Mavic Pro as a first drone

[zoomie]

I was surprised to hear that people bought the Mavic Pro as their first drone, but I'm starting to get it. Drones are the new thing and with so much improvement in technology and seeing all the cool videos you can capture on Youtube, it's hard to resist.

If you're new to drones or even quadcopters, I highly highly highly recommend getting an indoor flyer to train on. I suggest the JJRC H36 for $15-18 shipped. I can't say enough how valuable it is to be able to hover and fly in a tight space at a high rate of speed manually. By doing that, you'll also get a new appreciation for the automation that the Mavic Pro offers. W/o the struggles of running into walls, ceilings, inspecting propellers after a crash, learning to hover with less than ideal controls, it's really tough to understand how much the Mavic really does for us. Flying with a little toy quad will also help with orientation when piloting an aircraft like the Mavic Pro.

I'm seeing that people who own Mavics fall into one of two categories:

1. Those that wanted a quadcopter, a flying machine and see the camera and the fact that it's a drone with automation and modes as a bonus.

2. Those that wanted a "flying camera," where the camera really is the main function and the whole quadcopter thing is a complete bonus that adds that extra feature to get those new angles not achievable otherwise.

 

[Blind T]

My first drone was a Parrot. I crashed it, dunked it, lost and found it, rescued it, learn with it and loved it all the while. I still do. It was an awesome stepping stone for my MP. I think that is pretty good advice you've given.

 

[ryo]

Mavic is a very easy to use drone compared to many others out there; that said you must do your homework before using it (read instructions and start easy) because it can turn a 1000$ loss.

 

[LongRifle]

My first drone was a Parrot. I crashed it, dunked it, lost and found it, rescued it, learn with it and loved it all the while. I still do. It was an awesome stepping stone for my MP. I think that is pretty good advice you've given.

Same here, going back to the AR2.0. I crashed that thing so much I kept a tube of weatherstripping in my kit to fix the Styrofoam hull. Most of the crashes were from ill advised stunts. It's a tough bird. Still flies true to this day. Next up were my Bebops. Only crashed them a few times. All from aggressive flying.

Crashing the Mavic is not an option. I'm glad I learned from my earlier Parrots. My Mavic is as pristine as the day I received it last year with about 200 kilometers of flight under its belt.

 

[charliesRig]

4. My Mavic was a Gift
.............................. and amazed how much tweaking it needs to fit My personal flying habit
I have to check and adjust the setting before every flight.
.
Personally I'm a picture guy
and try as I might I can't figure out how the you tube crowd gets those excellent video's
Must be done with the High end Editing programs..??

 

[gnirtS]

A small portable flying camera so i can get photos (90%+ of my stuff is photo) i cant otherwise get.
So far its doing that just very well. Im slowly getting used to the limitations of the camera (it is after all a fairly average quality action cam) to know what i can and cant do acceptably.

A phantom or Inspire are simply too big and non portable for my needs although no doubt would produce better images if they were.

I like my mavic. A typical flight might be 10-15 mins to get what i want and distance travelled is very low. Its rare i go a few thousand feet from the launch point.

 

[Enigma]

4. My Mavic was a Gift
.............................. and amazed how much tweaking it needs to fit My personal flying habit
I have to check and adjust the setting before every flight.
.
Personally I'm a picture guy
and try as I might I can't figure out how the you tube crowd gets those excellent video's
Must be done with the High end Editing programs..??

i use sony vegas 14, its perfect for video editing, also photo editing, and is very stable, easy to use for HD or 4K videos, and intuitive.

 

[wayy510]

I was surprised to hear that people bought the Mavic Pro as their first drone, but I'm starting to get it. Drones are the new thing and with so much improvement in technology and seeing all the cool videos you can capture on Youtube, it's hard to resist.

If you're new to drones or even quadcopters, I highly highly highly recommend getting an indoor flyer to train on. I suggest the JJRC H36 for $15-18 shipped. I can't say enough how valuable it is to be able to hover and fly in a tight space at a high rate of speed manually. By doing that, you'll also get a new appreciation for the automation that the Mavic Pro offers. W/o the struggles of running into walls, ceilings, inspecting propellers after a crash, learning to hover with less than ideal controls, it's really tough to understand how much the Mavic really does for us. Flying with a little toy quad will also help with orientation when piloting an aircraft like the Mavic Pro.

