Serious Frustrations with DJI - Help Needed

[PNWdrone23]

New to droning. Wife bought me a Mavic Mini for my birthday last week, and I am in the process of returning it due to DJI's incompetence. Would seriously appreciate some help/advice from everyone on this forum.

So we bought the mini due to the 249 gram, deal, and how it doesnt require FAA stuff. But what a blatant lie that is. But this drone was purely going to be used for my fishing trips in Washington state. More specifically the straits of juan de fuca. So when I got the drone, I placed it in my back yard/beach, and tried to start it up. Low and behold, the ******* thing wont start because it says its in a no fly zone?? first thing that goes through my head..."the ****? i live in a community with less that 500 people, and the nearest town is 30 miles away, something must be wrong" well.....after hours and hours of research, looks like DJI's dumb *** has the entire straits of juan de fuca as a red no fly zone. Why even produce a 249 gram drone then? just to take my money and make me look like a chump. Then make me deal with some online chineese chat rep for 8 days to get a way to finally return the drone? FML

So here is where I get really mad. I reached out to the coast guard, FAA, and the nearest airport, all of which are an the kitthawk app, and every single one of them tell me i should be able to fly in the open ocean there. Then finally, they get me in touch with an FAA rep for my area, (who has the following credentials: FAA, ATO Western Service Area (WSA) Service Center) and he tells me"

" Looking at your address, you are in Class G uncontrolled airspace and do not need an airspace authorization to fly here. Also, the area that you are noting is covered by a Department of Defense NOTAM but the NOTAM only says this (see below). If you follow that NOTAM and stay away from USN/USCG vessels laterally and vertically as described, you can fly here. The only controlled airspace in your area is way west of you over Port Angeles. My suggestion is you contact DJI and let them know that this is not controlled airspace and you are going to follow the directions of the NOTAM and have them unlock your UAS "

So to me, I have the right to fly this drone, but DJI has randomly decided to lock down all air space in the areas i fish. DJI does this because????.....they ******* suck is the only conclusion I have come to.

So then I found NoLimitDronez but they of course dont have a patch for the mini yet and no one knows when they will..

So i start looking at building an FPV drone, but then i realize i cannot use one while I am fishing because ill have to wear goggles, and so much for me getting some shots of me landing a nice halibut or king salmon..

So now that the mini is being returned? what are my options??

Here is what I want. something I can fly in my area (see attached images, I live on the water at miller peninsula, and plan to fish from Neah bay to my place, about 100 miles of ocean, as yuo can see its blocked off on the entire USA side. go figure Canada is totally open airspace) that has follow me feature, and is not more than $1000. It looks like the mavic platinum will work with NoLimit, but they dont make them anymore I would be more than happy to make my own, but i dont even know where to start. and honestly, i wont be flying this higher than 100'

any help is greatly appriecated. I didnt know it would be such a nightmare to get some stupid fishing videos from a drone. how does anyone even have this hobby in this hell hole of a state with all its NFZs? sorry for my frusturation, just annoyed that this kind of crap even exist.

 

[pross]

249g just means you dont need to register it, all the other rules still apply, it does not mean anything below 250g can just fly anywhere.

If you post the exact location I'm sure someone will tell you whether you can fly there or not.

 

[fGene]

Did you try GEO unlock feature in Fly app?

 

[Flycaster]

Well, If I were you, and I think I understand your video/image needs, you would want the mavic, either variant, Mavic Gen I, Mavic Plat, or the Mavic II. And NLD has support for those,
You can find them "used" and your best bet my be to shop here, in the classifieds:

Classifieds

Buy and Sell Used Mavic Drones and Accessories

mavicpilots.com

AND, if you are lucky enough to find one with an "older" unit with firmware rev, say previous to .700, never update anything. Period. I never updated anything in 3 years. My kit works just fine thank you....I am running .400 from 3 years ago...
Thinking about your location, I would think the Mini would be the last choice.
Winds/and water, the mini seems to not like,.....

 

[PNWdrone23]

Did you try GEO unlock feature in Fly app?

yes the feature is blocked due to a red NFZ

 

[PNWdrone23]

Well, If I were you, and I think I understand your video/image needs, you would want the mavic, either variant, Mavic Gen I, Mavic Plat, or the Mavic II. And NLD has support for those,
You can find them "used" and your best bet my be to shop here, in the classifieds:

Classifieds

Buy and Sell Used Mavic Drones and Accessories

mavicpilots.com

AND, if you are lucky enough to find one with an "older" unit with firmware rev, say previous to .700, never update anything. Period. I never updated anything in 3 years. My kit works just fine thank you....I am running .400 from 3 years ago...
Thinking about your location, I would think the Mini would be the last choice.
Winds/and water, the mini seems to not like,.....

thats kind of the only conclusion I can come to online as well. need to find an older mavic that has not had any updates. because if its .700 or newer, nolimit.com wont work either.

Do you know if making my own drone would be a good option? or is the follow me feature exclusive to DJI?

