How many use Litchi ?

[DHILLC]

I went to Litchi for my Mavic Pro as DJI Go consistently produced pixelated images. What a difference!
Litchi & Mission Control are outstanding and not difficult to learn at all.
Using MP for my home inspection business and can often fully plan the mission before seeing the home in person. Result is outstanding inspection of roof, chimney, gutters etc.

 

[Storyline]

I went to Litchi for my Mavic Pro as DJI Go consistently produced pixelated images. What a difference!
Litchi & Mission Control are outstanding and not difficult to learn at all.
Using MP for my home inspection business and can often fully plan the mission before seeing the home in person. Result is outstanding inspection of roof, chimney, gutters etc.

Interesting you say that. On Friday we had our chimney swept and I asked the chimney sweep if he could cap some of our unused chimneys, some of which let rain in. As I was talking to him I suddenly thought of the Mavic and asked if he could give me a quote if I emailed him some film of our chimney stacks taken from above. He said a few of his customers have done that and it has been very useful for him so he knew what to expect before arriving at the job.

It occurred to me that there might be a bit of a part time job for me in it. Obviously would have to do the course but do you always have to have a second person with you when doing your surveys ?

 

[Storyline]

Let this tutorial help you decide if it’s worth the cost

Thank you for posting
That was superb and I can see it can transform the way you can fly the Mavic and also that it will do a far better job of keeping the camera on target that you can do manually. I mentioned before I want to film our sailing exploits and for practical reasons this will be nearly always when we are at anchor. I can get the anchorage on Google earth and then imagine I could plot the positions of other yachts worth filming by getting their range and bearing from our radar. It would be easy if I stayed above mast height but would have to be super confident I had the positions correct if going lower ! One of the problems I have found when I have tried this manually is it is difficult to judge the distance to the Mavic with respect to another boat. The aircraft always appears further away than she actually is. Anyway, loads of food for thought - thanks again.

 

[Harrier]

I am quite a new owner and have been having issues with the official app.

Could any of the more experienced pilots have an educated guess what percentage of regular flyers end up using Litchi ?

It seems quite expensive but if it is that much better I might give it a go.

Just get Litchi. You won't regret it.

 

[DHILLC]

Interesting you say that. On Friday we had our chimney swept and I asked the chimney sweep if he could cap some of our unused chimneys, some of which let rain in. As I was talking to him I suddenly thought of the Mavic and asked if he could give me a quote if I emailed him some film of our chimney stacks taken from above. He said a few of his customers have done that and it has been very useful for him so he knew what to expect before arriving at the job.

It occurred to me that there might be a bit of a part time job for me in it. Obviously would have to do the course but do you always have to have a second person with you when doing your surveys ?

The FAA test isn't that hard, I used a free youtube series and passed on first attemp. There are quite a few possible side hustles, as drone footage is used by many realtors for listings online, people like drone video of their partys & company get togethers, roofers, chimney contractors etc
I never have a second person with me when I inspect. Not sure why I would need anyone, so perhaps I am not understanding your comment. There were plenty of times when I wished I had someone when I was hauling ladders to go from 1st story roof to 2nd, but the Mavic takes all that out of the equation.

 

[theDRONEranger]

Been using LITCHI for several months now. Prefer it most definitely over the standard DJI for the WPs. The only problem I have ever encountered with the LITCHI is that the WPs I program seemingly are further out than the Google Earth mapping shows. So now, I just simply bring them in a little tighter. DJI is great if you just want to do the cute little tricks, i.e., comet, circle, . . .

 

[modbuilder]

I use the heck out of Litchi for waypoints on my MP, and wouldn't give it up for any other app. The few issues I've had have ALL turned out to be either operator error or a setting or a sensor needing calibration. You absolutely have to understand what you're getting/doing and be prepared to respond to strange behavior. That comes with flying the drone. Litchi gives you more functionality, therefore more possible ways to screw up.

 

[baddog]

Litchi is expensive? last I knew it was about $25.00 fron the paly store.
Not insignificant money but only about 2.5% the price of a base package Mavic Pro.
If cost is an issue, (it is with many of us) then you most likely will have something other than a $1000.00 Iphone in which case DJI GO4 will freeze it like a deer in the headlights. Litchi is far less demanding on the phone / tablet processor and works way better than not working at all.
mikemoose55

Been flying my mavic pro for 2 years, Samsung S6, S7, S8 now a cheap ASUS Zen 8 tablet never had a lockup or freeze

 

[FlyBuddy]

Does Litchi restrict your flight with geofences, like DJI does? In some areas, DJI won't even let me start my drone.

