Is Mavic Air Active Track really that useless?

[p3eps]

Firstly - Hi everyone! I've been lurking for a few weeks, but this is my first post.

I bought my Mavic Air a couple of weeks ago when on holiday in the US. I live in the UK.
I've previously owned a Parrot Rolling Spider, so this is my first 'real' drone.
Over the last couple of weeks I've been reading all the Mavic Air documentation, and learning to fly it. Fairly low altitude, and not exploring too far until I get the hang of it. One thing I discovered is that DJI never equipped the MA with "follow me", but only Active Track.

The main reason for me buying a drone was to take on my MTB rides with me. I often find new trails and am unsure where they go. I've been down loads that are dead ends, and I end up having to walk back to the top and find another way down. I thought being able to look scout them out first would be pretty cool. I also liked the idea of a drone following me and recording some footage.

Today I was out on my bike, but at the top of the hill must've been 50+mph winds, as I was struggling to keep my balance! I decided to keep my MA in my backpack - which was a little disappointing.
As I was getting closer to the car, it was much more sheltered, so I thought I'd test out some low altitude Active Track. The path was just a wide open dirt track... slightly downhill, with approximately 20 metres between the trees at either side.

I put the MA at 15-20ft high, and set me as the target. I did this using the remote / iPhone - but without the thumbsticks fitted. My plan was to put the remote in my backpack - and having no thumbsticks would ensure they didn't accidentally get moved. I had headphones in, so could hear all the feedback from the remote through them.

It started off fine, until I got round the first corner. I'm talking about a long sweeping 45° corner - nothing steep. I was also travelling under 10mph. The MA slightly cut the corner, and ended up hovering behind a branch... stuck! I stopped, removed the controller from my backpack - and repositioned it in the middle of the track. At this point I had to re-select myself... and off we went again. The same thing happened again on the next minor curve. I ended up cycling back to the car with the controller in my hand!

When I got home, I decided to try and do a lap of the block on my OneWheel to test it using just my iPhone.
I put the MA in the air - probably 12ft high, and selected me. I started slowly heading off, and the MA was following. My 3 year old daughter came running out shouting "wait for me"! (She loves going for rides on the OneWheel). I lifted her on with her feet between mine, and we set off. The MA followed. I then realised how awkward it was holding my daughters hands and my iPhone at the same time... so locked it and put it in my pocket. As soon as the phone was locked - the MA just stopped.

Since Active Track is following ME using the camera, and not Follow Me tracking the remote - is there any way I can do this without either having to have the remote or iPhone on? Most of the activities I want "followed" during are not very good for having to be holding a controller!
I'm starting to think I should have bought the MPP instead - but didn't want to buy one of them based on the rumours of an MP2 being round the corner! I also wanted the extra portability of the MA.
I'm lucky in that I've bought the MA in the US for significantly less money than it costs in the UK - so in theory, I should be able to sell it without losing any money if I have to.

 

[Just_nick]

Active Track on any DJI is fairly useless for any sort of extended following or complex maneuvers, and is good only for very short shots. If you watch Casey Neistat's videos, you can actually see the drones go smash into something when he does the active track.

 

[djiboi]

Active track is very hit and miss on all devices

 

[Lake_Flyer]

Nothing more than an enhanced selfie feature that is actually dangerous, but the general public wants it anyhow. No selfie modes means no business. Simple as that.
It's especially dangerous when you're on a bike with the remote tucked in you backpack. It could just select another biker or car that coincidently passes and smack right into it. You wouldn't be able to do anything if it went wrong in any way. And be sure, active track goes wrong often. Lucky for you it has obstacle avoidance. But even that is dangerous to blindly rely on.

 

[MavicMo]

There is currently NO consumer drone that will do what you want. I wish they did exist.

What got me into drones was the thought it would be cool to have a drone that could follow me on my Sportbike in a canyon; A drone that could follow me on my Mountain Bike, charging down a hill; A drone that could follow me when I was snow riding.

They just aren't that good yet. You need wide open spaces and you can't go very fast. They can't navigate (very well or quickly) around obstacles. I'm sure its just a matter of time, but it's not today.

I have seen some demo's of a guy who selected himself on his bicycle in a wide open neighborhood where home sit on a minimum of 1/2 acre, no real tall objects and few trees. He was able to select himself, put the remote down, the go for a ride. It followed him the entire way.

