Safe ?

[maelstrom]

Thanks for the info. I was kind of stuck deciding between the 2. It seems like I'll need to pay for the $40 dollar version of drone link.

I was lucky that I had the old Hobbyist plan which was upgraded to Elite when the plans changed recently. Dronelink has a fairly steep learning curve but there are plenty of free instructional videos and the added functionality it offers is definitely worth the effort.

 

[EvoJones]

That's the $80 plan then lol. Would it be worth trying litchi to get a feel for it? For someone who has only used dji software to this point? The waypoints are cool but not that necessary. I'd still unlock allot of extras with litchi right? Meaning all the same stuff except waypoints pretty much. I've been reading quite a bit about fly aways and such and it's a bit worrisome for any 3rd party software.

 

[maelstrom]

I've been reading quite a bit about fly aways and such and it's a bit worrisome for any 3rd party software.

I haven't read about a single flyaway that could be directly attributed to the third-party software. Remember that they are just using functions provided by the SDK which DJI produced so there shouldn't be anything dangerous being done. I don't have Litchi, but Dronelink has the same options for loss of signal as the Fly app.

 

[Olav van Gerven]

I have used litchi this summer in Sweden on many occasions. I disagree, that you do not have control over the drone flying an automated mission. Condition is, that you (as requiered by law) stay VLOS. On one ocasion I pressed the "pause" to keep my drone in position as I had to deal with a problem, then I pressed RTH to get the drone back to me. At no time, I had lost control over the drone.

The most important thing is, that you check the altitudes of the waypoints more then once. Not doing so almost costed me my drone. No litchi fail, pilot error.

 

[Jeff A]

Although some people seem to see this as a desirable feature, the fact is that it's illegal in many countries. Even if you could still see the drone, you have no control over it - you couldn't prevent a flyaway or an unexpected collision, for example.

To each his own, but I have had a temporary signal loss in a Waypoint mission and I am very greatfull that the drone continued until the signal was received again. Because signal loss can be unpredictable because of structures, terrain and so forth, it's nice to have confidence in your Flight Control System. Strong vote for Litchi.

 

[maelstrom]

To each his own, but I have had a temporary signal loss in a Waypoint mission and I am very greatfull that the drone continued until the signal was received again.

The problem is, you don’t know how long the “temporary” signal loss is going to be - it’s only temporary if the signal eventually comes back. As you say, to each his own - I would feel very uncomfortable not having any control over the drone.