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Max Distance Mavic is visible?

Cookedinlh

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Sarnia ON Canada
Hey you lucky people who already have received your Mavic. . . . I'm trying to keep busy, while I wait for Santa in his UPS outfit. Fingers crossed for next week.

Can you do a test for me? How far away can you still see Mavic with naked eye? At what distance does it disappear or become hard to follow visually? . . . Feet or meters distance as shown on the controller.

1. Bright sun

2. Cloudy

3. Dawn/Eve LEDs ON

Thanks for any help . . . I'm working on new airspace recommendations for operators.
 
and you are welcome.
 
Any serious answers out there? . . . or is the entire internet a swamp of miss-information
 
Just flew with open blue skies and no clouds. Tried to test for you. I was able to see the mavic up to 2500 feet out at 300 feet high. It's pretty hard to see with the naked eye. I was staring but looked down at the map for one second and lost it. I think you might be able to see it astound 3-4 thousand feet out if you focus and don't look at the rc. The dark grey color was easier to track than my all white phantom 4 but it's harder to pick out of the sky after looking down even if you know exactly where it is. The small form factor and reduced noise level are awesome.
 
I have really good eyesight and at just 100m it's really hard to spot already
 
I have really good eyesight and at just 100m it's really hard to spot already

Same. I find if you make an effort to keep your eyes on it, I can go c200 metres + and still keep it in sight. However, the minute you take your eyes off it it just disappears!


Sent from my iPad using MavicPilots
 
Thanks for doing that guys . . that's a couple of good data points . . . personally my P4 is barely visible at around 2000ft certainly by 3000ft in any light. We have Lake Huron just north so most flying goes south into the sun this time of year. I think that makes it somewhat less most of the time anyway. Thanks for the feedback.
 
Any serious answers out there? . . . or is the entire internet a swamp of miss-information
Too many variables, weather, air clarity, eyesight acuity, ability to focus. Could be anything from 100m to 500m. I have trouble seeing my P3 at 500M and if I take my eye off of it for a second good luck finding it again. The answer is going to be different for everyone. I could spot fast movers on the deck at a much greater distance than against the sky.
 
Hey you lucky people who already have received your Mavic. . . . I'm trying to keep busy, while I wait for Santa in his UPS outfit. Fingers crossed for next week.

Can you do a test for me? How far away can you still see Mavic with naked eye? At what distance does it disappear or become hard to follow visually? . . . Feet or meters distance as shown on the controller.

1. Bright sun

2. Cloudy

3. Dawn/Eve LEDs ON

Thanks for any help . . . I'm working on new airspace recommendations for operators.

I have a pretty good point of reference for you, at least one that I have used. The photo below is of Lake Travis from my back deck. That island that you can see is almost exactly 1.4 miles away which (if my math is correct) is about 7,400 feet. I have flown my Mavic Pro to the island and around it using it as a POI. The island is a hang out for party boats full of college kids, lots of which are female and, of course, wear nice swimwear (enough about that). To further put things in perspective, I've been involved in general aviation all my life, have 20-10 vision (corrected) and every CFI I've ever ridden with was ALWAYS amazed at how easily I could spot traffic that ATC called out to our attention. I learned long ago (early 70s) in the Air Force that the best way to pick out a distant object is to look to the side of where you expect it, ever-so-slightly. If you're looking straight on, you'll never see it. I would say someone with good 20-20 vision could count on a mile, perhaps a bit less depending on lighting and what you have in the background. Admittedly, when I fly from my place to there, it's usually clear blue sky or water in the field of view which I think makes it easier.... but most of the time, you're going to have sky behind the Mavic anyway. Hope that helps.

View media item 116
 
That does help LakeTravis . . thanks for the input. . . you're right it 's gong to be highly variable in different conditions but I think I'm coming to the point that it's not that much less than P4 so not to worry. I'm working on procedures for BVLOS ops that should work here in Canada with SFOC if you are cleared for commercial ops . . .may not work in other jurisdictions but as long as someone has eyes on it during a flight it can work. . . and I'd forgotten about the OFF ANGLE trick too . thanks for pointing it out.
.
Were we are on Great Lakes . . lots of seagulls . . and at about 2500ft it's **** near impossible to tell the difference if you don't watch INTENTLY and continuously.

Nice view you got there . . great place to fly.
 
Oh you were serious. Lol. Ok, I can see mine to exactly 320 meters on a bright day. That's about it. At night about 3 times that distance ... with glasses I have seen it out to about 800 meters at night i can see it out to distances I don't care to fly..


Sent from my iPad using MavicPilots
 
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Oh you were serious. Lol. Ok, I can see mine to exactly 320 meters on a bright day. That's about it. At night about 3 times that distance ... with glasses I have seen it out to about 800 meters at night i can see it out to distances I don't care to fly..

