Opinion: Does Mavic Pro Malfunction or Can people just not accept they Messed up?

[gnirtS]

Im sick of reading "Mavic did this", "Mavic flewaway", It's not my fault threads.

I've never had my mavic do anything I couldn't later realise was normal functioning.
Am i the only one who believes it does exactly as advertised

The mavic works very well. Yes there are bugs and no doubt a tiny proportion of crashes ARE the results of a technical fault just like any other electronic device - but that proportion is tiny.

Nearly all the crashes listed here, the FB groups, the DJI forum all boil down to user error. Either they did something stupid or more commonly they don't understand the drone enough so don't know the limitations or its reactions in certain scenarios. Most spent $1000+ on a drone then cant even be bothered to read the manual to get even a basic understanding of it. They want instant gratification, plug and fly with no need to engage brain at any stage.
And when people screw up they always look to lay the blame elsewhere without looking at their own actions - thats fairly normal.

Ive got about 80 flights so far and have come near to a crash once and it was entirely a result of me being too complacent about the features and forgetting a key bit of information thats clearly stated in the manual. In other words, if it had crashed it would have been 100% my fault as the drone was doing exactly what it should be doing and what the documents say it would do but id forgotten that part.

 

[LeafPeeper]

I'll conceed the ATTI should have a Panic button. Might have saved some heartache for some eager flyers.

But seriously, wherever I have a GPS signal on the ground for about 30m square, and then go straight up gaining altitude, GPS has only ever gotten stronger
So if you takeoff fly up above the highest obstacles, then proceed to explore, even signal loss is only ever gonna cause a RTH.

Have people actually had it switch to ATTI mode in flight instead of going signal loss, RTHing?

Of course - and in fact that was the whole reason for my original response to this thread. There are frequent complaints here and on the DJI forum about their MP spontaneously losing GPS signal for no clear reason and dropping into ATTI. Sure, it could have been pilot error - flying under an obstruction or whatever, but the kicker was when a DJI rep said that losing the compass heading will cause the MP to turn off the GPS and drop to ATTI. Simple magnetic interference could cause it - power lines, rebar, etc. Again, I maintain that it's not the best design decision. At least give us the ability to intentionally turn GPS off so we can train for the eventual occurance.

LP

 

[Kilrah]

That is a fair point to be honest, and also i have had minor atti experience and the Mavic when it does drop into atti often seems to react differently to the cheap atti mode drones around.

The problem is that often when things go awry it doesn't switch to ATTI as it should but tries to insist staying in GPS even if it's not able to fly itself - that's when completely unpredictable stuff happens at least for a few seconds before it switches to ATTI for real.
Again something that could be prevented with a manual ATTI switch. See it does weird stuff, switch yourself to a known condition instead of waiting for it to hopefully do it.

Have people actually had it switch to ATTI mode in flight instead of going signal loss, RTHing?

RC Signal loss (causing an RTH if configured to do so) and falling to ATTI (due to GPS or compass issues) are completely unrelated. And yes the latter happens.

I'll conceed the ATTI should have a Panic button. Might have saved some heartache for some eager flyers.

You don't get the point. When it switches to ATTI by itself it's precisely becasue it's unable to fly itself, so no panic button possible.

I also would love to see an ATTI mode which I can manuall start and if it gets too scary just hit the pause button to let the automatic save the MP. This way one could practice manual flying and it would be less surprising if it falls out of P-mode for whatever reason during a normal flight

It is possible but you'll have to do your own research. Even if it's something safety-enhancing, if not even critical as I consider it the owners of this place don't want people to talk about it.

 

[TheLightSpeed!]

In case your comment was aimed at my response, yes, very comfortable in ATTI, but the question was about whether the MP does stuff it's not intended to do, i.e. does it malfunction.

ATTI mode isn't the issue. It's the surprise of ATTI mode. So even if your a top gun pilot, when ATTI mode happens you lose los and heading on the app. If you're far enough away it's terrifying.

My MP went into ATTI mode, flew away. But I got it back. It turned out to be the concrete I was flying over had excess of steel in it.

 

[GMG]

ATTI mode isn't the issue. It's the surprise of ATTI mode. So even if your a top gun pilot, when ATTI mode happens you lose los and heading on the app. If you're far enough away it's terrifying.

Well said. When it happened with me, the MP was above a high stand of trees and in an instant disappeared behind it, in a fairly stiff wind. I was lucky the MP wasn't damaged. That said, if I'd had some option and experience practicing in ATTI with the MP, I'd have no doubt been better placed to respond, as the flight characteristics of each quad model varies...particularly in ATTI.

 

[Pablo]

Im sick of reading "Mavic did this", "Mavic flewaway", It's not my fault threads.

I've never had my mavic do anything I couldn't later realise was normal functioning.
Am i the only one who believes it does exactly as advertised

You may not have intended this, but this post comes across as arrogant and naive.

Every case is different. Sometimes the Mavic behaved flawlessly and the operator made a mistake. Other times the Mavic simply malfunctioned.

If you ever end up being one of those unfortunate enough to suffer the latter, I suspect you'd get a bit annoyed if everyone just dismissed your incident as human error.

 

[gnirtS]

I suspect you'd get a bit annoyed if everyone just dismissed your incident as human error.

