Hey folks,
It seems from a quick glance that I'm not totally alone here ...
I spent the last two weeks with my Air in Bali (which was amazing!). First the good: For some reason, even more than the Pro, this thing is just fun to fly. I think, at least for me, it has something to do with the tiny size and feeling like I can take it anywhere.

But the problem for me is the range and the signal quality. I consistantly found, even in very rual settings with absolutly no wifi (or even electricity in the area) that I could only get about 50-100 meters before I lost signal entirely. Even when I had an image, often it was laggy (as were the other indicators). That makes it really difficult to fly! (maybe that's the IFR pilot in me...but I'm used to visual and instrument indicators).

I upgraded to the latest firmare which helped a tad - I was able to get about 150-300 meters after that, but never that much beyond. I'm seeing screen shots and youtube videos of range tests where people are getting well over a kilometer and I'm feeling a bit envious; and actually a bit worried that my bird is a dud. I tried selecting between 2.4 and 5ghz without any noticable difference.

Anyone have any troubleshooting tips before I contact support? Or are my expectations on range just poorly calibarated?

I've heard of other people with similar range issues.  Apparently connecting with DJI assistant 2 and downgrading/upgrading their FW solved the problem.  Might not hurt to do a factory reset via DJI assistant while you're at it.  Hope that helps

There are pro’s and con’s to both the Air and Pro - bigger drone, less innocuous but has OcuSync giving a far superior transmission and longer flight time.

These issues were apparent in the early Spark days, people only getting 100m and were improved with updates and improved process to get connected, but never up to scratch with the Mavic Pro.  I forsee the same thing happening with the Air and don't expect it will ever be up with the Pro, but it should improve over time I expect.

After 23 flights I've had on the Air I've decided to put it away for a while until DJI comes up with some updates which will dramatically improve its radio connection. I'm finding it to be very unpredictable as it will lose connection completely and goes into RTH while it's only less than 200m away, when you would never expect it. Once the connection goes bad, I've found that even the record/shutter button (actually everything on the GO4 screen didn't respond) did not respond on a few occasions, even though it has already regained connection with the RC, and the video link was live. I had to land the Air, power it down, restart it to get the GO4 app's buttons to respond again. Trust me it's very unpredictable; sometimes the connection is rock solid from 1500m, but sometimes it'll just 200m and it's on RTH! There's a fair bit of battery life wasted in the process of losing connection--->RTH--->regain connection.

Due to weather and time constraints I have only had three flights so far with the MA, but no range issues at all. The opposite is actually the case. And different from you I am in the much weaker CE mode. Thus you might check for interferences in the area where you are flying and also try elsewhere.

It makes you wonder why some of us are having so many range issues, and then this youtube video shows someone flying it over a lake with almost no wifi interference and he is getting around 3000m from his location...  

You have to understand difference between FCC (in US) and CE mode  (EU, Australia, etc) - CE basicly kills it power :/ that's sad - as for me stability in downlink = safety.
CE low power mode get v.easy shot out/overtaken (interferencs>lost signal) by any stronger wifi or simmilar band connections :/ so in dense urban area sometimes even 100+m in CE = success

I also have poor signal past 200m ... image transmission freezes and/or lags...

I have little confidence in the flight and what I'm filming ... hopefully updates will improve this in time.

For what it's worth: I have read of some people exchanging/returning their unit where the replacement worked fine.
That is if range range remains really bad even after a FW refresh, on a manual channel, in different locations etc.

I have no issues with mine here in EU/CE, got to 1km on 2.4GHz with a pretty stable connection, which was impossible with Spark in the same location.

Forget about flying far with MA outside US. It is not happenning. Every country is facing drone encounter with commercial aircraft issue. Especially outside US. So in order for DJI’s products to be comply with local regulations, the range will be limited. Even for MP, the range is degraded by new firmware and new consumer quads will be similar to MA in range.
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Expect less and you will be happy.

Supong Posted at 2018-2-17 18:11
Forget about flying far with MA outside US. It is not happenning. Every country is facing drone encounter with commercial aircraft issue. Especially outside US. So in order for DJI’s products to be comply with local regulations, the range will be limited. Even for MP, the range is degraded by new firmware and new consumer quads will be similar to MA in range.
.
Expect less and you will be happy.

So I’ll bite... why would the app report interference (remember I was somewhere really rural) and why would it get laggy and erratic? Why not simply say “we’re limiting your vertical and/or horizontal distance”. Making it look like a signal failure seems like a long way to go to create a misleading UI.

