Questions before buying

[cwinans]

I am going to be buying my Mavic Pro shortly but I have an old iPhone 5 and I know this phone won't work with the Mavic Pro. So I am faced with numerous questions. In reading this forum more questions have come to mind than I first thought I would have.

In reading the forum I have read
1. That you should put your phone on airplane mode to fly your Mavic Pro
2. That you should download your maps prior to flying
3. That an iPad doesn't allow a pilot to use all the Mavic Pro features (such as the "follow me" feature)

Are the 3 points I made above in reading the forum correct? If I should download the maps prior to flying can I do this from home before traveling or do I have to wait until I am in the general vicinity of where I am planning on flying? I know my iPhone is old with the anniversary edition coming out later this year I would prefer to wait until then to upgrade.

I am planning of traveling with my drone internationally.

So my question to the experienced Mavic Pro members here is if you were in my shoes what would you use with your remote?

iPad Mini4? If I went with an iPad Mini4 would I need the one with cellular service?
When I travel I would prefer not to pay an arm and a leg for roaming charges - suggestion?
iPhone 6 - I could buy one on craigslist until the next iPhone get released?
Some other option?

Sorry for the newbie questions. When I become experienced I will be an active member sharing by successes and failures (hopefully not many of those).

Thanks in advance for the help.

 

[msinger]

That you should put your phone on airplane mode to fly your Mavic Pro

If you put your phone in airplane mode, that'll prevent any calls/messages from interrupting your flight. It'll also free up resources on your phone.

That you should download your maps prior to flying

If you want to see the maps in DJI GO, your mobile device will either need to be connected to the Internet or you'll need to cache the maps in DJI GO in a location where you have an Internet connection before heading out to fly. If using a mobile device that does not have a cellular connection, you could also download the maps in real-time by tethering your mobile device to another mobile device that does have a cellular connection. And if you don't need the maps while you're flying (I rarely use them), then you can skip all of these suggestions.

That an iPad doesn't allow a pilot to use all the Mavic Pro features (such as the "follow me" feature)

If you want to use Follow Me and be able to reset the home point to your current location after taking off, then you need to use a mobile device that contains a GPS receiver. For Apple devices, that means you'll need a device that has a cellular card (the cellular services does not need to be activated). Wi-Fi only Apple devices do not contain GPS receivers.

If I should download the maps prior to flying can I do this from home before traveling or do I have to wait until I am in the general vicinity of where I am planning on flying?

You can cache the maps ahead of time from any location.

iPad Mini4?

That's a great choice. You can find a complete list of compatible Apple devices here.

If I went with an iPad Mini4 would I need the one with cellular service?

Cellular service is not required to fly the Mavic. However, you will need it if you want to use any features that require connecting to the Internet while you're flying.