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Mavic water recovery system

After using the styrofoam balls for the last 10 flights over water I find this solution a bit bulky and too wind sensitive. This drove me to check out Matts solution with the swim noodles. After 2h of work here is the result:
View attachment 10753 View attachment 10754 View attachment 10755 View attachment 10756 View attachment 10757 View attachment 10758

Conclusion:
+ compact design, fits in my Mavic bag
+ easy and quick mount
+ light wheight (60 grams vs. 100 grams styrofoam balls)
+ much less wind sensitive than the styrofoam balls
+ all sensors continue to be fully functional
+ less ridiculous look vs. the styrofoam balls
+ able to keep Mavic on the water surface (tested)

- landing on water will Mavic definitely catch water, because of compact design. Designed to keep Mavic on the surface only not turning Mavic into a RC boat.
- battery change requires to loose the strap

Check the video below where I did floating- and flying tests. Thanks to Matt for the neat idea Thumbswayup

Will you share a list of the materials you used to make these? And your measurements? The type of rods you used to hold the float together? The straps you used...and their anchor system or how you secured them into the styrofoam? I don't really want to use the "balls", and I like the "pontoon" type idea of a recovery when flying over water as opposed to my Merlin23 sinking.....thanks very much...
 
Sorry for my late reply.

Shopping list:
1 fresh pool noodle, 6,5cm in diameter
1 plastic tube, 1,5cm in diameter, used for installing electric wire
1 set of Mavic Pro landing feed extension, easy to get on ebay
1 cable tie, to bond the landing gear to the plastic tube
1 50cm velcro tape, available in bike shops. I could only get two 25cm pieces thus I stitched ot together.

Making:
From the plastic tube cut off two pieces of 20cm

Take the U shaped part of the landing gear extension and clip it on your Mavic. Then align it with one of the pieces of the tube. Place it in the middle. We need to drill two holes into both parts to connect them later with the cable tie. Once the U shaped piece is connected with the tube, you can clip it back on your Mavic.

Cut two 20cm pieces from the pool noodle with a sharp knife. The align both noodles with the plastic tube connected to you mavic. Use a pen to mark where you need holes in the noodle to fit in the plastic tube. The tube is sharp enough to drill the holes into the noodle. For a better fit cut out pieces of the noodles to make room for Mavic rear arms.

Once the holes are drilled you're half way there. What's only missing is the second plastic tube. Align the tube over the "Mavic" engraved metal plate of your bird. Use a pen to mark the position of the holes and start drilling with the tube. You should now have a nice life jacket.

Now its time to treat the end of the plastic tubes. Make to cuts into each tubes end so that you end up with 4 quarter pieces. Heat it up very carefully with a heatgun to bend it. Avoid heat getting to the noodles, they gonns shrink. After this process you noodle can't slip off the tubes anymore.

Take the velcro strip and narrowing it down to the half of its width so that it fits through the front tube.

Fix it on top of you Mavic with the battery inserted. Now it's time to give the the front of the noodles a pencil like shape. This step prevents Mavics camera seeing the noodles. I've cut off 2.5cm. Test it out with your Mavic switched on checking the camera view. The noodle should now be visible even with heavy movements to the side.

Have fun!

IMG_6352.jpg IMG_6423.jpg IMG_6425.PNG IMG_6394.jpg IMG_6401.jpg IMG_6365.jpg IMG_6372.jpg
 
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OK I've been excited by the prospects of landing on water ever since building RC water planes. It would be good that following an emergency water crash being still able to retrieve and push my Mavic soggy to DJI for repair/replacement. I'm also interested in an emergency system that allows the Mavic to float on water and saves me having to return the Mavic to DJI. I think saving the craft is by far a better solution than recovery. Most water crashes I have seen on the net appear to be due to course error causing miscalculation of return to home time or just plane miscalculation of home time rather then system failure. Under these circumstances the craft could have been landed rather than ditched.

