Mavic Air and Wi-Fi

Ifti · Feb 12, 2018

So now that the MA has been out for a while, owners in built up areas, what are your thoughts on the WiFi connection?

Im in London (UK) - any fellow MA owners in London care to chime in on your experiences??

The MA looks like the perfect drone for me, but I'm in a heavily congested WiFi area and I want to make sure I can fly around a building without losing signal! If only they used Ocusync I would have been all over it!

synaesthesia · Feb 12, 2018

The various times I've flown it I've experienced no issues with the connectivity between the RC and AC but I do not live in London.

turbodronepilot · Feb 12, 2018

Ifti said:
The MA looks like the perfect drone for me, but I'm in a heavily congested WiFi area and I want to make sure I can fly around a building without losing signal!

I dought very much that this is possible with the mavic air in London ..

Fmoots · Feb 12, 2018

Ifti said:
So now that the MA has been out for a while, owners in built up areas, what are your thoughts on the WiFi connection?

Im in London (UK) - any fellow MA owners in London care to chime in on your experiences??

The MA looks like the perfect drone for me, but I'm in a heavily congested WiFi area and I want to make sure I can fly around a building without losing signal! If only they used Ocusync I would have been all over it!

I am based in Edinburgh & have tested it quite a lot around Arthur’s Seat, which is a very open area but very close to the city - I am struggling to get over 500n range before the video gets very choppy and have even lost full signal. I’d imagine you would experience the same in London. The CE power restrictions seem to have a big effect for those outside US. When I took it outside the city with no interference - range was much better

Also I probably wouldn’t recommend flying around a building - WiFi or Occusync!

Ifti · Feb 12, 2018

Fmoots said:
Also I probably wouldn’t recommend flying around a building - WiFi or Occusync!

Apologies - should have explained better! Its a building on private land and the owner is a good friend of mine who would like me to get some nice shots he can place on his website.
Nevertheless, I will continue hoping the Mavic Pro 2 has the pro's of the Air with a few additions!

Thanks guys!

Air Beetle · Feb 12, 2018

500 meters! Why oh why would you ever need more?

Fmoots · Feb 12, 2018

Air Beetle said:
500 meters! Why oh why would you ever need more?

500m is probably enough for a lot people, however it’s not so much about the range but more the quality of the video feed, it gets very laggy even at 300m or so & it can be hard to frame your shot & obtain smooth gimble movements.
After paying £780 or $1070 (how much we pay in the UK for a MA) that is advertised as 2km it’s abit disapointing to only get 500m. I completely appreciate this is in a very very high interference area though.

I know you say who needs more than 500m, but i’m betting if DJI released a drone with quoted range of 500m a lot of people wouldn’t be happy

Bahamabob · Feb 28, 2018

Fmoots said:
500m is probably enough for a lot people, however it’s not so much about the range but more the quality of the video feed, it gets very laggy even at 300m or so & it can be hard to frame your shot & obtain smooth gimble movements.
After paying £780 or $1070 (how much we pay in the UK for a MA) that is advertised as 2km it’s abit disapointing to only get 500m. I completely appreciate this is in a very very high interference area though.

I know you say who needs more than 500m, but i’m betting if DJI released a drone with quoted range of 500m a lot of people wouldn’t be happy

I have same problem, bought MA in USA, now in Bali, loss of signal at 200m in any direction. Seems to be the MA, not location

Fmoots · Feb 28, 2018

Bahamabob said:
I have same problem, bought MA in USA, now in Bali, loss of signal at 200m in any direction. Seems to be the MA, not location

Is Bali subject to CE restrictions? May be the reason

Bahamabob · Feb 28, 2018

Fmoots said:
Is Bali subject to CE restrictions? May be the reason

Could be, but same problem in Miami

Pedro · Feb 28, 2018

Do the (really simple) FCC 'mod' and you'll be fine. I've been out 1,250m with rock sold signal strengths (albeit not over a heavily congested area)..

Bahamabob · Feb 28, 2018

Pedro said:
Do the (really simple) FCC 'mod' and you'll be fine. I've been out 1,250m with rock sold signal strengths (albeit not over a heavily congested area)..

Thanx!! How do I do the FCC mod??

Pedro · Feb 28, 2018

dragonmuzz · Mar 1, 2018

Ifti said:
So now that the MA has been out for a while, owners in built up areas, what are your thoughts on the WiFi connection?

Im in London (UK) - any fellow MA owners in London care to chime in on your experiences??

The MA looks like the perfect drone for me, but I'm in a heavily congested WiFi area and I want to make sure I can fly around a building without losing signal! If only they used Ocusync I would have been all over it!

I live in a small village in Hampshire UK and I'm currently getting the same range and signal behaviour as I did with my ocusync P3A and P4 when I fly from my back garden.
Saying that I've never flown it in European CE mode .I put it FCC mode before its first flight .
If I fly it across fields I'm getting same signal quality as I do with ocusync.15.000 feet easy with FCC and a windsurfer antenna mod....it's like having a better specced P4 in my pocket .
I know some folk are having range issues but I'm not lol

dragonmuzz · Mar 1, 2018

Fmoots said:
500m is probably enough for a lot people, however it’s not so much about the range but more the quality of the video feed, it gets very laggy even at 300m or so & it can be hard to frame your shot & obtain smooth gimble movements.
After paying £780 or $1070 (how much we pay in the UK for a MA) that is advertised as 2km it’s abit disapointing to only get 500m. I completely appreciate this is in a very very high interference area though.

I know you say who needs more than 500m, but i’m betting if DJI released a drone with quoted range of 500m a lot of people wouldn’t be happy

Put it in FCC mode like I did mate ..very easy to do using the GPS trick and u only need to do it once.
People are getting 5.2km in FCC mode with no mods now.
I'm using FCC plus a windsurfer So i have zero range issues or lag.....the only range limiting factor the drone has is it's battery

griffinhart · Mar 1, 2018

The weather hasn't been nice enough for me to go out too much lately, but I have gone to my local pond a few times and I have flown 1600 ft away with no connection issues at all. I also took it to the beach out to 2600 ft without any connection issues. I'm in North Eastern Massachusetts. It's not a city center, but there are plenty of houses with Wifi around. Everything has been 100% unobstructed LOS and I that's typically the ranges I fly out to. Once Spring is here, I expect that I'll get much more flight time in to put it through its paces. So far, the Air is doing everything I want out of it.