Just bought a mavic, can't decide if I should keep it?

[KER]

Been watching prices on the fly more combo for a while, then the price dropped briefly and I decided to pull the trigger and get one. It was delivered and now I have been sitting on it for a week in the box. I have taken it out and checked it over but cant seem to bring myself to activate it and take it out flying.....

I dont have any grand plans for using it, it was mainly just to mess around with and eventually do some FPV flying with it, but I just can't decide whether its worth keeping. With all the issues with the newest firmware updates, lack of real support from DJI, stupid local/state drone restrictions etc, is it really worth the hassle of owning this thing just for fun?

 

[ayoldguy1]

I had same thing, took some time before I activated it.. but once I saw that footage that I took with the drone 200 feet up... I got hooked and decided to keep it.

 

[BuzzyOne]

Fly it!

 

[royster]

I was the same, even walked outside, set up, then went back in the house & read the manual again, put bird away!
Baby steps, pick a big clear area, just put her up, listen for Home point recorded & do a couple of big circles, but keep her in site at all times, up 10 to 30 meters, then land her, take off & land again & again, if you feel your not in control, stop fiddling with sticks & she will just stop in the air, just exhilarating those first few flights!
keep it up, till you feel more confident.

 

[KER]

Im not concerned with my ability to fly it, I have been fly RC helicopters for 13+ and have my Private pilot rotor-craft license as well.
My hang up is whether the unit itself is reliable enough to use without major concern something will fail every time it goes up(glitches, firmware issues, interference etc.), and if the burden of where it can legally be flown is worth the trouble in the first place. Perhaps I'm making a bigger deal of it than there really is, be it seems a lot of the cool places I would love to get some footage of all drone flights are banned for some reason or another. Now in my area we also have the local county banning flights in any of their parks.

 

[BuzzyOne]

You're right, you might have a problem. Take it back ASAP and go log a few more hours in your real aircraft.

 

[rcflyingaddict]

Im not concerned with my ability to fly it, I have been fly RC helicopters for 13+ and have my Private pilot rotor-craft license as well.
My hang up is whether the unit itself is reliable enough to use without major concern something will fail every time it goes up(glitches, firmware issues, interference etc.), and if the burden of where it can legally be flown is worth the trouble in the first place. Perhaps I'm making a bigger deal of it than there really is, be it seems a lot of the cool places I would love to get some footage of all drone flights are banned for some reason or another. Now in my area we also have the local county banning flights in any of their parks.

Yes - in my years of flying all types of RC (Giant's, Large scale heli's - etc...) the MP is by far more reliable as in it does what is is supposed to do most of the time. Get rid of it but not due to reliability's sake .. do it for boredom sake. If you fly heli's like I do then you may find the MP so boring to fly (actually it fly's itself for the most part) that you don't enjoy taking it out. There are only so many neighborhood video shot's that one wants to look at etc... If you have a purpose to film a specific place, willing to travel to get the shot etc.. the MP is a great accessory to the photographer/videographer but no to much a 'fun' RC toy IMO.

 

[mavic6611]

Im not concerned with my ability to fly it, I have been fly RC helicopters for 13+ and have my Private pilot rotor-craft license as well.
My hang up is whether the unit itself is reliable enough to use without major concern something will fail every time it goes up(glitches, firmware issues, interference etc.), and if the burden of where it can legally be flown is worth the trouble in the first place. Perhaps I'm making a bigger deal of it than there really is, be it seems a lot of the cool places I would love to get some footage of all drone flights are banned for some reason or another. Now in my area we also have the local county banning flights in any of their parks.

It's a perfectly natural concern. I've been flying for 10 years now and I have that edgy nervous feeling nearly every time I fly. BUT.. that certainly isn't enough reason not to fly. Also these machines seldom fail trust me on that.
Motors basically never fail. Imu is highly unlikely to fail.
Make sure your compass is all good to go which will tell you on the screen on the app. And make sure your battery is clicked in properly. Set your return to home point up, as soon as it says "The home point has been updated please check it on the map" and there are no on screen errors, let that baby fly [emoji2]

 

[Stan1915]

Take it out, update the firmware if needed and then go over all the settings. I have not had a hiccup one with mine since I have been flying nor have I had any problems with the updates. It has done everything that I have pushed it to do and nothing else. I am not saying that it cant happen but it has not happened to me yet in over 50 flights. Yes I get warnings but it is because I am in an area that is wifi heavy. That is eliminated when I go out where there is little to no interference and fewer homes with wireless wifi routers. Fly safe.

 

[Kate]

Seems like a lot of people "Test Driving" or "impule buying" Mavic's this year, then selling them for fear of failure or
what have you
Last Year at rollout. If you were lucky enough to get hold of one; you tended to treat it
a special way.
Like you would actually respect Beginner mode, and slowly over a bunch of flights get your confidence up.
Because you knew if it was special, and if you crashed it, there was no replacement (even if you were rich).

It's weird now. All these people suddenly unsure whether they should own one, even though they have brought one.
I think i can safely say, in terms of Airborne R/C equipment, there has never been anything as "User friendly", easy to fly as Mavic, or if you prefer the DJI phantom drones.