Of all the solutions that I have seen so far I am thinking that:
1) Floating bouy - Recovery - Floating Waterbouy seems like the best idea for recovery... but this means the Mavic has to sink and that you have to go through the motions of returning your Mavic to DJI and then waiting for its return. Your quad may get stuck in reeds etc and not re-float.

2) Floating line - Recovery - Floating line is OK, unless the water is deeper than the rescue line or the float is a distance away then its not gong to be so easy to see for collection. This again means that you have to go through the motions of returning your Mavic and then wait for its return. Your quad may get stuck in reeds etc and the line may not re-surface the Mavic. Line may get tangled.

3) Noodle float pontoons - Possibility of landing - Noodle floats provide the best flotation capabilities for landing and take-off due to large buoyant area of the floats. However they have significantly more weight than foam and ball floats. If your out with these over water and the wind picks up, these could be responsible for you not being able to return home. They provide a large surface area and increased drag/ air resistance, slowing the Mavic and possibly causing it to be blown it off course. They are also in the above posts positioned close into the center line of the Mavic so provide the least stability of the floating devices. They could save you from having to return the drone to DJI following human error/ low battery emergency landing.

4) Foam/hollow ball pontoons - Possibility of landing - Foam or hollow balls would be the best solution out of all that I have seen so far as they provide the least air resistance of the devices that make landing on water possible. The balls are more aerodynamic than noodle floats and provide less drag, however if the wind picks up enough they again they could be responsible for the Mavic being blown off course and not returning. That said this should take a greater amount of wind than noodle floats. The spacing of the floats below the landing legs makes this more stable than noodle pontoons as the center of gravity is better placed between the floats. The only issue with these is that they are right below the props and this may cause turbulent prop wash and loss of prop efficiency.

I'm struggling for solutions with floating the Mavic however my current thought is to modify a set of prop guards (or creating something similar) for struts so as to allow me to position some wide stance low profile floats/ pontoons. These would be positioned out of the way of the props and wide enough apart so as to provide best stability for landing the craft. Low profile floats would help to reduce horizontal air resistance and the separation between floats would assist with balance due to center of gravity being placed low and central to the craft . The main issues that I can envision is that the floats will need to be high enough to stop wave peaks from lashing the underbelly of the Mavic and also the additional weight that this solution may bring. The floats will need to be large enough for the Mavic to float whilst undergoing a normal landing. I'm also wandering if I can displace some of the weight of the floats by creating lift in forward flight with them and so reducing lift required to be created by the props (but is this going to be possible with the forward flight angle of attack).

I'm thinking its time to crack out the foam wing cutter.
 
OK I've been excited by the prospects of landing on water ever since building RC water planes. It would be good that following an emergency water crash being still able to retrieve and push my Mavic soggy to DJI for repair/replacement. I'm also interested in an emergency system that allows the Mavic to float on water and saves me having to return the Mavic to DJI. I think saving the craft is by far a better solution than recovery. Most water crashes I have seen on the net appear to be due to course error causing miscalculation of return to home time or just plane miscalculation of home time rather then system failure. Under these circumstances the craft could have been landed rather than ditched.

Of all the solutions that I have seen so far I am thinking that:
1) Floating bouy - Recovery - Floating Waterbouy seems like the best idea for recovery... but this means the Mavic has to sink and that you have to go through the motions of returning your Mavic to DJI and then waiting for its return. Your quad may get stuck in reeds etc and not re-float.

2) Floating line - Recovery - Floating line is OK, unless the water is deeper than the rescue line or the float is a distance away then its not gong to be so easy to see for collection. This again means that you have to go through the motions of returning your Mavic and then wait for its return. Your quad may get stuck in reeds etc and the line may not re-surface the Mavic. Line may get tangled.