 

[InterstateP]

Well, If I were you, and I think I understand your video/image needs, you would want the mavic, either variant, Mavic Gen I, Mavic Plat, or the Mavic II. And NLD has support for those,
You can find them "used" and your best bet my be to shop here, in the classifieds:

Classifieds

Buy and Sell Used Mavic Drones and Accessories

mavicpilots.com

AND, if you are lucky enough to find one with an "older" unit with firmware rev, say previous to .700, never update anything. Period. I never updated anything in 3 years. My kit works just fine thank you....I am running .400 from 3 years ago...
Thinking about your location, I would think the Mini would be the last choice.
Winds/and water, the mini seems to not like,.....

In agreement with all of this and the added upside is that you can find a really well-equipped setup here on some older models for a really decent price. I wholeheartedly suggest searching the Classifieds and then perhaps looking into NLD for exactly what you want. Good luck!

 

[sar104]

New to droning. Wife bought me a Mavic Mini for my birthday last week, and I am in the process of returning it due to DJI's incompetence. Would seriously appreciate some help/advice from everyone on this forum.

So we bought the mini due to the 249 gram, deal, and how it doesnt require FAA stuff. But what a blatant lie that is. But this drone was purely going to be used for my fishing trips in Washington state. More specifically the straits of juan de fuca. So when I got the drone, I placed it in my back yard/beach, and tried to start it up. Low and behold, the ******* thing wont start because it says its in a no fly zone?? first thing that goes through my head..."the ****? i live in a community with less that 500 people, and the nearest town is 30 miles away, something must be wrong" well.....after hours and hours of research, looks like DJI's dumb *** has the entire straits of juan de fuca as a red no fly zone. Why even produce a 249 gram drone then? just to take my money and make me look like a chump. Then make me deal with some online chineese chat rep for 8 days to get a way to finally return the drone? FML

So here is where I get really mad. I reached out to the coast guard, FAA, and the nearest airport, all of which are an the kitthawk app, and every single one of them tell me i should be able to fly in the open ocean there. Then finally, they get me in touch with an FAA rep for my area, (who has the following credentials: FAA, ATO Western Service Area (WSA) Service Center) and he tells me"

" Looking at your address, you are in Class G uncontrolled airspace and do not need an airspace authorization to fly here. Also, the area that you are noting is covered by a Department of Defense NOTAM but the NOTAM only says this (see below). If you follow that NOTAM and stay away from USN/USCG vessels laterally and vertically as described, you can fly here. The only controlled airspace in your area is way west of you over Port Angeles. My suggestion is you contact DJI and let them know that this is not controlled airspace and you are going to follow the directions of the NOTAM and have them unlock your UAS "

So to me, I have the right to fly this drone, but DJI has randomly decided to lock down all air space in the areas i fish. DJI does this because????.....they ******* suck is the only conclusion I have come to.

So then I found NoLimitDronez but they of course dont have a patch for the mini yet and no one knows when they will..

So i start looking at building an FPV drone, but then i realize i cannot use one while I am fishing because ill have to wear goggles, and so much for me getting some shots of me landing a nice halibut or king salmon..

So now that the mini is being returned? what are my options??

Here is what I want. something I can fly in my area (see attached images, I live on the water at miller peninsula, and plan to fish from Neah bay to my place, about 100 miles of ocean, as yuo can see its blocked off on the entire USA side. go figure Canada is totally open airspace) that has follow me feature, and is not more than $1000. It looks like the mavic platinum will work with NoLimit, but they dont make them anymore I would be more than happy to make my own, but i dont even know where to start. and honestly, i wont be flying this higher than 100'

any help is greatly appriecated. I didnt know it would be such a nightmare to get some stupid fishing videos from a drone. how does anyone even have this hobby in this hell hole of a state with all its NFZs? sorry for my frusturation, just annoyed that this kind of crap even exist.

These kinds of rants are really annoying. There is no point being frustrated with DJI, because they are simply trying to help you not to break the law. It is illegal to fly there, which you would have known had you done even the most cursory research before buying a drone.

The DJI restricted zone simply reflects the presence of federally restricted airspace.





You maybe should be frustrated with the incorrect information that you received from your "FAA rep", because the fact that it is Class G airspace doesn't mean that it doesn't have other restrictions.

 

[PNWdrone23]

249g just means you dont need to register it, all the other rules still apply, it does not mean anything below 250g can just fly anywhere.

If you post the exact location I'm sure someone will tell you whether you can fly there or not.

exact locaation is diamond point washington. street is Madrona way. zip is 98382. I wont give my address out, but you can see on the map its blocked the second if fly out over the open ocean. I fish around protection island, and the longitute and latitude coordinates of that island is : 48.1273° N, 122.9297° W

 

[InterstateP]

thats kind of the only conclusion I can come to online as well. need to find an older mavic that has not had any updates. because if its .700 or newer, nolimit.com wont work either.

Do you know if making my own drone would be a good option? or is the follow me feature exclusive to DJI?

There's also drone-hacks.com who offer downgrading firmware for the purpose of modding. Seems pretty inexpensive. might be worth a look as well.

