Did anyone try calibrating the Vision and IMUs and get this problem to go away or lessen?

I notice it gets really bad in windy conditions - drops of up to 4 metres.

DJI-Tim Posted at 2016-4-11 18:00
I've seen this issue in another thread and would like to pass it to our developers. We will keep mak ...

I am a new purchaser and just learning to fly - I also, find that when I stop or change directions my Phantom 4 drops drastically and know to automatically throttle up when flying the drone. It would be nice if this problem can be fixed as I find it troubling 'learning how to fly'.

HarryLangley Posted at 2016-4-29 21:05
I am a new purchaser and just learning to fly - I also, find that when I stop or change directions ...

It has been well over a month since first reported, not likely an easy fix or it would have been done by now.

I've been having the same problem for some month now. Drops at low altitudes as well as high altitudes it seems. Also have tilted horizon every now and then. Yesterday the obstacle avoidance kicked in when I flew in an open space, maybe it was a fly or something , not sure. Have done all the calibrations numerous of times without results. Sometimes it seems like it takes up to 10 seconds to reach full speed, not sure if it's my imagination or for real but it really feels like it. I have also experienced som wobbly take offs as if the motors are twitching. Guess that's all so far

DJI-Tim Posted at 2016-4-12 10:06
Thank you ! We will be working on it.

DJI-Tim any news on this? Please let me know. Thank you. I just got my 5th P4 at Apple yesterday, this one makes a weird noise after turning on the gimbal and a ticking noise coming from back speakers. It has been raining so I'm hoping tomorrow I can take it out and test if the drop will still occur. Please be so kind to give us any updates bad or good, so we know what to do. FYI I got one from Apple which thank God I'm opening every unit in the store, it was full of fingerprints and missing some items. Even Apple was shocked. Now Apple is acting like if they never had any issues before with the P4 (different manager). The weirdest things are happening. I love the P4 please TIM let me know, give me a sign of what's happening. Thank you.

DJI-TIM THANK YOU FOR YOUR NO REPLY, VERY PROFESSIONAL AND KIND OF YOU. I TESTED MY 5TH P4 TODAY AND IT WAS THE WORST OUT OF ALL I GOT FROM APPLE. TOMORROW I WILL DROP THIS GARBAGE BACK TO APPLE AND I AM DONE WASTING TIME AND MONEY WITH THIS. BYE BYE DJI!! THANKS YOUR EMPLOYEES FOR THEIR INCOMPETENCE IN NOT RESPONDING CUSTOMERS WITH SERIOUS PROBLEMS. NO WORDS...

Any news on  fix for this yet?  My new Phantom 4 has the altitude drop as bad, if not worse, than my original.  In fact last night I took it out with my 13 yr old son and after flying it around for a while I had it hovering near us at about head height (I'm 6' tall) and as we were speaking we both watched it slowly sink until it was around 12 inches from the ground at which point it held steady.

Although I think the Phantom 4 is fantastic and everything and more that I hoped for this altitude drop makes me too scared to fly it anywhere near ground level or even head height, I don't feel safe unless I've got it over 40 feet from the ground.  Which is a shame.

Advocate Posted at 2016-5-6 08:28
Any news on  fix for this yet?  My new Phantom 4 has the altitude drop as bad, if not worse, than my ...

Don't think its the same alt drop issue if it did it in a steady hover.. The issue being reported is alt drop when quickly stopping forward motion, more noticeable in sports mode.

I suggest a full cold IMU calibration and try a hover then.

ktusa7 Posted at 2016-5-4 06:42
DJI-Tim any news on this? Please let me know. Thank you. I just got my 5th P4 at Apple yesterday,  ...

The ticking noise will be from the ultrasonic sensor below, this is normal when its on the ground.. As for the other issues, maybe post a video of the noise the gimbal makes..

How is this still an issue? Is the rumor of a recall going to be true?

Everybody's phantom 4's drop a few meters when it stops, DJI is working on a fix. I now know it's going to do this so I'm ready when it does, no biggie.

I noticed my P4 dropping in altitude today , never has done it before and I got the firmware update a few weeks ago.  I was flying in P mode and stopped and it dropped to the ground .. lucky I was in soft grass and it landed on its skids then just turned off.

sploodge Posted at 2016-5-6 11:03
Don't think its the same alt drop issue if it did it in a steady hover.. The issue being reported  ...

Thanks for the suggestion, I have since done a cold IMU calibration followed by a calibration of the VPS and forward obstacle sensors.  I can't say I've noticed a drop in altitude since but to be honest I feel I may be automatically compensating for it without thinking now.