3) Noodle float pontoons - Possibility of landing - Noodle floats provide the best flotation capabilities for landing and take-off due to large buoyant area of the floats. However they have significantly more weight than foam and ball floats. If your out with these over water and the wind picks up, these could be responsible for you not being able to return home. They provide a large surface area and increased drag/ air resistance, slowing the Mavic and possibly causing it to be blown it off course. They are also in the above posts positioned close into the center line of the Mavic so provide the least stability of the floating devices. They could save you from having to return the drone to DJI following human error/ low battery emergency landing.

4) Foam/hollow ball pontoons - Possibility of landing - Foam or hollow balls would be the best solution out of all that I have seen so far as they provide the least air resistance of the devices that make landing on water possible. The balls are more aerodynamic than noodle floats and provide less drag, however if the wind picks up enough they again they could be responsible for the Mavic being blown off course and not returning. That said this should take a greater amount of wind than noodle floats. The spacing of the floats below the landing legs makes this more stable than noodle pontoons as the center of gravity is better placed between the floats. The only issue with these is that they are right below the props and this may cause turbulent prop wash and loss of prop efficiency.

I'm struggling for solutions with floating the Mavic however my current thought is to modify a set of prop guards (or creating something similar) for struts so as to allow me to position some wide stance low profile floats/ pontoons. These would be positioned out of the way of the props and wide enough apart so as to provide best stability for landing the craft. Low profile floats would help to reduce horizontal air resistance and the separation between floats would assist with balance due to center of gravity being placed low and central to the craft . The main issues that I can envision is that the floats will need to be high enough to stop wave peaks from lashing the underbelly of the Mavic and also the additional weight that this solution may bring. The floats will need to be large enough for the Mavic to float whilst undergoing a normal landing. I'm also wandering if I can displace some of the weight of the floats by creating lift in forward flight with them and so reducing lift required to be created by the props (but is this going to be possible with the forward flight angle of attack).

I'm thinking its time to crack out the foam wing cutter.
There may not be a all in one solution. Having the Life-jacket approach which the tread is based on seemed to be the lightest and least intrusive. i believe the most survivable of the bunch but with out crashing it one cannot be sure.

The nole design with the pontoons are superior with the capabilities on a actual water landing as well as the balls. But unless you are landing on a pond the waves are going to get the underside wet anyways.

Both of these though get in your shoot during hard turning

Both have issues with staying on in a crash. I been working on the Pontoon approach with mods to help prevent this which i will update once the weather finally gets nicer. I plan on testing both and comparing them

I hope we see all in one solution. You last paragraph GTmonster really encapsulate the difficulties in obtaining that perfect or optimal solution

The Balls are out for me after seeing this clip of this poor sap loosing his balls

 
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There may not be a all in one solution. Having the Life-jacket approach which the tread is based on seemed to be the lightest and least intrusive. i believe the most survivable of the bunch but with out crashing it one cannot be sure.

The nole design with the pontoons are superior with the capabilities on a actual water landing as well as the balls. But unless you are landing on a pond the waves are going to get the underside wet anyways.

Both of these though get in your shoot during hard turning

Both have issues with staying on in a crash. I been working on the Pontoon approach with mods to help prevent this which i will update once the weather finally gets nicer. I plan on testing both and comparing them

I hope we see all in one solution. You last paragraph GTmonster really encapsulate the difficulties in obtaining that perfect or optimal solution

The Balls are out for me after seeing this clip of this poor sap loosing his balls


That guy was crazy to try that inside in such confined area.
 
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There may not be a all in one solution. Having the Life-jacket approach which the tread is based on seemed to be the lightest and least intrusive. i believe the most survivable of the bunch but with out crashing it one cannot be sure.

The nole design with the pontoons are superior with the capabilities on a actual water landing as well as the balls. But unless you are landing on a pond the waves are going to get the underside wet anyways.

