No waypoints is dealbreaker.
- Thread starter Rogerc
- Start date
Yes, with DJI Go (3) you have to fly the waypoints to record them.
But -- After I got my first DJI, a P3 Standard in 2017, I added the Litchi app ASAP... my first waypoint mission was planned and created on a laptop, and executed itself perfectly.
This whole situation about on-board waypoints versus virtual-stick waypoints is part of DJI's forced compliance... it's not that they can't do it because of some hardware or SDK or other issue.
With virtual stick waypoints the Drone is forced to stay within controller range and therefore more likely within VLOS. With on-board waypoints you can easily fly well outside of VLOS and DJI does not want to provide functionality where users can easily break the law.... simple enough to understand, if you ask me.
With virtual stick waypoints the Drone is forced to stay within controller range and therefore more likely within VLOS. With on-board waypoints you can easily fly well outside of VLOS and DJI does not want to provide functionality where users can easily break the law.... simple enough to understand, if you ask me.
So why is there a waypoint setup for hyperlapse? What, from a compliance point of view, is the difference?
And why are other manufacturers still employing waypoints in their product, if this is deemed to be outside of legal flying?
Using the hyperlapse feature, can you make the Drone autonomously fly a couple of miles away and back? I've never used hyperlapse.
Oh I don't know... maybe because those other manufacturers are NOT DJI ?!
Faster
Well-Known Member
Then why DJI announce their drones are able to fly to 10-12 miles distance? That functionality would let users easily break the law too. Evidently that's not the reason why DJI eliminated waypoints from their Consumer Drones line.
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Jagerbomb52
Well-Known Member
It has nothing to do with forced compliance or on-board waypoint storage. This was a marketing point they decided on to make their enterprise drone look more attractive. Someone who needs the waypoint feature has no choice but to buy one of their more expensive drones to get the best possible mapping results with on-board waypoints.
Simple as that.
Simple as that.
Boys and girls, it's been fun... but I'm 'fraid I'm gonna have to leave the rest of this thread up to y'all. Have at it.
Y'all have a nice day now y'heeah?
Y'all have a nice day now y'heeah?
Ummm.
Thanks.
Some posters here who ACTUALLY use this product are concerned about the lack of waypoint deployment by DJI. Rather than be the snarky old shill Id suggest bow out gracefully or add something positive to the discussion.
Little hope of that.
Prove me wrong.
With the "virtual stick" waypoints as you call them I could fly the route picking location, angle, altitude and camera pitch. Sure I had to fly it, but that meant I could also ensure the shot was framed right, and what I wanted to see. The magic then came when I ran the mission against these. The movement from point to point was super smooth, much better than I could fly. It was perfect. Then I could fly the same route at different times of day, or seasons of the year, or same mission over a construction site during the build. Then use editing software to fly the mission and fade between the flights in the video so in 30 seconds you could see a building go up, see a lake during the seasons of the year. Again, DJI phantom 3 standard, $499 with the waypoints I needed. So then I buy a $1000 Air 2 S and it doesn't have the same functionality as a drone that was half the price? Just stupid!
Don't get me wrong, I love the air2s. Size, portability, quality, etc. But the waypoint feature was the one thing that let me take my air photography to the next level, and imitate you super-smooth drone pros. Just a huge let down that it wasn't in the Air2s. Also, why can they add the virtual way point in hyperlapse and not simply activate that same capability for regular flights. Can't imagine it will take any extra coding, it already does it, just enable it on non-hyperlapse mode. Of course the Air2S is better, there are 5 years between these drones. Would I sacrifice master shots for waypoints? Yes, but I'm probably in the minority there.
The whole point of my reply, hoping to add credence to similar post that DJI should have this, was that I had waypoint capability on the $500 Phantom 3 Standard. Granted, I had to fly and record the waypoints manually the first time, but then I could fly the waypoint missions automatically, as many times as I wanted, over time, etc. But I don't have that capability on the $1000 Air2S, so yes I do miss it.
Why are you so fixated on the price? Sure the P3S was sub-$500 before it was discontinued. It wasn't released at that price though was it? There are a bunch of things that the A2S does very well that the P3S can't do at all. It not even a comparison. Look, it's most likely the A2S will never get a proper waypoint function. Maybe the Air 3S... lol
If waypoints (or any other feature) are that important find a drone that has what you need (at the time of purchase) instead of buying the "wrong" or "popular" drone and hoping for an update. Learn from others mistakes. There are many manufacturers and models out there, all it takes is a little homework.
If waypoints (or any other feature) are that important find a drone that has what you need (at the time of purchase) instead of buying the "wrong" or "popular" drone and hoping for an update. Learn from others mistakes. There are many manufacturers and models out there, all it takes is a little homework.
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Far as Litchi/Dronelink goes, since they use virtual stick commands, doesn't their performance rely heavily on the capability and such of the mobile device you're using with it? Since it's relying on the mobile device in real time to send turn by turn stick adjustments, while checking the drones position, rather than just telling the drone to go to a certain coordinate.
Everything is a factor I'm sure, but the mobile device itself is not going to be the bottleneck between the device, controller and drone.
In my observance of many years of threads it actually does in quite a few instances. (As in probably 1000+ reports). As to all in this thread, those who haven't been in the DJI loop since almost the start, skipping P1 and P2. DJI came into it's major leap with the release of the Inspire 1 and then months later with the Phantom3Pro/Adv. Both (all three actually) were sold with the announcement of "Smart Flight Features" or now smart shots. But as worded most were greatly disappointed to find out that they could not do them out of the box.
It was then that the Announced SDK for those 3 models was open for third party developers. That was the time frame for many companies to be born. In the subject for this discussion Litchi was born. It opened the world for many to do what they couldn't do with stick control.
But DJI then reversed and started releasing firmware with the flight features with the caveats mentioned, as said fly first for instance. Litchi had the shortest learning curve and if memory serves was the cheapest of all offerings. So Litchi dominated the market as 3rd party DJI flight software.
Litchi has and continues to be in constant communication with DJI with their SDK releases and has been totally transparent in what DJI releases, it's bugs and omissions unlike DJI itself which honestly IMHO is closed minded and as mentioned is all about money.
I haven't researched the release date but DJI did announce more than a few aircraft releases ago, that waypoints were discontinued on consumer products. So anyone who bought after that "Should Know" that that feature set isn't included nor would be supported at the level it was.
Yes I don't have a dog in this fight as to the Air(S) not having waypoints built in or how Litchi works with them, nor any other release that uses the Fly App. But I do know that I had dropped into upgrade mode of my P3P to get a Air when it was introduced. I then did a bit of research and found that other than a folding drone, My P3P was still IMHO, a much better drone fit for me. To me the Fly App is still greatly inferior to the Go 3 and Go 4 Apps, although they have made strides to lock it down and give users what they "Demanded".
I did however weigh the market heavily and found that the Mavic 2 series provided what I would need and wanted even though it was coming up on it's third anniversary of release. Now my 4 year old series Drone seems to be what people of this thread want but can't have. I even looked at the Mini3 Pro lately, but other than a sub 250g...which doesn't affect me anyway... I'll just keep flying, filming, and taking stills with my P3P and M2Z (With SC). I am free of DJI's limitations and nannyware and all the hype that it seems is just a rehash of what we went through back in the P3P days...Best of luck to all new DJI owners, but I think I will just stick with my tried, proven and "Perfect" (Bug Free) air-frames and Firmware of days gone by, all that fly perfect IMHO with Litchi, which BTW, that I have had for over 6 years.
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