newbie thinking of buying a pro 2. few questions

[Bob Haven]

Hi, Steve-
I had never flown a drone before, and like you, was a little apprehensive about diving in with a MP2 as my first drone, but I did, and am glad for it. It can be pretty intimidating at first (actually, it still kinda is, even after a few months of ownership), but it really is pretty simple to fly , and of course the more you get out and get it in the air the easier it gets and your confidence level increases with every flight. Just take it slow, watch a bunch of videos, and don't hesitate to throw out any questions/concerns to the good folks on this forum. I have found this to forum be a blessing- everyone is willing to share their expertise, and, as I have found out, there is no 'dumb question'.

 

[steve_epie]

That's no big deal.
It's just the nature of GPS which is accurate to within 3-5 feet most of the time, but occasionally more.
The simple solution is to avoid launching from tight locations and allow a little room to allow for this.
And ... RTH autolanding is just a gimmick anyway.
The flyer can always cancel the RTH and resume control to land wherever he chooses.

ive heard this as well...certainly its not wayyy off course but i guess the first pro had precision landing? seems like it would make sense to have that in the 2nd version for sure. i'll take your guys word for it that its pretty simple to land/control.

i'm actually reading that the drone can disconnect from the remote at times? thats a scary thought...what do you do in that case?

 

[steve_epie]

Hi, Steve-
I had never flown a drone before, and like you, was a little apprehensive about diving in with a MP2 as my first drone, but I did, and am glad for it. It can be pretty intimidating at first (actually, it still kinda is, even after a few months of ownership), but it really is pretty simple to fly , and of course the more you get out and get it in the air the easier it gets and your confidence level increases with every flight. Just take it slow, watch a bunch of videos, and don't hesitate to throw out any questions/concerns to the good folks on this forum. I have found this to forum be a blessing- everyone is willing to share their expertise, and, as I have found out, there is no 'dumb question'.

appreciate that. yeah i am a little concerned certainly because of the $$ involved...its not some throw away drone...but i figured if i'm gonna go the drone route might as well go "all in" as they say. i have been thinking about getting one ever since about a 1.5 yrs ago. a co workers husband had some video of his drone on his phone he showed me. i thought that looks **** fun. so looking forward too it but yeah vids make it seem pretty simple.

 

[Mystiko]

The main reason for RTH not acting as expected would be flyers that haven't read and practised RTH to know what it does and how it does it.
RTH is very simple and reliable .. much more relaible than many flyers.
I'm not sure about your example of an incorrect GPS fix for the home point.
I don't think I've seen many of those but they would only be because of operator error if they happened at all.

Exactly why I said that RTH didn’t function as ‘expected’. There’s a disconnect between what the drone will do and what the user expects it to do.

Best practice is to wait for good satellite coverage and take off in GPS mode. There are many examples posted across numerous DJI forums (not just specific to the Mavic) whereby users take off without sufficient GPS coverage to attain an accurate fix. There’s also examples of people taking off from moving obstacles without a dynamic home point set. This is what I was implying.

I think that to suggest that RTH is more reliable than many flyers is quite subjective and can’t be proven either way.

 

[Meta4]

The MP1 has always had the "precision landing" feature. When used properly the aircraft lands within inches of its takeoff point by using automatically taken photos of the lift-off location. I use precision landing with the P4P all the time when flying Pix4d missions. This feature was never implemented in the MP2, which many have complained about from the start, and with good reason. If anything should happen during flight and you were unable to regain control you might wish you had it. It might make a big difference in whether or not your aircraft can land safely.

Did you read post #19?

 

[53-63-6f-74-74]

Did you read post #19?

Of course. My response to post 19 was post 20. For many of us it IS a big deal that the MP2 doesn't have a basic feature of its predecessor, because many of us use it regularly in automated flights, and that it's not the nature of GPS that's the problem (which may be much more than 5-10 feet wrong). It's the lack of this feature that prevents an accurate automatic landing in the case of an emergency or in any other case that we want to use it practically.

 

[Meta4]

Best practice is to wait for good satellite coverage and take off in GPS mode. There are many examples posted across numerous DJI forums (not just specific to the Mavic) whereby users take off without sufficient GPS coverage to attain an accurate fix.

That can happen but I don't see it very often.
In most cases it's doesn't cause a problem since the drone will record a home point as soon as it does get a good GPS location fix and that's usually fairly close to the launch point.

There’s also examples of people taking off from moving obstacles without a dynamic home point set.

There is no Dynamic Home Point feature in the DJI Go4 app.

I think that to suggest that RTH is more reliable than many flyers is quite subjective and can’t be proven either way.

RTH is very, very reliable and predictable.
It does the same thing every time.
There are countless cases of DJI drones coming to grief because their owners didn't have a good understanding of how RTH operates.
I see them all the time.

