So I'm on a remote island shoot, models, a speedboat and crew for aerial video. No internet connection! So I realize pretty fast something is wrong... I cant fly fast, drone was very slow, couldnt go high or go further than a few meters away from me, restricted cause it had no internet. This is a huge flaw and embarassed the hell out of me apart from the cost which I am still calculating what is going to happen regarding lost money.

This has never happened in all of my years using your drones and I am biting my tongue here but just FIX IT! Having to have internet to fly means your drone is a POS!

Reading accounts like this is sad...  

feel sad for ya.......... ใจเย็น

Yeah this is BAD!!! Things are getting worse. While I don't have this problem I'm having mounting problems of Smart RTH kicking in while in the middle of a shot killing the shot. Another issue that wasn't there a few months ago. I think we are heading towards a scenario where we can fly a 1/2 block radius at 10 mph.

Im afraid this will become the new norm and how DJI intends to stay in business this way is beyond me.

U need internet only ONCE after the firmware upgrade....
I feel for you, but.. either you upgraded and did not test before a big and serous job, or DJI is wrong, and what they said is not true..
The idea was supposed to be - upgrade app and firmware, the next flight has to have internet available, the system will ask you to login to your go account again and validate.
From that point on - everything should be as it always was - you do NOT need internet, or even a tablet, to fly.
I have not upgraded yet, got the notification yesterday while I was flying... no issues what so ever.... I've seen posts here and all over the place for about 2 months now, so I sure hope I understand the process well.. but would love to see what DJI says to you post.. certainly would be nice to know 100% what happened...
If I manage to test today or in the next few days, i'll try to =come back and post what I found...
Crossing my fingers....

Wow, feel bad. Very sorry.  Hope you find resolution soon.

Phantomski Posted at 2017-7-8 10:01
U need internet only ONCE after the firmware upgrade....
I feel for you, but.. either you upgraded and did not test before a big and serous job, or DJI is wrong, and what they said is not true..
The idea was supposed to be - upgrade app and firmware, the next flight has to have internet available, the system will ask you to login to your go account again and validate.

Doesn't matter really.  He could have done everything right and gotten to his location and received the dreaded "cannot take off" message like I did for the entire week I was on vacation.  DJI decided I shouldn't be able to fly in the Florida panhandle and there was NO WAY to unlock any NFZs.  It was AWESOME to be humiliated by friends and family and ridiculed for wasting $1800 on a worthless "toy" that doesnt fly....good times....good times!

Jeffames226 Posted at 2017-7-8 09:29
Im afraid this will become the new norm and how DJI intends to stay in business this way is beyond me.

How thick do you have to be to believe that this is how DJI intend things to be?
Really?

I think my point is - do not point fingers at DJI blindly.. let's look at what happened, and see if there's a lesson for all of us, so we do not have the same issue.
I am sorry to say, but after all the issues I've read about firmware upgrade issues, from many users, over the last year+, I NEVER had a significant issue..  Usually I am not that lucky.. I've used a number of Android as well as IOS devices. I have an advanced and pro.. and, well, things are not as bad as many make them... so I am always trying to figure out what's happening, because I believe if we can zero in on issues people have, and the root cause.. perhapos someone else can avoid same issue...  Just blaming DJI and having a fit, as much as I understand, is not really helping anyone.. hence my approach... And believe me, I've made a share of mistakes, so I am in no way into blaming.. but knowledge is power...  ;)
I JUST upgraded, did not do a test flight yet.. will do in a few... http://forum.dji.com/forum.php?m ... &fromuid=277621
Hope it'll go well, but I will actually do what I can to make the test fail.. or rather either confirm or disprove the way I understand what should happen.. So I will actually fly without tablet, without internet, then with internet, then without again.. see if I can get things going.. After all I want to fly tomorrow in not my usual location, so want to make sure I know the ins and out.. I also noticed you CAN disable geofencing... it's in the ... menu of the app. I think it does not remove NFZ, but changes some behavior.. I will play with that too, and report in my thread... [ http://forum.dji.com/forum.php?m ... &fromuid=277621 ]
Will see what develops!