Even the most basic fixed wing or Heli's, you need to be pretty commited to get them safely on the ground again.
I might have gone off topic there, but that's how I feel

 

[Samson 811970]

Been watching prices on the fly more combo for a while, then the price dropped briefly and I decided to pull the trigger and get one. It was delivered and now I have been sitting on it for a week in the box. I have taken it out and checked it over but cant seem to bring myself to activate it and take it out flying.....

I dont have any grand plans for using it, it was mainly just to mess around with and eventually do some FPV flying with it, but I just can't decide whether its worth keeping. With all the issues with the newest firmware updates, lack of real support from DJI, stupid local/state drone restrictions etc, is it really worth the hassle of owning this thing just for fun?

Throw her up in the air! I was bitten by the bug instantly...

I'm curious why you would buy it if you were afraid to fly it...all of these issues/apprehensions were there before you made the purchase, no?

 

[BuzzyOne]

I agree with Kate. I took a break from RC flying about the time spread spectrum tech came out. I retrofitted a crystal set Futaba 9CAP with a 2.4ghz module when they first came out right before I pretty much stopped flying (**** you 16 year old drunk drivers). I've flown just about everything that flies in the RC world from Gas 1/3 scale Pitts to 3D foamies. I have instructed many RC pilots over the years (AMA 529XXX). I had been wanting to get back into flying and picked up a Mavic for fun. I can tell you I am blown away by the technology and ease of use. You're nuts if you are not out flying it right now. It can be both a relaxing experience while sitting in a lawn chair exploring the ground from above or thrilling in sport mode while tansversing a forest obstacle course. (Don't forget to change your RTH settings to Hover.)

The vast majority of Mavics fly and fly with no issues whatever. The vast majority of issues people have are user error. The tiny fraction of problems that occur through no fault of the owner are taken care of by DJI.

However, I still think you should send it back.

 

[MavicBouvier]

Don't forget, a lot of people post about problems they have with their Mavic but there's even more people who enjoy flying their Mavic that don't have any issues at all. Drone on! [emoji1303]

 

[Adamcain112]

I am guilty of this also I have had thr mavic for 2 weeks. I have only powered on and yet to fly it. To be honest a little nervous, I have tons of RC nitro experience but nothing in the air.

 

[BuzzyOne]

I am guilty of this also I have had thr mavic for 2 weeks. I have only powered on and yet to fly it. To be honest a little nervous, I have tons of RC nitro experience but nothing in the air.

Wow. Just fly it! Don't horse around with it and fly for the first few times on beginner mode in a wide open area. My 80 year old mother who doesn't know how to work a mouse (and doesn't have an email addy) has flown my Mavic. "Touch here Mom. Now slide that with your finger. Now push up on this stick to go up higher, pull down to go down..."

The thing has a Pause button!

 

[royster]

As Mavicbouvier says- You only get posts when people have issues, not when their Mavic flys perfectly. The Mavic is arguably the easiest drone that is in the air today! Most issues I;ve read about turn out to be first timers errors and/or panicking because they haven't read & re-read the manual,
The classic case to me is in the title by a first time flyer who posted- "I threw the Mavic in the air , motors didn't start & it fell to the pavement"!
You think he read the manual?

 

[m0j0]

Im not concerned with my ability to fly it, I have been fly RC helicopters for 13+ and have my Private pilot rotor-craft license as well.
My hang up is whether the unit itself is reliable enough to use without major concern something will fail every time it goes up(glitches, firmware issues, interference etc.), and if the burden of where it can legally be flown is worth the trouble in the first place. Perhaps I'm making a bigger deal of it than there really is, be it seems a lot of the cool places I would love to get some footage of all drone flights are banned for some reason or another. Now in my area we also have the local county banning flights in any of their parks.

You haven't flown any RC that is as reliable as a Mavic. Fly it once, you won't return it.

 

[m0j0]

If you have a purpose to film a specific place, willing to travel to get the shot etc.. the MP is a great accessory to the photographer/videographer but no to much a 'fun' RC toy IMO.

It's boring because it is incredibly reliable and very unlikely to not respond to input. Also, the flight is so good that you actually aren't needed for the experience. So yeah, if you are used to manual flight on a RC, which is incredibly challenging you will soon learn that the Mavic is no challenge at all. It does does what you bought it to do. Fly, deliver a fantastic live video fed to you and return even if you are bad it flying. If you pick a good launch spot and don't fly in 30MPH winds you could luanch it and go eat. It will land where it took off and wait for you to plug in a new battery.

Too easy.

 

[BuzzyOne]

Too easy.

Coming from the fully manual RC world, I agree. It needs an ATTI mode switch. There is very little actual flying done when it comes to using the Mavic.

 

[m0j0]

Coming from the fully manual RC world, I agree. It needs an ATTI mode switch. There is very little actual flying done when it comes to using the Mavic.

I have flown both manual and with ATTI on other birds. I thought the same thing but with just shy of 10 months flying I haven't missed it and can say I never needed it.