The odds are overwhelmingly in favour of it being human error. Its an absolutely tiny proportion of faults being down to a technical failure. And once people supply logs to prove it people tend to agree with them.
The standard crash reaction though always seems to be blame the drone not the user when 99%+ of crashes are actually the user.

 

[Gotcha]

It is possible but you'll have to do your own research. Even if it's something safety-enhancing, if not even critical as I consider it the owners of this place don't want people to talk about it.

I meant an official ATTI mode like the Phantoms have it. Could be assigned to the C1/C2 button since the MP mode switch has only two positions.

And of course the "Panic" button would only work in an manual ATTI mode when GPS/compass is available to kick in, not if it drops out of P-Mode in regular flight.

 

[gnirtS]

I meant an official ATTI mode like the Phantoms have it. Could be assigned to the C1/C2 button since the MP mode switch has only two positions.

And of course the "Panic" button would only work in an manual ATTI mode when GPS/compass is available to kick in, not if it drops out of P-Mode in regular flight.

Or even in the GPS settings menu in the app, just a google for "Disable GPS" or "Enable ATTI". It beats wrapping the craft up in tinfoil.

 

[Rick]

Preparation in pre-flight for potential irregular problems can combat most (I'm not claiming all) eventualities. From basic awareness of your location and it's hazards, to checking settings and ensuring all presets are programmed properly before flight, including the status of the IMU and compass, reduces most of the "risk".
I'm an Android user and can empathise that when (not if!) the Go 4 app crashes it could cause the operator to panic. However, it's not the app that controls the drone; it's the controller. If you've chosen a preset flight routine like poi or follow me mode etc, it can be cancelled or paused from the controller, or over-ridden by engaging sport mode. If the mavic loses signal with the controller it can be pre programmed to return home. The "brain" with all it's connected processors allows the autonomous wizardry on board the Mavic to do this. If you're Go app has crashed and you are beyond LOS (not a lecture) or you can barely see the reactions affecting the drone from instructions you give it through the controller, it's still possible to orientate the drone from information displayed on the lcd screen of the controller.
The capabilities drones enjoy now were science fiction a few years ago. Expecting more from your drone than it has to offer is not going to stop it from crashing. I made the caveat that not all problems are down to user error; a brand new car can break down, but the majority of failures can be avoided by knowing the capabilities and limitations of your aircraft before you take off.

 

[Bunny Too]

Yes.

 

[Kate]

That's classic.

"yea my mav is so cool cmon come watch"

in garden, fire her up eyes on from 4 people, telling them how they going to see this bird return home all on its own.

hit take off,up she goes then whoosh sideways at 10mph into a bush. Everyone laughs there *** off while i look at the app to see atti mode. yea i did not wait for the home point and gps lock on green.

Gold!

random day 1 flyer:

"Yo check me out son, i got the mad flying skillz upinit'

*crashes most awkard way possible* lol

Rushes to forum to blaim ATTI mode

edit: Rushes to forum to ask what ATTI mode is.

 

[frank candor]

Im sick of reading "Mavic did this", "Mavic flewaway", It's not my fault threads.

I've never had my mavic do anything I couldn't later realise was normal functioning.
Am i the only one who believes it does exactly as advertised

 

[frank candor]

i've been flying my mavic, since april "17, had one weird incidence(since you asked) after flying in 3 different locations, in quick succession, on my second battery, always had gps, plenty of sats, wide open ranges, Then i stopped along side of road, smaller residential power lines, lit it up, from off my fiberglass tool box on truck, ( which i had done before with no alerts) and it wildly flew right then left (as i frantically tried to corrected it) was only 5 feet off the ground, lots of brush ,trees, it lasted 5-10 seconds just whizzing side to side crazily as i tried to bring it down, i managed to bring it back safely, i'm still kinda curious what happened, (maybe some day i'll look at the log) but i'm just glad i didn't PANIC, (too much), in hindsight i might have flown it too much? 85 degrees flying 2 batteries down in an hours time, other than that i've had no issues. flew a P3P for 8 months before the MAV, STAY CALMish

 

[Johnmcl7]

I'll conceed the ATTI should have a Panic button. Might have saved some heartache for some eager flyers.

But seriously, wherever I have a GPS signal on the ground for about 30m square, and then go straight up gaining altitude, GPS has only ever gotten stronger
So if you takeoff fly up above the highest obstacles, then proceed to explore, even signal loss is only ever gonna cause a RTH.

Have people actually had it switch to ATTI mode in flight instead of going signal loss, RTHing?

The problem with the sudden switch to ATTI mode doesn't seem to be because the drone has lost GPS reception but because there's a conflict with the compass or similar. I've had the switch to ATTI mode when the drone was in a wide open countryside and above me at 120m, I'd been flying for around five minutes and gone back and forth to see how the wind was when I got the warning it was out of GPS mode. I quickly brought it down to just above ground level out of the higher winds while I secured the dog then landed it, the drone did switch back into GPS mode around five minutes after losing it although I went ahead with landing it anyway.

 

[Kate]

Just wanted to add, Got my new MP and it acts/flys exactly as my previous.
The same quirks and the same lack of them.
Only anomaly was the battery lock being a bit tighter than my previous, but
my other battery slipped in with no problems.

Not too surprising considering Lipo/Lion batteries either