Labroides Posted at 2017-7-8 15:36
How thick do you have to be to believe that this is how DJI intend things to be?
Really?

If DJI get on the wrong side, of the people they sell to, then it only a matter of time before sales get hit,
they are on the top now, but you got to treat your customers right, or they will move on to the next product.

Dog Man Posted at 2017-7-8 15:46
If DJI get on the wrong side, of the people they sell to, then it only a matter of time before sales get hit,
they are on the top now, but you got to treat your customers right, or they will move on to the next product.

Word of mouth gets around, every day someone ask me a question about drones, & also which one to buy.............

'So I'm on a remote island shoot, models, a speedboat and crew for aerial video. No internet connection! So I realize pretty fast something is wrong.'

So you turn up on a remote island with a cast of thousands with an un-tested aircraft, and only one of them. If you were hired as part of any crew I was managing, I would have kicked you off it.

Labroides Posted at 2017-7-8 15:36
How thick do you have to be to believe that this is how DJI intend things to be?
Really?

Its completely irrelevant what you believe.   Perception is reality and if the growing number of people having problems continues their sales will suffer.  MANY MANY people are having problems where they are grounded for one reason or another and some members on this forum treat them as if they were too stupid to follow directions.  JUST MAYBE the problem lies withing DJI's constant tinkering with firmware and ever increasing urge to take control out of our hands.

Jeffames226 Posted at 2017-7-8 16:16
Its completely irrelevant what you believe.   Perception is reality and if the growing number of people having problems continues their sales will suffer.  MANY MANY people are having problems where they are grounded for one reason or another and some members on this forum treat them as if they were too stupid to follow directions.  JUST MAYBE the problem lies withing DJI's constant tinkering with firmware and ever increasing urge to take control out of our hands.

Perception isn't reality.  That's the whole thing.
You get a half-assed idea and run with it and other half-assed people that don't have much idea join in.
It's like my dogs barking when they hear the dog up the road barking and often makes about as much sense.

Labroides Posted at 2017-7-8 16:40
Perception isn't reality.  That's the whole thing.
You get a half-assed idea and run with it and other half-assed people that don't have much idea join in.
It's like my dogs barking when they hear the dog up the road barking and often makes about as much sense.

Guess you dont get it....maybe its just a bit over your head.  But if hundred or thousands of people are having problems with their drones then thats a problem.  DOES NOT MATTER that you may not have problems or believe that others do.  Bury your head in the sand if you like.   Just take a look in this forum and others at all the problems people are having.  If you dont believe that this will affect DJI's future sales than you are either a fool or a shill.

Aloha Pritch,

     Listen to Labroides and Geebax.  My experience supports what they are saying.  The three of us are serious old timers on this Forum.  99.99 percent of the problems created by flying, or not flying, DJI products are customer oversights.  Yet, the customers seem to not get the message.  The flight of your bird is your responsibility, not DJI's responsibility.

     Phantomski has a good explanation of your problem.  I have not needed Internet since my first sign-in.  You do not even need to upgrade or update.  Just sign in.

     My friend got caught in the same snafu you and others were caught in.  We went on a project where his P3A was to be a target for IR research.  It was an evening test and everything was planned to the "T" and it involved 4 people, 3 from his company and I was an observer/participant/assistant.  Before leaving his house, he had tested everything - except to actually get to the checklist and spin props.  You cannot get to the checklist in this last DJI requirement if you are not signed in.

     When the time came to fly, he had to sign in without Internet.  No can do.  If he had tested his system to the sign in and start the props, he would have been in his Internet zone and learned he needed to sign in.  We were way early when he was last in his Internet zone.  It would have been so easy.  But there we were stuck with a dead drone.

     Like Geebax says, if you were my crew, I would have fired you (well he did not quite say that but I would have!)  Spinning props is the final test.  Even DJI's test to see if your bird is activated involves spinning props.

     I told my friend the same thing but of course we were there with 2 company guys and I cannot say that to them, so I told them you guy's sad story and made them feel sorry or my friend.  But, the fault was clearly on my friend due to all the warnings DJI has given that this would happen and you guys seem to have ignored all the warnings.  The fault for your failures lie clearly on your shoulders!