I've tried having my MP follow me on my motorcycle in an open area with some corners. It couldn't keep up and would lose me around some corners so I'd have to backtrack, grab my remote and take manual control.

So they aren't quite there yet.

Firstly - Hi everyone! I've been lurking for a few weeks, but this is my first post.

I bought my Mavic Air a couple of weeks ago when on holiday in the US. I live in the UK.
I've previously owned a Parrot Rolling Spider, so this is my first 'real' drone.
Over the last couple of weeks I've been reading all the Mavic Air documentation, and learning to fly it. Fairly low altitude, and not exploring too far until I get the hang of it. One thing I discovered is that DJI never equipped the MA with "follow me", but only Active Track.

The main reason for me buying a drone was to take on my MTB rides with me. I often find new trails and am unsure where they go. I've been down loads that are dead ends, and I end up having to walk back to the top and find another way down. I thought being able to look scout them out first would be pretty cool. I also liked the idea of a drone following me and recording some footage.

Today I was out on my bike, but at the top of the hill must've been 50+mph winds, as I was struggling to keep my balance! I decided to keep my MA in my backpack - which was a little disappointing.
As I was getting closer to the car, it was much more sheltered, so I thought I'd test out some low altitude Active Track. The path was just a wide open dirt track... slightly downhill, with approximately 20 metres between the trees at either side.

I put the MA at 15-20ft high, and set me as the target. I did this using the remote / iPhone - but without the thumbsticks fitted. My plan was to put the remote in my backpack - and having no thumbsticks would ensure they didn't accidentally get moved. I had headphones in, so could hear all the feedback from the remote through them.

It started off fine, until I got round the first corner. I'm talking about a long sweeping 45° corner - nothing steep. I was also travelling under 10mph. The MA slightly cut the corner, and ended up hovering behind a branch... stuck! I stopped, removed the controller from my backpack - and repositioned it in the middle of the track. At this point I had to re-select myself... and off we went again. The same thing happened again on the next minor curve. I ended up cycling back to the car with the controller in my hand!

When I got home, I decided to try and do a lap of the block on my OneWheel to test it using just my iPhone.
I put the MA in the air - probably 12ft high, and selected me. I started slowly heading off, and the MA was following. My 3 year old daughter came running out shouting "wait for me"! (She loves going for rides on the OneWheel). I lifted her on with her feet between mine, and we set off. The MA followed. I then realised how awkward it was holding my daughters hands and my iPhone at the same time... so locked it and put it in my pocket. As soon as the phone was locked - the MA just stopped.

Since Active Track is following ME using the camera, and not Follow Me tracking the remote - is there any way I can do this without either having to have the remote or iPhone on? Most of the activities I want "followed" during are not very good for having to be holding a controller!
I'm starting to think I should have bought the MPP instead - but didn't want to buy one of them based on the rumours of an MP2 being round the corner! I also wanted the extra portability of the MA.
I'm lucky in that I've bought the MA in the US for significantly less money than it costs in the UK - so in theory, I should be able to sell it without losing any money if I have to.

 

[StefanG]

I agree with what has been said. In order to do real follow you during MTB, you might need to change to a Skydio R1 drone. This is however specialized on just follow mode, so hence all other nice stuff/features that comes with your Mavic are lost.

Have a look at this example (Skydio R1):

 

[FEMit]

I agree with what has been said. In order to do real follow you during MTB, you might need to change to a Skydio R1 drone. This is however specialized on just follow mode, so hence all other nice stuff/features that comes with your Mavic are lost.

Have a look at this example (Skydio R1):

I think Skydio will be the best bet. Expensive, but if follow me is your main use case, then it might be worth the price to you. DJI needs to step up their game on active track for sure.

 

[p3eps]

Thanks for the replies so far...
Follow Me is not my primary function, however I had hoped it would be a bit better than it is.
I'm more worried about having to stash a controller with a phone jammed into it into my small backpack... or an unlocked phone into my pocket to be honest. Is there an easier way of doing this?
I only cycle in forests / mountains, so there is no danger to anyone / anything other than the trees and the MA itself!

The Skydio looks better for following, but still doesn't look like it's 100% there. It also doesn't look that portable - although maybe it folds up and I haven't seen the right pic of that.
I wasn't expecting the MA to be anywhere near that good... but I did expect it to be able to follow me at 10mph along a wide open track.