Both of these though get in your shoot during hard turning

Both have issues with staying on in a crash. I been working on the Pontoon approach with mods to help prevent this which i will update once the weather finally gets nicer. I plan on testing both and comparing them

I hope we see all in one solution. You last paragraph GTmonster really encapsulate the difficulties in obtaining that perfect or optimal solution

The Balls are out for me after seeing this clip of this poor sap loosing his balls


....And DJI refresh please!

You've got to lie about that one in your refresh claim! That's definitely not considered to have happened during normal flight! Total mistake to orientate the craft so to face yourself while in a confined space and trying to perform delicate controlled movements.
 
e5f47c9c720974110dab85a31f59e973.jpg


All this time I thought it had a different use......
 
GTMonster, I tried an ultra wide stance foam float approach; a quick and dirty with some 3D printed arm supports thin carbon fiber tube and foam noodle sections mounted wide of the direct prop wash. All the added stuff weighed in at 2.5 oz, so not overly heavy

Basic thinking was that nothing big directly under the props would improve flying stability. NOT. This thing was not stable in the air at all (shaking and a wobbling all over the place so I just put er back down). Of course it was great for stable floating with good elevation off the water, but if it isn't stable flying who cares. Take the foam off and as you might expect it flies just fine with the carbon spider legs (barely over an ounce with the brackets). Heck angle them up a bit and they'd make decent prop guards at a fraction of the weight of those aftermarket behemoths

Since I've been flying from the boat I've really had no desire to land this thing on the water. Flying low, yep all the time. Making it easier to hand catch in wind while rolling and drifting, you betcha. So far I've been using notched "recovery only" noodles (ala Matt) with rubber band holders and they do the job just fine at 0.7 oz, though I agree that something way more crash proof would be the goal. May the tinkering continue....

20170516_192554%20800x484_zpsl4pryrw7.jpg


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20170426_194815%20800x627_zpsuuackq9y.jpg
 
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Haven't been able to source the solid noodles locally, but I found some hollow ones at the Dollar Store. 4' long, $1.00.

I notched the front & back to lock them in the arms. Then pre-drilled holes for zip ties.
Had to shave a bit off the top of noodle to give plenty of clearance for back props.
Took me all of about 15min to make. 2min to fasten zip ties. They hold the noodles very solidly in place
Just did a 20min test fly. Seems to fly well. Maybe a little slower.
 

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I'm pretty new to the forum and found this thread looking for a solution to being able to recover my new Mavic(only had it for 3 days) in the event of a catastrophic failure over water. Did anyone improve on the ideas discussed in this thread?
 
I'm pretty new to the forum and found this thread looking for a solution to being able to recover my new Mavic(only had it for 3 days) in the event of a catastrophic failure over water. Did anyone improve on the ideas discussed in this thread?
OK so here's the deal... The Mavic is a cool little drone but I've gotta break it to you that I have owned it since launch in October and since then it has been a cavalcade of annoyances. There have been glitchy little things that happen from that get-go and when one is resolved by firmware release or such, another tends to pop up. I have just accepted that I will either be spending a battery at a site I wished to fly updating or troubleshooting and accept the likelihood that something will not work right. The people on these forums are very helpful and knowledgeable but DJI support is crap and not helpful at all. They have overall great products with lots of potential but are full of little glitches and annoyances that will keep you from fully enjoying your drone 100% no matter what platform you are on (android or apple).
 
So how will the floats interfere with the downward sensors. Don't ask me how I know. Thank goodness I had my max height set at 400 feet, but getting it back down over water that way was a challenge. The downward sensors can be disabled, but I didn't wanna. I just moved the pool noodles away from the rear of the body so the downward sensors wouldn't pick them up.
OK so here's the deal... The Mavic is a cool little drone but I've gotta break it to you that I have owned it since launch in October and since then it has been a cavalcade of annoyances. There have been glitchy little things that happen from that get-go and when one is resolved by firmware release or such, another tends to pop up. I have just accepted that I will either be spending a battery at a site I wished to fly updating or troubleshooting and accept the likelihood that something will not work right. The people on these forums are very helpful and knowledgeable but DJI support is crap and not helpful at all. They have overall great products with lots of potential but are full of little glitches and annoyances that will keep you from fully enjoying your drone 100% no matter what platform you are on (android or apple).

