My Mavic 3 disappointment

[Michael Gilbert]

First let me say that the Mavic 3 is by far my favorite drone to date. It's my first choice from my personal arsenal which includes the Inspire 2 with Z7 lenses. However, when it comes to doing real work, especially anything that requires mapping, I have to leave it at home. Yes, I realize we now have the Mavic 3 Enterprise line, but that doesn't silence the disappointment I have with DJI when it comes to the original Mavic 3's inability to do simple mapping.

Please hear me out before sending replies stating DJI never intended to allow waypoints for the Mavic 3 or anything along those lines. When the Mavic 3 was released I purchased it with the thought that this will eventually replace my Mavic 2, which is what I use for all drone work and perhaps making the M2 a reliable backup to the Mavic 3. Now this part is important, AT THAT TIME, there was no indication, advertisements or announcements from DJI regarding the Mavic 3's inability to perform waypoints. None! Every drone prior to the Mavic 3 with exception to the FPV either have waypoints built in or it is provided by 3rd party software upon SDK release.

The Mavic 3 is now a year old, and yet no Waypoints and no signs of DJI releasing the SDK. To me this is TOTALLY unfair to those that purchased this drone with hopes of it doing any serious drone work. The Mavic 3 is incredible, my drone of choice as I stated above. DJI has gradually upgraded this drone with features beyond our expectation such as cruise control and night mode to name a few. But why omit waypoints? Why leave out that last nugget that would make the Mavic 3 whole?

Is this just another marketing ploy to force the purchase of the M3E? If that's the case who needs both? Who knew there would be an enterprise line at the time of the M3 release except DJI? It really looks bad in hindsight. Reflecting back I'm so happy the Mavic 2 didn't have this same philosophy else I would have never had the desire to pursue my Part 107 and take on drone missions. Discovering the power of waypoints using the Mavic 2 fueled my desire to explore into drones and it even ignited my desire to explore deeper its capabilities with the Inspire 2. Why the gap with the Mavic 3?

I'm still a fan!

 

[akdrone]

I'm also bummed and almost didn't buy a Mav3 due to the lack of waypoints. I thought hard and decided what was there was enough and hoped but never counted on waypoints. It's disappointing to be sure.

 

[SmilingOgre]

Sad to hear of your disappointment (both above). It is an odd thing to omit with a replacement model. I can offer no excuse for DJI's action. I only tried waypoints once and bounced my drone off my neighbor's roof (MP2). That left me terrified of the function. The MP2 had the function and of course I wanted to try it. Myself, I'm thrilled with the M3C and that is 100% about image. That MFT camera in D-log produces a gorgeous image. I'm in the fields of Missouri this weekend from Detroit with my MP2 (M3C is being repaired) and even that image is just something else. Blue skies and beautiful detail of the leafless trees and mowed fields as a stark contrast. Small pastel paintings of brown or red. and an occasional brightly painted building create an almost surrealistic view and the drone captures all of it. I'm amazed with what it can do. I gave my son-in-law my M2 Air and he is running through batteries like water, lol. He was up this morning at 6AM getting the sun rise. Amazing devices per MHO.

 

[Michael Gilbert]

Sad to hear of your disappointment (both above). It is an odd thing to omit with a replacement model. I can offer no excuse for DJI's action. I only tried waypoints once and bounced my drone off my neighbor's roof (MP2). That left me terrified of the function. The MP2 had the function and of course I wanted to try it. Myself, I'm thrilled with the M3C and that is 100% about image. That MFT camera in D-log produces a gorgeous image. I'm in the fields of Missouri this weekend from Detroit with my MP2 (M3C is being repaired) and even that image is just something else. Blue skies and beautiful detail of the leafless trees and mowed fields as a stark contrast. Small pastel paintings of brown or red. and an occasional brightly painted building create an almost surrealistic view and the drone captures all of it. I'm amazed with what it can do. I gave my son-in-law my M2 Air and he is running through batteries like water, lol. He was up this morning at 6AM getting the sun rise. Amazing devices per MHO.

I agree the M3C's image quality is outstanding, no argument there. DJI has done a great job with providing the key features that were missing initially and then unexpectedly added more such as night mode. This drone is untouchable IMHO, UNTIL you need it to do series drone work that's in the form of mapping. I spent a great deal of money for this drone as a business investment and yet it can't perform business tasks. Why hold it back? Why make users like me invest again into the M3E?

 

[SmilingOgre]

I agree the M3C's image quality is outstanding, no argument there. DJI has done a great job with providing the key features that were missing initially and then unexpectedly added more such as night mode. This drone is untouchable IMHO, UNTIL you need it to do series drone work that's in the form of mapping. I spent a great deal of money for this drone as a business investment and yet it can't perform business tasks. Why hold it back? Why make users like me invest again into the M3E?

I do feel your pain. That would be like disabling manual mode for video. The tech service folks do consider it a professional drone. No mincing terms e.g. prosumer. Hopefully at some point they will either rectify this or release the SDK so a third party can.

 

[RadioFlyerMan]

For my video interest, I can’t live without waypoints. So I’ll keep running my M2P until the 3 gets fixed.

 

[Michael Gilbert]

For my video interest, I can’t live without waypoints. So I’ll keep running my M2P until the 3 gets fixed.

I'm in the same boat. Considering the age of the M2P it's a step above the 3 in this aspect.

 

[shb]

I thought I heard they will be releasing a SDK for the Mavic 3.

