapper · Jun 2, 2018

VintageDude said:
No, I don't know anyone who could help me locally. I've spent many hours searching and reading online before buying and first flying the MPP. I see that lots of people have had these same problems and I've tried many of their solutions, but none has helped to tame this beast. I've also tried using a new Fire HD10 tablet instead of my Galaxy S7 with the RC, but it didn't make any difference in the randomness of the problems.

I haven't taken the time to scout out other areas to fly because I wanted to master it on my own property before trying it elsewhere. I've already had a disconnect a few days ago where it took off on it's own and I couldn't get it to reconnect or RTH for about 3 minutes. By the time I did get it to reconnect, I couldn't see or hear it and it wouldn't RTH. I had to fly it back manually using the camera to get oriented (where I discovered that it was 1/2 mile away above a school). That episode left me shaking.

I own RC planes, heli's and small manual quads, but haven't flown for several years. I wanted something easier to fly that had a camera, but am disappointed at how challenging this has turned out. I'm very computer and electronics literate, so I'm pretty familiar with hardware, firmware and software and radio control. I'm used to solving problems like this, except this is so random. It's never consistently the same issue or sequence of events, so it's hard to pin down the cause.

Yesterday evening, I lifted off and flew up about 100 ft. and out about 300 ft. to use the camera and gimbel to take pictures of the back of my property. I was aiming the camera when I got a no GPS, then the RC disconnected and I had no flight control. I immediately rebooted the RC and it reconnected. Hit the RTH and it came right back as if nothing had happened.

This morning when I went out to fly, it told me I needed to calibrate the compass as soon as I turned everything on. I tried and failed 4 times, so I checked the status of the compasses, and #1 was a full, solid red bar. I thought that maybe the compass had finally died. I turned everything off and came back in the house, but had things to do, so didn't get back to it until the late afternoon.

Did a bunch of research, then went outside to turn it all on and see how it behaved. Everything booted up fine and gave me 16 satellites and 5 GPS bars, then told me to Go Fly ! I no sooner lifted off and it starts telling me that there was extreme interference and to fly with caution. I went ahead and decided to fly anyway to see what it was going to do. The flight was uneventful except for several more extreme interference warnings, even when I was 300 ft. up and 400 ft. away. Flew for about 10 mintues, then gave it a RTH. It landed right where it took off.

Took off again, got the extreme interference warning and continued flying. Flew around trying several different maneuvers, banking, circling, testing the sensitivity of the controls, pivoting in a 360, etc. for 15 minutes, then got a low battery warning. Hit RTH and it came back, but wanted to land about 6 feet from the takeoff spot. I had to cancel RTH and land manually, but other than that, it was a relatively uneventful flight.

After the week working with DJI on my first MPP, I'm not real confident in their customer service.

Sounds like a cable connection issue to me

mfc · Jun 2, 2018

Flapper said:
Sounds like a cable connection issue to me

It has been resolved .. see earlier posts.

Flapper · Jun 2, 2018

Sprocket said:
You might try watching this video:

This guy is really good, but talks way to fast for this poor dumb country boy. I downloaded his video and watch it in VLC Media Player. It has a function to slow down playback so I can keep up with him. VLC is a free player and works good for most stuff.
I would also suggest that you setup your drone (minus the props) on the kitchen table and walk thru all the settings with him. Maybe you will find something set up wrong.
I wasn't intending to chew on you for not having a location. Just trying to prod the mods a little.
SW Washington has some beautiful country to fly in. Can't blame you for wanting your drone to perform correctly with scenery like that. Good luck.

edit: His other videos might help more than this one.

Is that you Todd?

GFields · Jun 2, 2018

Sprocket said:
I think a requirement of new membership here is some kind of address should be required in the information under a posters name. At least country and state would be helpful. The OP states that he has no one near him to call on to help. I'd bet most of the time someone is closer than you think. I'm not trying to hijack his thread. Who knows he might be near one of the many people on this site that would be more than happy to help in person. I know I would. These are too expensive of toys not to enjoy.

If you click on the user's icon, a popup window will show you where they are (if the user has entered it correctly)

GFields · Jun 2, 2018

VintageDude said:
Yes, I can return the bird to Costco for a refund and that's what I'm probably going to do. Unfortunately, this is the second defective MPP I've had to return in less than a month. Not sure if I want to try another yet, but getting the thoughts of other more experienced Mavic users is why I started this thread.

Buy for another source

theatv · Jun 2, 2018

The issues as described, calibration in air, etc., remind me of the exact problems I had when I first installed the Go4 app v4.2. I wrote about that in previous posts.

Uninstall the current app and download/ install version 4.1.15. I had to roll back the app on my Iconia tablet before leaving the US and now having no problems while on my Australian adventure.

bubba1915 · Jun 2, 2018

VintageDude
I live in Centralia, I have bought a couple Mavic Pros from Costco before I got one that worked correctly. Not a big deal really. Especially now that the have a pallet full of Mavic Pro Platniums in the stores. If you need some assistance figuring out what is going on with you AC I may be able to help. Let me know