 

[Flycaster]

Making your own drone, or cameraship, can be done. But time/money, and matching components (motors/esc/props etc) can be confusing.
But more realistic is try to pickup and older Mavic kit here. And would be cheaper.

There is an alpine white mavic flymore for 600 bucks in the classifieds....Rev Version, dunno.

Another option is the Skidio II, which seems to be rocksolid in tracking an object, avoiding an object. Get that with the gps Pod, and it seems like it would follow you all the way home if it were a puppy. The only thing I see with it is that one would be missing the Occusync. If the Skydio had anything like Occusync (range and signal rejection), that would be one bad a** cameraship...

Yeah, gotta find an older rev bird...Now the Air II could be a another option than the Mini, in your flying environment...

 

[PNWdrone23]

Making your own drone, or cameraship, can be done. But time/money, and matching components (motors/esc/props etc) can be confusing.
But more realistic is try to pickup and older Mavic kit here. And would be cheaper.

There is an alpine white mavic flymore for 600 bucks in the classifieds....Rev Version, dunno.

Another option is the Skidio II, which seems to be rocksolid in tracking an object, avoiding an object. Get that with the gps Pod, and it seems like it would follow you all the way home if it were a puppy. The only thing I see with it is that one would be missing the Occusync. If the Skydio had anything like Occusync (range and signal rejection), that would be one bad a** cameraship...

Yeah, gotta find an older rev bird...Now the Air II could be a another option than the Mini, in your flying environment...

dang that Skydio II is bad ***! it says I have to reserve one. I wonder when they will start selling them?? thats everythig I would need tool

 

[Motorcycle Rider]

Interesting post OP.
I have yet to find a place that my mini calls restricted airspace.
Your plan to return it is a good one, and buy a different brand next time, since you have such severe anger towards DJI.
The Yuneec Typhoon H Plus should be a good drone.

 

[Motorcycle Rider]

exact locaation is diamond point washington. street is Madrona way. zip is 98382. I wont give my address out, but you can see on the map its blocked the second if fly out over the open ocean. I fish around protection island, and the longitute and latitude coordinates of that island is : 48.1273° N, 122.9297° W

Sea plane bases in the area?

 

[PNWdrone23]

Sea plane bases in the area?

no sea planes at all, we have a nuclear sub base about 45 miles south of me, a coast guard station 45 miles west of me, and an naval air base for F-18's about 40 miles north of me on Whidbey Island. Lots of military activity, but the military rarely if ever flys low. I saw a military helicopter literally right on my beach cliff for the first time in 20 years last weekend. was only 100' in the air. dont know what they were doing, but like i said, first time in 20 years. so flying a drone here should be a non-issue

 

[Platinum 4 ever]

no sea planes at all, we have a nuclear sub base about 45 miles south of me, a coast guard station 45 miles west of me, and an naval air base for F-18's about 40 miles north of me on Whidbey Island. Lots of military activity, but the military rarely if ever flys low. I saw a military helicopter literally right on my beach cliff for the first time in 20 years last weekend. was only 100' in the air. dont know what they were doing, but like i said, first time in 20 years. so flying a drone here should be a non-issue

Unlike everyone else. I feel your frustration. And you have every right. Look into a autel evo. Screw DJI

 

[Motorcycle Rider]

no sea planes at all, we have a nuclear sub base about 45 miles south of me, a coast guard station 45 miles west of me, and an naval air base for F-18's about 40 miles north of me on Whidbey Island. Lots of military activity, but the military rarely if ever flys low. I saw a military helicopter literally right on my beach cliff for the first time in 20 years last weekend. was only 100' in the air. dont know what they were doing, but like i said, first time in 20 years. so flying a drone here should be a non-issue

It does sound silly then, to lock it down as a no fly zone.

As a helicopter pilot myself, I will say that yes we are unpredictable, and can pop up anywhere, and very low. But generally speaking we are loud, so people usually hear us, long before they see us coming, and we are not traveling at super high speeds like some airplanes travel at. We mostly travel at under 150 knots, so sound travels a lot quicker than we do, so when you hear us coming, just try to get your drone out of the way is all. We all share the air, and need to get along. It does seem odd though that DJI has your area locked down as a no fly zone. Try another brand, they may not be locked in your area, and there are other fine brands out there.

 

[Dakarenduro]

I'm sorry for your frustration. But I agree with the fact that if you had done a simple search on FAA regulations and/or drone regulations a lot of your post purchase frustration would be moot.

You claim the 249gm selling feature is BS. Just because you didn't research what that actually means is not DJI's fault. You claim that it is DJI's fault that your are attempting to fly in airspace that is restricted. That is not DJI's fault.

I agree with others, you can find plenty of other brands which do not have geofencing built in. Flight characteristics, build quality and camera quality may not be on par with DJI but there are options. Do some research and good luck with your search.

 

[Starz]

Another reason for my really old firmware mavic pro. Never will update that one. Flys fine the way it is.
Good luck on your dilemma. You just need to find another brand of flycam.
Plenty to choose from.
Great place to live up there. Lucky man!

 

[hiflyer201]

Lots of restricted airspace in the Puget sound and lots of flyable airspace.