 

[Ralph thompson]

I’d expect DJI is driven by marketing & accounting types these days, like most large successful corporations. Marketing types are not particularly knowledgable in the technical side, they just compare the competition and stay sufficiently ahead to maintain positive sales growth. I’d bet the M3 is full of capability we can’t access.
But lobbying works, remember they brought back Tripod type settings in Cine mode.

 

[JoelP]

Well said, Michael. I bought mine to get better battery life over my old Mavic Air 1 to fly longer Litchi missions. I will never fly as smoothly as I could with Litchi. One can play with the settings until the sun goes down and could never fly that well. It never even occurred to me that there would be an enterprise version or that DJI would hold back the SDK since they never did that before. They have lost considerable goodwill with customers like me who have faithfully bought several DJI products.

 

[SmilingOgre]

The entire roll out of the three line has created an all new low in expectation. DJI is fast becoming the Philadelphia Phillies of the industry. The mystery grab bag of drones. By now, see what you get later.

 

[Mavic 3 by the Sea]

Recall the mid-year announcement that the SDK for the M3 would follow, but then the U-turn shortly after?
It seems DJI are making it up as they go along. Which is never a sound business strategy - even if an excessive and artificial discrimination of the product line is considered legitimate.

But guys, lets try to falsify our seemingly common assumption that the M3 SDK won’t be released:

One could assume that by releasing the RC Pro - with its 3rd party app capacity - at a breathtaking 1000 € / 1180 US$ per unit, and by linking the M3E models to yet another controller, the existence and price of the RC Pro suggests that the SDK for the regular M3 will follow.

What do you think?

 

[Mavic 3 by the Sea]

I agree the M3C's image quality is outstanding, no argument there. DJI has done a great job with providing the key features that were missing initially and then unexpectedly added more such as night mode. This drone is untouchable IMHO, UNTIL you need it to do series drone work that's in the form of mapping. I spent a great deal of money for this drone as a business investment and yet it can't perform business tasks. Why hold it back? Why make users like me invest again into the M3E?

Considering the extreme speed at which DJI has been releasing variants of the M3 (5 M3 models in 12 months) and add-on equipment for the M3-line in the past 12 months (multiple RCs etc.), DJI might simply be delaying the SDK for the M3 so as to currently entice potential customers into purchasing the basic M3E in particular. Once most of the demand for the basic M3E has been exploited, the SDK for the M3 may follow. Just like new iPhone models initially show a maximum of hardware + software difference when compared to their predecessors. Yet, over time, the hardware difference remains while the difference in software declines.

 

[karlblessing]

One could assume that by releasing the RC Pro - with its 3rd party app capacity - at a breathtaking 1000 € / 1180 US$ per unit, and by linking the M3E models to yet another controller, the existence and price of the RC Pro suggests that the SDK for the regular M3 will follow.

What do you think?

I would not assume that especially since they went out of their way to not use Google services and rather Amazon for the app library. A platform you rarely if ever see third party apps provided on (Litchi, etc) and without the ability to sideload the app (to the point that air data has to go thru DJIs services rather than just sidelloading the app like on the smart controller).

Based on that I would just assume that DJI is doing a cash grab on offering a "pro" version of the rc strictly to utilize their own official app (DJI fly, DJI pilot, etc).

 

[mobilehomer]

I would not assume that especially since they went out of their way to not use Google services and rather Amazon for the app library. A platform you rarely if ever see third party apps provided on (Litchi, etc) and without the ability to sideload the app (to the point that air data has to go thru DJIs services rather than just sidelloading the app like on the smart controller).

Based on that I would just assume that DJI is doing a cash grab on offering a "pro" version of the rc strictly to utilize their own official app (DJI fly, DJI pilot, etc).

In case you missed it, Litchi IS on the Amazon app store.

 

[karlblessing]

In case you missed it, Litchi IS on the Amazon app store.

Good to know.

 

[Johnmcl7]

I thought I heard they will be releasing a SDK for the Mavic 3.

It initially looked that way but officially at the moment DJI have said it's now low priority:

The MSDK is gradually prioritising to the enterprise level aircraft, the priority level of product from high to low is enterprise level aircraft > consumer level aircraft > hanheld product.

• There is no plan to support Mini 3 Pro currently.
• There is no plan to support Mavic 3, Mavic 3 Cine and Mavic 3 Classic currently.
• There is no plan to support DJI Avata currently.

https://sdk-forum.dji.net/hc/en-us/articles/8818033368857

Unfortunately it does appear it's a business decision they've taken with the standard Mavic 3 line to limit its capability and offer the functionality instead on their enterprise products.

 

[Mavic 3 by the Sea]

IMHO… that’s not a “no”.

Prioritising A over B does not mean forgetting about B. It means B is second in line.

And neither is “currently no plan” synonymous with “never” or “won’t”.

I admit that it seems like reading tea leaves. In my limited experience, though, statements like this one are formulated carefully in most cases.

 

[karlblessing]

IMHO… that’s not a “no”.

Prioritising A over B does not mean forgetting about B. It means B is second in line.

And neither is “currently no plan” synonymous with “never” or “won’t”.

I admit that it seems like reading tea leaves. In my limited experience, though, statements like this one are formulated carefully in most cases.

I've learned that with companies like DJI. Don't hold your breath on maybes.

 

[Michael Gilbert]

I thought I heard they will be releasing a SDK for the Mavic 3.

I pretty much keep my ear to the ground for info like this and have not heard anything regarding the SDK. I hope you're right.