Is it just me or am I not alone, every time I take my AC and RC out to check for updates,condition or for a flight my heart goes into overdrive, I personally had 1 very enjoyable year with my newly bought P3A then it started to go downhill, not due to my handling, but the software and firmware updates put out, £800 package drone and 1 year trouble free, why make me update and brick my purchase and potentially destroy my faith it the market leader in aireal photography drones, I must say with DJI’s costumer service I have had a good response in a faulty RC which was out of warranty, but I can’t understand why problems keep occurring especially when this model is no longer for sale

Yes, there's always a risk these days with updating.  Every day we read about problems.  Wish it wasn't so, but sadly, it's a reality.

I don't think you are alone. many will feel just like you. On the other hand, many more will just go out and fly, safely we all hope, and know that the updates etc have worked and all is well. You should never go out free of concerns though as that would not be good flying practice. You will of course be concerned about safety, weather, flight characteristics etc. But please do not worry about problems with firmware until they happen. When or even if they do you will find a whole load of very capable experts on here to guide you through the problem and get you flying again. Every complex piece of kit like cars and cameras, have problems and breakdown. Unfortunately our kit can doit whilst airborne which can of course be lethal should it land on someone. If you practice safe flying and run checklists before and after each flight you will know it is safe to fly before you put your aircraft in the air.
Don't worry, just carry on enjoying.

My principle is simple.

i will NOT update it, Unless the drone cannot fly except update it firmware/app,

embayweather Posted at 2018-2-26 04:56
I don't think you are alone. many will feel just like you. On the other hand, many more will just go out and fly, safely we all hope, and know that the updates etc have worked and all is well. You should never go out free of concerns though as that would not be good flying practice. You will of course be concerned about safety, weather, flight characteristics etc. But please do not worry about problems with firmware until they happen. When or even if they do you will find a whole load of very capable experts on here to guide you through the problem and get you flying again. Every complex piece of kit like cars and cameras, have problems and breakdown. Unfortunately our kit can doit whilst airborne which can of course be lethal should it land on someone. If you practice safe flying and run checklists before and after each flight you will know it is safe to fly before you put your aircraft in the air.
Don't worry, just carry on enjoying.

Embayweather thanks for you advice, I do and always will fly by the drone code but when something is not broken why try to fix it, required updates cause problems to many users when the equipment was working fine previously, I have now sent my equipment in for evaluation and repair for the second time in just over a  month, fingers crossed it’s an easy fix and not going to cost a wage packet

Don't fix what aint broke .............

I will throw out this comment though .... given the global interest in control and limitation of drone flying - in particular curtailing the stupidity of some of our neanderthal drone owners ... I can well imagine that in the future Authorities will require latest FW / Apps be installed on the models.

Why ? Because most of the FW's are modifying such as Fly Safe / No Fly Zone data etc. as well as supposed correction of FW errors. The authorities are well aware of such FW actions and it is only a matter of time before they think of using it as a lever.

At present - DJI and others are enacting 'pre-emptive' FW limitations ... so lets see how long before Authorities have their say !

Nigel

solentlife Posted at 2018-2-26 08:22
Don't fix what aint broke .............

I will throw out this comment though .... given the global interest in control and limitation of drone flying - in particular curtailing the stupidity of some of our neanderthal drone owners ... I can well imagine that in the future Authorities will require latest FW / Apps be installed on the models.

"the stupidity of some of our neanderthal drone owners"

I personally feel offended. I was born in the Neandertal and own a drone!

I agree , I feel the same way here with my P4P, the only drone I really enjoyed was P3P straight out of the box.. I regret it that I sold it...
I honestly think that P4P is the last drone I bought from DJI...  The company regulates this industry as if it was a real airplane... it's ridiculous.
it has become a hobby itself to find out what firmware works and which one does not... My confidence of just going to site and rely on this equipment has shifted dramatically to negative and uncertain feeling.
I cold not imagine showing up on schedule and trying to film a specific  target and DJI says sorry you can not take off. This is simply unbelievable and unacceptable.
I strongly believe we will see a fair competition in the near future and I just can't wait for it...

