Mavic 3 Features Missing or Will Never Be

[Pappy]

Ray at DCRainMaker posted a video discussing missing and half baked features on the initial Mavic 3 release. It also includes a link to a spreadsheet of 42 items that will or will never be implemented as well.

Some of the notable items missing is ActiveTrack, MasterShots, Spotlight, and POI (these are scheduled to be implemented in Jan '21), and no "Pro" settings for the secondary camera (tele). As with the MA2 and A2S, waypoints will not be available. The 4G dongle will not be sold in the US/UK/EU due to government restriction on 4G use.

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[ProStreetCamaro]

My big question is....... How about SDK? Will they release an SDK? I want my Litchi.

 

[adcimagery]

Only ones that really stick out to me: panoramas, burst, raw on the tele, and mastershots. I'm guessing it came down to software being delayed due to covid, but they didn't want to delay hardware, hence a release and a 90 day sprint to finish non-critical software. I don't really mind it - those that do, just pretend the drone isn't announced yet, but coming in Jan 2022, which it was actually rumored to.

 

[tomic]

it came down to software being delayed due to covid

lol

 

[tomic]

i mean DJI has been releasing products in beta for nearly 10 years, why is anyone surprised?

Lets just hope this doesnt stay in beta, like some of the others

 

[Dale D]

Ray at DCRainMaker posted a video discussing missing and half baked features on the initial Mavic 3 release. It also includes a link to a spreadsheet of 42 items that will or will never be implemented as well.

Some of the notable items missing is ActiveTrack, MasterShots, Spotlight, and POI (these are scheduled to be implemented in Jan '21), and no "Pro" settings for the secondary camera (tele). As with the MA2 and A2S, waypoints will not be available. The 4G dongle will not be sold in the US/UK/EU due to government restriction on 4G use.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

This phenomenon is incredible. So much discussion about the missing features of the new drone. I've really never seen such a botched new product release in my life. DJI must think we are all stupid.

 

[CanadaDrone]

This phenomenon is incredible. So much discussion about the missing features of the new drone. I've really never seen such a botched new product release in my life. DJI must think we are all stupid.

How is it a botched release if you are fully aware of the limitations/upcoming features before making a purchase decision? What they are doing is very common procedure across many industries and is done because it always satisfies the largest number of people. Those customers chomping at the bit to get one are able to with knowledge of the missing features, and people who require one or more of the missing features are free to wait or buy something else. No harm is being done whatsoever.

Unless DJI is forcing people to buy the drone, or actively advertising these features are in fact available at launch when they are not, they aren't doing anything wrong or anything most other electronics companies don't already do.

I have been buying digital cameras for over 15 years and not a single one of them has been "complete" at time of purchase. As a particularly relevant example, I just placed an order for a Nikon Z9, and it has a list of significant features to be added sometime in 2022 via firmware. There is nothing unusual about that. I got a new vehicle back in September, and there are certain features promised via dealership updates down the road that are unavailable despite the vehicle having the hardware capability from the factory. Home theater equipment is regularly sold with the same promises of added features/compatibility sometime down the road - sometimes these aren't even free upgrades. Computer parts are another example of an industry that does exactly what DJI is doing - motherboard, GPU and CPU manufacturers regularly advertise features that will eventually be available, but are not on release day.

There is no real downside to what they are doing. For the sake of this discussion, let's say the drone will have the promised features by February, 2022. The people who require those features are going to wait until February 2022 regardless so they haven't lost anything, those who don't require them receive a very capable drone ~3 months earlier, and DJI gets the M3 to market as early as possible. It's a win for every party involved. If the drone was not released until February 2022, a significant portion of their customers would be pointlessly left waiting. and that isn't good for either them or DJI.

It seems to me that the people most upset by this want to have their cake and eat it too, which is not how much of the electronics industry works. There will also almost certainly be bugs/issues that no reasonable amount of testing will have discovered, and that is what warranty and additional firmware updates are for. People will always be unhappy about something but this is common practice.

 

[Dale D]

How is it a botched release if you are fully aware of the limitations/upcoming features before making a purchase decision? What they are doing is very common procedure across many industries and is done because it always satisfies the largest number of people. Those customers chomping at the bit to get one are able to with knowledge of the missing features, and people who require one or more of the missing features are free to wait or buy something else. No harm is being done whatsoever.