 

[LV2FLY]

Litchi is expensive? last I knew it was about $25.00 fron the paly store.
Not insignificant money but only about 2.5% the price of a base package Mavic Pro.
If cost is an issue, (it is with many of us) then you most likely will have something other than a $1000.00 Iphone in which case DJI GO4 will freeze it like a deer in the headlights. Litchi is far less demanding on the phone / tablet processor and works way better than not working at all.
mikemoose55

@mikemoose55 I find your comments costs interesting as well as somewhat counterintuitive. A logical person would ask if you can afford a $995.00 DJI Mavic why would $25.00 for Litchi be any problem. In fact, I’m guessing the New York sales tax you paid on your Mavic was more than the $25.00 for Litchi.

The feature set offered by Litchi for only $25.00 is ridiculously inexpensive. I’ve used Litchi for about a year now. I’ve not had any problems with it flying my Mavic Pro.

I’ve just bought a Mavic 2 Pro and flew this weekend with the latest version of Litchi. Smooth, flawless and no issues.

 

[LV2FLY]

No unfortunately I am only a Mavic Pro owner. I might get a mavic 2 someday but not untill DJI fixes everything they screwed up rushing this new and wonderful product out the door .
I think they tend to spend all their time hyping the next great thing. For example Mavic Platinum, Mavic Air, Spark and so on. Because they spend all that time and energy on the hype they do a pretty poor job of getting a clean product on the market. I am sure there will be 1000 horror stories associated with the MP2 series I will not even think about buying one until the Mavic 3 or Mavic 4 comes out next spring.
Maybe some day DJI will stop selling the sizzle and actually try to sell the steak.
lastly i like Litchi, trying to get the best use out of it. As far as I am concerned GO 4 is only half a phrase! it really is GO 4 a Litchi
mikemoose55

@mikemoose55 obviously you’ve never been part of a product development team for either a hardware or software product. Fortunately, I’ve been part of both hardware and software development teams during my career. I’ve been there, seen it, and done it. I’ll tell you DJI is not unlike any other company who sells a very complex and leading-edge product. Like me and you, DJI is not perfect. Expecting them to be is nothing short of unreasonable.

Making statements about what DJI is doing and not doing internally without first-hand knowledge is irresponsible at best. Moreover, it appears nothing that DJI would be could ever meet your expectations.

Your post said, “I am sure there will be 1000 horror stories associated with the MP2 series….”

How is it you could be “sure” of that? You have no basis to predicate a statement like that on.

Companies know there are a very small percentage of customers who will never be satisfied regardless of what is delivered to market. Believe me not all customers are worth having as customers. Some customer just need to be fired. I've fired some myself.

 

[parkgt]

I will not even think about buying one until the Mavic 3 or Mavic 4 comes out next spring.

mikemoose55

What makes you thing that the M3 or M4 will come to market without any issues?

 

[mikemoose55]

@mikemoose55 obviously you’ve never been part of a product development team for either a hardware or software product. Fortunately, I’ve been part of both hardware and software development teams during my career. I’ve been there, seen it, and done it. I’ll tell you DJI is not unlike any other company who sells a very complex and leading-edge product. Like me and you, DJI is not perfect. Expecting them to be is nothing short of unreasonable.

Making statements about what DJI is doing and not doing internally without first-hand knowledge is irresponsible at best. Moreover, it appears nothing that DJI would be could ever meet your expectations.

Your post said, “I am sure there will be 1000 horror stories associated with the MP2 series….”

How is it you could be “sure” of that? You have no basis to predicate a statement like that on.

Companies know there are a very small percentage of customers who will never be satisfied regardless of what is delivered to market. Believe me not all customers are worth having as customers. Some customer just need to be fired. I've fired some myself.

Well everyone has an opinion and you would be vary hard pressed to make a case that any of the the DJI products that have come out in recent past across 3 or 4 new models introduced have been trouble free.
I don't mean to rub your feathers the wrong way but when you make statements like this "Fortunately, I’ve been part of both hardware and software development teams during my career. I’ve been there, seen it, and done it. I’ll tell you DJI is not unlike any other company who sells a very complex and leading-edge product"

This suggests to me that you are somewhat not tolerant of views, beliefs, that differ from yours. To say that DJI is no worse than any other high tech sophiscated company and suffers the same slings and arrows of product development doesn't bring any comfort to the consumers of their products.

Lets change the naritive a little should you and I discuss the fragile charging micro USB on the Mavic controller obviously a high tech element still in development or possibly the virtues of Microsoft's VISTA operating system?

Unfortunately I do not have your background and can only think with the superficial capacity that one achieves with a 12 grade education, however I am pretty sure that a company that seems (IMHO) to rush products to a hungry market and work out the bugs later from "field testing and development" is a little unnerving. Like I said just my opinion sorry to put the burr in your saddle I will try to be better educated in future thoughts.
mikemoose55

 

[Cymruflyer]

What makes you thing that the M3 or M4 will come to market without any issues?

