So... after a long awaited time, i made my first flight with my mavic.   I was VERY nervous....after reading many worrying reports, however, equally id read good reviews of no issues. I certainly was not let down.  It remained rock solid in hover, very responsive and certainly a very nimble but sophisticated machine.  Well done DJI

As many have said, and I will say again... resist the tempation to be overconfident or ambituous, especially if like myself this is your first drone.   Read the instructions, watch videos and understand as much as you can prior to 'playing'.  

First flight, definately use beginner mode.... its nice and gentle and slow without being quite so painful as tripod mode. It also ensures you dont fly to far away which is a good thing to have. Although, consider tripod mode too if you really want to be cautious.  No harm in taking things slowly.  I let the drone sit on the ground for about 5mins to ensure GPS signal was stable, and then after take-off hovered above for about 1 min just to be sure.   Im certainly not saying this length of time is needed, but hey... its worth the wait if it reduces the chance of problems and/or crashes isnt it??

Another important point is probably to make sure your first flight (or first few are in ZERO or minimal wind). Give yourself a chance to save this drone if GPS was to cut out like some reports have shown.

I spent the whole of my first battery keeping the drone within a radius of 50m of me (i turned off beginner after about 15mins) and got to a very unambitious height of 150ft.  BUT.... i felt in control 9 times out of 10... and thats the important thing.

I dont want to make this too long, but now that I have my drone and flown it once, I can certainly endorse everything I have read that basically says 'Do your research, learn the machine, and take things slow'.  Its worth it for a safe and happy flight!

Hope everyone else is enjoying their mavics and having trouble free flights. Not everything is user error for sure, and so I do feel for those who are genuinely having problems

Happy flying and I welcome any comments or personal experience, good or bad.   This is an absolutely AMAZING drone from what I can tell after my first flight, just rememeber to respect it. Its not a toy!   

ps:  I know the above is very basic stuff, and I in no way am trying to say that you should follow what I am saying.  Just my experiences and thoughts.  There are many very experienced drone pilots on this forum, so please correct me if you feel im saying something totally wrong (politely please )

A great post, this should be pinned to make sure everyone reads it. Enjoy your Mavic!

Great post, it's great to see a beginner showing respect for this aircraft, your example of first flight is perfect for first time flyers, you also showed that making progress with caution doesn't take very long, thanks for posting coming from a beginner will be of great benefit for first time flyers. Good luck and enjoy your flying.

Just be sure to stay away from things with rebar outdoors, it makes the compass go crazy when close =]

Thanks for the report, I'm still waiting on mine!

Great have just got mine still messing on need help how to register got dji account and dji go4 0n iphone se will use beginners mode thanks

Thanks guys for the positive comments, and I'm glad you think it is worthy of perhaps being pinned. As i said, just thought id share my experience as a beginner, mainly for the benefit of other beginners (or anyone that its useful for)

Just got back from second flight.  Went really well again, stuck to a very similar size area but just went a little higher and experimented a little more with photos and videos. A few tests with return to home proved successful and the precision landing is literally... perfect to the nearest couple of centimetres. Incredible!

Thanks 'thehippoz', sound advice about metal objects and interference.

Exactly my thinking. Very good post. Must read for everyone!

For anyone interested, I have uploaded some of the video from my first flight. As mentioned, nothing spectacular as I wanted to get to be confident with the drone before going over the top.

Hope you like.  Any questions or comments let me know.

It was recorded with color profile: NONE  and all the other standard factory setup with regard to video/photo setting.

I appreciate your post.  Especially since, I will be trying my first flight today.  

I have only been flying drones since Nov 2016 and used a Parrot mini-drone (Airborne Cargo) using the mode 2 controls, and then later a Parrot Beebop I bought on sale for $176 in early December.  I will give the Beebop as a birthday gift to a nephew in April.  I gave him a Parrot Airborne Cargo for Christmas to learn on.  I told him good grades and mastery of flight controls (coordinated turns etc.) and it will be his birthday present.

I have connected to my new Samsung S7 phone and flown the simulator for about an hour.  Also checked to see if I get video as well as graphics, menus etc.  I also used a 9.7" Samsung Tablet S.   
Thanks for your post.

