Mavic Air 3 obstacle avoidance experience

[kvett]

Can someone comment on their experience with obstacle avoidance with the Air 3. I saw a video on You Tube that showed in my opinion, a very poor performance with avoidance. The person was on an ebike with the drone in follow mode and made some simple maneuvers on a road causing the Air 3 to crash into a tree. It also had difficulty following him. I would expect better performance from DJI's newest drone?

 

[Phantomrain.org]

The Sensors do work but a slow speeds, the moment you start to increase speed your relying a computer Chip that is not the M2 Apple Chip and thus has severe limitation and this has been the Challenge on all the drones going back to the Phantom 4 .

So I would not say its a Gimmic but you need to be somewhat seaonsoned to be able to get excellent results.

Phantomrain.org
Wet Suits to fly in the rain. Land on the Water.

 

[GadgetGuy]

The Sensors do work but a slow speeds, the moment you start to increase speed your relying a computer Chip that is not the M2 Apple Chip and thus has severe limitation and this has been the Challenge on all the drones going back to the Phantom 4 .

So I would not say its a Gimmic but you need to be somewhat seaonsoned to be able to get excellent results.

Phantomrain.org
Wet Suits to fly in the rain. Land on the Water.

Or lucky!

 

[jedpause]

There are two modes.. One sensitive so will react more rapidly and be safer.. The other slower to react to get smoother footage...but riskier as it goes closer and slower to react

 

[kvett]

Thanks for the input. My Air 3 is going to arrive soon. I am disappointed that you all are basically saying that one can not rely on the sensors. Being that was part of the reason I ordered this drone was to help me as a beginner, I look for suggestions anyone can provide to not crash due to lack of experience. Suggestions such as how far to fly and what heights, etc.
Thanks again!

 

[Dave Maine]

Practice, practice, practice. Find a nice open areas with no obstacles and practice flying patterns - squares, circles, perimeters, POV spirial ascents, descents, takeoffs, landings. Set up a box and practice landing on it. If that is too easy, get a smaller box.

 

[Xavier6162]

The obstacle avvoidance will stop you from running into solid objects like buildings (Non-Glassed) tree trucks, people, etc., you should read the manual. Though I have had no problems with trees, the manual does warn you of trees leaves, wires and other obstacles and conditions to be aware of.

 

[MS Coast]

Thanks for the input. My Air 3 is going to arrive soon. I am disappointed that you all are basically saying that one can not rely on the sensors. Being that was part of the reason I ordered this drone was to help me as a beginner, I look for suggestions anyone can provide to not crash due to lack of experience. Suggestions such as how far to fly and what heights, etc.
Thanks again!

Until you build some hours of flying time, don't fly close enough to objects that the drone's obstacle avoidance system ever even comes into play. It takes a while to build muscle memory with the control motions. As @Dave Maine said, it takes lots of practice.

There are a number of good videos on Youtube that focus on basic drone maneuvers and control skill development. Here's one from The Pilot Institute.

 

[Droning on and on...]

While OA has its limitations, it's far from a useless gimmick. People have a good point that it doesn't live up to the hype, and in that sense it's a gimmick.

However, APAS is very useful to the beginner. Set to brake rather than go around, it can save a noob's bacon again and again and, most importantly, significantly reduce risk flying in cluttered environments, like sparse trees, making it easier to develop those skills.

OA is pretty good training wheels. Like training wheels you can still fall off and get hurt, but it provides enough guardrails to more effectively learn.

As for Active Track, under the right conditions it can do a pretty amazing job too. Just not dodging lots of obstacles at 30mph...

 

[twickers14]

Suspect that the person on the e-bike was doing more than 15mph and I have just watched an excellent YTube vid which says that only follow in tripod or normal modes as they have OA and only up to 15mph. OA is not on in Sport Mode. If people in your area ride e-bikes at the speeds they ride around here steer clear both yourself and your drone.