I think you may be missing his meaning.. I believe he means that by the time 3 and 4 come to market, the 2 version should have all the bugs worked out and THAT is the time that he will purchase the version 2. I hope I am right in my understanding.

 

[mikemoose55]

I think you may be missing his meaning.. I believe he means that by the time 3 and 4 come to market, the 2 version should have all the bugs worked out and THAT is the time that he will purchase the version 2. I hope I am right in my understanding.

Exactly my point ...Thank you
mikemoose55

 

[dbyantis]

is DJI refresh still valid if third party apps like this are being used

I asked DJI, the same question, they said "since 3rd party apps may not properly log information, if a claim is made and DJI cannot determine what happened from the available data, it will not be a warrantied case."

 

[Storyline]

The FAA test isn't that hard, I used a free youtube series and passed on first attemp. There are quite a few possible side hustles, as drone footage is used by many realtors for listings online, people like drone video of their partys & company get togethers, roofers, chimney contractors etc
I never have a second person with me when I inspect. Not sure why I would need anyone, so perhaps I am not understanding your comment. There were plenty of times when I wished I had someone when I was hauling ladders to go from 1st story roof to 2nd, but the Mavic takes all that out of the equation.

Thanks for your reply

Yes, I am confident I could pass the relevant exam here in the UK and I have seen adverts from training schools who guarantee you will pass (eventually maybe) if you use their services. Here it is not a license you get but permission to operate your drone commercially. You have to obtain this by using a licensed training school. It costs around £1k ($1.3k) and typically requires 3 days of fairly intensive training.

The reason I made the comment about the second person is that for some reason I thought that here in the UK you need to have a second person with you when operating commercially. I don't know where I got that idea but it has always stopped me from even thinking about any business possibilities. I have just had a good hunt with Google and can't seem to find anything about it. I first thought about commercial operations when I was lucky enough to get one of the first Phantoms available in the UK several years ago. There was no gimble on that aircraft and I quickly realised that although the imagery would have just about been good enough for web use, any moving images were almost unusable due to camera shake, so I sold it. Maybe at that time the rules were different and two people were required. Now, if I could do it as a one man business, I have renewed interest. I am a keen amateur photographer and have been flying remote control model fixed and rotary wing aircraft for many years. Without wanting to sound big headed I have also been building attractive websites for fun for a long time so all in all it may be a viable option for me. Finally, I am very much aware there must have been hundreds if not thousands of people who have thought -'this is an easy and fun way to make money'. I most certainly know there is no easy way to make money in 2018 ! Money would not be the primary motivating factor anyway, it would be having the excuse to get a good camera up in the air that attracts me. As well as my dSLR I have got a little compact camera called a Sony RX100 which can produce great images for its size. I have not looked at the camera on the Mavic 2 in detail but if it is anywhere near as good as my little Sony then that aircraft could easily be suitable for many jobs that require photography for use on the web. Ummm - food for thought and thanks again for putting the idea into my head

Edit: To get back to the subject of the thread I have just bought Litchi so let the fun commence !
It is a bit less than I thought at £21.99 and usefully is also in the new family library system so I can deploy it on my tablet as well as my phone. Not sure if it will also work on my Surface which runs W10

Edit2 : I am not going to edit my post above but just to say I have just discovered the stuff about the pixel binning/line skipping on the M2 Pro so any upgrade for commercial use requiring much better images than our Mavic Pro's would be to a Phantom and not the M2.

This is a great watch for any new Mavic Pro owners like me who are niggled by the thought that maybe they should have waited for the M2. It also plausibly explains the launch delay.



If you don't want to watch the video then just click the image above - it will possibly save you quite a bit of cash !

 

[Cymruflyer]

Thanks for your reply

Yes, I am confident I could pass the relevant exam here in the UK and I have seen adverts from training schools who guarantee you will pass (eventually maybe) if you use their services. Here it is not a license you get but permission to operate your drone commercially. You have to obtain this by using a licensed training school. It costs around £1k ($1.3k) and typically requires 3 days of fairly intensive training.