I am also having this altitude drop problem with my P4.  Has anyone tried rolling back to an earlier firmware version (if it is even possible) for testing at all? Just looking at it from an experimenting perspective.

Reveret Posted at 2016-5-13 18:19
I am also having this altitude drop problem with my P4.  Has anyone tried rolling back to an earlier ...

I had the drop before and after the FW update. My brother is still running his on the old FW and is experiencing the drop and horizon tilt. The FW did not make a differnce for me.  My brother nor I didnt experince any of these issues until we had a few flights in. I upgrading thinking it was going to fix it and it sure did not.

I tried everything DJI suggested. They said if all the calibrations didnt work then it "MAY" be a harware issues. With all the complaints i think a recall is in order, but what do we know. We are only the paying customer and not a "DJI expert" SMH.

I recall one of these post, there has been so many so I am not sure which one, where someone was experiencing the tilt and had sent it out for some sort of repair, the poat didnt say why he sent it in, and when it returned the tilt issue was fixed. It was in this forum. I asked what it was sent in for but havent seen a reply. Maybe he will read this and chime in.

I bought mine locally in Miami 30 days ago, Droan Nerds.  I will be taking it in to see if they can expalin this to me or if they cant contact DJI themselves to see what response they get.

DJI-Tim Posted at 2016-4-11 18:00
I've seen this issue in another thread and would like to pass it to our developers. We will keep mak ...

For God's Sake Mr. DJI Tim.

The requests for files, videos and proof of what we are experiencing is only feeding a sense of frustration on everyone that has been posting about height drops and gimbal tilts for over a month now. I did my share of video posting and other did too. Is DJI still suspicious that it is not true? How many more people need to do that? When you get your P4 box back to Apple store, they do not ask for videos prior to refunding you, they trust you! DJI had over a month by now to at least acknowledge all the issues, 0 has been done.

Accountability, transparency and support could go a long way. So tell your buddies to Man-Up and do something to fix theses issues and stop asking for proof. Once the DRONE craze slow down, consumers like me will think twice before investing on companies like DJI. Getting to the TOP is easy, staying at the top has always prove to be the hard part (Punt Intended too!).

In case DJI does not know how to communicate with their customers aside from using basic answers, how about these:

" Thank you for being a loyal customer, our technicians are working full speed to solve the Height Drop and Gimbal issues that exist on all P4's since its launch, we apologize and will be issuing a new firmware in a week"

or

" In appreciation of all your efforts in helping us feed the issues with Height and Gimbal, we offer you a discount in our online store"

or

"DJI has decided to recall all P4's for a full refund at Apple stores. We will fix the issues and promise to never release another Phantom without ensuring that firmware has been fully tested under all conditions. We apologize for any inconvenience that this may have caused"

Experienced my Phantom dropping altitude today for the first time.  Third time out with it.  Flew 3 batteries did it on all flights.  Probably had been doing it the first couple times which were night flights and I just couldn't see it.  My experience is as follows:

When flying in P mode I'm launching from a hillside approximately 100 feet higher than the lake below me.  Flying out into the open water area and coming to a stop at about 200 feet, my Phantom 4 would begin to drop a few seconds after beginning to hover at altitude.  In some cases it would drop 50-60 feet before I would manually take the stick and raise the altitude.  Once I got it moving upward, if I stopped a few feet up, it would hover,, then, begin to accelerate skyward gaining altitude.  Very bizarre and dramatic behavior.  Considering it was out over 3000 feet the first time I noticed the horizon dropping drastically it is a seriously dangerous bug/hardware failure, etc.  Brining it back in close to me, I experimented like the guy in the video and observed it to do the same thing.  Moving quickly and suddenly taking your hands off the sticks would place it in a hover as it should, after a few seconds, though, it would begin to descend several feet, sometimes not stopping at all until I would take control of the sticks.  Sometimes it would move from a hover into a accelerated climb in altitude after having just lost altitude.  New one is on the way... if it has the issues I've had with this one, I suppose I'll return and get a Typhoon H.  This is a seriously dangerous situation for my style of photography which is almost always over the water and in windy boat oriented environments.  My Vision+ never experienced camera/gimbal issues or this positioning issue.  I had such high expectations for the Phantom 4 and although I love the Lightbridge and camera quality,, I can't enjoy it because I know my photos are all tilted and now I'm worried its gonna drop into a tree or the water if I'm not continually staring at the altitude setting when flying long range.  Its disconcerting enough when your only a few yards away from the Phantom 4.

