I was under the impression that RTH is always 1) rise to RTH altitude 2) Fly home in straight line.     It doesn't weave or avoid obstacles....it just takes a bee line for home.   Am I wrong?

watuse Posted at 2016-10-9 08:22
I have a question how many hours of use will the motors on the mavic and phantom 4 last before you h ...

92 hours, 17 minutes and 12 seconds.

Impossible question too answer because of to many variables in use
The motors will last forever (there are no moving parts) but the bearings will wear out.
DJI have a history of not using particularly good quality bearings and certainly not fully ceramic so they will be the weakest link.

Anyway - that question is totally off topic as this is about CN loosing his drone!

bigglyguy Posted at 2016-10-9 11:13
Exactly, aside from being a smidge smaller the key selling point is all the advanced sensors and sit ...

The DJI Go app gives you an audible alert when a home point is created  so the sun shouldn't be a problem.

it's funny because if DJI does give him another mavic for free they are rewarding bad behaviour just imagine how much people watch this guy, buy a drone, fly it in the city without knowing any of the regulations. I could of swore one of the DJI reps told me they beg him not do that in the city.

kanit53@hotmail Posted at 2016-10-9 20:01
But if even if he flew behind a building and RTH was triggered, Mavic should be able to navigate ho ...

It could have been a low battery RTH.

watuse Posted at 2016-10-9 15:22
I have a question how many hours of use will the motors on the mavic and phantom 4 last before you h ...

I think they will way outlast the warranty. I have DJI aircraft several years old and they are still going strong.
it also depends on how well you take care of it and your flight environment.
If you are always taking off and landing in dirt, I'm sure your motors will wear out fast as they probably get filled with grit if you didn't blow them out all the time with an air compressor.

Brandon00151 Posted at 2016-10-10 00:57
The DJI Go app gives you an audible alert when a home point is created  so the sun shouldn't be a  ...

"The DJI Go app gives you an audible alert when a home point is created  so the sun shouldn't be a problem."

The other day I had my bird do a RTH heading off in an entirely wrong direction. When they say "Please check it on the map" they're not kidding; from 60 yards away it beelined off at 45 degrees and went over 400 meters away from me before I could cancel the RTH. I can only presume it was heading for the previous flight's homepoint, which was many kilometers away.

And besides, in noisy environments, waterfalls, friends asking you "So how fast can it go?" not to mention the swarm of bees sound from the drone itself, and no guarantee the phone's volume is up high, that audible alert, or lack of one, isn't enough.

I can't start my truck's engine while it's in gear, I can't put it in gear with the engine running unless I put my foot on the brake, I can't even take the key out of the ignition without putting on the handbrake and if I open the door with the lights on it beeps loudly - but I can take off with a "failsafe" drone with no GPS lock, no homepoint and then fly beyond the range of the transmitter and lose the drone?

A simple "You don't have location recorded. Take off anyway?" is such an easy fix I see no reason to NOT have it?

bigglyguy Posted at 2016-10-9 11:38
"The DJI Go app gives you an audible alert when a home point is created  so the sun shouldn't be a ...

Agreed.  Some sort of failsafe GPS lock warning would be good.  Also the DJI Go app could cross check with the GPS on your cell phone.  If there was a huge discrepancy between the drone's GPS reading and the phone's GPS perhaps it could warn of that too?

I also think that in some cases there are just GPS "glitches" that seem to store false failsafe info on rare occasions.  And I believe that this is the cause of some of the flyaway issues that have plagued DJI drones for years now...

cjmc Posted at 2016-10-9 17:21
His 3 videos for the Mavic have around 10 milliom views. I'm pretty sure DJI would be happy with tha ...

Actually you know what had me sold another Vlogger he goes by the name in youtube iphonedo

I posted his first review here that had me sold plus when I saw the presentation I said now its time to buy a drone, I have friends with the phantom line and I said to myself its not convenient to lug around if you want to shoot something or even explore a place that you don't have any idea. With the camera onboard it could help you see mis guided trails or where are you heading in the mountains... I think its a perfect guide for remote places to be use but a phantom is not.

DJI-Ken Posted at 2016-10-10 02:11
I think they will way outlast the warranty. I have DJI aircraft several years old and they are sti ...

Thank you Ken, for the insight I have a mini blower of compress air not can C02 but I want to know that I will take care of the craft and of coarse I am not going to have it take off on dirt I am planning on carrying a small hellpad with me so it won't get grass, dirt, or even moistures from where it takes off....... I have had electronic equipment last me past beyond its warranty and I want to take care of my investment of coarse.

I have friends with the phantom line and I said to myself its not convenient to lug around

I am planning on carrying a small hellpad

Bit of a contradiction there.

Travelling Dron Posted at 2016-10-9 12:38
it's funny because if DJI does give him another mavic for free they are rewarding bad behaviour just ...

I'm torn on him not getting another drone for the principle of the thing, and wanting him to get another drone so I can watch him crash it again.   

watuse Posted at 2016-10-10 15:52
Thank you Ken, for the insight I have a mini blower of compress air not can C02 but I want to know ...

That's good practice, I'm sure your Mavic will last for years.

Delta Nine Posted at 2016-10-10 19:15
I have friends with the phantom line and I said to myself its not convenient to lug around

I am pla ...

It can be a small plastic unfolding pad.

DJI-Ken Posted at 2016-10-10 15:01
It can be a small plastic unfolding pad.

Yes I know that, i wasn't suggesting a great big thing.

But I hear people saying they are getting the Mavic for portability as #1 reason.