I'm seeing that people who own Mavics fall into one of two categories:

1. Those that wanted a quadcopter, a flying machine and see the camera and the fact that it's a drone with automation and modes as a bonus.

2. Those that wanted a "flying camera," where the camera really is the main function and the whole quadcopter thing is a complete bonus that adds that extra feature to get those new angles not achievable otherwise.

The Mavic was my first drone and it's super simple. I think people....mainly those who refer to themselves as "pilots" make it much more complicated than it needs to be.

If you've played any sort of video game especially a shooter in the last 5 years it should be a simple transition to control your drone.

Some of these guys have a 50 point checklist prior to flight! Jesus, I don't think the actual pilots on my department's air patrol have a 50 point checklist!

 

[Enigma]

I was surprised to hear that people bought the Mavic Pro as their first drone, but I'm starting to get it. Drones are the new thing and with so much improvement in technology and seeing all the cool videos you can capture on Youtube, it's hard to resist.

If you're new to drones or even quadcopters, I highly highly highly recommend getting an indoor flyer to train on. I suggest the JJRC H36 for $15-18 shipped. I can't say enough how valuable it is to be able to hover and fly in a tight space at a high rate of speed manually. By doing that, you'll also get a new appreciation for the automation that the Mavic Pro offers. W/o the struggles of running into walls, ceilings, inspecting propellers after a crash, learning to hover with less than ideal controls, it's really tough to understand how much the Mavic really does for us. Flying with a little toy quad will also help with orientation when piloting an aircraft like the Mavic Pro.

I'm seeing that people who own Mavics fall into one of two categories:

1. Those that wanted a quadcopter, a flying machine and see the camera and the fact that it's a drone with automation and modes as a bonus.

2. Those that wanted a "flying camera," where the camera really is the main function and the whole quadcopter thing is a complete bonus that adds that extra feature to get those new angles not achievable otherwise.

Im in category 2.

 

[Hushpuppy]

I was surprised to hear that people bought the Mavic Pro as their first drone, but I'm starting to get it. Drones are the new thing and with so much improvement in technology and seeing all the cool videos you can capture on Youtube, it's hard to resist.

If you're new to drones or even quadcopters, I highly highly highly recommend getting an indoor flyer to train on. I suggest the JJRC H36 for $15-18 shipped. I can't say enough how valuable it is to be able to hover and fly in a tight space at a high rate of speed manually. By doing that, you'll also get a new appreciation for the automation that the Mavic Pro offers. W/o the struggles of running into walls, ceilings, inspecting propellers after a crash, learning to hover with less than ideal controls, it's really tough to understand how much the Mavic really does for us. Flying with a little toy quad will also help with orientation when piloting an aircraft like the Mavic Pro.

I'm seeing that people who own Mavics fall into one of two categories:

1. Those that wanted a quadcopter, a flying machine and see the camera and the fact that it's a drone with automation and modes as a bonus.

2. Those that wanted a "flying camera," where the camera really is the main function and the whole quadcopter thing is a complete bonus that adds that extra feature to get those new angles not achievable otherwise.

I definitely got my drone for the ease of flying it! I more than agree about learning to fly on a drone with less assistance. This will improve my skill to fly and help me to fly any drone in future. I have taken your advice and will practice indoors with .

 

[zoomie]

The Mavic is much more capable of a machine than most of us may realize.

Although I'm comfortable flying quadcopters, I'm still new the Mavic and haven't really touched much of the settings. I suspect some of you may be in the same boat. We should be figuring out:

1. What happens if the app crashes? RTH function engaged automatically? If so, do I have my settings such that it goes to a certain altitude first and then comes horizontally and then descends? Will it do this from whatever elevation it was currently at? Or will the Mavic return to home at an angle? Is there a way to set the speed on RTH? Not expecting people to answer these questions for me. Just something we should all know for ourselves. The last thing you want is for the Mavic to hit something while it's returning to home.