Boooooo - cool it with the negative waves man !!! My Mavic has been trouble free from the very start and you must have just been unlucky.
 
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I'm pretty new to the forum and found this thread looking for a solution to being able to recover my new Mavic(only had it for 3 days) in the event of a catastrophic failure over water. Did anyone improve on the ideas discussed in this thread?

WELCOME to the forum Gene! Yes there is a wealth of knowledge here. I'm not particularly that, but I did craft a pretty effective water recovery system if your interested. After having my Mavic for a few months I really was itching to take it on a Canadian fly-in fishing trip I do every May. Never took my Phantom 2 Vision+, cause its just a bit too bulky. Great vid of fishing and boat following was the object. Goal was recovery, but this setup is so stable I can land it on water if needed and if the water is pretty calm. I can give more detail and pic's later if there is interest. I tried the smooth foam craft balls and a couple of other options before doing it this way. Basically I bought a 4 foot 3.25" diameter dark gray pool noodle on Amazon, along with another set of extended landing gear. I like the ones made by SkyReat also on Amazon. You will just use the front legs in my set up. I cut 11-12" long pieces from the pool noodles. Enough to extend from about 1.5-2" infant of the front legs, and a couple inches beyond the arms & body in the back. Permanent marker dab for where the front leg will punch down into the noodle with the noodle angled back slightly toward the body, but far enough away from the body to not interfere with the Mavic sensors. So how will the floats interfere with the downward sensors. Don't ask me how I know. ;-) Thank goodness I had my max height set at 400 feet, but getting it back down over water with auto land my only option was a challenge. The downward sensors can be disabled, but I didn't wanna. I just moved the pool noodles away from the rear of the body so the downward sensors wouldn't pick them up. The front extended legs are needed so the Mavic sits up in the front and slightly down in the rear (noodles under rear arms). Much trial and error was done to determine the best angle for the Mavic to sit so it can be set in a tub of water and the sensitive camera & gimbal are well up and it sits level and stable in the water. No front or rear leaning. I actually hot glued a couple of 1/2" pieces of foam on top of the rear floats, right where it rides on the rear legs just to get it to sit perfect in the wash tub. You'll want to test yours in a laundry sink or bath tub before you finalize your setup. Make sure it sits stable in the water with no forward or backward lean.

Once the spot is marked up front, install the SkyReat front feet on the Mavic. There is a right and left foot. Be mindful of that as you trace the foot pad of the landing gear onto the noodle, with the floats positioned about 1/2 way along the back arms of the Mavic. You'll cut a hole slightly smaller than the foot and about 1/2" deep. I hot glued my feet into place on the noodle once I had the angle back just right. Don't want them coming off in a hard landing. Don't hot glue the feet to the Mavic, just to the floats LOL. Last I bought Softride Hook and Loop Soft Wrap 4 pack from Amazon for like $10 bucks and use them to securely hold the floats to my Mavic at all four locations where the floats rest on the arms. If the floats come off in a hard landing or crash (like the foam balls can on those poor leg extensions that come with them) they haven't done you any good as your Mavic sinks to the depths unrecoverable. To dress them up a bit and to make then a little more aerodynamic in flight, I cut about a 30 deg angle off the front sides of the floats angling toward the body. I took those cut pieces and hot glued them to the flat backs of the floats at the rear.

