Mavic Air Range Frustration

[shane8289]

Meh ...felt nothing... I enjoy more 500-1000m range ...it's not really " explorer " drone.

 

[ac0j]

What are you talking about? Do you own one? I have had no distance problems at all. Just curious where you come up with this??

I dont own one, but I have a MP.
I didnt make this up, It is a fact that the mavic air was not made with maximum distance in mind. Its basically a long range selfie drone. That is what it is. It can go far, but NOT as far as a Mavic pro or Phantom do reliably .
So if one is looking for a drone with the maximum range, the Spark and Mavic Air are not great choices. I am NOT saying they are not good drones!

 

[Red Baron]

I dont own one, but I have a MP.
I didnt make this up, It is a fact that the mavic air was not made with maximum distance in mind. Its basically a long range selfie drone. That is what it is. It can go far, but NOT as far as a Mavic pro or Phantom do reliably .
So if one is looking for a drone with the maximum range, the Spark and Mavic Air are not great choices. I am NOT saying they are not good drones!

Thanks for clearing that up

 

[Mossiback]

Sigh. Well yesterday got over 1000m, only for today to barely reach 300 again. Same location.

Make sure another update did not happen in the background. If it worked poorly, then good after update, now poorly again, a background update could be to blame. I do not have an Air but my MP was useless after a background update to Go 4. I downgraded to a version that worked, turned off auto-updates, fly in airplane mode, and haven't had a problem since.

Another possibility is that there is a WiFi transmitter that may have been off on the days of poor distance results.

 

[Stevezphoto]

So if one is looking for a drone with the maximum range, the Spark and Mavic Air are not great choices.

The OP obviously didn't buy the Air thinking it was a maximum range drone. Is it wrong to be frustrated to be only able to fly a fraction of the advertised and published range spec?

 

[ac0j]

The OP obviously didn't buy the Air thinking it was a maximum range drone. Is it wrong to be frustrated to be only able to fly a fraction of the advertised and published range spec?

A little research would have warned that WiFi control is sketchy even at its best. Location has EVERYTHING to do with range and stability.
You can NEVER rely on the range spec. on ANYTHING.
"up to 60% off " Is all over the outside of my local Younkers store, they stretched the truth
"up to 30 MPG", was advertised on my wifes new car, Not even close so far.
"Earning potential of up to $100,000 in the first year" was the ad on my Daughters new job, I'll bet that is a "perfect situation" claim too.

 

[Stevezphoto]

A little research would have warned that WiFi control is sketchy even at its best. Location has EVERYTHING to do with range and stability.
You can NEVER rely on the range spec. on ANYTHING

You are right about exaggerated advertising, and hopeful best case scenarios.

Do keep in mind, that there are all kinds of people out there, and not everyone gets onto forums and such to research purchases thoroughly before buying. Everyone has busy lives these days, and impulse purchases for shiny toys do happen

 

[Stevezphoto]

I just flew off the beach, in a small village in NW Bali.

I was 2200 ft, straight out in the ocean, still had signal. Didn't push it any farther as NY battery was low from taking a bunch of photos on the way out.

On the return, I was 500ft away, but off to the side maybe 300ft. Lost connection, auto RTH kicked in.

Once overhead, connection reestablished, and I landed manually.

This is pretty normal here. Its a small village, but there are a lot of resorts with WIFI. At times I can't get very far away at all if I'm near civilization.

 

[Thwyllo]

When DJI GO auto updated to last version app ask me to authorize access to geolocation data from not only phone (with enabled fake GPS), but from DJI equipment and Alfa (assisted) GPS. And blocked to change wlan settings to fcc.

When you say "enabled Fake GPS" you haven't still got it running have you? You only enable it the once while you fool the drone into a geography reset. Then turn it off and do a cold restart in the drone and controller. The end.

 

[Thwyllo]

I thought WiFi is the primary technology behind the controls?

It's WiFi Jim but not as we know it. I think too many people relate it to the WiFi range of their domestic router (200m LOS on a good day); it's not, it's some sort of "enhanced WiFi" and I don't know the technical spec.

The OP could be flying while set to true WiFi mode, which is intended for phone alone without controller and has very limited range but the fact he's got to 1000m on one occasion tells me it's either an environmental issue or 'finger trouble'.

 

[Mackeaveli]

Does the mavic air have a trainer or beginner mode like the Pro does .that will put a solid limit to how far it can go

Yes I loved the safety of beginner mode but if he is going farther than it allows it tells you you're exceeding the beginner mode and asks if you want to disable

 

[Angermanagement]

Hello everybody!

I'm new here to this forum, because I've read this post and I was like: "Sounds familiar".
I've bought the Mavic Air this past monday and so far I'm amazed by it's build and video quality.

However, that's when it works.

The past few days I've took the Mavic for a few test flights, and had several problems with it.
One of my biggest concerns is the stability of the video connection.

Let me explain:
The past few days there was a fair bit of wind, but the drone should be able to handle itself and it did.
However, when I flew head first into the wind, the video connection started to go bad, and the app would say there is a high wind velocity.
I've tried all 4 directions, and went up to 300m.
In some directions, the video connection would just stop working for a few seconds (heart attack incoming) and then re-establish.
I've had two occasions in which the connection with the RC got cancelled. It started working >10 seconds again, but it did raise some concerns.

