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I hope you like reading [emoji23] (My experience with the Mavic pro to date)

iankeegs

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Hey guys, Ian here from Norway.

Just throwing up a message regarding my recent experience with the Mavic pro. I'm hoping its just been case of bad luck for me and it doesn't discourage anyone from buying the mavic.

It's a marvelous machine.

Snapseed.jpg

I purchased my first drone about 2 months ago from an online retailer here in Norway and as I wanted a drone I could use for a number of years that had the possibility of upgrading the camera, so I chose the DJI Inspire 1.

Having bought the Inspire 1, I was ecstatic to get my hands on it. Then finally the day arrived, when it landed on my doorstep (figuratively speaking).

I don't think I'd ever been more proud of a purchase (or as undereducated).

I opened its beautiful, sleek airline styled case with its posh leather DJI logo and admired the tech as if it were about to transform by itself and fly around my living room in some sort of autonomous movement.

My only words to describe it are: It's a f*# king beautiful piece of tech that looks like it could be from iRobot or something along those lines.

Given my busy work / Family lifestyle, I found it hard to even get it out in the open for one day during my first 2 weeks of ownership. I had read so much about it in this time but it just sat in its giant suitcase in the corner of my living room.

It was also for the most part unopened.

At this point you're probably thinking:
"WHAT an IDIOT!!?"

..and for the most part, you're right.

I was so concentrated on having the drone with the best camera tech in it that I neglected to think of the logistics of storage / how often I'd get to use it and portability (or lack there of), so as hastily as I purchased it, I contacted the seller and returned it.

Swapped it out and saved myself and couple of thousand kroners. 10,000 to be exact.

When I received my mavic pro I didn't have the same level as excitement until it arrived and I seen how small it actually was for a drone of it's capabilities. I really was astonished at just how portable this little thing was.

I took it out for its first test run not far from where I live, away from power lines and structures etc in a relatively open environment.

My first number of flights in this exact same location seemed to go fantastic (I visited the same spot a number of times to show to different friends, showing off, you know the drill [emoji23])

...until one day, maybe not even a week after receiving it I took it up to about 30 metres, it lost signal, had a number of compass errors and was blown pretty **** far away from me (I refuse to say fly away)

Having full control of the drone I was able to get it back after fighting the wind for 6 out of my 20 minutes in the air.

I WAS PETRIFIED to take it up again so I reviewed all my logs to see what went wrong and where the compass seemed to have issues but I could not pin point any particular reason why it happened.

After a number of days went by, I decided "I've payed ridiculous money for this device, I'm gonna use it" and took it out for another spin.

This time I wasn't even above 10 metres before I began to lose signal. The same area, same parameters...nothing has changed except for the mavics behavior. It was quite erratic, losing signal, compass errors again and me not having the ability to fly it back down. I was using moving the sticks in every direction possible but the drone just had a mind of its own (again due to wind).

Eventually I was able to get it down when there was a drop in wind I would imagine and I immediately contacted the seller for advice.

Given I had already returned a drone, I genuinely thought I was on a boat going down a river without a paddle [emoji23]

Luckily the product team at the drone supplier were able to recreate the issue with the drone and have been kind enough to send me a new one.

It should be here in a number of days and I'll be able to update you guys when I have more experience with it but needless to say, I'm optimistic given that it's a different model.

Sorry about the long-winded message guys. It's more of a blog than a post [emoji23]

IMG_6666.JPG
 
Well best of luck with the new one but it leaves a few questions, I'll trust you calibrated the compass and IMU, but did you start flying in beginner mode? I'd do that with the new one a good few times before progressing. Learn what to look for like GPS and how many satellites it's hooked up to etc. Anyway best of luck. I'm visiting Norway in August. Can't wait, just bought a Mavic, and today a Nikon D7500 just for this trip. Yeah, along with an ipad 4 and a few accessories, plus after care, and paying for this trip to Norway that's my rather huge spending spree over, need to start learning these new toys, stop spending and go back to saving again.
 
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I need to preface that I also am a very new pilot. The first thing i did when I received my new MP was to upgrade the firmware. Calibrate the compass and verify everything else was up todate... IMU etc...

I also went through all the RC settings for both the bird and camera. I made sure i was in beginner mode and the connection between the RC and bird was on RC and not wifi.

I have had noting but a solid connection and responsive flights. I can say theone day did try sport mode i was in a very very open area and high enough to mot be concerned with any obsticles. I can say there is a big difference between how the bird flies between the two modes.

Being still new i pay complete attention to not only where my bird is but all the information the RC is telling me. For me.. i am still enjoying learning and have been able to resist.. cutting her loose as it were. My advice is to verify all your settings.. then go out and take it slow.
 
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Well best of luck with the new one but it leaves a few questions, I'll trust you calibrated the compass and IMU, but did you start flying in beginner mode? I'd do that with the new one a good few times before progressing. Learn what to look for like GPS and how many satellites it's hooked up to etc. Anyway best of luck. I'm visiting Norway in August. Can't wait, just bought a Mavic, and today a Nikon D7500 just for this trip. Yeah, along with an ipad 4 and a few accessories, plus after care, and paying for this trip to Norway that's my rather huge spending spree over, need to start learning these new toys, stop spending and go back to saving again.

Calibrated compass and IMU and still haven't left beginner mode [emoji23]

Where in Norway you heading? I've been all over this place. Incredible country.
 
UPDATE:
I've taken the new replacement drone out for a spin, holy Jesus it's a fantastic machine. Luckily the engineers were able to reproduce the issue I was having and replace mh Mavic.

Needless to say, I'm one happy pilot once again. Now shall the spending spree commence on filters and accessories [emoji23][emoji23]
 
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