You can't imagine DJI preventing you from flying but you just have?
Your dreams of competition are just as unrealistic too.

solentlife Posted at 2018-2-26 08:22
Don't fix what aint broke .............

I will throw out this comment though .... given the global interest in control and limitation of drone flying - in particular curtailing the stupidity of some of our neanderthal drone owners ... I can well imagine that in the future Authorities will require latest FW / Apps be installed on the models.

I agree - I don't update and all has been great for 1.5 years and hundreds of flights.  

Andrew245 Posted at 2018-2-26 13:50
I agree , I feel the same way here with my P4P, the only drone I really enjoyed was P3P straight out of the box.. I regret it that I sold it...
I honestly think that P4P is the last drone I bought from DJI...  The company regulates this industry as if it was a real airplane... it's ridiculous.
it has become a hobby itself to find out what firmware works and which one does not... My confidence of just going to site and rely on this equipment has shifted dramatically to negative and uncertain feeling.

Thanks to all that have taking the time to reply to this thread, what it comes down to realy is reliability (of course with saftey in mind) should be top of there list of priorities

Hopefully, the long period between a phantom 4 and a possible phantom 5 is indicative of DJI's attempt to debug their code and ship a product that is truly ready for the masses.

To be sure, this flying camera is not a word processor, where flawed code means  an application crashes and some work is lost. The stakes here are much, much higher. Add in the unthinking, childish behavior by those who fly over crowds, roads, airport final approach paths, inside moving trains and one can see where bad code could mean serious injury or death on a large scale.

DJI, please do a better job in testing your code before you ship it.

Our job as your customers is NOT to be software testers first, customers second.

Our job is to safely use this cool product and have fun.

Your job is to be a responsible maker of innovative, safe, functional products.

fans55ae5496 Posted at 2018-2-26 18:51
Hopefully, the long period between a phantom 4 and a possible phantom 5 is indicative of DJI's attempt to debug their code and ship a product that is truly ready for the masses.

To be sure, this flying camera is not a word processor, where flawed code means  an application crashes and some work is lost. The stakes here are much, much higher. Add in the unthinking, childish behavior by those who fly over crowds, roads, airport final approach paths, inside moving trains and one can see where bad code could mean serious injury or death on a large scale.

'and one can see where bad code could mean serious injury or death on a large scale.'

Please.... blowing the issue out of all proportion is not going to help anyone, nor will it solicit any response from DJI.

Best to ignore update messages and keep on flying.. otherwise your asking for troubles!

yup..u are not alone...thats why when warranty is nearly up to the line... i rather use an old 3.1.11* to uphold the stability of apps and distance .. never ever look back on what FW and APPs they gonna to introduce next too

Geebax Posted at 2018-2-26 19:03
Please.... blowing the issue out of all proportion is not going to help anyone, nor will it solicit any response from DJI.

How many people are in this airplane?



200-300 people dying on final approach after sucking a drone in engine #1 seems large to me.

fans55ae5496 Posted at 2018-2-26 20:19
How many people are in this airplane?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzXmxjGbeIk

It is people like you who fuel the entire Drone Hate hysteria. There is no proof that sucking a drone into a turbofan engine will cause failure of that engine. The engine manufacturers throw all sortys of things into their engines to see if they will fail. The aircraft must be able to fly on one engine anyway.

Geebax Posted at 2018-2-26 20:41
It is people like you who fuel the entire Drone Hate hysteria. There is no proof that sucking a drone into a turbofan engine will cause failure of that engine. The engine manufacturers throw all sortys of things into their engines to see if they will fail. The aircraft must be able to fly on one engine anyway.

Agreed , I think the engine could sustain some damage if that ever happened ,  but again airplane can fly on a single engine,  you know you can drive a car or a truck into a crowd of people and kill them all, the proof is England and Germany, you're not gonna ground every single car fort that matter...
So  ok DJI is taking care of the Geofencing what about other drones, what about custom race quads,
what about RC airplanes ?  what about  drone toys ? those also can be flown at substantial distance to impact with a low flying airplane. Dji regulations are senseless, you want to do something stupid it is up to you to make that decission, just like driving a car recklessly or with intent to do bad things , sorry you can't fix stupid.
In regards to that specific video above , you can tell from the flight pattern it is a race quad flying.

