Litchi - Autopilot. "And" or "or"?

[Alex S.]

Hi guys!

I'm looking for a suggestion from guru like you!

Should I buy Litchi and Autopilot or one of them? I mean, is there any function in one app that the other one is missing or they are the same (but different graphic interface)?

Many thanks

Regards

Alessandro

 

[Lil' DronePilot]

• I have not used Autopilot. However I purchased Litchi as an alternative to DJI Pro and love it. I set up my flight plan on my computer and later stat my mavic and upload the plan from my phone, hit play and it will do as instructed by the perimeters set initially by me. Even if I lost contact with my RC, Litchi will continue plan and return to home when it finishes its flight plan. I personally like it. There are many YouTube videos. Check them out before purchasing Litchi.

 

[Owen Manderfield]

All 3 apps (Go4, Litchi, Autopilot) all have some similar functions all have unique strengths as well.

Autopilot is very powerful but can be quite daunting to use - and can only work on ios tablet screen.

Litch is very easy to use - covers nearly every situation you need and waypoint missions can be set up on a big screen computer at home, then tweaked in the field on your phone/tablet if required. (Huge advantage)

Autopilot has some advanced features you might consider useful - like controling the camera independent of waypoints and different flight curves.

I'd advise you to get Litchi - you'll be using it usefully within a few mins. If you later find you can't do a particular thing then get Autopilot as well - tiny cost compared to the drone.

 

[RallySoob]

Litchi has an option to use cheap VR goggles which is cool... does autopilot have that feature?

I wish dji go4 app would add this feature but obviously they wont cuz they want you to buy their goggles ofcourse but i think it should still be an option cuz its still nowhere near dji goggles quality so i doubt they will lose customers from it. I say they have more to gain by adding it

 

[RallySoob]

Or maybe dji cant add it because of the laws about line of sight flying vs fpv flying. I noticed all dji new promo vids show the pilot flying without goggles but they have a friend spectating who is wearing the goggles. Advertising it as if it is not meant for a pilot to wear in a solo situation although 90% it will be used that way obviously

 

[Lil' DronePilot]

Should I buy Litchi and Autopilot or one of them? I mean, is there any function in one app that the other one is missing or they are the same (but different graphic interface)?


I replied Saturday I believe to get Litchi for it's ease of use. TODAY, I will tell you my worst experience:

yesterday I flew a simple waypoint mission which I have flown on my Mavic before. It was around my neighborhood and again, very simple route. Waypoint route was 5 minutes long from take off to landing and I ran it in 9 MPH hardly noticeable winds and clear skies. Somewhere around the half way point of this 5 minute mission, the drone stated bearing off course. Soon there after, I got an APP ERROR both on the controller and on my IPhone screen of my Litchi. I wasn't able to switch to sport mode before the connection between the RC and the Mavic were lost. I lost all video feed as well. Now, it is advertised that the Mavic will continue it's mission even if it looses connection with the RC. I had programmed the mission to return to home once mission was completed. Let me remind you that the drone was flying off from it's intended waypoint mission. I restarted the app with no luck as there was no connection to the drone, and the 5 minute mission had extended to 10 minutes at which time it became a search and rescue mission. I had lost total contact with the Mavic and IT NEVER RETURNED HOME!!!! Being that I was using IPhone, LITCHI does not offer the find my drone feature as it does on Android. So not only did the APP didn't do as it was advertised that my drone would fly it's mission even if it lost contact with RC, but it totally lost my DRONE altogether. (No Healthydrone account either) The search and rescue never produced my drone. Using DJI GO find my drone is useless as it did not record a log because I was using Litchi, a third party APP Urgggh!!!! Very expensive mistake to trust any other app other than the manufacturer. I'll get another Mavic soon enough but will probably refrain from Litchi use.

 

[Phrede]

Or maybe dji cant add it because of the laws about line of sight flying vs fpv flying. I noticed all dji new promo vids show the pilot flying without goggles but they have a friend spectating who is wearing the goggles. Advertising it as if it is not meant for a pilot to wear in a solo situation although 90% it will be used that way obviously

It's technically illegal to use for all recreational users. Only Part 107 pilots can use a spotter. There are some FPV goggles that still permit VLOS which are legal for recreational users.

 

[Owen Manderfield]

..... I'll get another Mavic soon enough but will probably refrain from Litchi use.

Sorry to hear of you total loss - worst case scenario - lets hope it didn't hurt or damage any body either. If it had your contact details on you may yet get it back.

As for Litchi - I have run missions where I flew behind objects that gave me total blackout for 30 seconds or more (no video, no telemetry). The Mavic simply carried on the mission and eventually re-established connection with the controller and the mission as normal.

The App_Error is the key to the problem

 

[jimapp]

Hi guys!

I'm looking for a suggestion from guru like you!

Should I buy Litchi and Autopilot or one of them? I mean, is there any function in one app that the other one is missing or they are the same (but different graphic interface)?

Many thanks

Regards

Alessandro

I purchased AutoPilot and while it may seem difficult to use I found that once you grasp the concepts it really isn't hard to use. I have seen a few videos that claimed to be doing a fair comparison but in reality the presenter just did not understand how to use AutoPilot. No question Litchi is simpler to get up and running but I have seen way too many posts from owners complaining about "Glitchy Litchi" I would have no reservation recommending Autopilot and there are several well presented youtube videos made by the developer.

