What do you Guys make of this

[DelBeachFlyer]

Not trying to add fuel to the fire, but this sort of practice of updating a broken product is really only become prevalent 'recently' (in the last decade or so). Before high-speed Internet was readily available nearly everywhere, back when people had dial-up connections or painfully slow ADSL, there were no updates to products and software. It was just finished and complete right out of the box (mostly). I personally think that the current trend of "sell it now, fix it later" has really ruined people's expectations of receiving a quality product out of the box. The video game industry suffers this same problem - games are buggy, broken, and sometimes completely unplayable until "the patch" arrives to hopefully fix it. *cough Cyberpunk 2077 cough* This isn't likely to get better, either. Companies know they can send out a half-baked product now, charge the consumer a premium, and promise to fix it later. I'd rather wait longer to get a feature-rich and fully functional product, but a lot of consumers want more and want it faster.

Sheesh, I feel like a grumpy old man now.

This is definitely true. Tesla does this all the time, and that’s a $60k+ car!

 

[langcpht]

This is definitely true. Tesla does this all the time, and that’s a $60k+ car!

Ouch... I drive a Tesla... (but fortunately it's been bug-free)

 

[Deleted member 93449]

Having conducted business IN China, personally, the Chinese mentality is different than the West. They will say yes, when they really are saying no. And when they say No, they mean No Believe it or not…That’s my experience. If you’ve been there on business then I welcome you to share your experience. Otherwise, shhhh

Very true. I've been doing business in China (mainland and Taiwan) for over 30 years (electronic component manufacturing). They do not like to say no even when no is painfully obvious.

But part of the problem is the mindset of consumers, their willingness to put up with issues and their compulsion for getting the next best new thing. You see it with lines around the block and people waiting days to get the newest Iphone. They take advantage of our insanity.

 

[Bussty]

One of the ways they kept ahead was to spit out unfinished product to keep the "out first" edge on the competition. What we can do about that is to stop reacting so quickly to their next new model.

This time, that's exactly what I did. While I waited out firmware to fix things, I saw it going the wrong direction, so I spent the money saved on another area.

I think I'll start paying more attention to Autel. Are there others worthy of notice?

Chris

I think DJI are incredibly lucky that Autel are dropping the ball on their Nano and Lite ranges of drones as well. If not it would be the natural path to exodus. I almost purchased a Lite+ but I see users are now returning those as they can't keep the camera from wandering. A case of competition forcing both to rush their products. Imagine if Autel had have dropped a perfect Lite+ right now with that awesome lens quality and night performance... I imagine you would have had many defections. Missed opportunity by them and (I think I have said this before) a case where competition has been bad for the consumer rather than better

 

[Skywatcher2001]

After reading that article by DroneXL and reading ALL of your valued comments; it still comes down to DJI's catch slogan: "Image above Everything".

Even Ken (the Original dobo) mentioned it in his video (imbedded in the article); there is just nothing out there (similar in price point) that compares to the image quality coming out of this bird. So . . . like the girlfriend that just keeps misbehaving; you put up with it because you can't see yourself with lesser quality . . . even if its frustrating to get that quality out of her .

Because of my limited knowledge on SATS, Motherboards, Cache and all the 'tech' that embodies them . . . I tend to lean to 'what sounds logical' or plausible. Then something else more logical descends on us refuting what we just learned. Mad's Tech seems credible but so did the article on the DJI Forum.

So for now . . . if a warm boot is the answer (or ascending to 100') to get to HP/GPS lock faster . . . I'll do it because this misbehaving ol' gal is mighty fine to look upon . . .

 

[DelBeachFlyer]

I think DJI are incredibly lucky that Autel are dropping the ball on their Nano and Lite ranges of drones as well. If not it would be the natural path to exodus. I almost purchased a Lite+ but I see users are now returning those as they can't keep the camera from wandering. A case of competition forcing both to rush their products. Imagine if Autel had have dropped a perfect Lite+ right now with that awesome lens quality and night performance... I imagine you would have had many defections. Missed opportunity by them and (I think I have said this before) a case where competition has been bad for the consumer rather than better

Funny, as I started to research Autel for the first time today.

 

[Bussty]

After reading that article by DroneXL and reading ALL of your valued comments; it still comes down to DJI's catch slogan: "Image above Everything".

Even Ken (the Original dobo) mentioned it in his video (imbedded in the article); there is just nothing out there (similar in price point) that compares to the image quality coming out of this bird. So . . . like the girlfriend that just keeps misbehaving; you put up with it because you can't see yourself with lesser quality . . . even if its frustrating to get that quality out of her .

Because of my limited knowledge on SATS, Motherboards, Cache and all the 'tech' that embodies them . . . I tend to lean to 'what sounds logical' or plausible. Then something else more logical descends on us refuting what we just learned. Mad's Tech seems credible but so did the article on the DJI Forum.

So for now . . . if a warm boot is the answer (or ascending to 100') to get to HP/GPS lock faster . . . I'll do it because this misbehaving ol' gal is mighty fine to look upon . . .

Great post...

With that rising to 100ft business before you have lock and Home Point... I used to think there was a risk of the drone suddenly thinking it's somewhere it isn't and potentially flying off into the distance. But a post on DJI forum from a long standing member said that wasn't the case. I guess it's not like it's going to create a Homepoint some distance away when it has 12 satellites locked and it will be right where the drone is. I guess though until it has the GPS lock it's using the vision sensors to stay put, do we know how high they operate to?

 

[Skywatcher2001]

Great post...