     This is not some toy.  It is a potentially dangerous technology that has to be taken seriously.  So take it seriously.  Do what you are required to do.  Then go have fun, but safely.  And go make plenty money if you are certified!

Aloha and Drone On!

Geebax Posted at 2017-7-8 16:16
'So I'm on a remote island shoot, models, a speedboat and crew for aerial video. No internet connection! So I realize pretty fast something is wrong.'

So you turn up on a remote island with a cast of thousands with an un-tested aircraft, and only one of them. If you were hired as part of any crew I was managing, I would have kicked you off it.

My business is to provide live sports feeds to the sports media and sports data compilers and sports books like Sportingbet Bet365 Betfair and sports media rights holders. Sometimes the hardware I use will need a software or firmware upgrade.  Before a new event I will test my equipment so that on the opening day I do not have issues. Imagine not having a live stadium feed in real time for the final game of the British Lions V New Zealand or the final of the NRL State of Origin for a media rights holder.  My clients would not be happy.
Sometimes there can be an issue at the stadium from a source provider but then again they would find they won't be invited to do more live events.  SNG providers have a lot of competition.

DJI have advised a long time ago that new app and firmware would be required to fly, probably more than a month as I knew about it before my vacation to Cebu in first week of June. DJI did not cost the OP his shoot, the OP did not do due diligence making sure his equipment was going to work as he wanted it to.  Sad though it is, how is it the OP did not know about the upgrades.  Surely as a professional he has known about this update?

This would be like going to a remote photoshoot with only a set of new memory cards and when you get there finding that they are all corrupt and will not record. These are important itmes which should be checked prior to setting out.


PPPPPP is all I can say.

blackcrusader Posted at 2017-7-8 16:55
My business is to provide live sports feeds to the sports media and sports data compilers and sports books like Sportingbet Bet365 Betfair and sports media rights holders. Sometimes the hardware I use will need a software or firmware upgrade.  Before a new event I will test my equipment so that on the opening day I do not have issues. Imagine not having a live stadium feed in real time for the final game of the British Lions V New Zealand or the final of the NRL State of Origin for a media rights holder.  My clients would not be happy.
Sometimes there can be an issue at the stadium from a source provider but then again they would find they won't be invited to do more live events.  SNG providers have a lot of competition.

Im going to try this one more time.  PERCEPTION IS REALITY....If people START PERCEIVING massive problems with DJI's products then IT IS COMPLETELY IRRELEVANT whose to blame for the problems he experienced.  They WILL stop buying and go elsewhere.  And if you are implying people are too stupid to operate their products ie... blame the customer...then they will still shop elsewhere for more "user friendly" products.  My problem had NOTHING TO DO with not spinning up props before I arrived at my location while on vacation.  It had EVERYTHING to do with DJI tinkering with something not broken to gain more control of where I can fly.  

Jeffames226 Posted at 2017-7-8 17:10
Im going to try this one more time.  PERCEPTION IS REALITY....If people START PERCEIVING massive problems with DJI's products then IT IS COMPLETELY IRRELEVANT whose to blame for the problems he experienced.  They WILL stop buying and go elsewhere.  And if you are implying people are too stupid to operate their products ie... blame the customer...then they will still shop elsewhere for more "user friendly" products.  My problem had NOTHING TO DO with not spinning up props before I arrived at my location while on vacation.  It had EVERYTHING to do with DJI tinkering with something not broken to gain more control of where I can fly.

Sounds like a case of a bad tradesman blaming his tools...

This is why I will never update my GO4 app or update the firmware on my P4P+ or Mavic. I get notices to update, but I'm not getting grounded. These will be my last DJI drones, thankfully they're good quality for quite a few years to come.

Geebax Posted at 2017-7-8 17:41
Sounds like a case of a bad tradesman blaming his tools...

I give up you are right...ATTENTION all DJI customers having problems...you are all IDIOTS and its all your fault.  Our drones work perfectly if you just were not so stupid and could operate them effectively.  