Yep, common sense.  You wouldn't go buy your first motorcycle, make it a crotch-rocket and hit the track the first day you get it.  So many others have done just that... take off and head out on a long journey before the batteries are broke-in.  Speaking of, only deplete your battery about 50% for the first 10 flights.  Then you can safely put full cycles (drained to 15-20%) without concern.  AND, since it is winter, always remember that a cold battery does not last as long as a warm one.

Great post!

As member of multiple forums (BMW motorcycle, Gyroplane, XDA) I KNOW that most posts deal with problems (people are angry and want to tell), second comes the trolls, third comes the exchange of valuable infos and tips and almost NEVER happy forum members will post how happy they are ......... That´s the fate of forums ................ Just count the numbers of flying Mavics (????) and compare to the individual problems which are posted here (mainly incompatible smartphone-issues, pilot-errors, and very very little technical issues caused by DJI).

The more numbers of Mavics are flying, the higher the number of complaints will be .............

gibbd Posted at 2017-1-9 04:08
For anyone interested, I have uploaded some of the video from my first flight. As mentioned, nothing spectacular as I wanted to get to be confident with the drone before going over the top.

Hope you like.  Any questions or comments let me know.

Hey, that's pretty cool for your first flight. Where are you based?

Airobotix Posted at 2017-1-9 09:00
Hey, that's pretty cool for your first flight. Where are you based?

airobotix,  Thanks.

I didn't think it was too bad for first attempt    Im based in the South central England area.  How about yourself?

gibbd Posted at 2017-1-9 09:35
airobotix,  Thanks.

I didn't think it was too bad for first attempt    Im based in the South central England area.  How about yourself?

Funnily enough, South Central near MK

Thank you for posting your experience, glad you are a safe flyer and enjoying your Mavic.

Gary Mac Posted at 2017-1-9 07:29
Yep, common sense.  You wouldn't go buy your first motorcycle, make it a crotch-rocket and hit the track the first day you get it.  So many others have done just that... take off and head out on a long journey before the batteries are broke-in.  Speaking of, only deplete your battery about 50% for the first 10 flights.  Then you can safely put full cycles (drained to 15-20%) without concern.  AND, since it is winter, always remember that a cold battery does not last as long as a warm one.

Great post!

That's what I do with all my new batteries.

Nice video Gibb.  What did you use to edit the video?

fanseb85c303 Posted at 2017-1-9 10:53
Nice video Gibb.  What did you use to edit the video?

iMOVIE 10.1.4

Not bad and relatively straightforward. Im not sure how it would be/perform if I was wanting to carry out any colour correction though.

Anyone else use iMovie, and have experience with colour correction in there??

Can anyone comment on how the downward vision sensing works. I have seen videos where if someone places there hand under the mavic, it will try and fly up and away from the object.  I tried this... and it does move...

Gary Mac Posted at 2017-1-9 07:29
Yep, common sense.  You wouldn't go buy your first motorcycle, make it a crotch-rocket and hit the track the first day you get it.  So many others have done just that... take off and head out on a long journey before the batteries are broke-in.  Speaking of, only deplete your battery about 50% for the first 10 flights.  Then you can safely put full cycles (drained to 15-20%) without concern.  AND, since it is winter, always remember that a cold battery does not last as long as a warm one.

Great post!

(Sorry, I "downvoted" this by mistake, stupid mouse pointer. Was trying the use the new "report" mechanism for helpful content.)

Good post, I completely agree with everything you wrote.

I got a compass and GPS error on my first 2 flights and foolishly recalibrated. I then tried moving position about 10 metres and everything was fine from then on. I was in the middle of a field with no metal anywhere in sight, but maybe the is a stack of iron underground!!

Mitel Posted at 2017-1-11 04:59
Good post, I completely agree with everything you wrote.

I got a compass and GPS error on my first 2 flights and foolishly recalibrated. I then tried moving position about 10 metres and everything was fine from then on. I was in the middle of a field with no metal anywhere in sight, but maybe the is a stack of iron underground!!

Thanks Mitel.

That's an interesting experience you have had with regard to moving 10m and it solving your issue, even though you were already in the middle of nowhere.   Perhaps you have found some treasure    

Mavic Pro doubles up as a metal detector?