The mountain (big hill!) I was at yesterday has a descent called "the devils staircase"... which is a series of switchbacks down the side of the mountain. There is no tree cover here, and the whole thing would be visible from the air. My plan yesterday (spoiled by high wind) was to set the Active Track to follow sideways - and try and track me back and forth as I zig zagged down the mountain. The whole trail takes less than 10 mins, so if the MA lost me, it would have still been hovering within reach for me to manually land at the end. In theory, there would be nothing in the way to block it's view... as well as there being nothing for it to hit! Maybe the weather will be better next weekend and I'll get a chance to try it out!

 

[LivinLarge]

Does the Mavic Air even follow downhill? I know the Mavic Pro will not.
The Typhoon H will track by GPS using the controller or Wizard wand.
The HALO Pro does a great job of tracking using a GPS module or watch that you carry. It does not have obstacle avoidance so you would have to stay above the trees.
Skydio is the best optical tracking drone by far, but limited for other functions and rather expensive.

 

[KNJ Drone Solutions]

I did some active track the other day. It did lose me, but I feel like what it did do wasn't bad. Hoping with some better drone placement before taking off helps.

 

[dbrown]

I did some active track the other day. It did lose me, but I feel like what it did do wasn't bad. Hoping with some better drone placement before taking off helps.

Wow. Really impressed. You captured some great shots and together it all came out epic. Well done!

 

[tcope]

Does the Mavic Air even follow downhill? I know the Mavic Pro will not.

Part of the problem is that the OP went from mentioning Active Track to Follow Me which are two different modes.

Active Track (on anything released after the P3) will change altitude in Active Track Mode.

 

[tcope]

It started off fine, until I got round the first corner. I'm talking about a long sweeping 45° corner - nothing steep. I was also travelling under 10mph. The MA slightly cut the corner, and ended up hovering behind a branch... stuck! I stopped, removed the controller from my backpack - and repositioned it in the middle of the track. At this point I had to re-select myself... and off we went again. The same thing happened again on the next minor curve. I ended up cycling back to the car with the controller in my hand!

Consider yourself very lucky that this is a post about Active Track and not about what to do with a crashed Mavic. Active Track is not very good (its better then Follow Me but that is a very low bar). I really think DJIs software is _way_ behind the times when it comes to visual software tracking. This is really the next step in drone use and a requirement for a lot of future features.

Using hand gesture to control the Mavic is also very dangerous.

 

[LivinLarge]

Part of the problem is that the OP went from mentioning Active Track to Follow Me which are two different modes.

Active Track (on anything released after the P3) will change altitude in Active Track Mode.

My understanding is that active track will adjust its altitude to follow a subject going uphill. If you are going downhill, it will maintain altitude and not descend.

 

[tcope]

My understanding is that active track will adjust its altitude to follow a subject going uphill. If you are going downhill, it will maintain altitude and not descend.

It will descend as well as ascend.

 

[LivinLarge]

It will descend as well as ascend.

From the DJI forum:
no downhill following in active tracking???

 

[tcope]

From the DJI forum:
no downhill following in active tracking???

I can tell you that it will descend as I've tested it for this many times. I _still_ have a video demo of this about 90% done that I need to finish and get posted. So many things to do... so little time.

The P4 and both Mavics ascend and descend. The P3 does not.

 

[thebigbaddan]

I've used active track for following my kids sledding, and for following them on a BMX track. It's okay to give you some shots, but you definitely need to have hands on the controller to take over. Otherwise it's highly likely that the drone would have crashed.

 

[adrianoaurelio]

Active Track always worked fine for me....

Am I a lucky man?

Those videos was made with Spark. No RC, just phone as main controller (usually on pants pocket)

 

[adrianoaurelio]

The main reason for me buying a drone was to take on my MTB rides with me. I often find new trails and am unsure where they go.

Since Active Track is following ME using the camera, and not Follow Me tracking the remote - is there any way I can do this without either having to have the remote or iPhone on? Most of the activities I want "followed" during are not very good for having to be holding a controller!

.

If you don’t plan to go very far, it is better to use just phone as main controller (WiFi mode). You can hide the phone very easily (take a look on my videos below - all done this way with Spark)

Works really ok for me. Sometimes it loose “me”, but it is not very often

Autopilot from Hangar will give you the Follow Me (via GPS) feature. But it will not work with no RC.