To my point...
I changed absolutely nothing on the machine... on the app... no setting changes whatsoever.
I changed nothing.
I just returned from flying three batteries worth.
The first battery was intelligent flight mode Waypoint. The last six attempts have all failed. Today it worked flawlessly.
I changed nothing.
The second battery was set up for range testing in sport mode. I was able to climb well beyond 100ft and fly well beyond 150ft laterally. I climbed the machine to 300ft leveled off. Switch to sport mode and proceeded to fly south from my present position. I flew the machine at approximately 38 to 40 miles an hour over 8000 ft south of my present position without any issues whatsoever.
I changed nothing.
No explanation no reason for this test to go successfully based on the last six, seven flights I've had with this machine.
I changed nothing.
The third battery was designed to use the
goggles. I put the
goggles on started it up everything connected correctly no issues. I climbed to 200 ft without issue flew away from my position and entered the head tracking mode at about 2,000 ft laterally from my present position. The machine worked flawlessly no issues whatsoever. No warnings or any problems with airspace limitations whatsoever.
I changed absolutely nothing.
There is no reason to believe any of these flights should have been successful. I have had problems with every flight I've made over the last 5 days.
The last flight I made before putting this away I could not climb over 100 feet or fly Beyond 150ft laterally from my position.
I have been an advocate of the mavic pro. My position on this machine has changed. This experience is not for everyone. You must have great patience.
There are cases when it has performed beautifully, today is a perfect example. On other days and for no reason whatsoever, the machine performs horribly.
I'm going to keep it.
I think if I bring it to an event with the intention of taking photos and pictures of family it will work beautifully. I believe I can reliably accomplish that goal.
However taking the machine out to an area where you want to fly some distance away Beyond line-of-sight and video a structure or other type of image you should expect the machine to be unreliable. Expect the unexpected.
For no reason at all, expect you may not be able to climb above 100 ft. For no reason at all you should expect that you won't be able to fly beyond 150ft laterally from your present position.
That being said I still think it was worth the $1,800 I put into this machine.
Today I'm thrilled.
I really enjoyed it and it worked just like I expected it to. Today was exciting. It was fun and this is why I bought the machine.