The reason I made the comment about the second person is that for some reason I thought that here in the UK you need to have a second person with you when operating commercially. I don't know where I got that idea but it has always stopped me from even thinking about any business possibilities. I have just had a good hunt with Google and can't seem to find anything about it. I first thought about commercial operations when I was lucky enough to get one of the first Phantoms available in the UK several years ago. There was no gimble on that aircraft and I quickly realised that although the imagery would have just about been good enough for web use, any moving images were almost unusable due to camera shake, so I sold it. Maybe at that time the rules were different and two people were required. Now, if I could do it as a one man business, I have renewed interest. I am a keen amateur photographer and have been flying remote control model fixed and rotary wing aircraft for many years. Without wanting to sound big headed I have also been building attractive websites for fun for a long time so all in all it may be a viable option for me. Finally, I am very much aware there must have been hundreds if not thousands of people who have thought -'this is an easy and fun way to make money'. I most certainly know there is no easy way to make money in 2018 ! Money would not be the primary motivating factor anyway, it would be having the excuse to get a good camera up in the air that attracts me. As well as my dSLR I have got a little compact camera called a Sony RX100 which can produce great images for its size. I have not looked at the camera on the Mavic 2 in detail but if it is anywhere near as good as my little Sony then that aircraft could easily be suitable for many jobs that require photography for use on the web. Ummm - food for thought and thanks again for putting the idea into my head

Edit: To get back to the subject of the thread I have just bought Litchi so let the fun commence !
It is a bit less than I thought at £21.99 and usefully is also in the new family library system so I can deploy it on my tablet as well as my phone. Not sure if it will also work on my Surface which runs W10

Edit2 : I am not going to edit my post above but just to say I have just discovered the stuff about the pixel binning/line skipping on the M2 Pro so any upgrade for commercial use requiring much better images than our Mavic Pro's would be to a Phantom and not the M2.

This is a great watch for any new Mavic Pro owners like me who are niggled by the thought that maybe they should have waited for the M2. It also plausibly explains the launch delay.

View attachment 47726

If you don't want to watch the video then just click the image above - it will possibly save you quite a bit of cash !

Stotyline, Your thoughts about the second person doing commercial work may come from the use of the goggles. When the flyer is using the googles they are not able to keep their eyes on the drone. Therefore a spotter is used to keep a visual on the drone while being flown by another with goggles.

As for the Mavic 2 Pro being good enough for web destined photography, it should more than suffice for such needs regardless of pixel binning or line skipping. I had the old Mavic Pro and sold it to buy the new Mavic 2 Pro and it is a great image, to the eye and computer screen. Looking at the image in a lab setting is of course, another matter, but how many end users ever are doing that?

As for your use of Lichi with W10, there are two versions of Lichi, one for Apple IOS and another for Windows. I have the Apple version because I used to use my iPhone 6 to fly, but now that I use the "Wunderphone", I will have to buy the Android version. I am not sure though whether either or both versions would be viewable on a Windows machine, since many people who use their iPhone or Mini iPad to fly, may well us a PC for flight planning.

 

[Storyline]

Hi Cymruflyer, yes I am aware of the Goggles thing and that is one reason to buy Litchi as I can use my better half as company to make me compliant with the rules but use Litchi to do the flying ! Regarding the second person thing it did not come from any FPV source as my (false) belief dates back longer than they were available. I am reasonably confident I did not make it up so maybe it was under active consideration at the time the first of this generation of drones were launched. I may be able to track back as I was quite a prolific poster in the early days of Phantom pilots. There was a English guy I seem to recall who offered photographic courses from his house in France and I remember a group of us being a bit envious as he could do it solo under French law. It is a mystery.

Re the Mavic 2, I agree with what you say but if I was to upgrade personally for commercial reasons I would probably go down the Phantom route. I have been down this pixel peeping route before with my still camera and lenses and it can get obsessive. It just depends on your required use I suppose. It does explain the delay and the difference in image quality that many have noticed. Even my Mavic Pro is great compared to my Phantom without gimble. I went through two cameras on that just trying to get an image that had consistent quality on each side of the image. For my intended use I have not even got the most out of my Mavic pro and have a lot to learn yet. If that guy is correct about the sensor overheating though there will probably be people now who are drilling holes in the back of their cameras and trying to hack the firmware to get a complete scan of the sensor ! The thing about the Mavic is it's user friendly size and excellent flying behaviour so that coupled with the camera even as it is now still makes an amazing package.

I have just used my pc to design my first Litchi mission and am happy just being able to transfer that to my phone for the actual flight. The issue I have now is estimating safe heights to fly at. My house has several beech tree around it and according to Wikipedia they can grow to a massive size so as I don't know what ours are I am probably being too cautious and the Mavic will be a speck in the sky as it goes over !

Thanks again for the reply

 

[Storyline]

Does Litchi restrict your flight with geofences, like DJI does? In some areas, DJI won't even let me start my drone.

I cannot say definitely but it behaves differently to Go4. I live quite close to an airport and am covered by an enhanced warning zone (the green circle). If I use Go I get a warning pop up and I have to confirm that I understand I have to be careful. However when using Litchi no such warning appears.