Need Mavic drone advice for new operator in high wind use + fishing

nyctosf · Jan 21, 2020

The 2 extra batteries appear dead, they don't charge on direct attachment to the cable. Only blinking 1 bar.

Sent them an email, lets see what/when they reply. It was at a good price, but nowhere did it say this was refurbished/open box. This is what I purchased DJI Mavic Pro Fly More Combo - 4K Stabilized Camera, Active Track
Man do I hate losing another week to such bad behavior from the vendor, I m going to ask not only for a complete exchange but also something extra for the trouble - not sure what to ask for though - an extra battery or free refresh care? Anyone has experience dealing with this vendor?

Capt KO · Jan 21, 2020

You’re right, the ad shows brand new drones. They’re a pretty big place to make a mistake like that. Sometimes that single flashing battery will take a charge but it may take a while to kick in since it’s asleep. I don’t have one so I don’t know if it’ll do a force charge.

Mrmund · Jan 21, 2020

nyctosf said:
Absolutely, I definitely considered a Platinum but couldnt find myself justifying the price difference for 3 more minutes of flight vs a new battery for the pro. And I actually found a great combo deal on dronenerds

@Capt KO yeah I saw on youtube that I should disable the floor sensors over water, an option that is not available on the Mini unless you cover the sensors with tape.

@LeeB Yeah I was eyeing that Powervision Egg X and the Swell Pro but figured safer to go with the more established company

FYI, you're definitely going to want to disable the downward sensors. If they "see" your payload hanging below they'll cause your aircraft to rise thinking it's the ground and you'll have a hard time controlling it

lannes · Jan 21, 2020

Phantomrain.org said:
You might want to consider the Sea Lander if your going to be fishing and flying over the water every day.
The Sea Lander Jacket was designed to give you some different ways to negotiate the water in an emergency or forced landing as shown in the video below.
It far surpasses any other flotation device.

We offer a nice discount to the Forum Members just
email me at [email protected]

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How do you end up retrieving it in the ocean, not everyone will have access to a boat and boat ramp ?

Capt KO · Jan 21, 2020

Mrmund said:
FYI, you're definitely going to want to disable the downward sensors. If they "see" your payload hanging below they'll cause your aircraft to rise thinking it's the ground and you'll have a hard time controlling it

I don’t have that problem with my Phantoms as I am hanging the load well (10ft) under the drone. Should be the same on the MP. But, a better reason to turn them off over the water is to stop it from accidentally descending if too close. My Gannet bait release doesn’t interfere with the sensors either.

Capt KO · Jan 21, 2020

lannes said:
How do you end up retrieving it in the ocean, not everyone will have access to a boat and boat ramp ?

Swim if you can. Better yet, fly another drone and drag it to shore. Like fishing for drones.

lannes · Jan 21, 2020

nyctosf said:
The 2 extra batteries appear dead, they don't charge on direct attachment to the cable. Only blinking 1 bar.

Sent them an email, lets see what/when they reply. It was at a good price, but nowhere did it say this was refurbished/open box. This is what I purchased DJI Mavic Pro Fly More Combo - 4K Stabilized Camera, Active Track
Man do I hate losing another week to such bad behavior from the vendor, I m going to ask not only for a complete exchange but also something extra for the trouble - not sure what to ask for though - an extra battery or free refresh care? Anyone has experience dealing with this vendor?

Your entitled to a completely new unopened box , however with the Mavic Pro the date of manufacture could be an issue as they have been discontinued, so you may not get a recent build date.
Some retailers may still have shelf stock, hence the reduced price, but this means the batteries could be in hibernation for up to 2 years and may not charge or malfunction.
You'll have to get replacement batteries from the retailer

Since they are already giving you a discount, I'm not sure they will come up with any further compensation unless you take them to the Bureau for Consumer Protection.

lannes · Jan 21, 2020

Capt KO said:
I don’t have that problem with my Phantoms as I am hanging the load well (10ft) under the drone. Should be the same on the MP. But, a better reason to turn them off over the water is to stop it from accidentally descending if too close. My Gannet bait release doesn’t interfere with the sensors either.

+1 , I use the Gannet Bait release as well on my MP, I got interested in drone fishing after seeing this youtube video

Dakarenduro · Jan 22, 2020

I have no experience with DroneNerds or the Mavic Pro. I know batteries usually ship with about 1/2 charge, including controller.
I hope it works out for you and you get up and flying soon. Bummer.

