Help with navigation with my Mavic Air

[wendell45]

I've had my Mavic Air for a good while now and have gotten used to the controls and settings. I have an illness that prevents me from flying as often as I like and it sort of keeps me from being proficient as I need to be. My main problem is when I'm flying the Air off in the distance I lose sight of it, and I cant see the screen on my phone too well because it's washed out. I can see the little map with the triangle in the bottom left of the screen and using that rotate the Air back to what I think is my starting point, and sometimes I it just doesn't come back into a range of sight. I have to press the RTH button which works. Even when I can see the screen I sometimes don't recognize where the drone is. Am I missing something or is there just no hope for me?

Any help is appreciated..

Wendell

 

[Mossiback]

I routinely loose sight of my MP simply because it is so small at 1000 feet out. When I do I will turn it to face me, see myself (or at least the general area where I am at) on the screen, look for features (trees, structures, etc) in line between the Mavic and myself, and then sight along that line to find it. I sometimes have to make sudden up and down movements for my eyes to catch sight of it. With a little practice it gets easy to do.

 

[Air_Joe]

Perhaps u might wanna use a tablet , bigger screen, easier for u to see.
I kind of panic whenever i cant spot where the bird is .
I tend to fly more now in the early morning or evening now, as i can still spot the lights on my MA when the sky is darker.
As mentioned the timing that i usually fly , normally its quite quiet, so our Noisy MA props do give me some hint which direction to look out for my bird is roughly at. Lol

Lastly, rth is always very useful, but just make sure u have enough satellite for the home point recorded. I guess i wouldnt fly without vlos if satellite is less that 8 or 9.
However the place i living, i always easily gets abt 12-16 easily
Good luck!

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Hello Wendell, I see you've joined recently, so welcome.
Sorry to read about your medical issue, hope I can help you with both problems you face flying.

. . . and mate, and there is definitely hope for you, if I can resist tech a lot of my life and fly my drones, anyone can !! ha ha.

Regarding the map and directional arrow.
It's always worked great for me, but I ensure good sat signals, home point recorded and direction of flight confirmed on the map, and to be safe I come straight up to 10m on take off and let precision landing get its fix.

With the viewing device, as said above, a larger device is amazing.
I have poor close up eyesight and find the ipad mini 4 is so (SO) much better than using the iphone 6.
It will fit into the arms of the controller ok, but it is on the outer limits . . . it should ease in and become a little more easy to fit after a few uses.
(The sports mode button on my MP controller is a pain to get to on the side, but I think the Air controller has this on the main front ?)

But if worried about that, you may have to go for a specialised aftermarket mount, of which there are many great threads here on the forum.

You just need a longer cable, either with fitting into the controller arms, or if using a mount.

This is my set up with Lifthor mount and spiral cable . . .



With VLOS (visual line of sight), you could try the strobe LEDs available on the market.
Try reading these threads, there are Creeon brand and Firehouse Tech with the ARC2 4 led lights, supposedly the best vision, but a few QC issues of late, so read up on these threads a bit, they might be over that now.

Just ordered 2 ARC II lights with mounts

and another pilots follow up Installed Strobe Lights on Mavic Pro

Other than that, a bright skin might make it easier to see ?
Plenty of threads on skins here in the forum too, just put that into search.

Best of luck with it Wendell, don't give up as you will find ways to make it work.

 

[hewo]

poor man is seventyfour, eyes get worn. by right disabilities should be accommodated. to help him, no screen other than tenfold larger will produce results worthy. its costly although medical insurance possibly pays? mavic air is recreation. insurance funds birth controls and erectile dysfunctions, you'd think vision accommodation also is covered

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

True hewo, I didn't look at age in the member info left of screen . . . maybe a younger family member as spotter can assist on flights ?

 

[wendell45]

Thanks for all of the replies guys..I'll work on everything y'all suggested. Even having the issues I'm having keeping in total control of the drone it's still a lot of fun. And I really enjoy reading the forum every day..sounds like you guys are having a good time too.

Wendell

 

[pmshop]

If the screen is washed out, you might accidentally have the camera settings on manual?

 

[wendell45]

If the screen is washed out, you might accidentally have the camera settings on manual?

If the screen is washed out, you might accidentally have the camera settings on manual?

If the screen is washed out, you might accidentally have the camera settings on manual?

I didn't word the "washed out" problem properly..I meant washed out by the sun..I can see fine, don't have any vision problems, but when I get out into the bright sun the screen on my iPhone is washed out to the point of not being able to see it well. It's set on true tone. By not being able to see the screen properly I sometimes can't tell if I'm flying away from me or toward me.

 

[pmshop]

I didn't word the "washed out" problem properly..I meant washed out by the sun..I can see fine, don't have any vision problems, but when I get out into the bright sun the screen on my iPhone is washed out to the point of not being able to see it well. It's set on true tone. By not being able to see the screen properly I sometimes can't tell if I'm flying away from me or toward me.