So do these floats interfere with flight? I am surprised to say no they don't. In lift its no problem at all as the prop's are pulling up. I did notice on decent it was a little iffy on quick decent. To be expected as the floats are interrupting the down stream. But it wasn't really a problem in a controlled decent. In an emergency decent the props may loose their grab. In forward & backward movement it was just fine. Now it is possible that it will be more susceptible in strong wind. I did not take it up in any strong wind or inclement weather of any kind. In fact in the 10 days we were at this remote camp, I was only able to take the Mavic up twice. The 1st time with the floats too close to the downward sensors at the back and I could not stop it from rising to maximum altitude. Never thought of turning off the downward sensors in my panic as it continued to slowly rise no matter what I did. Sooooo glad I had the altitude set at a 400' max.

I've gone long here. If any one is interested, or has questions, I can give more detail. It worked way better than expected and is a permanent part of my Mavic accessories now when water is in the equation.

- hutch

ps: I went ahead and dug out the floats and took some pic's I'll attach. Pictures worth 1000 words. Nothin fancy here, but does the trick!

Mavic Floats 1.jpg Mavic Floats 2.jpg Mavic Floats 3.jpg Mavic Floats 4.jpg Mavic Floats 5.jpg
 
WELCOME to the forum Gene! Yes there is a wealth of knowledge here. I'm not particularly that, but I did craft a pretty effective water recovery system if your interested. After having my Mavic for a few months I really was itching to take it on a Canadian fly-in fishing trip I do every May. Never took my Phantom 2 Vision+, cause its just a bit too bulky. Great vid of fishing and boat following was the object. Goal was recovery, but this setup is so stable I can land it on water if needed and if the water is pretty calm. I can give more detail and pic's later if there is interest. I tried the smooth foam craft balls and a couple of other options before doing it this way. Basically I bought a 4 foot 3.25" diameter dark gray pool noodle on Amazon, along with another set of extended landing gear. I like the ones made by SkyReat also on Amazon. You will just use the front legs in my set up. I cut 11-12" long pieces from the pool noodles. Enough to extend from about 1.5-2" infant of the front legs, and a couple inches beyond the arms & body in the back. Permanent marker dab for where the front leg will punch down into the noodle with the noodle angled back slightly toward the body, but far enough away from the body to not interfere with the Mavic sensors. So how will the floats interfere with the downward sensors. Don't ask me how I know. ;-) Thank goodness I had my max height set at 400 feet, but getting it back down over water with auto land my only option was a challenge. The downward sensors can be disabled, but I didn't wanna. I just moved the pool noodles away from the rear of the body so the downward sensors wouldn't pick them up. The front extended legs are needed so the Mavic sits up in the front and slightly down in the rear (noodles under rear arms). Much trial and error was done to determine the best angle for the Mavic to sit so it can be set in a tub of water and the sensitive camera & gimbal are well up and it sits level and stable in the water. No front or rear leaning. I actually hot glued a couple of 1/2" pieces of foam on top of the rear floats, right where it rides on the rear legs just to get it to sit perfect in the wash tub. You'll want to test yours in a laundry sink or bath tub before you finalize your setup. Make sure it sits stable in the water with no forward or backward lean.

Once the spot is marked up front, install the SkyReat front feet on the Mavic. There is a right and left foot. Be mindful of that as you trace the foot pad of the landing gear onto the noodle, with the floats positioned about 1/2 way along the back arms of the Mavic. You'll cut a hole slightly smaller than the foot and about 1/2" deep. I hot glued my feet into place on the noodle once I had the angle back just right. Don't want them coming off in a hard landing. Don't hot glue the feet to the Mavic, just to the floats LOL. Last I bought Softride Hook and Loop Soft Wrap 4 pack from Amazon for like $10 bucks and use them to securely hold the floats to my Mavic at all four locations where the floats rest on the arms. If the floats come off in a hard landing or crash (like the foam balls can on those poor leg extensions that come with them) they haven't done you any good as your Mavic sinks to the depths unrecoverable. To dress them up a bit and to make then a little more aerodynamic in flight, I cut about a 30 deg angle off the front sides of the floats angling toward the body. I took those cut pieces and hot glued them to the flat backs of the floats at the rear.