Sent from my iPad using MavicPilots

Hey thanks . . That's another useful data point . . . I'm trying to work out procedures for small business operations that will meet all the requirement of Transport Canada or FAA for VLOS and hopefully Mavic will be as effective or better than Phantom 4 and still stay within the rules.
Thanks again . . will let you know what find after I get mine . . . Next Wed . . whoo hoo!
 
I find the Mavic easier to see.. just me though .
 
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Mavic is easy to see close in but I definitely lose it after about 2000ft (20/20 uncorrected) . . but a younger commercial pilot friend was out with me today and in overcast sky. Against a fairly bright overcast at 290ft AGL, I could follow it out to about 2000ft but if I looked away I could not re-aquire it. See below "2045ft" .. My younger friend (45yrs old) was able to follow it out to 2676ft (top right of the yellow ground track) without too much trouble as long as he did not look away he said it was ok . . not easy but just ok . . . if he looked away at that distance . . even if I did not move . . . he found it impossible to find again. If I moved it (up or down) it did not capture his attention again until I came closer to 2100ft or so. I lost it near the blue balloon.

That's good enough reference point for me. For me it means a good working distance is around <1500 point from home . . 2000ft max

upload_2016-11-30_18-29-23.png
 
I ordered a pair (both white) of these a week or so ago, and received the pair last Friday. I used double stick clear velcro that I trimmed to be as small as possible and affixed one to the upper rear and one to the back end, lower portion. They are really small and super bright, pretty unobtrusive and (at least I think) really cool . On a rather hazy day, I duplicated my test mentioned a few posts above and could see the Mavic even better above the island so I sent it a little farther. I got it out to about 12,000 ft away and right at 300 ft AGL and could still spot the flashing, though it was getting pretty faint. I turned around and headed back and could no longer see it. I really didn't want to put one on the front--thought the flash might get faintly captured by the camera. I may move the top rear one to the top front, see if that helps when it is flying toward me. Just my two cents worth!
 
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My official response is 4 miles.

Between you and me, maybe 700 feet. It's very hard to see on the return trip until it's right on top of me. Sometimes I think Litchi is wrong... it can't possibly be 200 feet away! ;-)

On the way out I can track it for a bit longer, then I look at the controller... then its gone.
 
I ordered a pair (both white) of these a week or so ago, and received the pair last Friday. I used double stick clear velcro that I trimmed to be as small as possible and affixed one to the upper rear and one to the back end, lower portion. They are really small and super bright, pretty unobtrusive and (at least I think) really cool . On a rather hazy day, I duplicated my test mentioned a few posts above and could see the Mavic even better above the island so I sent it a little farther. I got it out to about 12,000 ft away and right at 300 ft AGL and could still spot the flashing, though it was getting pretty faint. I turned around and headed back and could no longer see it. I really didn't want to put one on the front--thought the flash might get faintly captured by the camera. I may move the top rear one to the top front, see if that helps when it is flying toward me. Just my two cents worth!
Yes that's the one I tried on my Phantom . . very compact alright . . . but only got it out to about 7500ft at 300ftAGL against darker clouds just after the sun went down. More on that one and the Larson Electronics 10W here http://www.inskyphoto.com/strobe-lighting.html
Just made up a 250mAh battery pack for it and will try on the Mavic tomorrow if I can
 
I have a pretty good point of reference for you, at least one that I have used. The photo below is of Lake Travis from my back deck. That island that you can see is almost exactly 1.4 miles away which (if my math is correct) is about 7,400 feet. I have flown my Mavic Pro to the island and around it using it as a POI. The island is a hang out for party boats full of college kids, lots of which are female and, of course, wear nice swimwear (enough about that). To further put things in perspective, I've been involved in general aviation all my life, have 20-10 vision (corrected) and every CFI I've ever ridden with was ALWAYS amazed at how easily I could spot traffic that ATC called out to our attention. I learned long ago (early 70s) in the Air Force that the best way to pick out a distant object is to look to the side of where you expect it, ever-so-slightly. If you're looking straight on, you'll never see it. I would say someone with good 20-20 vision could count on a mile, perhaps a bit less depending on lighting and what you have in the background. Admittedly, when I fly from my place to there, it's usually clear blue sky or water in the field of view which I think makes it easier.... but most of the time, you're going to have sky behind the Mavic anyway. Hope that helps.

View media item 116
Your eyes are more sensitive to movement when not looking at the object. It's from when we were eaten by predators a long time ago. If you look at your TV you will see no flickering but when you look at your TV from the side of your eyes you can see it flickering. So spotting objects moving is better if you are looking to one side as above.
 
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