so having done some LOS quiet park flying and having done a few out of sight residential flights, I got a bit more confident and it was a quiet winter evening, no people or cars outside, weather said 7mph wind, but at ground level it felt like zero wind (though I know it can get windier higher up). So I flew my MP 1/3 of a mile out at about 120 ft average height. My house was blocking the view, and probably some signal. Video was perfect, was dark out but the street lights and roads were enough to understand where I am This is a residential area, all 2 story houses, all look the same from above.
At 1/3 of a mile out I got a "weak signal" warning, I took it to mean the RC, and at the same time I got a wind warning. At the same time the video on my tablet started to freeze and would cut in and out. I turned the Mavic around and was about to fly back manually, but again, I didn't fly out in a straight line, it was night and hard to see exactly where to come back, so when I turned it around, I couldn't exactly see a path back. If I didn't have a weak RC signal warning coupled with a wind warning, coupled with video cutting out, I would take the time to fly back manually by telemetry and I'm sure video would kick in any second. But my heart started racing and all I could think about is that I can lose my Mavic if the winds pick up and my video would keep cutting out.
So I flipped it in sport mode and pressed RTH. Shortly, the video cut back in and it showed that it was heading in my direction. I have RTH set at 35 meters (so 115 feet). It didn't take too long to get back right above me and land in the same spot where it took off. One thing I didn't like is that in previous flights, before it landed, it would stop and hover for a few seconds, and land very softly. Today it didn't do that, and just kept landing continuously and hit the ground harder than I'd like it to land, shaking the video. I gotta see if I turned off precise landing by accident.
Overall, very impressed with the Mavic, how it warned me of adverse conditions, and came back with no issues. I have yet to explore the many intelligent features such as follow me, terrain, circle around me, etc...but for now I'm not too much into it filming myself, rather I'm more into getting into long distance flying.
My goal is to fly to my friend's house, 2.9 miles out, and land in his back yard...doable? or will I lose RC signal in a residential (suburban) area? Is the long range reception generally limited to non-residential areas, like farm fields, parks? What are you guys getting for range in residential areas? 1/3 of a mile is way too little, maybe had something to do with my house being in the way of the signal, or maybe there is a cell phone tower nearby, or those electricity wires along the road? I was using signal boosters on the antennas, for what they're worth.
At 1/3 of a mile out I got a "weak signal" warning, I took it to mean the RC, and at the same time I got a wind warning. At the same time the video on my tablet started to freeze and would cut in and out. I turned the Mavic around and was about to fly back manually, but again, I didn't fly out in a straight line, it was night and hard to see exactly where to come back, so when I turned it around, I couldn't exactly see a path back. If I didn't have a weak RC signal warning coupled with a wind warning, coupled with video cutting out, I would take the time to fly back manually by telemetry and I'm sure video would kick in any second. But my heart started racing and all I could think about is that I can lose my Mavic if the winds pick up and my video would keep cutting out.
So I flipped it in sport mode and pressed RTH. Shortly, the video cut back in and it showed that it was heading in my direction. I have RTH set at 35 meters (so 115 feet). It didn't take too long to get back right above me and land in the same spot where it took off. One thing I didn't like is that in previous flights, before it landed, it would stop and hover for a few seconds, and land very softly. Today it didn't do that, and just kept landing continuously and hit the ground harder than I'd like it to land, shaking the video. I gotta see if I turned off precise landing by accident.
Overall, very impressed with the Mavic, how it warned me of adverse conditions, and came back with no issues. I have yet to explore the many intelligent features such as follow me, terrain, circle around me, etc...but for now I'm not too much into it filming myself, rather I'm more into getting into long distance flying.
My goal is to fly to my friend's house, 2.9 miles out, and land in his back yard...doable? or will I lose RC signal in a residential (suburban) area? Is the long range reception generally limited to non-residential areas, like farm fields, parks? What are you guys getting for range in residential areas? 1/3 of a mile is way too little, maybe had something to do with my house being in the way of the signal, or maybe there is a cell phone tower nearby, or those electricity wires along the road? I was using signal boosters on the antennas, for what they're worth.