Geebax Posted at 2017-7-8 17:41
Sounds like a case of a bad tradesman blaming his tools...

FYI...companies that blame their customers for their faults dont usually last very long.  

Jeffames226 Posted at 2017-7-8 17:59
FYI...companies that blame their customers for their faults dont usually last very long.

DJI didn't blame anyone though.   If you are using a device for business and the manufacturer has for over 6 weeks notified of an app and firmware upgrade they cannot be blamed because you did not do so.  The perception if anything is that you were not properly prepared for the shoot to planned on doing because you failed to do an important notified upgrade. The perception will be that the client will think you were not professional enough to have ensured your equipment was in order.

Are you going to claim that for the last 6 weeks you have not known about the upgrade that DJI has advised you would have restricted flights if not upgraded?

Jeffames226 Posted at 2017-7-8 16:51
Guess you dont get it....maybe its just a bit over your head.  But if hundred or thousands of people are having problems with their drones then thats a problem.  DOES NOT MATTER that you may not have problems or believe that others do.  Bury your head in the sand if you like.   Just take a look in this forum and others at all the problems people are having.  If you dont believe that this will affect DJI's future sales than you are either a fool or a shill.

Except hundreds of thousands of people are not having problems as they have upgraded and are flying fine.  There are a few who have said they have issues.  One guy flew his drone into a wall after the upgrade.  He did not do an IMU calibration as advised and did not reset his settings but blames DJI for his not doing so.  Other people blame DJI because they had a warning of loose propeller and kept flying until a prop came off and crashed and want DJI to give them a new drone under warranty.

One guy flew his battery for 22 minutes then gets upset when he then flies out of the ocean and his drone runs out of power before it can return and splashed like Apollo 13 into the wet stuff.  

Jeffames226 Posted at 2017-7-8 17:10
Im going to try this one more time.  PERCEPTION IS REALITY....If people START PERCEIVING massive problems with DJI's products then IT IS COMPLETELY IRRELEVANT whose to blame for the problems he experienced.  They WILL stop buying and go elsewhere.  And if you are implying people are too stupid to operate their products ie... blame the customer...then they will still shop elsewhere for more "user friendly" products.  My problem had NOTHING TO DO with not spinning up props before I arrived at my location while on vacation.  It had EVERYTHING to do with DJI tinkering with something not broken to gain more control of where I can fly.

"They WILL stop buying (from DJI) and go elsewhere."

Do you have any idea where they will go eventually? Which brand is offering equally advanced technology and reliability?

Man! Did that discussion spin up.. feel a bit bad for the OP, but.. u get what u get...  if u r one of the thousand's of pple who have issues.. oh wait.. perhaps hundreds, or a hundred?
My update worked fine, did testing, worked as expected... just in case, I can always make my phone a hotspot in a bind... There's a way out of most situations, if you know the product, know what to expect, and go through a little trouble to be ready....

Good luck to all who want to tell all their friends to not buy DJI... there are options, but none of them come close to DJI... Perhaps they are close to P3S, or not even that...

Learn from this, figure out the problem, keep flying!

Jeffames226 Posted at 2017-7-8 10:24
Doesn't matter really.  He could have done everything right and gotten to his location and received the dreaded "cannot take off" message like I did for the entire week I was on vacation.  DJI decided I shouldn't be able to fly in the Florida panhandle and there was NO WAY to unlock any NFZs.  It was AWESOME to be humiliated by friends and family and ridiculed for wasting $1800 on a worthless "toy" that doesnt fly....good times....good times!

I think the problem here is there is no consistency in what's happening, some say they are grounded because no internet some say they can still fly but restricted because of no internet, maybe you or they can produce logs of these restrictions , it would help,

And it seems amazing everyone can't get internet. It might be time to say to yourself my country has a real problem with internet wifi signal, and maybe your fight is really with whoever is supposed to supply internet coverage or your government.

Not having proper internet connection is surely a much bigger problem than not being able to get your drone off the ground.

