Getting Desperate for Answers

[bkushner]

So, as I've posted here I had a new M3 that was doing a bunch of crazy things. Most concerning was landing where I took off at over minus 100 feet. Few other things were flying along in a straight line and start descending or ascending without touching the stick. Multiple times the drone would not go faster then 10mph unless I switched into sport then back to P mode. I requested support CASE NUMBER 3896876 from DJI about 2 weeks ago and till now have received NOTHING. I did get one message passing me along to the "team that deals with this". A few folks that saw my logs agreed there was a real issue here and the drone needed to be replaced. So I returned the drone to the place of purchase for a refund and ordered elsewhere (couldn't exchange as dealer had no stock).

New drone arrived and is doing the EXACT SAME THING. So. How can this be. Odds would be astronomical that I drew another bad drone..So with no help from DJI not sure what I can do other then return and get the great Air 2S again. I've been flying for 6 years almost every drone out there and logged nearly 7,000 miles. I fly almost every day of the week and 98% in the same area. I've tried everything I know. I changed areas, locations, calibrations etc and I'm stumped. Would appreciate the experts here maybe having a look at my logs and weighing in as to what they think could be happening here. As for my hunch I believe it has something to do with the vision sensors. I do fly a lot at dusk although issue happening in full daylight but not as bad.

Here are a couple of logs. This first one is from the returned drone where the flight lands at minus 110 feet

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This log is from today's flight, just a few hours ago. Please have a look at 1m 38.5 you'll see drone start dropping in altitude with the left stick neutral. At 1.38.9 stick now up as I try and correct descent and altitude still dropping a little bit more. Finally 1.30.3 where VPS shows altitude at 48.6 feet and the IMU shows 80.4 feet. This is the point the readings stopped being close.

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Thanks

 

[Starz]

Ouch! Plus all your time!
I‘ve been hanging back on this one, and the reasons keep piling up.
Hope you get it worked out.

 

[Phantomrain.org]

There may be a problem with the Home Point as as I noticed a couple time in my flights with the Mavic 3 that the Home Point has recorded late into the flight a couple times and I had to Change it. . A software issue , fixable im thinking.

I also got an error about dust on a sensor which slowed the drone down , but than quickly went away and the drone was brand new when I got that error. I chalked it up to flying at dusk.


The alt drop I have not experienced yet but neither was I looking for it.

There is no doubt in my mind that the Mavic 3 is a HOT MESS> its terrible 4x zoom is rattling to my Brain and its 2x zoom not as good as the Mini 2 . The Mavic 2 Zoom has really gained some respect from me over the Mavic 3 Zoom.

I have been holding back about talking about the Crippled , mindless and some times blind as a bat Mavic 3 until the Update where it will either be anointed King or have its head chopped off.'

If that happens , than these drones will flock back to china as head less chickens in Disgrace ,shame and failure. ..

If I am right and the only goal they had was to ship these out before the Covid Comeback and everything shuts down again than these drone were not really ready for stage 1 let alone stage 2 than were just flying Skeletons , which I think is the case. Even the 20 mpx picture is lacking details.

This keeps reminding me of TSLA stock when electric cars were catching fire everywhere , and Elon said , its a software fix and that stock soared. I would like to see DJI offer a Substantial Discount off the New SC for Early Adopters.

 

[bkushner]

I don't get an error about the sensor but I see waves pop up on the radar when I'm no where near anything flying at 200 feet and the drone slows to 10 mph, then it picks up again to 20...30 then back to 10mph. Mostly seeing this at dusk and it seems to stop when I turn off the sensors.

 

[Point Zero]

@bkushner

Sorry to hear about your Mavic 3 issues and thank you for taking the time to share your experience so far.

Personally I feel its a bit risky to wait for promised updates to fix all these issues people are having. Also you are wasting refresh and warranty time whilst you wait.

Just my 2 cents worth but maybe its best to return again and hope that you get lucky with your third drone or refund until DJI fix it?

 

[slup]

Well, this is the thing when you going in as an early adopter (in reality a paying beta tester) for a complete new generation of crafts ... I would wait at least a year before going with an M3 & shelling out that kind of $$$.

But besides that ...

Have now seen enough oddities from the M3 platform that points to what you suspect ... the OD sensors, & in particular the new version of APAS. If you fly with APAS active you could try to deactivate it & see if something changes.

But personally, being in your situation ... I would return it & wait for thing's to settle down.

 

[Kbviper]

Well, this is the thing when you going in as an early adopter (in reality a paying beta tester) for a complete new generation of crafts ... I would wait at least a year before going with an M3 & shelling out that kind of $$$.