Then they start adding helipads, batteries, goggles, screen hoods, ND/Polar lens, iPad holder, iPad.

I'm a purest when it comes to minimisation.

Delta Nine Posted at 2016-10-10 22:34
Yes I know that, i wasn't suggesting a great big thing.

But I hear people saying they are getting  ...

Me as well, I'll be taking the Mavic/RC only with me most everywhere I go. Maybe an extra battery or two as well, but that's it.

bigglyguy Posted at 2016-10-9 19:38
"The DJI Go app gives you an audible alert when a home point is created  so the sun shouldn't be a ...

Clearly you are not following your pre-flight checklist or it is not comprehensive enough.

If you cannot verify your home location has been set and recorded correctly, you do not take off - Simple

Tharg (from the Posted at 2016-10-10 23:29
Clearly you are not following your pre-flight checklist or it is not comprehensive enough.

If you  ...

Would that be the pre-flight checklist that was in the box? Oh wait..

Checklists are great, and I've already printed one for the new owner of my P3S - which after landing did indeed give the 'audible alert' that a new home point had been recorded, and then upon demo'ing the RTH flew in the completely wrong direction.

My suggestion is to simply force the user to check, not just a little "please check it on the map" - and as someone else suggested, give an additional warning if the phablet has location turned on and it is any significant distance from the recorded homepoint.

Those 2 things would or could prevent a high percentage of flyaways from both user and equipment error.

Simply saying "You should be perfect" doesn't solve the very real problem of flyaways, and would benefit both us users and the company, in that DJI wouldn't forever be on the defensive every time someone forgets or fails to record a homepoint and then howls on social media that the craft didn't work properly.

Delta Nine Posted at 2016-10-10 19:15
I have friends with the phantom line and I said to myself its not convenient to lug around

I am pla ...

a small portable folding pad, it could be anything that I could also put inside my backpack. Really the Phantom 4 or any phantom you have to lug around a big case and its not convenient.

bigglyguy Posted at 2016-10-10 17:44
Would that be the pre-flight checklist that was in the box? Oh wait..

Checklists are great, and I' ...

Oh I see, you want a nanny UAV so you can point the finger at the equipment if you crash - got it.

Unfortunately it doesn't work like that - YOU are responsible for the flight, irrespective of malfunctioning equipment, a prop flying off or a home point incorrectly stored. You are the person in charge of the aircraft and therefore you are responsible for the safety of the flight.

See my post regarding REAL failsafes fitted to cars and other such items.

It's not a failsafe if it relies on the user remembering the special techniques to make it work. Nor is there anything "nanny" about it, unless you foresee a pressing need to fly without a set homepoint, and would be upset at being informed if there isn't one yet?

I heard that Casey is going to wait for the drone when it comes out, I guess DJI is strict when it comes to losing your drone especially Casey who does not baby his equipment like he said in one of his log, because, if he has to be concern about the equipment that records his vlogs then the creativeness disappears. I am glad DJI did not fall into giving him one because then, it looks bad if everyone start to lose their drones, they would want a replacement. I think its not fair of DJI to prioritized one person because of fame and others because your not famous to not replace the drone if you lose it...

Casey Neistat "The drone looser"... Is not the first and of course not the last he losses... Just wait for the next episode of CaseyN and Mavic Pro...

PY4CK Posted at 2016-10-8 07:59
Come on DJI --- Give Casey another drone !

not if he is so irresponsible as to wreck so many phantom 4s and a mavic. he even destroyed a tuned breeze after the first 2 min of flying.

DJI-Ken Posted at 2016-10-8 05:53
You see the videos of his studio, plenty of crashed P4's and tons of other broken stuff.

its sad that he is so irresponsible. he is a really bad drone flyer and no concern whatsoever of his surroundings. who know how many people he could have hit with his lost drones. guys like him are the reason FAA is so strict and because of reckless people like him we have so many rules. if people where more responsible we would not have all these rules.

Crate Posted at 2016-10-8 05:51
For all the free s*it he gets, he doesn't really care.

he really doesn't and he is way to unresponisble to be flying drones he has crashed to many. but i guess dji is making good money of him

DJI-Ken Posted at 2016-10-8 05:12
I'm betting it was 100% user error.
RTH not set correctly or something like that.If I had his email, ...

of course it was a user error we saw it perform perfectly and in his first video you can see how much he hurried to calibrate the compass and with all that interference and flying illegally out of the line of site no wonder he lost it.

bigglyguy Posted at 2016-10-9 10:13
Exactly, aside from being a smidge smaller the key selling point is all the advanced sensors and sit ...

He did not say which flight mode he was flying in, nor did he indicate that he waited at takeoff for the home point to be set. I suspect he did, or did not, do something in haste, which cost him the drone. But again, he uses drones as tools. He is not careful with his gear, because if it breaks, he will just replace it. Plus, it's part of his raw life image that draws people to him. Too bad that he lost it, but he has a functioning P4, plus a few other "parts drones" It's all part of the entertainment. It's all part of the show. Losing the drone made for a good story, and that video has been viewed a lot as a result, which translates to dollars. His videos ARE his living, so I don't think anyone should judge. People can say what they want about him, but the words I would use are "successful", "innovator", "leader", "husband", "father", and dare I say, "pioneer". I would NOT call him "a joke". I respect what he does... Buy yeah, he's a bit goofey! Since he has a beautiful wife who loves him, I seriously doubt he is concerned with any haters he might have.

2000vadasz2 Posted at 2016-10-14 08:54
of course it was a user error we saw it perform perfectly and in his first video you can see how m ...

I'm sure one day we'll know.