If you log into your DJI account while you are connected to wifi and not ever log out of your account, you will be able to fly anytime as long as you are not in a NFZ. I always make sure before I leave for my flying destination that all the mobile devises I plan to use are logged into my DJI Account and I never logg out.

Dobmatt Posted at 2017-7-8 21:38
"They WILL stop buying (from DJI) and go elsewhere."

Do you have any idea where they will go eventually? Which brand is offering equally advanced technology and reliability?

He could try to Go Pro Karma which cannot even fly at the altitudes where I need to fly.

Jeffames226 Posted at 2017-7-8 10:24
Doesn't matter really.  He could have done everything right and gotten to his location and received the dreaded "cannot take off" message like I did for the entire week I was on vacation.  DJI decided I shouldn't be able to fly in the Florida panhandle and there was NO WAY to unlock any NFZs.  It was AWESOME to be humiliated by friends and family and ridiculed for wasting $1800 on a worthless "toy" that doesnt fly....good times....good times!

It is true that in Florida there are quite many locations for which the Unlocking is not available. They are marked with the red markers in the map at  http://www.dji.com/flysafe/geo-map . Some of them are airports, but the wast majority seems to be correctional facilities. ALL the other areas, marked in yellow or green, can be unlocked. Are you sure you weren't trying to fly over some jails?

BrianKushner Posted at 2017-7-8 08:54
Yeah this is BAD!!! Things are getting worse. While I don't have this problem I'm having mounting problems of Smart RTH kicking in while in the middle of a shot killing the shot. Another issue that wasn't there a few months ago. I think we are heading towards a scenario where we can fly a 1/2 block radius at 10 mph.

The Smart RTH disable option missing on the P4P must be a bug in the P4P firmware. It still exists in the very latest builds for the P4 (unless it's a glitch on the P4 build :-( ). In the P4 firmware notes they even say they have "Optimised Smart Return to Home" as part of the latest build.

Jeffames226 Posted at 2017-7-8 17:59
FYI...companies that blame their customers for their faults dont usually last very long.

Aloha Jeff,

     Sorry you are catching so much gas here.  But think about it.  If DJI is doing such a bad job, why do they have 70 percent or more of the drone market?  So they lose fifteen or twenty percent of the market due to unhappy operators, they still have over 50 percent of the market.  Now that is extreme.  There is no way that there are that many unhappy fliers out there with DJI products.  The market shares have not changed.

     You have to realize that this Forum, and other forums, are not representative of the vast majority of DJI customers.  Most forum users are there because they have a problem they are trying to solve.  Compare those extremely few forum members with the enormous numbers of happy DJI product users out there who fly safely on a regular basis.  Extremely few DJI customers are not happy with their purchases.

     Now think carefully, if you tell these people looking for solutions to their problems that the problem is that DJI makes and services bad products, you really are not helping them because what you are saying is not true.  If it was true, DJI would not have a 70 percent market share.

     There are many reasons people have problems with their DJI products.  Only an extreme minority of those reasons are due to the building and testing process used by DJI.  In order for DJI to have such a high market share, they have to have very high manufacturing standards and it shows with their products.  

     But no manufacturing process is perfect.  That is why DJI provides support.  Unfortunately, frustrated consumers like to take out their frustration on tech support.  But, tech support is not and should not be a punching bag.  Nine times out of ten, if you are having a problem with your DJI product, look in the mirror and you will find the problem and the solution.

     And about tech support.  It is real easy to see who likes to beat up on tech support out of frustration and then complain here on this Forum when the most likely reason for their problem is their own mistake.  It is simple, their attitude tells the world what their problem is.

Aloha and Drone On!

Phantomski Posted at 2017-7-9 00:06
Man! Did that discussion spin up.. feel a bit bad for the OP, but.. u get what u get...  if u r one of the thousand's of pple who have issues.. oh wait.. perhaps hundreds, or a hundred?
My update worked fine, did testing, worked as expected... just in case, I can always make my phone a hotspot in a bind... There's a way out of most situations, if you know the product, know what to expect, and go through a little trouble to be ready....