But besides that ...

Have now seen enough oddities from the M3 platform that points to what you suspect ... the OD sensors, & in particular the new version of APAS. If you fly with APAS active you could try to deactivate it & see if something changes.

But personally, being in your situation ... I would return it & wait for thing's to settle down.

Long before the M3 was released I had the cash set aside to make the purchase. I decided to wait a bit and look at some reviews before actually buying. I have read every post on this forum related to the M3, and having read these posts this morning, have now made the decision to put off purchasing an M3 indefinitely.

I have a M2P and M2Z with 10 batteries, along with a MM2 and 2 P4s, all of which work very well. I have some capable drones to fly, and until the bugs are worked out of the M3 (if ever), I will avoid taking on the apparent headaches.

Thanks to all who have taken the time to post their experiences with the M3, whether good, bad, or ugly, and I wish you all luck in a resolution to any issues that you are having.

 

[UAVquadman]

Long before the M3 was released I had the cash set aside to make the purchase. I decided to wait a bit and look at some reviews before actually buying. I have read every post on this forum related to the M3, and having read these posts this morning, have now made the decision to put off purchasing an M3 indefinitely.

I have a M2P and M2Z with 10 batteries, along with a MM2 and 2 P4s, all of which work very well. I have some capable drones to fly, and until the bugs are worked out of the M3 (if ever), I will avoid taking on the apparent headaches.

Thanks to all who have taken the time to post their experiences with the M3, whether good, bad, or ugly, and I wish you all luck in a resolution to any issues that you are having.

you made the right move as I have flown the Mavic 3 for about 10 flights so far and think the Mavic 2 Pro/Zoom do fly better overall.

 

[Crashdummytest]

Since I have heard that DJI will put used parts in drones as part of their business model (yes.. Care Refresh..), I prefer getting it brand new fresh from the factory sooner rather than later. I think my M2P had several used parts in it when I bought it as new. And I have had no issues at all with my M3 so far, except for the missing features as seen in GO4. That in itself is maybe bad enough to warrant postponing though.

 

[Phantomrain.org]

I don't get an error about the sensor but I see waves pop up on the radar when I'm no where near anything flying at 200 feet and the drone slows to 10 mph, then it picks up again to 20...30 then back to 10mph. Mostly seeing this at dusk and it seems to stop when I turn off the sensors.

Its obvious to me that the Sensors are just set to be to sensitive. there was no dust on my sensors , they were brand new .

Its just a software issue, and the 4 x zoom is just according to many al algo setting for the crop that needs fixed. , notice 7 x zoom is much cleaner than 2 and 4 zoom.

I had this same thing happen with my Sony Zoom Camera and the Canon , they put out some inferior products but the update came and the camera went on to become Legends . lol

We just have to hold the faith, you can do it. lol

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly your Mavic 3 in the Rain and Play Bumper Pool with your drone.

 

[Pappy]

The minus landing altitude has been around for some time (I believe since the Fly app was released for the Mini 1). The speed limiting issue maybe the same as what Ray at DC Rainmaker demonstrated in this video at 4:55. Hopefully some of the issues will be corrected in the January update.

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[tlswift58]

So, as I've posted here I had a new M3 that was doing a bunch of crazy things. Most concerning was landing where I took off at over minus 100 feet. Few other things were flying along in a straight line and start descending or ascending without touching the stick. Multiple times the drone would not go faster then 10mph unless I switched into sport then back to P mode. I requested support CASE NUMBER 3896876 from DJI about 2 weeks ago and till now have received NOTHING. I did get one message passing me along to the "team that deals with this". A few folks that saw my logs agreed there was a real issue here and the drone needed to be replaced. So I returned the drone to the place of purchase for a refund and ordered elsewhere (couldn't exchange as dealer had no stock).

New drone arrived and is doing the EXACT SAME THING. So. How can this be. Odds would be astronomical that I drew another bad drone..So with no help from DJI not sure what I can do other then return and get the great Air 2S again. I've been flying for 6 years almost every drone out there and logged nearly 7,000 miles. I fly almost every day of the week and 98% in the same area. I've tried everything I know. I changed areas, locations, calibrations etc and I'm stumped. Would appreciate the experts here maybe having a look at my logs and weighing in as to what they think could be happening here. As for my hunch I believe it has something to do with the vision sensors. I do fly a lot at dusk although issue happening in full daylight but not as bad.