Lady Rover · Jan 22, 2020

I think a Swellpro Spry+ might be a better solution for flying over water.
We actually lost a Mavic Air to the ocean. Still, that is another story...

nyctosf · Jan 23, 2020

Lady Rover said:
I think a Swellpro Spry+ might be a better solution for flying over water.
We actually lost a Mavic Air to the ocean. Still, that is another story...

Seriously considered it but felt safer as a new pilot with the dji refresh care insurance, whereas i ve read mixed reviews on Swellpro s customer support. Also want to have all the kinks of a dji for filming.

So drone nerds responded right away and very apologetic and easy to work with. They are replacing the order, and they will inspect the replacement for the batteries, as it was mentioned above that these are not new stocks since dji discontinued it... But they are waiting to receive it from me before shipping the new one, which is wasting more time for me... but at least all is not lost

pelagic_one · Jan 24, 2020

I was browsing eBay and found a gimbal-less Inspire this morning. This would be the ultimate fishing machine in coastal winds, especially in the afternoons around the West Coast.

I’ve gotta concur with previous posts that the Bay Area has so many NFZ coastal areas, that we need to drive a while to get to an optimal fishing spot that’s cleared per Kittyhawk or AirMap. But then we drive through tempting wilderness areas, too!

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Lady Rover · Jan 26, 2020

Here is one more alternative:

It does not have a great camera yet, but for fishing it's nice!

vsasolutions · Jan 28, 2020

pelagic_one said:
I’m an avid fisherman here in the Bay Area, and I am a proud owner of a non-blown-away Mini. But you’ll never see me trying to bring a fishing rig into deeper water with that little thang...

The Mini has served its purpose for DJI: It has shown me how fun it is to fly a drone, whet my appetite for a better drone, so I am now in full-blown shopping mode for the Mavic 2 Pro. I now want something with confident distance, better wind fighting velocity, and a better camera than I’d own on terra ferma from Nikon.

I understand your need for portability. But for an ultimate fishing machine able to handle the Bay Area’s afternoon winds, the Phantom 3 would still do better than most Mavics, in my humble opinion.

Check out our Hawaiian cousins surf fishing with what looks like a DJI Inspire in Hawaii. [12:20 on this video].

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There are also tons of great material on this forum, with drone recommendations and contraptions for holding the line till it’s dropped: Search results for query: Fishing

Look at a 3DR Solo. You can get a bait drop rig for it an it can handle 25mph winds.

pelagic_one · Jan 28, 2020

vsasolutions said:
Look at a 3DR Solo. You can get a bait drop rig for it an it can handle 25mph winds.

Being new to quads, I’ve only ever seen one 3DR Solo on a modelers association field. So are the sub $200 units selling on eBay what you had in mind? I like that price point.

Gringorio · Jan 28, 2020

Just as drones have been declared to be illegal for hunters' advantage, so too should drones be declared illegal for the lazy fisherman.

vsasolutions · Jan 28, 2020

pelagic_one said:
Being new to quads, I’ve only ever seen one 3DR Solo on a modelers association field. So are the sub $200 units selling on eBay what you had in mind? I like that price point.

You can get one without gimbal for a 200-300 usd. They are really solid in the wind and have some weight to them. Top speed is 55 mph. I have two of them and work great down at the ocean on windy days.

dronerdave · Jan 29, 2020

Fat Bastard said:
Just as drones have been declared to be illegal for hunters' advantage, so too should drones be declared illegal for the lazy fisherman.

A bit different... Except in clear shallow water, you're not generally peering into the water to find fish. You are basically dropping a bait or lure in the water (like using boat) to take your lure out further than you can cast. A lot of shore fisherman use a little raft to do the same. However I do see your point...maybe not lazy and the term should actually be crafty. Very possible in the future the F&G might make it a violation to use a drone as a fishing tool. But on my bass boat I have sonar and underwater cameras that do similar and it's legal.

nyctosf · Jan 29, 2020

Fat Bastard said:
Just as drones have been declared to be illegal for hunters' advantage, so too should drones be declared illegal for the lazy fisherman.

Yeah man and let's also ban drones everywhere. I mean **** these lazy film makers and photographers while you're at it. And cars too, so many lazy horseback riders... And commenting here too, I'd rather receive these comments in a handwritten letter you lazy troll!

Anyways, thanks everyone else for these tips and recommendations. Lets see how Mavic Pro handles things when I receive the replacement next week. I will probably have a million more questions as I m new to drones.