I sure am hoping my new P4 is somehow immune from these issues...

I've noticed with my P4 that since doing the cold IMU calibration it seems to actually gain altitude when stopping from speed and then slowly settle back to just below the original altitude, but when stopping from low speed it just does the drop in altitude without initially gaining altitude.  This is very frustrating.

robotizen Posted at 2016-4-13 14:36
An interesting bit of evidence would be how much does it drop vs. the forward velocity before the st ...

It is interesting, I tested it extensively yesterday, and i only lose altitude on full speed/almost full speed stops. If i'm pushing the throttle at less than 75%, it will essentially not drop (maybe less than a foot). If you put even less pressure on the throttle, it will not drop at all. It seems to be an issue with the forward velocity and the ability of the P4 to keep it's altitude when coming to a complete stop after full speed...something to do with the physics of it, I'm no physics major, but there's much more than a coincidence here. I actually now don't believe this is something that can be fixed with Firmware...DJI says their beta P4s do not have this issue, and they cannot replicate it. That is something I don't understand. If everybody out here is experiencing this, why aren't DJI themselves? It's definitely happening, as seen by the dozens of user's videos showing the issue...and that's just everybody who posted a video of it. There's countless others who haven't posted a video but are still experiencing it. Pretty crappy situation.

Add me to the loosing altitude list. Have vision 2. 2plus and phantom 3. No issues with any of those.

WOW THANK GOD DJI-TIM IS WORKING ON SINCE BEGINNING OF APRIL!!! HE HASN'T RESPONDED ON SEVERAL PEOPLE ANYMORE INCLUDING MYSELF. TIMMY HAVE THE DECENCY AND COURTESY TO GIVE HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE AN UPDATE ON WHAT IS GOING ON... BE A PROFESSIONAL MEN AND COME OUT OF YOUR HOLE AND HELP PEOPLE RETURN THEIR PHANTOM 4. WHAT A COMPLETE JOKE.

Being that I'm a new drone owner and flyer, I have a question for those of you that have upgraded from a P3, if you don't mind.

Were there any issues with the P3 range of drones when they were first released that people thought DJI weren't listening and wouldn't fix?

If so did they eventually get fixed?

I'm just trying to gauge what kind of company I'm dealing with here and whether this is the usual "internet knee jerk" or if the reason for the really quite vehement at times replies is because DJI really won't fix these issues.

Seems there are some very unhappy people here.  I was flying mine again the other day.  I was flying a few metres up and had to throttle up from keeping it hitting the ground when I stopped.  I don't think any firmware is going to fix this problem, seems like a hardware issue to me.  The phantom 4 I have now was a replacement to one I originally bought and that didn't suffer from any altitude drop whatsoever, I had to return it for an odd strained gimbal noises coming from the motors. Other than that it flew fine and maintained altitude when stopping.  But this replacement suffers from height dropping quite a bit, so I am forced to really keep an eye when flying low.  Its safer to fly higher but it's something I should not need to be concerned about when paying over £1200 for a drone.  Aside from this issue it flies very well but its's disappointing that DJI haven't responded with a solution yet.  Hopefully I'm wrong and a firmware update will fix it, it would be nice if DJI kept us within the loop.

I think people are going to start turning to Yuneec's Typhoon H if this issue isn't resolved soon.  I was certainly looking at it before I bought the phantom.  When the Typhoon comes out I will definitely be watching with interest as I need a decent stable platform for some aerial photography.  

Adding my experience:

a friend bought P4 and asked me for assistance on 1st flight, since he has never flown drone before. we updated all firmware, calibrated IMU and compass, then did 1st flight.

The first words out of his mouth after launching: "WOW, why does it drop after i stop going???!" Yes, it is very noticable.
i assured him it s normal and DJI will come up with firmware fix in a few weeks

Whilst hovering again today my P4 slowly dropped altitude by about 6 or 7 feet until it was level with my head, when I looked at the screen the altitude was reading 13.1 feet.  I'm 6 feet tall, I wish I'd had the wherewithal to look at the screen at the beginning of the drop to see what the altitude reading was and whether it was going down as the P4 dropped.

Sebb Posted at 2016-5-16 10:53
Adding my experience:

a friend bought P4 and asked me for assistance on 1st flight, since he has ne ...

Don't know why you would tell him that a fix would be in a couple of weeks; it has been over six weeks already and DJI's track record of fixing issues is not that great.

Tahoe-Ed-Windba Posted at 2016-5-16 19:19
Hi everyone! DJI Ed Windbag here. There is no altitude dropping issue. You just need to do a gimbal  ...

and a most glorified BOOM>..................................