 

[bucefalo]

Should I buy Litchi and Autopilot or one of them? I mean, is there any function in one app that the other one is missing or they are the same (but different graphic interface)?


I replied Saturday I believe to get Litchi for it's ease of use. TODAY, I will tell you my worst experience:

yesterday I flew a simple waypoint mission which I have flown on my Mavic before. It was around my neighborhood and again, very simple route. Waypoint route was 5 minutes long from take off to landing and I ran it in 9 MPH hardly noticeable winds and clear skies. Somewhere around the half way point of this 5 minute mission, the drone stated bearing off course. Soon there after, I got an APP ERROR both on the controller and on my IPhone screen of my Litchi. I wasn't able to switch to sport mode before the connection between the RC and the Mavic were lost. I lost all video feed as well. Now, it is advertised that the Mavic will continue it's mission even if it looses connection with the RC. I had programmed the mission to return to home once mission was completed. Let me remind you that the drone was flying off from it's intended waypoint mission. I restarted the app with no luck as there was no connection to the drone, and the 5 minute mission had extended to 10 minutes at which time it became a search and rescue mission. I had lost total contact with the Mavic and IT NEVER RETURNED HOME!!!! Being that I was using IPhone, LITCHI does not offer the find my drone feature as it does on Android. So not only did the APP didn't do as it was advertised that my drone would fly it's mission even if it lost contact with RC, but it totally lost my DRONE altogether. (No Healthydrone account either) The search and rescue never produced my drone. Using DJI GO find my drone is useless as it did not record a log because I was using Litchi, a third party APP Urgggh!!!! Very expensive mistake to trust any other app other than the manufacturer. I'll get another Mavic soon enough but will probably refrain from Litchi use.

you know.. I started to use it just yesterday and I thought "what if I lose rc connection?"
I thought one thing I must do NOT in that situation is to touch sport mode..
sport mode will cancel the mission and give you control on RC but if you don't have control on it (and still it got the sport mode) then your mavic will be hovering in the place where it got the sport mode on.. i tried the situation yesterday while I had mavic few meters away from me and performing a "test" mission

 

[RallySoob]

Crap see i was just gettn ready to finally try the litchi app i bought 4 months ago until i read stories like the above. Scary thing u experienced. Ide prob use android instead cuz seems litchi is android app primarily imo.

How bout dji go app just adds vr goggle mode and autopilot editor ? That be best dangit

 

[Pp09nlk2n]

Crap see i was just gettn ready to finally try the litchi app i bought 4 months ago until i read stories like the above. Scary thing u experienced. Ide prob use android instead cuz seems litchi is android app primarily imo.

How bout dji go app just adds vr goggle mode and autopilot editor ? That be best dangit

Like everything on this site, 99% of people have no problem , the 1% that do are motivated enough to share their story here. That is true of all the apps you mentioned as well as the Mavic as a whole.

The vast vast vast majority of people have not experienced problems with Litchi. I use it all the time. Love it.

Just like anything, practice and learn so you know how it will behave. If you can remove user error then the number of actual problems people faced drops even less.

Try litchi. You'll like it. Lots of baby steps before you try anything stupid though.

Hangar360 is another simple "one simple task" app to look in to as well iOS only

 

[Pp09nlk2n]

Oh, and whenever using a 3rd part app, make sure you kill the DJI go app or any other control apps running in the background.

Seems that is the biggest cause of problems for folks is if both apps are running at once, there is a chance the background DJI app somehow sends a weird command when Litchi is in control and caused errors.

 

[Logger]

...Should I buy Litchi and Autopilot or one of them? I mean, is there any function in one app that the other one is missing ...

YES. Autopilot is missing support for Android. It only works with fruit.
Litchi works on both IOS and Android. Litchi Waypoint mission sync seamlessly between the two platforms and the web based Litchi Mission hub.

 

[Alex S.]

I know Litchi will continue mission even if RC signal is lost. What about Autopilot? will do the same?

Thanks

 

[Gumby]

Autopilot can be set to continue the mission or RTH - your choice

 

[Alex S.]

thanks

 

[Lil' DronePilot]

you know.. I started to use it just yesterday and I thought "what if I lose rc connection?"
I thought one thing I must do NOT in that situation is to touch sport mode..
sport mode will cancel the mission and give you control on RC but if you don't have control on it (and still it got the sport mode) then your mavic will be hovering in the place where it got the sport mode on.. i tried the situation yesterday while I had mavic few meters away from me and performing a "test" mission

Switching to sport mode is a great tool to know if you want to regain control of your Mavic while on Litchi autonomous mission. Unfortunate for me, I lost video connection while giving Litchi the benefit of doubt that it would continue with the mission. This is one of the advertised functions of this app as I understood it when I purchased it. Unfortunately that only works with GPS and I lost that too rendering my drone useless as even if I would of switched to sport mode, I wouldn't of been able to navigate it back to my location blindly as I had no feed. I think my mistake was to trust that god signal would be regain and hesitate to switch to sport mode while I still had video footage. Hard and expensive lesson to learn. I recently purchased its replacement and plan on being less trusting of autonomous flight apps such as Litchi and trust my instincts and what I have learned in this forum.