It certainly has got into orbit. Always 2 sides, but I would say to the OP, and I am not an old time flyer, I'm a newbie, but I always fully test my gear before going on a shoot, it doesn't matter that it worked fine last time used, or well I did the upgrade so it must be even better now. If its important, or even if its just a fly for fun, don't be let down. This tech is quite high, so things change, especially when you do an upgrade, even minor settings that have defaulted during the upgrade to something different to the ones you had before can cause frustration or confusion when you are out in the field. So plan ahead, run through your checklist, check that your settings are good, then go out and enjoy the flight. The OP must have had the internet available when he did the firmware update, as someone said earlier DJI advertised for weeks that when the update was completed you MUST sign into your account afterwards or else you will be restricted to height and distance.
DJI are not doing this out of spite, in the end they are doing the geofence changes to ensure the hobby and business of flying is protected from government interference. They doing the changes to make sure that the majority of users of their products can continue to do so in a lawful manner. We see too often people flying drones in dangerous ways, too close to airports. Gatwick in the UK had to shut down twice in one day due to someone flying too close. That cost millions and inconvenienced thousands of people, even the though the shut downs were only for short periods. Same goes for people flying drugs etc into prisons.
Rant over. Just check and double check your gear before flying, do so in a safe manner, and then we will all be able to continue. DJI are working to protect their business, not destroy it.  Someone said perception of a problem means there is a problem. Governments perceive there is a problem with allowing amateurs to fly, CAA FAA perceive there is a problem with drones. So to use that analogy there is a problem. Solution shut them all down.
Now we don't want that, DJI are looking after all our futures in protecting us from that level of interference. The problem is that people perceive there is a different problem, and when on an occasion because a person failed to follow the correct procedure they couldn't do what they planned. Then the first thing they do is blame the company.
I bought my phantom a month ago, followed the instructions for the firmware update when it came out, signed afterwards, and bingo, flying like a dream.

INTERESTING... regarding the ongoing debate as to whether you only need to have an internet connection the first time you launch (after the update) or whether you need internet connection on an ongoing basis.  
According to DJI's own geofencing map, it appears that you need an internet connection any time you are trying to fly in an "authorization zone".  Here is a screenshot of the legend from the DJI NoFly Zones map.

Notice that it says if are flying in a green "Enhanced Warning Zone, follow the same steps as when trying to fly in an "Authorization Zone, but you do not need... an internet connection at the time of flight"


This indicates that if you are trying to fly in a yellow zone, you need an internet connection in order to be able to fly.

Phantomski Posted at 2017-7-8 10:01
U need internet only ONCE after the firmware upgrade....
I feel for you, but.. either you upgraded and did not test before a big and serous job, or DJI is wrong, and what they said is not true..
The idea was supposed to be - upgrade app and firmware, the next flight has to have internet available, the system will ask you to login to your go account again and validate.

According to the app description flight is restricted unless connected.  It doesn't say anything about "one time" in DJI's description.

I randomly get limited range in range, all updates, have logged in on app etc, there is a bug in the software

Dirty Bird Posted at 2017-7-9 05:32
According to the app description flight is restricted unless connected.  It doesn't say anything about "one time" in DJI's description.

My understanding of that is that the aircraft only needs to be connected to DJI Go or any other App' compatible with DJI aircraft (Litchi etc). Meaning that the aircraft needs to be able to see it is being controlled using an appropriate App'. So if you tried an RC only take off (no device) then the 30, 50 limit would come into play. Or as it seems the initial login has not been performed.

Since updating to DJI Go 4 V4.1.3 and logging into my account as a part of the process I have not been restricted at all, nor been asked to log into anything when flying in the middle of nowhere with no wifi connection.

Edit:- this using my Phantom 4 (In case there is anything specific to the P4P firmware (thinking of Smart RTH as example)).

Upgraded my P3S & P4P as per DJI instructions could not open got app without internet as I posted in a previous thread because I was signing out of the app, been flying without internet since no problem, it was my fault, had some issues first flight with P4P because my tablet didn't have enough computing power, new tablet no problem, again my fault, I have only been flying since December 2016 and I am absolutely wrapped with these DJI products.
Just thought I would throw in a positive post

Regards
Eric