Hello!
I flew my MA2 thrice since I got it yesterday. Let me start off by saying it is simply marvelous! Now, the previous drones I owned were the Mavic Mini (DJI Fly) and Mavic Air 1 (DJI Go 4). Now, the connection is probably the best part of the drone. I had solid connection even at 3km away! only had to turn back since I was entering a class D airspace.
For a little background, let me tell you why I bought the MA2 in the first place. I couldn't live with the inferior connection offered by Enhanced Wifi and in my mind, the ideal drone would be the one that is silent, handles wind well, has Occusync at the least, gives me at least 20+ actual mins of flight and has a cam that is at least of the same standard as the one in MA. On paper (and also in practice), the MA2 ticks all those boxes and therefore I pulled the trigger within 5 mins of product launch.
I know that the drone in the current state probably has a lot of underlying software issues that I am sure DJI will send out updates for. However, I believe there is one main design flaw that we would all have to live with which is in the remote controller. Well, not the controller itself, but what it does due to the new position of the phone.
THE PROBLEM: The phone holder is smartly built. It has the antennae on the top and what allows for adjustment of the holder (also the antenna) is a sliding mechanism that is made of METAL. What I have found is that the fact that the metal is right below the phone causes the compass of the phone to lose the true sense of north. What is translates to physically is the wrong orientation and position of the drone with respect to the phone and controller on the ground. For example, if the rear of the drone is facing you and is flying at an altitude of 10 m and a distance of 30m, then the app tells you that the drone is actually at an angle in the yaw direction (rear not facing you) and is hovering to the right or left of you (right in my case).
Now, I have used the Fly app in the mini and never had issues of this kind which I think is because the phone would not be in close proximity to metals. I am convinced that the metal below the phone in the controller of the MA2 causes this issue. I see a potential fix: estimate the interference and compensate, which the Fly App could do everytime pre-flight, but I think the estimation would be phone-specific, which makes it a challenge. what I mean is that my Note 10+ might see more interference than an iPhone X. If that is indeed the case, I don't know know if there is a fix that is possible through firmware. One more thing I can think of is shield the phone, but that might just make the setup more bulky. I also see value in adding a holder for the phone which would physically elevate the phone from the metal sliding rails, decreasing proximity.
I would love to hear the opinions of fellow Mavic owners in this matter.
I flew my MA2 thrice since I got it yesterday. Let me start off by saying it is simply marvelous! Now, the previous drones I owned were the Mavic Mini (DJI Fly) and Mavic Air 1 (DJI Go 4). Now, the connection is probably the best part of the drone. I had solid connection even at 3km away! only had to turn back since I was entering a class D airspace.
For a little background, let me tell you why I bought the MA2 in the first place. I couldn't live with the inferior connection offered by Enhanced Wifi and in my mind, the ideal drone would be the one that is silent, handles wind well, has Occusync at the least, gives me at least 20+ actual mins of flight and has a cam that is at least of the same standard as the one in MA. On paper (and also in practice), the MA2 ticks all those boxes and therefore I pulled the trigger within 5 mins of product launch.
I know that the drone in the current state probably has a lot of underlying software issues that I am sure DJI will send out updates for. However, I believe there is one main design flaw that we would all have to live with which is in the remote controller. Well, not the controller itself, but what it does due to the new position of the phone.
THE PROBLEM: The phone holder is smartly built. It has the antennae on the top and what allows for adjustment of the holder (also the antenna) is a sliding mechanism that is made of METAL. What I have found is that the fact that the metal is right below the phone causes the compass of the phone to lose the true sense of north. What is translates to physically is the wrong orientation and position of the drone with respect to the phone and controller on the ground. For example, if the rear of the drone is facing you and is flying at an altitude of 10 m and a distance of 30m, then the app tells you that the drone is actually at an angle in the yaw direction (rear not facing you) and is hovering to the right or left of you (right in my case).
Now, I have used the Fly app in the mini and never had issues of this kind which I think is because the phone would not be in close proximity to metals. I am convinced that the metal below the phone in the controller of the MA2 causes this issue. I see a potential fix: estimate the interference and compensate, which the Fly App could do everytime pre-flight, but I think the estimation would be phone-specific, which makes it a challenge. what I mean is that my Note 10+ might see more interference than an iPhone X. If that is indeed the case, I don't know know if there is a fix that is possible through firmware. One more thing I can think of is shield the phone, but that might just make the setup more bulky. I also see value in adding a holder for the phone which would physically elevate the phone from the metal sliding rails, decreasing proximity.
I would love to hear the opinions of fellow Mavic owners in this matter.