Unless DJI is forcing people to buy the drone, or actively advertising these features are in fact available at launch when they are not, they aren't doing anything wrong or anything most other electronics companies don't already do.

I have been buying digital cameras for over 15 years and not a single one of them has been "complete" at time of purchase. As a particularly relevant example, I just placed an order for a Nikon Z9, and it has a list of significant features to be added sometime in 2022 via firmware. There is nothing unusual about that. I got a new vehicle back in September, and there are certain features promised via dealership updates down the road that are unavailable despite the vehicle having the hardware capability from the factory. Home theater equipment is regularly sold with the same promises of added features/compatibility sometime down the road - sometimes these aren't even free upgrades. Computer parts are another example of an industry that does exactly what DJI is doing - motherboard, GPU and CPU manufacturers regularly advertise features that will eventually be available, but are not on release day.

There is no real downside to what they are doing. For the sake of this discussion, let's say the drone will have the promised features by February, 2022. The people who require those features are going to wait until February 2022 regardless so they haven't lost anything, those who don't require them receive a very capable drone ~3 months earlier, and DJI gets the M3 to market as early as possible. It's a win for every party involved. If the drone was not released until February 2022, a significant portion of their customers would be pointlessly left waiting. and that isn't good for either them or DJI.

It seems to me that the people most upset by this want to have their cake and eat it too, which is not how much of the electronics industry works. There will also almost certainly be bugs/issues that no reasonable amount of testing will have discovered, and that is what warranty and additional firmware updates are for. People will always be unhappy about something but this is common practice.

Sorry to disagree. Can't really understand why you would defend such a practice anyway.

When I buy a product, usually, the product is fully, if not 90% all there. Your examples do not hold water for my new Lexus, my new refrigerator, or my new camera. I do not recall any DJI announcement on the day of the release that all this good stuff is missing and will not come until hopefully January. We had to discover this through the forum.After years of breathless anticipation, never once was it mentioned in this forum that release would be a product that is so incomplete.

 

[CanadaDrone]

Sorry to disagree. Can't really understand why you would defend such a practice anyway.

When I buy a product, usually, the product is fully, if not 90% all there. Your examples do not hold water for my new Lexus, my new refrigerator, or my new camera. I do not recall any DJI announcement on the day of the release that all this good stuff is missing and will not come until hopefully January. We had to discover this through the forum.After years of breathless anticipation, never once was it mentioned in this forum that release would be a product that is so incomplete.

No need to apologize for disagreeing, you are absolutely entitled to your own opinion and most certainly entitled to decide how you spend your money. I am simply explaining why this practice is so common, especially in the electronics industry. I don't disagree with it because myself and many others regularly benefit from it.

You will always be able to cherry pick examples where this does not occur, but that doesn't change the fact that what DJI is doing is not at all uncommon, that is all I am getting at here. It is also a fact that this approach satisfies the largest number of customers. If you disagree with the approach, or just plain don't like what they're doing, then don't buy it - it doesn't get any simpler than that. No harm has been done any way you look at it. No matter what they do, they won't please everyone.

Hopefully the features do arrive in January and everyone can relax - by the time the M3 is widely available, it will probably be January or later anyway. Personally, I am waiting out our Winter before I even bother. I couldn't care less about the missing features as I don't need them for my work. You can shoot gorgeous 4K 10bit H265 D-log right out of the box at all frame rates, which is what I want and likely the most common use case in general. If it were later in the year I would have bought one on launch day and had no issues with the launch capabilities.

 

[Johnmcl7]

Sorry to disagree. Can't really understand why you would defend such a practice anyway.

When I buy a product, usually, the product is fully, if not 90% all there. Your examples do not hold water for my new Lexus, my new refrigerator, or my new camera. I do not recall any DJI announcement on the day of the release that all this good stuff is missing and will not come until hopefully January. We had to discover this through the forum.After years of breathless anticipation, never once was it mentioned in this forum that release would be a product that is so incomplete.