 

[rwilliam99]

Thanks for the input. My Air 3 is going to arrive soon. I am disappointed that you all are basically saying that one can not rely on the sensors. Being that was part of the reason I ordered this drone was to help me as a beginner, I look for suggestions anyone can provide to not crash due to lack of experience. Suggestions such as how far to fly and what heights, etc.
Thanks again!

I view OA (obstacle avoidance) with a "belt and suspenders" approach. The belt (me flying) being the primary method of avoidance, with the drone's OA capabilities kicking in (hopefully - the suspenders part) as a fall back in case I screw up. OA should never be used as a primary method of avoidance, IMO.

With that said, I've found the OA abilities on my Mini 3 Pro to be pretty good - not perfect, but pretty good - as long as I'm not flying sideways.

 

[old man mavic]

the hardest thing for me to get used to ,with the APAS on the Air 3 ,was to trust that it would do in Bypass ,what it is supposed to do
and after a couple of weeks of ownership ,i bit the bullet ,and took it to a local Park, i fly a lot at and decided to try it out
compared to my Mini 3 pro, the difference is quite remarkable, having the 360 degree OA ,it really does a great job of trying to avoid obstacles in its detection range
i flew it around trees, and through signs ,and various posts dotted around and it handled it really well,as i said the hardest part for me ,was standing there, watching it go up, down, around, through, and at one point it actually stopped, in a very small space ,completely surrounded by bushes, and trees ,as it was going towards a gate, to another part of the park, the only downside for me was the constant bleeping ,but i fixed that by turning down the volume on the remote to zero ,but as others have said ,and i have as well ,OA is not foolproof ,and it should not be relied upon to save the day ,in every situation ,but it is good fun, watching nearly £1400 worth of drone, go flying around and doing its thing,

 

[Droning on and on...]

OMM, relax just a tiny bit... assuming you don't strap the contents of the FMC and your RC2 to the drone, you're only looking at losing probably £800-900.

 

[GadgetGuy]

OMM, relax just a tiny bit... assuming you don't strap the contents of the FMC and your RC2 to the drone, you're only looking at losing probably £800-900.

Substantially less than £800-900, if he bought DJI Care! LOL!
More like $129, as I recall, for the first "incident."

 

[Droning on and on...]

Yeah, I always get DJI Care Refresh, so the thing concentrating my mind when I get a new drone and am testing capabilities is being without it for a week, not $$

 

[kvett]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions and advice. I understand things happen but am looking for the most accident free flying experience for a newbie. Hopefully, that can be done if I am careful.

 

[mobilehomer]

First, read the manual several times. ESPECIALLY the warnings and the parts with this
Read the different RTH scenarios. Find an open area for practice. After you are comfortable, with AO on, fly around some obstacles and gain confidence.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Yeah, I always get DJI Care Refresh, so the thing concentrating my mind when I get a new drone and am testing capabilities is being without it for a week, not $$

That's why I always immediately buy a backup, if the first ever requires replacement by DJI. No more waiting, unless both are crashed at the same time!

 

[WanderLost]

Can someone comment on their experience with obstacle avoidance with the Air 3. I saw a video on You Tube that showed in my opinion, a very poor performance with avoidance. The person was on an ebike with the drone in follow mode and made some simple maneuvers on a road causing the Air 3 to crash into a tree. It also had difficulty following him. I would expect better performance from DJI's newest drone?

I found that the drone will not see thin wires or branches. If flying down a path or in a forest for example, an errant leafless branch can easily trip up the drone. Also, you need the best light to get the best avoidance - every bit helps. Bright "enough" to you may not be very bright to the drone. Slower speeds are better of course since they give the drone more time to process the data stream from the sensors.

The successful follow videos I've watched on Youtube show drones following bikers in forests with lots of trees but no branches to speak of near the ground. That's the best situation since the tree trunks are a large enough object for the drone to see.

It may be instructive to know that the sensors don't see the whole view in each direction but a more limited angle. This information is in the manual and varies considerably between each drone. For example, my Mavic 3 avoidance sensors have the largest coverage angles compared to my Air 2S and Matrice M30.

On page 56 in the Air 3 manual, it shows what angles are covered by the avoidance sensors - and by interpolation, where the blind spots are.