2. Before I took off, did I give it the time to see the launch area to get a better idea of what/where home is? Do I find that when it returns to home, it is usually short of where the actual stop is? further back? left/right? I was used to my Dobby returning home typically forward of where it took off from. Maybe 9 out of 10x. The one time I use it where I didnt' have clearance behind me, it decides to go back there. In a panic before it hit a store window, I turned around and lost orientation with the controls. This was all prior to flying the indoor flier. You want to have a quick reaction and not have to think about this stuff. When there's an emergency, you won't have much time to really think it over.

3. When RTH is engaged, do I know how to take over the controls in case i need to if it looks to be going where I don't want it to go? Is there an overide button, cancel button? We should plan for this stuff way ahead of time and not have to panic if we're in the moment.

4. What happens if we keep ignoring the low battery warnings? Will the Mavic return to home when it knows it'll be too low on juice to do so otherwise? Or will it start to land straight down from wherever it's at? At what battery percentage will it do that?

----

From what I understand, the battery actually lasts longer when it's in full motion vs hovering. Perhaps not one would think. Good to know though.

Typically, you don't want to use return to home as a default way to get the Mavic back. I made that mistake early on with the Zerotech Dobby. Best to manually fly it back to excel your skills, understand your orientation, etc.

If you've found that you don't know the answer to these questions for your specific Mavic settings, it means you shouldn't be as comfortable flying as you think you are flying it. Better to be safe. We're not all pros here, but it's good to know what we don't know so we can at least do the research to find out the answers.

 

[zoomie]

I don't think people are trying to be arrogant nor trying to give you a hard time. In the end, I think we're all just fans of the product trying to save each other from destroying what most of us consider a lot of money.

The reason the Mavic is "super simple" to fly is b/c of all the technology packed into it. It's good to fly the other stuff so you can truly appreciate what the automation of the Mavic is really doing for you. At least for me, I see a lot more of the value of the money I spent on it by truly knowing what flying used to be and what it is now.

Side note: Not that I should shout this out to DJI, but I'm surprised with all the technology and capabilities packed into the Mavic, isn't priced a lot higher.

 

[Cerberus]

My very first drone.. wanted a helicopter ( or quacopter or anything with propellers ) that can hover perfectly when no control input is given..

and the Mavic fits the bill... the camera and all the nice features it comes in gives it a big bonus.

 

[gnirtS]

We should be figuring out:

The answers to all those questions are in the manual.

 

[Tonka]

Got mine free-ish. Long story. I'm one of those guy who gets one thing and practices on that same thing until I can give an ant a high five with one of the landing legs. Good guide though. I want to get a small indoor one just because I can't always fly the Mavic.

 

[Domagoj]

Mavic is my first drone. I really do not see a need to buy and practice on another drone. But maybe some people need it. I guess it depends on general clumsyness of a person.

 

[zoomie]

The answers to all those questions are in the manual.

Exactly. There are settings too, but I'm guessing that people get excited and prematurely fly theirs w/o really understanding the details and what to expect out of each function. Just reiterating the importance of knowing what we're doing. Each to his own.

 

[Hauptmann]

Do the control sticks on the JJRC work the same as Mavic?

 

[imnotreallyscott]

Mine is my first drone as well. I really like it for the photo/video opportunities. I'm not racing this thing around anywhere or doing anything too crazy. Maybe in time I will, who knows? But for now, I'm constantly terrified of breaking it, crashing it, or having one of those weird situations occur that I read about on here where the Mavic just dies and crashes into water never to be seen again.

 

[Johnmcl7]

I bought the Mavic for multiple reasons both as a radio controlled device to have fun with and for its aerial photography capabilities, sometimes I take it out just to fly it around while other times I spend the time trying to get certain shots.

While I spent a long time debating drones I bought the Mavic as my first drone as it was the only one that did everything I wanted as it's both highly advanced yet very small and portable making it viable to carry around while walking or cycling. I've spent a good amount of time practicing with the Mavic in wide open spaces to get the feel of the controls and I don't feel the need spending the time on a cheaper drone, the example always given is to be able to handle the Mavic when it drops suddenly out of GPS mode but I've had that happen and landed it one piece. A lot of crashes for beginners are caused by a bad choice of environment although everyone is different and I'm sure there are some people who would prefer the break their teeth on something simpler to begin with.