Peter Galbavy Posted at 2017-1-11 01:54
(Sorry, I "downvoted" this by mistake, stupid mouse pointer. Was trying the use the new "report" mechanism for helpful content.)

No worries my friend.  

Happy flying my friend,  just a shame we are all waiting for ours!!!

Thank you for sharing your experience! Waiting for suitable weather conditions to try.

Sounds like my first flight.  Great minds think alike.
Excellent post!

Bobaloo Posted at 2017-1-12 05:51
Sounds like my first flight.  Great minds think alike.
Excellent post!

Great to hear another positive comment on my post, but more importantly another person with successful flights by taking it slow.   

I wonder how many fewer returns and repairs DJI would receive if more followed this approach.  Saying that, accidents do happen and may well happen to us when we least expect it.

I still feel strongly about pushing for the ability to manually put the craft into ATTI mode so we can all experience 'flying' the drone sometime.

I am finding tripod mode to be so helpful. The Mavic is amazing!

Thanks, some good advice and awesome first video.

One other piece of newbie advice.  It's real easy to lose track of orientation especially when flying towards yourself.  If you get confused and things aren't moving the way you expect, STOP, let go of the sticks, take a breath, the Mavic will wait patiently for you to get yourself calemed down.  If you are still having trouble, move slowly a little bit and watch which way it is going.  do this several times and you should have a better idea of your orientation.

Most of all, take it slow until you feel more comfortable with it and have fun.

I think you (beginners) really need to be using and practicing with a much much cheaper drone.3dr  solo is now a package deal for 299..... Gives you much more confidence and hopefully you will have that first crash with the cheap drone and not the 1100 dollar one..... Jmo....I know I wouldve been very nervous if I hadnt flown a drone before and flying a expensive drone for my first time....

Awesome post!!! Still waiting for mine but this post has taken away any doubt about flying the drone once I get it. This will be my first drone as well.

Gary Mac Posted at 2017-1-9 07:29
Yep, common sense.  You wouldn't go buy your first motorcycle, make it a crotch-rocket and hit the track the first day you get it.  So many others have done just that... take off and head out on a long journey before the batteries are broke-in.  Speaking of, only deplete your battery about 50% for the first 10 flights.  Then you can safely put full cycles (drained to 15-20%) without concern.  AND, since it is winter, always remember that a cold battery does not last as long as a warm one.

Great post!

Good Analogy...Common sense ,isn't  so Common

Common sense tips and tricks, although while I decide if I am getting a Mavic or a Phantom, I can´t stop watching full newbies (as me) taking off, launching their drones high in the sky, and far from their own sight.

I was gifted parrot bebop 2 wich I returned due to it´s terrible image quality, and every fly was total precaution. I can´t just understand how people gets their drone and do such things from the very first moment. Am I the only person scared? haha

This was really useful for my new Mavic I am waiting for

gibbd Posted at 2017-1-9 11:01
iMOVIE 10.1.4

Not bad and relatively straightforward. Im not sure how it would be/perform if I was wanting to carry out any colour correction though.

iMovie has all the BASIC color correction attributes: Saturation, Contrast, Brightness. No color grading or importing of LUTs. The basic color correction works well.

fans6b1659a0 Posted at 2017-1-12 20:50
I think you (beginners) really need to be using and practicing with a much much cheaper drone.3dr  solo is now a package deal for 299..... Gives you much more confidence and hopefully you will have that first crash with the cheap drone and not the 1100 dollar one..... Jmo....I know I wouldve been very nervous if I hadnt flown a drone before and flying a expensive drone for my first time....

I agree, always best to become familiar with the aerodynamics of quadcopters. I started out with an $85 USD quad, flew it & crashed it until the duct tape just wouldn't keep it together any more, then opted for a Walkera F210 ( Tough entry level racing quad)   cut my teeth on this for months. Long story short, practice makes perfect, now if I loose GPS and the DJI goes into Atti mode muscle memory takes over and can fly the baby home via FPV & Radar/Maps no problem. I suggest all pilots practice in Atti / Acro mode or with a toy or intermediate quad often ( I know the Mavic has no such option, your Bad DJI ) P series does though.

All in all DJI puts out a great consumer level drone, just wish customer support was up to par with the product.