Yep, I feel exactly the same. I could understand CanadaDrone's point if DJI were offering this as a beta package with clearly missing features that will be added later with a full release so people desperate for the drone and can live without these features can get it early. But that's absolutely not what they're doing and I think DJI are being underhanded with this, the website does not make it clear these features are missing. If you scroll down the main page you'll see a promo picture for Wifi 6 Quick Transfer and a video for Active Track 5.0 and one for Mastershots. There's no text here to say these features are missing instead there's a small [10] on these videos but if you click that 10 to see what it means you'll get shown the video instead.

If you keep scrolling all the way down you'll eventually find the footer in small text that the features will be added in January 2022. I can't find any reference to the panorama mode at all which I'd have assumed was part of the drone since it has been the rest of their range while I'm sure DJI could argue they don't mention it so you don't get it.

There are plenty devices out there that aren't ready for launch but I don't see that in any way justifying DJI's actions, I don't support any company that does this just as I won't support DJI for it. Furthermore I bought both the Mavic 1 and Mavic 2 at launch and neither were missing as much as the Mavic 3 is, the only one I can think of was the Mavic 2 missing precision landing which was an annoyance but nowhere near as bad as the Mavic 3's omissions. What makes it worse for the Mavic 3 is that it should be a mature package given how many drones DJI have made at this point and it's a much higher price as well.

I purchase a lot of technology and can't think of many devices which removed major features from their predecessors with the promise to add them back later (the Xbox One does come to mind and they were hugely criticised for it) and I very much avoid any product that does that because there's no guarantee when they're going to add it and how well they'll implement it.

 

[RonBower]

In August, all of the rumors/leaks/inside information were saying that the M3 would be released in January 2022 at the earliest. Then, in October, the November 5th announcement date became general knowledge. It looks like the January-date leaks will end up being accurate for full functionality. People like me get the drone earlier, and I can use it for a couple of upcoming projects. Almost all of this controversy could have been avoided with more transparency. They actually could have turned this into a positive..... "bonus early release for xxxxx users! Early buyers will get (some type of incentive)!" Of course, full transparency isn't going to turn the M3 into the $1500 drone some want. That just isn't realistic, and those people aren't the targeted market for this drone.

 

[Dale D]

Yep, I feel exactly the same. I could understand CanadaDrone's point if DJI were offering this as a beta package with clearly missing features that will be added later with a full release so people desperate for the drone and can live without these features can get it early. But that's absolutely not what they're doing and I think DJI are being underhanded with this, the website does not make it clear these features are missing. If you scroll down the main page you'll see a promo picture for Wifi 6 Quick Transfer and a video for Active Track 5.0 and one for Mastershots. There's no text here to say these features are missing instead there's a small [10] on these videos but if you click that 10 to see what it means you'll get shown the video instead.

If you keep scrolling all the way down you'll eventually find the footer in small text that the features will be added in January 2022. I can't find any reference to the panorama mode at all which I'd have assumed was part of the drone since it has been the rest of their range while I'm sure DJI could argue they don't mention it so you don't get it.

There are plenty devices out there that aren't ready for launch but I don't see that in any way justifying DJI's actions, I don't support any company that does this just as I won't support DJI for it. Furthermore I bought both the Mavic 1 and Mavic 2 at launch and neither were missing as much as the Mavic 3 is, the only one I can think of was the Mavic 2 missing precision landing which was an annoyance but nowhere near as bad as the Mavic 3's omissions. What makes it worse for the Mavic 3 is that it should be a mature package given how many drones DJI have made at this point and it's a much higher price as well.

I purchase a lot of technology and can't think of many devices which removed major features from their predecessors with the promise to add them back later (the Xbox One does come to mind and they were hugely criticised for it) and I very much avoid any product that does that because there's no guarantee when they're going to add it and how well they'll implement it.

I think if you actually did a poll of this forum, the majority of forum members feel they were duped. I do not use my drone for any work, but I do enjoy panoramas, intelligent flight modes, and other goodies with my M2P. I will buy the M3 when is is a complete product, rather than a partial or shell product into which DJI will fill in the blanks at a later date, but collect the whole $$$ now.

I do not have to contend with winter, thankfully, so I would want to buy a new expensive drone and use it right away with it fully loaded, like my new car. Regardless of your points, if I purchased the M3 on opening day and then learned of the deficiencies, I would have felt sucker-punched.

Dale
Miami-it was 72 degrees here today, going down to the high 60's tonight.

