New Dji Smart Controller - what are your thoughts???

[deleted member 877]

Thank you for directing me to that video. Now I know.

Totally my pleasure. I think most would agree that YouTube has pretty much replaced User manuals across the board. I spent a few days watching various Mavic Pro related videos and so was ready to hit the ground running immediately after taking delivery of my new drone. Awesome!

 

[CanadaDrone]

What a load of rubbish, plenty of mid-information here.

The guy obviously fails to understand anything about the controller.

‘It doesn’t update over WiFi’ rubbish it does, it installs in background!

Just so much of it I could watch then I gave up!

He spent the whole video saying how bad it was but still has his referral links in the post, what a hypocrite!

I too paid for my controller, I have had no problems at all it’s been flawless other than a slightly slow update which is now resolved. I have flown about 3 hours on it and not signal problem or an app crash it’s been stable.

There is a large group of YouTubers who go against the grain specifically to generate views, it's an extremely common tactic for any new product. Controversy = views, and that is literally all they care about. Doesn't matter if it's true or not. I avoid those videos.

 

[W2EJ]

I just used my new Smart Controller for the first time. I was very pleased with its brightness and super clear picture. I think they put the sticks in the right place. It holds very nicely and your hands don't block anything. Setup and takedown were nice and fast. Good job DJI!

 

[stresspro]

I am liking the controller a lot. Feels good. Great image.

 

[DMJPix]

I have had a very positive experience with the SC, arrived as expected, all FW upgrades and initialization proceeded without a hitch, WiFI only, the latest upgrade installed with no issues and now I have 3+ hours of winter flying with no issues. Figured out how to export logs to a Mac and craft a new lanyard. Only thing on my wish list is, somehow make the shutter button faster... there is a fair amount of lag in taking pictures. Really like the size, ergonomics, screen resolution/brightness and portability of the whole package. My Yuneec Typhoon H/ST16+ wont be out flying anytime soon.

 

[FLPilotshark]

My Set up is simple, I use a IphoneX and my Dji controller that comes with your Mavic!
I was going to buy a tablet but decided to go a different direction for a more personal feel.

 

[Rusty in Bend]

LOVE it ... love it so much that I sold my Crystal Sky monitor. It is exactly what I was hoping DJI would bring to market. There are always things to improve, but this is 95% of the way there, and that's good enough for me.

 

[stresspro]

After 2 weeks of use, I can honestly say this is a GREAT item. Out of the bag experience is seamless and quicker than ever. I added a wrist strap for safety. The image is great. Not maxing out with battery life as expected---it's cold! Seems to be an undercurrent of anger toward DJI - who has essentially cloned the Apple marketing philosophy. The price is BS but my time is valuable and I can be shooting a house in less than a minute. That adds up. By the time, I get cables, iPad, hood, app booted, I wasted 10 minutes!

 

[ff22]

After 2 weeks of use, I can honestly say this is a GREAT item. Out of the bag experience is seamless and quicker than ever. I added a wrist strap for safety. The image is great. Not maxing out with battery life as expected---it's cold! Seems to be an undercurrent of anger toward DJI - who has essentially cloned the Apple marketing philosophy. The price is BS but my time is valuable and I can be shooting a house in less than a minute. That adds up. By the time, I get cables, iPad, hood, app booted, I wasted 10 minutes!

So you use the drone commercially. A SMART tax deductible Smart Controller owner!

 

[RogerMav]

I completely agree with that but then the user has the little fold out arms that normally hold the phone, as the area to hold the unit and get that balance. Now... if DJI had mounted the screen above the sticks and assuming , relocated them below the screen, so just the opposite of what they currently have, that would leave nothing below the sticks, to get a grip on, and that would be a terrible design to hold and balance.

To get an idea of that sort of feel, fit a phone in the current controller then rotate it 180 degrees, to have the screen on top, and see how that feels, for all those saying they wish they had mounted the screen above. Don't get me wrong, I too would have liked to see the screen above the sticks, but to get the balance correct and the hold position comfortable for your hands, they would need to have extensions on the main body below the sticks, to get the grip and feel correct on a controller.

This would have made the controller longer still, which would then be a storage problem for everyone. Maybe they could come out with an Ultrabright version with a 1 inch larger screen (or1.5 inch) and then have the screen on top, with fold out arms along the bottom, below the control sticks. Sort of like they have now to hold a phone, but these would just be for giving a comfortable holding position, yet by folding back in, it would reduce the overall size for storage.

They could have mounted the sticks on the side of the screen and upper of middle position for a comfortable hold, but that would make the controller wider, again a storage problem. No easy fix to make it a nice viewing position, balance and size for storage, really.

Good comments. I also would have preferred the screen at top but there is one additional inconvenience and as a telecom engineer I can add that anything you place near the antennas affects it's RF radiation pattern and will create attenuation to the transmitted signal and you will experience less range or distance. Which of course is not noticeable on short distances as VLOS.