I suppose this year will see a massive change in range, altitude and general restrictions. The more people world wide who fly outside the rules laid down and cause near misses, will leave the individual CAA's to clamp down big time. It's starting to happen already. This is only having an effect on the people who buy into DJI and play by the rules and in turn lead to angry posting and pointing the finger. The increase of NFZ and other restrictions is going to come. I actually like the look of the Air and it has some very good features but have stayed away for the reasons already mentioned. There have already been a number of fly-away's, disco's and general teething issues. Maybe wait for 6 months for enough fixes and updates. As it is, I no longer have any DJI drones, as sold them to move to FPV Racers. No issues at all other than learning to fly free and manual. With a new product should come improved customer service or at least a willingness to listen to the people who have invested in their products. Looking at the MA pages it's a case of same posts, different product and an unwillingness to get things straight. It's a shame and makes me wonder how this year will go.

Hmmm.... you may see that since MAs have been delivered to customers there is no single case of fly away or fall off the sky. I think the fc system is quite robust now..

Now comparing MA with racing drone with FPV, MA range is much longer than FPV and you have much less chance to crash with MA. I prefer MA to RD.

NO KIDDING!!!!!

Parisi2274 Posted at 2018-2-17 07:03
It makes you wonder why some of us are having so many range issues, and then this youtube video shows someone flying it over a lake with almost no wifi interference and he is getting around 3000m from his location...  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LYFa8NzLsc

DJI gave that guy his drone, to make a video. You think they would send one of the peons drones for the click bait? Hell no! DJI is pulling the wool over their customers eyes. Just how long before everybody figures it out.

Can't really help with the range issue, but I'm off to Bali in 3 months so look forward to any pics/vids/advice you have esp on places that are 'must see' or rather 'must fly'.

Supong Posted at 2018-2-18 04:11
Hmmm.... you may see that since MAs have been delivered to customers there is no single case of fly away or fall off the sky. I think the fc system is quite robust now..

Now comparing MA with racing drone with FPV, MA range is much longer than FPV and you have much less chance to crash with MA. I prefer MA to RD.

That simply isn't true. There are three fly away threads for the AIr right now on the boards........ what are you talking about?

Bulldog Posted at 2018-2-18 05:54
That simply isn't true. There are three fly away threads for the AIr right now on the boards........ what are you talking about?

links please..

KREMi Posted at 2018-2-17 08:07
You have to understand difference between FCC (in US) and CE mode  (EU, Australia, etc) - CE basicly kills it power :/ that's sad - as for me stability in downlink = safety.
CE low power mode get v.easy shot out/overtaken (interferencs>lost signal) by any stronger wifi or simmilar band connections :/ so in dense urban area sometimes even 100+m in CE = success

I’m in a CE area, My Air gets 750m+ easily.

Hmmm, I have had no issues with distance at all, and also find the signal to be VERY stable.  

I've had the same more recently, I have attributed it to my Apple Watch.  Problem solved after I disabled Bluetooth on my iPhone.  
For some reason, I had absolutely no issues with my Fitbit that I also wear, but I guess the Apple Watch demands more connectivity.

@Bulldog, I cannot see the real 3 flyaway cases. What I see from the nearest topic https://forum.dji.com/thread-136274-1-1.html
is critical bettery landing. The owner did not know that he cannot let the battery reach the critical level. He did not read the manual.
Another case seemed to be weak GPS that led to ATTI which is not the fly away case. There were many fly away cases with Spark where the pilot lost control over the Spark due to flight controller software malfunction. which has not happened to MA ... yet.

Bulldog so what makes you think DJI gave that guy his drone? What because he has 14 thousand subscribers he actually bought that on his own believe it or not.....

HomePoint Posted at 2018-2-16 14:05
These issues were apparent in the early Spark days, people only getting 100m and were improved with updates and improved process to get connected, but never up to scratch with the Mavic Pro.  I forsee the same thing happening with the Air and don't expect it will ever be up with the Pro, but it should improve over time I expect.

The Spark is still having range problems, so it is not in "the old days".

abercrombie Posted at 2018-2-18 16:10
I've had the same more recently, I have attributed it to my Apple Watch.  Problem solved after I disabled Bluetooth on my iPhone.  
For some reason, I had absolutely no issues with my Fitbit that I also wear, but I guess the Apple Watch demands more connectivity.