I see - understood.
I see that myself.
And if my iPhone 7 gets hot, the display auto dims.

 

[Thomas Fields]

Hi Wendell,
If you get a Mavic 2 with a Smart controller, some of the problems with seeing the screen would disappear. I'll be 80 years old next month and my vision isn't great. It was impossible for me to enjoy flying my Mavic 2 zoom using a phone or tablet. I bought a Smart controller and now flying is fun.

 

[RedSoxFan42]

I have had the same issues. I am 77 so join the club. I spend 6 months in Florida and it's always sunny. I finally purchased the crystalsky 5.5, mounted on a polarpro mount. I also use a black screen shade that adds even more clarity. Finally, since the air is small, and difficult to see at a distance, I often fly Litchi Missions. Even in the unlikely chance I lose my signal, the drone continues on it's mission. I have tried my iPhone 8 and iPad 9.7 and neither compares to the crystal sky monitor. Good luck. It is very important to be able to see what's going on on your monitor.

 

[Air_Joe]

I didn't word the "washed out" problem properly..I meant washed out by the sun..I can see fine, don't have any vision problems, but when I get out into the bright sun the screen on my iPhone is washed out to the point of not being able to see it well. It's set on true tone. By not being able to see the screen properly I sometimes can't tell if I'm flying away from me or toward me.

Oh ya, i always have this issue, whenever i try securing my iphone onto the controller, the ‘handle ‘ of the RC always blocked off the ‘light’ sensor of the phone, which is located near to the earpiece, as such, the phone will read it as low light surrounding since the sensor is block, it will auto dim the screen.

For now i always place the handle of the rc a 45degree angle , so it will not block the light sensor of the phone. Having bright screen since. [emoji1360]

 

[Grumpy D]

I didn't word the "washed out" problem properly..I meant washed out by the sun..I can see fine, don't have any vision problems, but when I get out into the bright sun the screen on my iPhone is washed out to the point of not being able to see it well. It's set on true tone. By not being able to see the screen properly I sometimes can't tell if I'm flying away from me or toward me.

I found the CrystalSky to be the ideal solution for me, it is pricey but still the best investment I’ve made. The lowest priced model is double the brightness of the new iPad Mini 5, for my old eyes the 7.85” is a perfect size. I’ve yet to have a problem seeing it in any lighting. If it can fit into the budget you’ll love it.

 

[hewo]

I've had my Mavic Air for a good while now and have gotten used to the controls and settings. I have an illness that prevents me from flying as often as I like and it sort of keeps me from being proficient as I need to be. My main problem is when I'm flying the Air off in the distance I lose sight of it, and I cant see the screen on my phone too well because it's washed out. I can see the little map with the triangle in the bottom left of the screen and using that rotate the Air back to what I think is my starting point, and sometimes I it just doesn't come back into a range of sight. I have to press the RTH button which works. Even when I can see the screen I sometimes don't recognize where the drone is. Am I missing something or is there just no hope for me?

Any help is appreciated..

Wendell

Wendell, you might try if not windy, using a wide brim mexican siesta time straw hat? there's giant kinds. at walmart i tried twentyeight inches diameter but it is some kind of asian country rice paddies field hat. if you can, seek foliage tree shade at its ledge where you stand sit shaded but with ledged outview of aircraft fly zone. dont launch
(land) underneathe foliage unless you know what youre doing.

Did you know that clicking that lower left corner aircraft triangle map fully enlarges that map? try it and see

 

[zzxrox]

^^^this^^^. I have a floppy hat in my drone bag. That and the screen shade work well for my tablet.

 

[Meta4]

Even when I can see the screen I sometimes don't recognize where the drone is. Am I missing something or is there just no hope for me?

I find that the radar display is the perfect solution for this situation and in general flying, it's much more useful than the map display.
It doesn't take much practice to get used to.

In this screenshot the radar display is showing where the drone is from me and which way it is pointing.
It's about 45° out to my right and pointing away from me.
The home position is the centre of the radar display so it's a simple matter to rotate the drone until it's pointing toward the centre of the circle and bring it home even if you have lost sight of the drone.
Like this.

 

[hewo]

meta, how to even select radar display?
the apk only reveals the simple map and craft icon whose nose point spraying out forward some green angled widening "sensory"?

 

[Meta4]

meta, how to even select radar display?
the apk only reveals the simple map and craft icon whose nose point spraying out forward some green angled widening "sensory"?

On an Android device, tap the top right corner of the map display.
Maybe the same for an Apple device?

 

[wendell45]

On an Android device, tap the top right corner of the map display.
Maybe the same for an Apple device?

Meta,

That’s exactly the solution I’ve been looking for. If that works you’re definitely on my Christmas card list. I use an iPhone but have a spare phone that’s an android. Thank you so much for the reply.