My two cents worth, My P4 for used to drop while stopping and rotating too but after doing the downward facing sensor calibration my P4 dropping has ceased.

A lot of seemingly immature children in here recently.. Show some respect will you..

Its not the worst issue a Phantom has ever had. It only happens when going quickly and releasing the sticks and if you are close enough to hit the ground then the issue does not happen anyway ( try full speed in sports mode about 2 feet off the ground and see for yourself ). Yes its annoying, yes it will likely generate some poop for new flyers ( who should be i  beginners mode if they are too nervous anyway ), yes DJI are not giving a day by day commentary of any new firmware, yes people have a NOW NOW mentality and this tips them over the edge.. Get out flying, life is too short to waste it on here bitching and moaning about something so small.

The issue IS being fixed so just wait, calibrating the downward sensors makes it much better too. No need to take it out on those who monitor the forums for DJI.. I'm surprised dJI are even tolerating a small number of the people commenting here..

Second P4, the first behaved offly and DJI suggested I return it. The first one had a mostly static horizon, and no altitude drops on stopping.

The second one drops a lot on stopping, same firmware. Only thing I haven't done yet is recalibrate the IMU. This one the VPS doesn't seem to click quite so much, - could be related?
Other weird thing I noticed was on banking sideways to the left, on stopping there's a judder. Banking to the right doesn't. This second one doesn't seem quite as fast either - just my observations.

What needs to be done is a trace on whether all the ones with the altitude drop were manufactured at a different plant? Materials sourced differently? - Really that's DJI's job though!

I'm still hoping a firmware with some kind of calibration might be released - the bird KNOWS it's dropping, it has to, so could easily compensate.

sploodge Posted at 2016-5-17 09:33
A lot of seemingly immature children in here recently.. Show some respect will you..

Its not the wo ...

Hear you on that Sploodge, there are SO SO many variables at play here, these craft are.. well.. awesome. Speaking as a programmer, there's a lot of complexity going on under the hood and sometimes impossible to account for EVERY situation.

That said though, it seems quite a repeatable phenomena which I'm sure they've reproduced. I'm hoping it's not a large batch of faulty sensors/barometers, meaning a physical problem. If so DJI should be letting us know.

If it's firmware, fine, we'll wait, there's a lot of testing would *need* to be done. An update from DJI would be nice though. I keep my customers updated regularly - but then all of my customers are happy

In the meantime, as you say.. Get out flying

all i did was clean the bottom sensors with a Q-tip and now i have no problems

sploodge Posted at 2016-5-17 09:33
A lot of seemingly immature children in here recently.. Show some respect will you..

Its not the wo ...

Are you saying that the Phantom 4 will not hit the ground when flying low?

If so then I'm glad I returned my first Phantom 4 because it most certainly did hit the ground when flying in sport mode quite low, there was an ever so subtle incline on the ground below and the P4 flew straight into it.  It didn't give any warning, just BOOM the leg hit the ground and the P4 flipped over and skidded to a halt upside down.  Thankfully there was NO damage at all and I thanked my lucky stars, and swore never to be so stupid as to fly that low again.
[EDIT] I don't suppose you're in the North East of England are you? [/EDIT]

ktusa7 Posted at 2016-4-12 02:11
Great job and great video, that is exactly what my P4 is doing. Thank you for helping showing what ...

To say "every body"  is a very big and very wrong assumption!

Advocate Posted at 2016-5-19 05:56
Are you saying that the Phantom 4 will not hit the ground when flying low?

If so then I'm glad I r ...

I said the altitude drop issue will not cause it to hit the ground when releasing the sticks. Flyingn into an incline most definitely will crash it.

I'm in North Wales

sploodge Posted at 2016-5-19 07:15
I said the altitude drop issue will not cause it to hit the ground when releasing the sticks. Flyi ...

Ahhh I see, thanks for the clarification.  

The thing that worries me most about the drop in altitude is when I am flying the drone at some great distance and close to the ground. There may be something like a bush directly under the drone. If the drone stops and drops, it may get caught in the bush leading to a crash perhaps in an unrecoverable location (like the opposite side of a rushing stream for example or high on a mountainside).

Topviewpics Posted at 2016-5-13 19:28
For God's Sake Mr. DJI Tim.

The requests for files, videos and proof of what we are experiencing ...

At this point, I would accept a warning about when to expect the drone to drop when it stops and the causes for the malfunction. They can fix it in the next drone if we can learn when to expect it in the P4 and avoid it.