Some facts:
My Mavic has the latest firmware, and so does the controller.
I'm based in the Netherlands
The areas in which the problems occured were: Near the beach, going towards the water (the video connection was stuttering+lost contact with RC for >10 secs), going towards the urban area (same problem), going behind some trees near a campsite (same problem).

Best range that I got up until now was 480m (I've set it on 500m max) with video problems between (stuttering) let's say 100m and 480m.
Playback seems fine, although I've bought a new SD card just in case because the images that I import from the drone itself seem to be more smooth than those of the SD.

Can anyone tell me why this is happening? The antennas are in the right position, and the legs of the Mavic are folded down.
Thank you for your time, and hopeing to learn a lot from you guys!

Greetings,

 

[InvisibleName]

Hello everybody!

I'm new here to this forum, because I've read this post and I was like: "Sounds familiar".
I've bought the Mavic Air this past monday and so far I'm amazed by it's build and video quality.

However, that's when it works.

The past few days I've took the Mavic for a few test flights, and had several problems with it.
One of my biggest concerns is the stability of the video connection.

Let me explain:
The past few days there was a fair bit of wind, but the drone should be able to handle itself and it did.
However, when I flew head first into the wind, the video connection started to go bad, and the app would say there is a high wind velocity.
I've tried all 4 directions, and went up to 300m.

Greetings,

Just a side question:

You were flying in strong winds and went up to 300m? Not a good idea when the wind strength nearly always increases with altitude!

 

[Angermanagement]

Just a side question:

You were flying in strong winds and went up to 300m? Not a good idea when the wind strength nearly always increases with altitude!

Hello InvisibleName,

Thank you for your reply!

I'm sorry, I must have explained myself incorrectly.
300m is the distance that I'm talking about.

The altitude is somewhere between 20-40m.
Wind conditions were fairly good (today) and I still had that problem (like yesterday when there was more wind).

 

[Stevezphoto]

Welcome @InvisibleName!

Yes, as you have probably read earlier in this thread, the Wifi connection of the Air is less reliable than the Occusync connection used by the Mavic Pro. You are encountering interference on the Wifi channel that disrupts the signal. You will find some locations are better than others. If you fly straight out away from the beach over the ocean, you will usually be able to go much farther than if you fly along the beach, where there are resorts and other businesses to interfere with your signal. You have the option to custom choose a Wifi channel. 2.4ghz and 5.8ghz channels have different performance that you can research.

 

[Angermanagement]

Welcome @InvisibleName!

Yes, as you have probably read earlier in this thread, the Wifi connection of the Air is less reliable than the Occusync connection used by the Mavic Pro. You are encountering interference on the Wifi channel that disrupts the signal. You will find some locations are better than others. If you fly straight out away from the beach over the ocean, you will usually be able to go much farther than if you fly along the beach, where there are resorts and other businesses to interfere with your signal. You have the option to custom choose a Wifi channel. 2.4ghz and 5.8ghz channels have different performance that you can research.

Thank you for your reply!

The thing that makes me wonder is why I only have 1 or 2 bars left on the 5.8Ghz signal when I fly from an empty beach into the ocean... Makes me wonder if I don't have a faulty device. That shouldn't be able to happen if you ask me. It drops down in signal very quickly (like after 50-100m)

 

[Stevezphoto]

I'm new as well ... But its my understanding that 2.4 gives you more range.

I have completely lost connection at a distance of a little more than 100m.

I would try as many different locations as you can. If you have problems at 100m at them all, then maybe you have a faulty device, or there is some other setup problem. If you experience good performance at any locations, then you can look to dirty WiFi bandwidth.

Thank you for your reply!

The thing that makes me wonder is why I only have 1 or 2 bars left on the 5.8Ghz signal when I fly from an empty beach into the ocean... Makes me wonder if I don't have a faulty device. That shouldn't be able to happen if you ask me. It drops down in signal very quickly (like after 50-100m)

 

[Angermanagement]

I'm new as well ... But its my understanding that 2.4 gives you more range.

I have completely lost connection at a distance of a little more than 100m.

I would try as many different locations as you can. If you have problems at 100m at them all, then maybe you have a faulty device, or there is some other setup problem. If you experience good performance at any locations, then you can look to dirty WiFi bandwidth.

It's not everywhere, but it's definitely not uncommon.

I can't connect my phone through wifi with the MA either, I tried it a couple of times but the signal won't get picked up.
So I have to always use the cable to the remote setup.
Anyone else that has the same issues?

 

[Bazzam]

I’d question VLOS past 900m.

I'd question your eyesight, go to spec savers [emoji846]

 

[Thwyllo]

It's not everywhere, but it's definitely not uncommon.

I can't connect my phone through wifi with the MA either, I tried it a couple of times but the signal won't get picked up.
So I have to always use the cable to the remote setup.
Anyone else that has the same issues?

It's almost as if either your phone is not up to it or the Mavic is faulty because that sort of performance isn't normal. It's about what you'd expect if you were just using the phone WiFi and not the controller to fly the drone?

Have you tried a straightforward wireless connection to the drone without using the DJI app? From memory if you press and hold the button on the rear of the drone (at least I think that step is necessary, I haven't done it for a while) until it beeps multiple times, then the wireless on your phone should be able to see the Mavic's SSD and you can connect to it using the password on the label on the side of the drone...if that doesn't work you might have other problems.