• Drones left in RTH to fight a wind stronger than RTH can deal with
• Drones sent out without an appropriate RTH height set
• Users not sure how to activate RTH and either not initiating because they pressed the button briefly or even cancelling because they pressed it again.
• Users initiating RTH when close to the drone and causing it to land in place.
• Initiating RTH under a tree canopy and crashing when it climbs to RTH
• Users not realising that touching the left stick before the drone has climbed to full height and cancelling the climb.

There are more but that's a good selection to start with.

 

[Meta4]

Of course. My response to post 19 was post 20. For many of us it IS a big deal that the MP2 doesn't have a basic feature of its predecessor, because many of us use it regularly in automated flights, and that it's not the nature of GPS that's the problem (which may be much more than 5-10 feet wrong). It's the lack of this feature that prevents an accurate automatic landing in the case of an emergency or in any other case that we want to use it practically.

So if you know you don't have precision landing, how hard is it to launch from somewhere that will also be a safe landing spot for an automated RTH landing?
It's a pretty simple remedy, but 100% effective.
That's why I said it's no big deal.

 

[Meta4]

i'm actually reading that the drone can disconnect from the remote at times? thats a scary thought...what do you do in that case?

There's not nuch you could do after the event except hope that you have set an appropriate RTH height and that your Mavic won't be battling a headwind faster than 10 metres/sec to get back.
The best thing to do is to not do things that could cause loss of signal.
Don't fly behind obstacles, don't fly too far away etc
And the best thing to help your confidence is to go to a large open area and practise with RTH to see what it will do and how it does it.
Try flying out 100 feet and switching off your controller and watch what happens.
Do it a few times to gain experience and build confidence.

 

[steve_epie]

Try flying out 100 feet and switching off your controller and watch what happens.
.

 

[Meta4]

It's your choice
Would you rather learn about RTH by reading the manual and testing in controlled conditions in a large, open area where there's nothing to hit ......
or ... take your chances some day when you really need RTH to work?

 

[steve_epie]

It's your choice
Would you rather learn about RTH by reading the manual and testing in controlled conditions in a large, open area where there's nothing to hit ......
or ... take your chances some day when you really need RTH to work?

haha no i get what youre saying...certainly going to read up on RTH...it was just the way you worded it. go fly that bod boy 100 ft away and shut off the device LOL

 

[Meta4]

haha no i get what youre saying...certainly going to read up on RTH...it was just the way you worded it. go fly that bod boy 100 ft away and shut off the device LOL

I was 100% serious. That's what you should do.

 

[Slim.slamma]

go fly that bod boy 100 ft away and shut off the device LOL

That’s how you do it, dive in. Don’t just read about
It’s been a many of Pilots to panic, they don’t trust or know the system yet

 

[Slim.slamma]

I was 100% serious. That's what you should do.

ASAP @steve_epie

 

[cochitiman]

I like to use rth so the drone just cruises on home on its own. I then move the camera around to the sides etc. by touching the screen as it flies it's self home. You can even angle the camera up to see the prop spinning away. It's just fun. As it gets overhead and begins descending, I'll flick the camera straight down and watch the landing pad as the drone gets closer. Then I'll often push the red stop button at about 6 feet, throw it into tripod mode, and gently maneuver the drone over the pad. It's usually about 3 feet over from the pad. Then in tripod I just gently maneuver for pinpoint landing. Lot of fun using rth in combination with manuel landing.

 

[Jorgeo65]

1. the pro has an auto land feature right? something like a return to home function? probably my biggest worry...that should make it simple and i wont have to worry about it crashing on me while landing lol

2. there seems to be conflicting articles i'm seeing about having to register a drone with the FAA...i've seen you have too...to it was reversed you no longer have too. whats the final say or is it still in limbo?

3. how comfortable are you guys with a newbie getting the pro 2? i know some would suggest getting maybe a cheapie model just in case...but i figure as long as the thing has an autopilot/autoland mode/function it should be smooth sailing right?[/QUOTE]

hope u are using a iphone, as android phones users are treated like second class citizens, and don't work as well with DJI drones, hope u have more luck then I did with your expensive toy. check out this link if u want to know more.
frustrated new mavic 2 owner, will not link

 

[Meta4]

hope u are using a iphone, as android phones users are treated like second class citizens, and don't work as well with DJI drones, hope u have more luck then I did with your expensive toy.

And you've checked how many Android phones?
Just the one that had not configured properly?
There are many flyers that fly with Android and no problems at all.
You are just contributing to a myth.

 

[steve_epie]

am using an iphone. so no worries there

 

[Jorgeo65]

And you've checked how many Android phones?
Just the one that had not configured properly?
There are many flyers that fly with Android and no problems at all.
You are just contributing to a myth.

Mate, have a look at the reviews on the dji go app for androids, hundreds of complaints about compatibility issues. on the side of the box the mavic comes in, it says, made for iphones, the guy from dji support told me it does not work properly with my phone [samsung S8] and I should get another phone. I'm not saying it wont work, its just more likely to have problems using android.
it doesn't help anyone if we shoot people down that dare complain, that's the only way to get these big companies to do anything about it.