Litchi vs Autopilot vs GS Pro vs ?

[RoboticTundra]

I'm not finding a lot of info comparing the various apps for videography production. Some year old or older videos and posts but not much more and not much recently. This forum seems to be overwhelmingly Litchi. But so much of what I've read and videos I've watched make it out to be a bit buggy, unreliable, and doesn't provide smooth movements (of craft or gimbal). Has it improved quite dramatically over the past months? More Litchi posts because it has more problems?

Autopilot seems more capable and more reliable but seemingly not at all popular here. Too difficult to use? Other?

Very little mention of DJI's GS Pro. Not as capable as Litchi? More reliable though?

Very little mention of FPV. It seems perhaps the most reliable and with smooth movements but unpopular because it requires programming on an iPad?

A friend also suggested Field Agent but it seems more agricultural than videography. OTH, it is apparently rock solid so if it does what I need it to do then maybe a good option.

Seemingly there is no winner or winners. None of the currently available apps have been done very well and all have fairly major problems? Wide open market for someone to do it right?

Thanks all,

 

[Gizmo]

I use litchi, have used it on missions that covered around 8 kms with my MPP, never had a single issue with it, not even a minor one even with the RC not getting any signal from the drone, for me it is so reliable that I worry more about birds than I worry about litchi or my MPP, the trick is to do a proper preflight check to see that everything is ok and that the configuration is the right one for the trip.

 

[RoboticTundra]

Thanks. How reliable and smooth have you found craft and gimbal movements?

 

[Gizmo]

They are fine, just keep in mind that the gimbal and speed will keep constant, regardless of your mission settings, if the RC signal is lost, which means that of you had a 5° gimbal pitch and a speed of 30 km/h when signal is lost, those will remain for the rest of the video

 

[jimapp]

I have “had” Litchi(Glitchi in my opinion)Now use FPV almost exclusively with no issues(easiest to get up and going quickly) you do not have to preprogram but you can even from home before you arrive at your fav spot. Same with Autopilot, I use for doing very complex shots; again no issues. I have since deleted litchi and good riddance

 

[RoboticTundra]

Thanks. This is purely for video production so not sure about FPV. Still need to play with Litchi a bit and then I think we’ll play with Autopilot.

 

[Tinmania]

Thanks. This is purely for video production so not sure about FPV. Still need to play with Litchi a bit and then I think we’ll play with Autopilot.

I liked this article comparing Litchi and Autopilot:

Using Autonomous Flight Software for Aerial Photography and Videography

I have Litchi but am looking into Autopilot and FPV. One thing I have always assumed was a Litchi only feature is uploading the mission so the quad then flies autonomously. If you lose connection the mission continues. I don’t think Autopilot does that and I am not sure about FPV. That said when that happens with Litchi you lose a lot of the mission settings when you lose connection so I am not sure if that is advantage (unless you have simple missions such as checking on a field).


Mike

 

[Keule]

If you lose connection the mission continues. I don’t think Autopilot does that ...

It does - you have to enable LCMC (Lost Connection Mission Continuation)
But when you do so, you are losing all of the unique features Autopilot is offering such as:

 

[Tinmania]

It does - you have to enable LCMC (Lost Connection Mission Continuation)
But when you do so, you are losing all of the unique features Autopilot is offering such as:

View attachment 37248

Ah, then it is similar to Litchi. Think I might give it a try.



Mike