Now that’s interesting!
With my pro and the air I’ve also noticed the placement of the cable from the remote to the phone has a huge effect. If it’s threaded between the hinge (as it ships) I get worse reception than if I just route entirely on the outside of the handle.

I do wear an Apple Watch and could totally believe that creates interference near the cable or the remote itself.

When I’m able (I live in dc. Flying around here is a no-go) I’ll test with and without the watch.

My first flight I got 400ft up and around 50m awayn before connection completely dropped.
However, after refreshing the firmware in assistant 2, I can get 800m @ 400ft with some signal left to spare.
Also CE area.

Viridis Posted at 2018-2-19 02:48
My first flight I got 400ft up and around 50m awayn before connection completely dropped.
However, after refreshing the firmware in assistant 2, I can get 800m @ 400ft with some signal left to spare.
Also CE area.

Hey, can you elaborate on refreshing the firmware?

Thanks

Connect to assistant 2 and it will list current firmware, and older one.
Click refresh under the current firmware for a complete reinstallation.

Viridis Posted at 2018-2-19 07:13
Connect to assistant 2 and it will list current firmware, and older one.
Click refresh under the current firmware for a complete reinstallation.

Doing that as we speak. Thank you!

$gambino$ Posted at 2018-2-18 22:05
Bulldog so what makes you think DJI gave that guy his drone? What because he has 14 thousand subscribers he actually bought that on his own believe it or not.....

lol. That was funny. Thanks, I needed a laugh.

The advertised range is deceiving, most people do not live in an area that would be considered “ ideal conditions” for example, at my house were I normally fly with the mavic Pro I normally get around 2000 feet out from my location when I start to lose  signal. I live in the country side without hardly any interference except for trees and squirrels, the mavic has an advertised range of 4.1 miles, but if drive to the top of a hill and fly the mavic will go out miles.... try your mavic air in a few different locations, you may see a difference?

Drones Puppet Posted at 2018-2-18 09:12
https://youtu.be/36Cwg8KE3NA

Quite impressive!

Have no fear,,,i will share my results when i get this back.
https://www.drone-world.com/dji- ... enna-range-extender

yes. same here. i cwnt get decent rane. the video is also very laggy. commands are laggy.  I had one time where the video feed even cut while it was like 15ft directly above me. and this is on a beach with no blocking or interference. Ill return this and get a replacement. These range test videos prolly got the good crop of the bunch

Guys I had the same problem. Almost bought new phone as I thought Iphone 6 was outdated and that this was the problem with video freezing and then I saw it is dissconecting....wtf. But the problem was that firmware on RC was not installed correctly.  I downloaded dji assistant 2 connect it to RC downgrade and upgrade it again and it worked! I did the same with firmware on mavic air!  ( pc runs on win 10)

You might run into problem connecting RC to assistan 2 ( newest version)  ...I did,  so here is a solution to that problem

I installed assistant 2 ( v. 1.07)  -    from the download link in this thread: post #34 here: https://forum.dji.com/thread-79642-1-1.html
.. then uninstall  assistant 2 (v. 1.07)   and install the newest assistant 2 and RC connects  

the point is that version 1.07 instals drivers for usb which newest didn't do in my case ....

Hope it helps!

Thanks to this thread my range issues have been resolved, before following the advice here the furthest I was getting was 2200 feet (670 meters) and I would lose signal and return to home would kick in. So I did two things and was able to go 4,220 feet (1,286 Meters) this afternoon and could have gone further but didn't want to push it. First I redid the firmware on the RC and the AIR and I also took off my Apple watch and didn't have my iPhone near me, I use an iPad mini to fly with.

Thank for all the advice!

This is not my first DJI drone. But definitely the worst of all. I updated it to the latest firmware on both controller and drone but the reception is so bad. Fly more than 100 meters away and your connection constantly breaks down. Live feed is gone. How on earth can you take great shoots if you can’t see where you flying. DJI fix it!!!

The Berg Posted at 2018-2-25 23:05
This is not my first DJI drone. But definitely the worst of all. I updated it to the latest firmware on both controller and drone but the reception is so bad. Fly more than 100 meters away and your connection constantly breaks down. Live feed is gone. How on earth can you take great shoots if you can’t see where you flying. DJI fix it!!!

Were you flying in a wifi congested area like a city or something? I have been able to fly about 1.7Km away this weekend without any trouble (CE mode) and even had battery and signal for more (signal only lost 1 "level")