So do these floats interfere with flight? I am surprised to say no they don't. In lift its no problem at all as the prop's are pulling up. I did notice on decent it was a little iffy on quick decent. To be expected as the floats are interrupting the down stream. But it wasn't really a problem in a controlled decent. In an emergency decent the props may loose their grab. In forward & backward movement it was just fine. Now it is possible that it will be more susceptible in strong wind. I did not take it up in any strong wind or inclement weather of any kind. In fact in the 10 days we were at this remote camp, I was only able to take the Mavic up twice. The 1st time with the floats too close to the downward sensors at the back and I could not stop it from rising to maximum altitude. Never thought of turning off the downward sensors in my panic as it continued to slowly rise no matter what I did. Sooooo glad I had the altitude set at a 400' max.

I've gone long here. If any one is interested, or has questions, I can give more detail. It worked way better than expected and is a permanent part of my Mavic accessories now when water is in the equation.

- hutch

ps: I went ahead and dug out the floats and took some pic's I'll attach. Pictures worth 1000 words. Nothin fancy here, but does the trick!

View attachment 16527 View attachment 16528 View attachment 16529 View attachment 16530 View attachment 16531


Thank you Hutch for the detailed post and the advice. I am a little concerned about wind interference with the fairly large surfaces created but I guess not much can be done about that. It looks like I will just have to build my own and try it out. Living in SoCal I an aching to take my Mavic over water but without a life vest for it I feel uncomfortable doing so.
 
OK so here's the deal... The Mavic is a cool little drone but I've gotta break it to you that I have owned it since launch in October and since then it has been a cavalcade of annoyances. There have been glitchy little things that happen from that get-go and when one is resolved by firmware release or such, another tends to pop up. I have just accepted that I will either be spending a battery at a site I wished to fly updating or troubleshooting and accept the likelihood that something will not work right. The people on these forums are very helpful and knowledgeable but DJI support is crap and not helpful at all. They have overall great products with lots of potential but are full of little glitches and annoyances that will keep you from fully enjoying your drone 100% no matter what platform you are on (android or apple).

Nothing in life is 100%. There is always a little something to screw up perfection. The fact that the little glitches are worked on and eliminated tells me that there is hope that someday we'll have that perfect drone.
 
OK so here's the deal... The Mavic is a cool little drone but I've gotta break it to you that I have owned it since launch in October and since then it has been a cavalcade of annoyances. There have been glitchy little things that happen from that get-go and when one is resolved by firmware release or such, another tends to pop up. I have just accepted that I will either be spending a battery at a site I wished to fly updating or troubleshooting and accept the likelihood that something will not work right. The people on these forums are very helpful and knowledgeable but DJI support is crap and not helpful at all. They have overall great products with lots of potential but are full of little glitches and annoyances that will keep you from fully enjoying your drone 100% no matter what platform you are on (android or apple).

Oops, this was meant for a different Thread. Probably didn't make sense to you guys reading this thread. sorry.
 
The Balls are out for me after seeing this clip of this poor sap loosing his balls


He at least got the BEST of the possible outcomes in that scenario. The battery flying off at least meant the drone wasn't under power when it went under and stopped the electronics from shorting out!!!
 
Thank you Hutch for the detailed post and the advice. I am a little concerned about wind interference with the fairly large surfaces created but I guess not much can be done about that. It looks like I will just have to build my own and try it out. Living in SoCal I an aching to take my Mavic over water but without a life vest for it I feel uncomfortable doing so.

Gene - once you do it you will be surprised at how little the light floats effect the flying characteristics of the Mavic. It exceeded my expectation. I don't fly my mavic in really heavy wind anyway. And I certainly wouldn't do a long distance flight with the pontoons installed. It's strictly for cinematic shooting at slow speeds which seems to be fine. Of course, practice over land first so you know how it feels and responds.
 
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