 

[RogerMav]

This would have bet an excellent controller set up or as the one in picture 002 of thunderstorm post further above.

They could have maybe designed it to be a bit more like the example below:-

View attachment 60932

Gamevice Controller for DJI Spark and RyzeTech Tello - DJI

 

[AnzacJack]

Been running mine for a few days now and I love it (and the Mav2).
Everything is seamless and no issues at all.
The screen tends to be a bit hot after running 3 batteries through the bird, but I have been flying on some pretty hot days.
The main bit of info I’d be looking for is wether the NLD mods work for the FCC mode. Cant see any conversation on this yet

 

[RogerMav]

Hello to all. Got my smart controller also last week and I also can say that I love it. Have used it only 3 times but so far it runs very nicely. Would have preferred a 7.85" screen size, but it is ok, the clear and bright image of the screen is very good. I have had no issues with signal strength, have tested several of the automated flight modes and seem to work properly. I love the idea of not having to use a cable to connect to a phone the time to get flying is so quick that it is a plus. If one day I need a larger screen for some reason then I will use the original remote with an external screen or phone or tablet. I do have one small issue but maybe is a configuration problem. My pics and vids do not get save on the controller only in the Mavic 2. I have to investigate on this.

 

[ff22]

Hello to all. Got mi smart controller also last week and I also can say that I love it. Have used it only 3 times but so far it runs very nicely. Would have preferred a 7.85" screen size, but it is ok, the clear and bright image of the screen is very good. I have had no issues with signal strength, have tested several of the automated flight modes and seem to work properly. I love the idea of not having to use a cable to connect to a phone the time to get flying is so quick that it is a plus. If one day I need a larger screen for some reason then I will use the original remote with an external screen or phone or tablet. I do have one small issue but maybe is a configuration problem. My pics and vids do not get save on the controller only in the Mavic 2. I have to investigate on this.

I, too, want pics and videos saved to the SC. I believe that I set the options correctly. But my the separate images for creating a Pan are not found on the controller. I think the only reason anything was on the controller was because as I previewed items, I hit the download option.

 

[crazyju]

Just used the SC for 8 straight days, 4 batteries a day, all from my boat. I could have the bird in the air in less than a minute, allowed me to get some great wild life shots on the fly. Was in bright cloudless south Fla sun, and had no problems seeing the screen. Pricey, but well worth it to me.

 

[Curt]

If DJI had a trade-up program for exchanging the original Mavic 2 controller for a reduced price on this new Smart Controller you might find more takers on purchasing this item. I original paid the $649.00 to be placed on a waiting list/pre-order and that gave me the chance to review and make the decision to cancel the order. I already had the 5.5 Crystalsky monitor and found a after market mounting adaptor to my satisfaction, this adaptor pictured below cost me $5.00 (I already had parts of the old DJI Mavic Pro adaptor in hand), which was a savings of $644.00. This new smart conrtoller answered a question for me about why DJI was not re-tooling their old Mavic pro adaptor to fit the Mavic 2 pro, a money bonanza. I see that most purchasers are waiting for updates to fixes and hoping that this new controller will connect on more then just the Mavic 2's. My Crystalsky has unlimited connection possibilities, right now !

 

[AnzacJack]

This is true. I think that the way they have marketed this has had the effect of getting more people to jump to the Mav 2 and this controller (the most cost effective way to purchase). I already had the first gen Mavic with a 7.85 crystal sky, and a P4P and really didn’t see the need to go to the new Mavic. But the introduction of the smart controller tipped me over the edge to purchase. As iv said above, I really like it. I have the DJI hard case and I love the portability of all this setup.
On a side note, another thing that was holding me back was that there was no real upgrade in camera from the P4P. However, I am very impressed with the camera and with some of the shooting modes, superior to the P4P.
(This could be my imagination trying to convince me)

 

[deleted member 877]

If DJI had a trade-up program for exchanging the original Mavic 2 controller for a reduced price on this new Smart Controller you might find more takers on purchasing this item. I original paid the $649.00 to be placed on a waiting list/pre-order and that gave me the chance to review and make the decision to cancel the order. I already had the 5.5 Crystalsky monitor and found a after market mounting adaptor to my satisfaction, this adaptor pictured below cost me $5.00 (I already had parts of the old DJI Mavic Pro adaptor in hand), which was a savings of $644.00. This new smart conrtoller answered a question for me about why DJI was not re-tooling their old Mavic pro adaptor to fit the Mavic 2 pro, a money bonanza. I see that most purchasers are waiting for updates to fixes and hoping that this new controller will connect on more then just the Mavic 2's. My Crystalsky has unlimited connection possibilities, right now !

There won’t be any updates to enable compatibility with more of the existing range of DJI drones. New drones that use Occusync 2 will support the smart controller.