Here are a couple of logs. This first one is from the returned drone where the flight lands at minus 110 feet

DJI Flight Log Viewer | Phantom Help

Upload and view flight logs from your DJI drones

www.phantomhelp.com

This log is from today's flight, just a few hours ago. Please have a look at 1m 38.5 you'll see drone start dropping in altitude with the left stick neutral. At 1.38.9 stick now up as I try and correct descent and altitude still dropping a little bit more. Finally 1.30.3 where VPS shows altitude at 48.6 feet and the IMU shows 80.4 feet. This is the point the readings stopped being close.

DJI Flight Log Viewer | Phantom Help

Upload and view flight logs from your DJI drones

www.phantomhelp.com

Thanks

With the M3 so new - getting answers may take some time. If DJI is no assistance, that is a problem for a new drone that many have little to no real time experience with.

Returning the new drone and getting one from a totally different seller would seem to be a good move, but guess not.

Can you be more specific on items like RC / SC, etc. What firmware / app versions are you using? Some of this may help in diagnosing the issues.

 

[bkushner]

With the M3 so new - getting answers may take some time. If DJI is no assistance, that is a problem for a new drone that many have little to no real time experience with.

Returning the new drone and getting one from a totally different seller would seem to be a good move, but guess not.

Can you be more specific on items like RC / SC, etc. What firmware / app versions are you using? Some of this may help in diagnosing the issues.

I'm using the stock controller. App is the latest on Android Samsung Galaxy S20 but it's happened on my iphone as well.

 

[bkushner]

The minus landing altitude has been around for some time (I believe since the Fly app was released for the Mini 1). The speed limiting issue maybe the same as what Ray at DC Rainmaker demonstrated in this video at 4:55. Hopefully some of the issues will be corrected in the January update.

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This is exactly one of the issues I'm having with the stopping and starting. I fly a lot on the Delaware River and often under 100 feet. Taking pics of ships and boats. It works fine with sensors off. However one of the most concerning things is the drop in altitude for no reason. When your at 60 feet and all of a sudden the drone starts descending without touching the sticks it gets a bit nerve wracking. This is being reported by others and can be seen in the log when it happens. Thanks!

 

[Squidinc]

Ouch! Plus all your time!
I‘ve been hanging back on this one, and the reasons keep piling up.
Hope you get it worked out.

Let’s face it. The current Mavic 3 is essentially a “beta version” until the anticipated January firmware update.

 

[Starz]

Let’s face it. The current Mavic 3 is essentially a “beta version” until the anticipated January firmware update.

Yes, the “anticipated” update hopefully will solve many of these issues and relieve the hurt on several wallets.

 

[bkushner]

I hope...I flew today without any sensors and most all the issues went away except the descending on it's own. It seems to do this shortly after takeoff. Not sure why or what it's doing but with sensors off I didn't have altitude issues or the 10 mph max speed situation. Sensors are TOO sensitive. It's picking up stuff 200 feet in the air. All in all my Air2S was the best drone I've owned. No issues at all and a workhorse. THE ONLY THING I like about the M3 is the longer flight time. Everything else I don't feel is that much of an improvement on the AIr2S for me. However, I sold my air2S so my choices are return the M3 and get another Air 2S or live with this until fixed with firmware if it can me.

 

[VenomXts]

I did a a forced return to home today at 400 ft height and about 800 feet out... What scared the crap out of me is I have my return to home flight set around 350ft.... the thing flew back but was descending as it did it and **** near hit the tops of trees getting back in my back yard. Not a return to home action I have ever seen.

Really worry's me about this drone.... Need to play with that function a bit more before I really trust it.. On my Air2 I never had a reason to question it...

 

[bkushner]

I did a a forced return to home today at 400 ft height and about 800 feet out... What scared the crap out of me is I have my return to home flight set around 350ft.... the thing flew back but was descending as it did it and **** near hit the tops of trees getting back in my back yard. Not a return to home action I have ever seen.

Really worry's me about this drone.... Need to play with that function a bit more before I really trust it.. On my Air2 I never had a reason to question it...

Yep ask yourself this. What if you had it set at 350 because you know there are power lines at 200 feet and you want to avoid them. I would not trust the sensors to see power lines all the time. See pic. I fly over the Delaware River alot and there is one area where wires actually cross the river...They are fine and not easy to see... When I fly this area I know they are there but with this new RTH will the drone see them? I like the old way better, or at least give us a choice.

 

[EasyV]

Looking at where you flight was - seems could be a lot of RFI in the area.

Go find a farmer's field in the country and see if you get the same result