New pilot - just got up in the air this evening

[rdunstan]

Bought my Mavic Mini from Costco Saturday. Found the instructions from DJI to be virtually useless. The YouTube videos for first timers weren't to much help either. In both I found that they made assumptions so skipped steps and used terminology that may be familiar to flyers, but not for the totally newbie. The most frustrating thing was getting the Fly App. When I used my Nexus phone, the Playstore came up with a different app that sort of tried to work until it got to step 3 where is was unable to bind with the drone. I finally rounded up another phone (Pixel 3) and the correct Fly App showed up in Playstore. Since there was no error, just a spinning wheel at step 3, it was not very user friendly.

One other BIG complaint is the uAB connector used on the controller. That connector is awful because it easy to damage if you tri to put in a uB plug upside down and is hard to get the square plug into it as well. The USB folks have moved on from it many years ago. It is unfortunate that DJI did not use a USB Type-C connector on both the drone and controller. It is much easier to plug in. Would have been nice to have a USB Type-C receptacle on the drone as well.

Good news that I finally muddled through and got the drone up and flying this afternoon. Was able to take a spin around the house and some of the property. Was fun to fly around some trees and other obstacles in the yard. Got a little bit of video and two pictures of my shoes. Guess I need to work on that. Had to quit because it started raining. Hope to have something more useful to contribute when I raise my level of competence on both flying and taking video/stills.

 

[msinger]

Welcome to the forum!

The USB folks have moved on from it many years ago. It is unfortunate that DJI did not use a USB Type-C connector on both the drone and controller.

It seems they are starting to in their newer drones. The newly released Mavic Air 2 uses USB Type-C.

 

[Thomas B]

Welcome to the forum from the deserts of Arizona! Enjoy.

 

[Deleted member 103366]

If we are having a gripe about USB, I hate these small connectors.
They, both male or female, are far to easily damaged and too easily misaligned especially as you get older and start needing reading glasses.
I did not like the fancy, but bigger, USB connector on my Samsung S5 when I first encountered it but it has never given me trouble and you can't get the orientation wrong so easily whereas the plain micro USB socket on my note 4 is a pain in the derrier!
Is the idea of the USB-C not that it is reversible? If so can a micro USB male not be fitted the wrong way up and still work though I am not going to try it myself lol.
This all having been said I think using the same socket to charge the controller and communicate with the phone etc. is not a great idea, it adds to the number of insertions and removals for the socket. Separate sockets would have been better in my opinion maybe even something like the round connector used for the Phantom and Inspire controllers.

 

[Aerial-Pixel]

Bought my Mavic Mini from Costco Saturday. Found the instructions from DJI to be virtually useless. The YouTube videos for first timers weren't to much help either. In both I found that they made assumptions so skipped steps and used terminology that may be familiar to flyers, but not for the totally newbie. The most frustrating thing was getting the Fly App. When I used my Nexus phone, the Playstore came up with a different app that sort of tried to work until it got to step 3 where is was unable to bind with the drone. I finally rounded up another phone (Pixel 3) and the correct Fly App showed up in Playstore. Since there was no error, just a spinning wheel at step 3, it was not very user friendly.

One other BIG complaint is the uAB connector used on the controller. That connector is awful because it easy to damage if you tri to put in a uB plug upside down and is hard to get the square plug into it as well. The USB folks have moved on from it many years ago. It is unfortunate that DJI did not use a USB Type-C connector on both the drone and controller. It is much easier to plug in. Would have been nice to have a USB Type-C receptacle on the drone as well.

Good news that I finally muddled through and got the drone up and flying this afternoon. Was able to take a spin around the house and some of the property. Was fun to fly around some trees and other obstacles in the yard. Got a little bit of video and two pictures of my shoes. Guess I need to work on that. Had to quit because it started raining. Hope to have something more useful to contribute when I raise my level of competence on both flying and taking video/stills.

Welcome to Mavic Pilots from Dayton Ohio! Enjoy your new Mavic Mini, Fly safe and have fun!

 

[dirkclod]

Welcome to Mavic Pilots .
I hope you will find our site helpful and look forward to any input , photo's/video's you might post .
Don't be shy and ask anything if you can't find it by searching .

 

[Xanadu]

Welcome! The box doesnt contain the full manual of the MM but rather quick start guide. Be sure to go through the full user manual.

 

[Dedal]

Welcome.

 

[old man mavic]

welcome to the forum

 

[Physopto]

Welcome to the forum.
I agree that usb (mini) are awful. I have a camera for astronomy use. It has mini usb connector and a lot of them have failed over the years as they are very poorly connected to the circuit boards internally. It has cost thousands overall in repair costs for many people in the astronomy hobby. Wiring connectors on my cameras are fitted with tie wraps to stop involuntary movements and breakage, but you cannot do this with a drone.

 

[Drone Master]

Welcome to Mavic Pilots! Enjoy the forum!

 

[wjkrysak]

Welcome to the forum. I fly a MM also, and have had many fun flights with it. I am particular about the connections. You will find plenty of support and assistance. We look forward to seeing your part of the world.

 

[Peterson]

Welcome to the forum. Safe flights.

 

[Frustrated]

Welcome from Wisconsin.