I've been experimenting with how to conduct BVLOS ops ( Beyond Visual Line Of Sight) legally and became curious about how far away you could start a Mavic so I tried and experiment. My observer friend Ian took my Mavic and Phantom 4Pro+ a little over a kilometer away ( across open water for best reception)
Point C was about 1.2km and point be was about 660meters from my position at A
Neither machine used antennae augmentation. Both stock, full battery tried both 2.4Ghz and 5.6 Ghz
We communicated by walkie talkie
Mavic would barely connect at C (some intermittent video) nothing solid
P4P+ would not even connect ( note: there was a few trees but no buildings just past point B which may have interferred)
Mavic fired up and would have taken off with good video signal if the blades had been on ( Off for safety)
P4P+ Would connect but flakey video and would not accept a start signal
Both were attempted on the ground and being held overhead
Mavic clearly has a better radio and video signal than Phantom 4
At under 500m both machines will connect and engines will fire and take off is blades were used

Point C was about 1.2km and point be was about 660meters from my position at A
Neither machine used antennae augmentation. Both stock, full battery tried both 2.4Ghz and 5.6 Ghz
We communicated by walkie talkie
Mavic would barely connect at C (some intermittent video) nothing solid
P4P+ would not even connect ( note: there was a few trees but no buildings just past point B which may have interferred)
Mavic fired up and would have taken off with good video signal if the blades had been on ( Off for safety)
P4P+ Would connect but flakey video and would not accept a start signal
Both were attempted on the ground and being held overhead
Mavic clearly has a better radio and video signal than Phantom 4
At under 500m both machines will connect and engines will fire and take off is blades were used