I guess though until it has the GPS lock it's using the vision sensors to stay put, do we know how high they operate to?

Let me investigate . . .

 

[SmilingOgre]

Ah so ding dong! We no need say truth. We say 'new', you buy. We get you money. We happy!

 

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

Great post...

With that rising to 100ft business before you have lock and Home Point... I used to think there was a risk of the drone suddenly thinking it's somewhere it isn't and potentially flying off into the distance. But a post on DJI forum from a long standing member said that wasn't the case. I guess it's not like it's going to create a Homepoint some distance away when it has 12 satellites locked and it will be right where the drone is. I guess though until it has the GPS lock it's using the vision sensors to stay put, do we know how high they operate to?

I've done this same thing with the P3P and M2P when flying around areas with interference, but not magnetic havoc. No stable GPS lock, but no magnetic interference errors. I just fly up until I'm out of the range of the local interference and it locks. At times like that, you want to be paying special attention when landing, and always hand catch.

But I have always thought that I was out of VPS range after just a dozen feet or two.

Chris

 

[langcpht]

Ah so ding dong! We no need say truth. We say 'new', you buy. We get you money. We happy!

Zug-zug. New! Buy! Credit Card!
(I may or may not try to internally rationalize this behavior.)

 

[Bussty]

I've done this same thing with the P3P and M2P when flying around areas with interference, but not magnetic havoc. No stable GPS lock, but no magnetic interference errors. I just fly up until I'm out of the range of the local interference and it locks. At times like that, you want to be paying special attention when landing, and always hand catch.

But I have always thought that I was out of VPS range after just a dozen feet or two.

Chris

Good to know thanks. Do you know what happens if it can't record a Home Point when launching then suddenly the controller disconnects to the drone, it won't take off trying to find the previous Home Point will it?

 

[Bussty]

Ah so ding dong! We no need say truth. We say 'new', you buy. We get you money. We happy!

This is exactly what I would expect a smiling Ogre to say ha ha

 

[Suren]

Great post...

With that rising to 100ft business before you have lock and Home Point... I used to think there was a risk of the drone suddenly thinking it's somewhere it isn't and potentially flying off into the distance. But a post on DJI forum from a long standing member said that wasn't the case. I guess it's not like it's going to create a Homepoint some distance away when it has 12 satellites locked and it will be right where the drone is. I guess though until it has the GPS lock it's using the vision sensors to stay put, do we know how high they operate to?

There is no risk and I have been doing it previously as well as long as you don't fly out just straight up and hover there and wait for a lock. Its actually a faster way to get a lock if your drone is taking longer. Just go to max 30 meters and wait there.

 

[Bussty]

There is no risk and I have been doing it previously as well as long as you don't fly out just straight up and hover there and wait for a lock. Its actually a faster way to get a lock if your drone is taking longer. Just go to max 30 meters and wait there.

Cheers Suren I'm guessing if your drone disconnected from the controller for whatever reason it won't have your last home point stored anywhere and go flying off to try and find it? What does it do in terms of homepoint as it won't have one in that case?

 

[Suren]

Cheers Suren I'm guessing if your drone disconnected from the controller for whatever reason it won't have your last home point stored anywhere and go flying off to try and find it? What does it do in terms of homepoint as it won't have one in that case?

That is why you don't fly out but just straight up to the max height of 30 meters, you won't/should not get a disconnect just by going straight up to that height. But yeah, if it ever does disconnect it won't have a homepoint, you could set the fail safe to just hover in the event of disconnect, this way the drone will just stay there.

 

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

Good to know thanks. Do you know what happens if it can't record a Home Point when launching then suddenly the controller disconnects to the drone, it won't take off trying to find the previous Home Point will it?

No I don't know. That would be a risk, I suppose. When I took off (to acquire more satellites at higher altitude), I never went far--just up at the location I was at. I suppose one could lose controller signal in that scenario, but I have only had controller disconnect at large distances, and I wouldn't travel that far without at first acquiring enough satellites for HP.

Chris

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

If I

No I don't know. That would be a risk, I suppose. When I took off (to acquire more satellites at higher altitude), I never went far--just up at the location I was at. I suppose one could lose controller signal in that scenario, but I have only had controller disconnect at large distances, and I wouldn't travel that far without at first acquiring enough satellites for HP.

Chris

If I remember correctly, if there is a disconnection whilst the drone has no GPS it lands or attempts too.
I think I have seen either Meta4 (here), or Labroides( DJI Forum) state that and I recollect seeing a message that a drone rejected the landing site during an indoor flight with no GPS when I had deliberately switched the controller off, left the drone 'hovering' for a bit and then switched the controller back on.

 

[Skywatcher2001]

I guess though until it has the GPS lock it's using the vision sensors to stay put, do we know how high they operate to?

Spec sheet says 18 meters . . . I never exceed 100'. I just creep up (straight up) until I see the SAT count increase.

 

[Bussty]

Spec sheet says 18 meters . . . I never exceed 100'. I just creep up (straight up) until I see the SAT count increase.

Thanks James I guess it's not like after 18m it has no satellites (there will be a rough lock with some satellites connected)

I think I have a lot more respect for Yaw / Compass errors after being in a Flyaway post on the DJI Forum. While it's not in the user manual preflight checklist (really should be) it seems you should always make sure your drone icon on the map matches where in fact your drone is pointing. If it doesn't line up it could be your drones compass is being impacted by magnetic interference and when that interference stops, your IMU and Compass are out of calibration and your drone can go into a cycle of impossible corrections that can see it flyaway sometimes at pace and quite uncontrolled. Quite scary really!