 

[Rchawks]

Dale would you setup a poll on the subject, I'm sure it would be of interest to many. Or not, just sayin.

 

[Dale D]

Dale would you setup a poll on the subject, I'm sure it would be of interest to many. Or not, just sayin.

Of course you have got to be kidding!
I do have a real life besides the forum, (although sometimes I wonder).

 

[Montana_Flyer]

No native waypoint capabilites??? Really?? That has been my gripe for recent releases in the consumer category. Now the same for the "pro"????

My M2P just increased in value!!!!

 

[Reflexxx]

No support for new DJI FPV goggles?

 

[Wreckhunter]

How is it a botched release if you are fully aware of the limitations/upcoming features before making a purchase decision? What they are doing is very common procedure across many industries and is done because it always satisfies the largest number of people. Those customers chomping at the bit to get one are able to with knowledge of the missing features, and people who require one or more of the missing features are free to wait or buy something else. No harm is being done whatsoever.

Unless DJI is forcing people to buy the drone, or actively advertising these features are in fact available at launch when they are not, they aren't doing anything wrong or anything most other electronics companies don't already do.

I have been buying digital cameras for over 15 years and not a single one of them has been "complete" at time of purchase. As a particularly relevant example, I just placed an order for a Nikon Z9, and it has a list of significant features to be added sometime in 2022 via firmware. There is nothing unusual about that. I got a new vehicle back in September, and there are certain features promised via dealership updates down the road that are unavailable despite the vehicle having the hardware capability from the factory. Home theater equipment is regularly sold with the same promises of added features/compatibility sometime down the road - sometimes these aren't even free upgrades. Computer parts are another example of an industry that does exactly what DJI is doing - motherboard, GPU and CPU manufacturers regularly advertise features that will eventually be available, but are not on release day.

There is no real downside to what they are doing. For the sake of this discussion, let's say the drone will have the promised features by February, 2022. The people who require those features are going to wait until February 2022 regardless so they haven't lost anything, those who don't require them receive a very capable drone ~3 months earlier, and DJI gets the M3 to market as early as possible. It's a win for every party involved. If the drone was not released until February 2022, a significant portion of their customers would be pointlessly left waiting. and that isn't good for either them or DJI.

It seems to me that the people most upset by this want to have their cake and eat it too, which is not how much of the electronics industry works. There will also almost certainly be bugs/issues that no reasonable amount of testing will have discovered, and that is what warranty and additional firmware updates are for. People will always be unhappy about something but this is common practice.

I agree with you 100%,I give DJI credit for having the product in the dealers hands upon release day.
Unlike a certain company we know,who announces on paper and then takes 3 months or more to get product out.
I do not own the mavic 3 at least for a while yet, but have a mavic air 2.
These people have to realize that it is just about impossible to have everything included upon release day.
So what if it takes until January of 2022 to get the rest of the firmware updates.
When everything is updated on the firmware side ,I think the M3 will be hard to top

 

[Wreckhunter]

This phenomenon is incredible. So much discussion about the missing features of the new drone. I've really never seen such a botched new product release in my life. DJI must think we are all stupid.

Give DJI credit for having the product available on release day,unlike Autel.
DJI is the best in the consumer drone field period.
No one else has been able to touch them.
Thats why firmware updates are created to make it better over time,some patience
is necessary.
It is totally unfair to call it a botched release.
But I guess everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

 

[VenomXts]

Give DJI credit for having the product available on release day,unlike Autel.
DJI is the best in the consumer drone field period.
No one else has been able to touch them.
Thats why firmware updates are created to make it better over time,some patience
is necessary.
It is totally unfair to call it a botched release.
But I guess everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

Disagree, DJ failed here by not having some simple things like Panos ready for release day.

 

[Wreckhunter]

Disagree, DJ failed here by not having some simple things like Panos ready for release day.

Oh boy, there is no failure here,gee I dont know there seems to be enough people that have the M3
and have accepted the firmware delays.
There is still plenty of function here to make it much more than usable.
Sure it is not perfect,what new drone release is when the product hits market.
But I guess you have your opinion and I have mine so be it.
All good things take time,and as I mentioned before no one has any patience anymore
And is more than willing to bash what will be an excellent drone early next year.
Done.