Labroides Posted at 2018-2-26 16:03
You can't imagine DJI preventing you from flying but you just have?
Your dreams of competition are just as unrealistic too.

Yes I have , I also read that geofencing made Phantoms auto land in the ocean ...
Why would you doubt in a future product that may come from another manufacturer that maybe be as good or even better than DJI ?  is DJI where the drone world ends ?

Andrew245 Posted at 2018-2-27 08:01
Yes I have , I also read that geofencing made Phantoms auto land in the ocean ...
Why would you doubt in a future product that may come from another manufacturer that maybe be as good or even better than DJI ?  is DJI where the drone world ends ?

Because no manufacturer has been able to come close to matching DJI's products.
The P3 Advanced and Pro are 3 years old now but still ahead of any of the "competition".
And it costs a lot to develop a good drone.
DJI is commercially successful and has a large R&D department that smaller companies can't keep up with.
How many manufacturers do you see even making an effort?

think im running 1.03 with Go 3.1.5 no need to upgrade no need to worry.  p3p running like she was new.

probably gotta sell it though, the Air has proven to be equal to the task.

Labroides Posted at 2018-2-27 10:58
Because no manufacturer has been able to come close to matching DJI's products.
The P3 Advanced and Pro are 3 years old now but still ahead of any of the "competition".
And it costs a lot to develop a good drone.

I agree DJI is the leader in the drone industry , but this subject is not that old , if yuneec had the range would you not want to own and fly one ?  I would...
I guess time will tell, myself I'm happy with what P4P has to offer, I will not be upgrading as 4K at 60fps is plenty enough for composing amazing videos...
Personally  I am tired of taking risk installing any new firmware and worry each time I fly if my drone is going to return...
I do not want to be told what to install on equipment I own, I paid for it and I am the one to make decision  if I want to upgrade or not, do not push on me your firmware testing gong show, simple...
There should be an option just like in OS A.) install updates automatically , B.) notify me if there are new updates available or C.) do not install or notify me of any future updates.
Give us the freedom to choose, I am sick and tired of seeing all the notifications popup each time you turn the Go4 on.
Am I not alone ?  is the post subject, yes my friend you are definitely not alone .

Andrew245 Posted at 2018-2-27 12:35
I agree DJI is the leader in the drone industry , but this subject is not that old , if yuneec had the range would you not want to own and fly one ?  I would...
I guess time will tell, myself I'm happy with what P4P has to offer, I will not be upgrading as 4K at 60fps is plenty enough for composing amazing videos...
Personally  I am tired of taking risk installing any new firmware and worry each time I fly if my drone is going to return...

'Give us the freedom to choose, I am sick and tired of seeing all the notifications popup each time you turn the Go4 on. '

Your reply does not make sense. DJI advises you there is an update, you are freee to choose whether to update or not. It is not a mandatory process.

Geebax Posted at 2018-2-27 14:20
'Give us the freedom to choose, I am sick and tired of seeing all the notifications popup each time you turn the Go4 on. '

Your reply does not make sense. DJI advises you there is an update, you are freee to choose whether to update or not. It is not a mandatory process.

Sorry if you misunderstood what I was trying to say, you must be all up to date with your updates  and do not get the constant reminder to update your equipment...
This is what I would like to see in the go4 app as setting options:

A.) install updates automatically ,
B.) notify me if there are new updates available or
C.) do not install or notify me of any future updates.

I can not eliminate the reminder each time I turn the go4 app, I do not wish to update, I do not wish to receive reminders about any updates , end of the story...

Andrew245 Posted at 2018-2-27 22:08
Sorry if you misunderstood what I was trying to say, you must be all up to date with your updates  and do not get the constant reminder to update your equipment...
This is what I would like to see in the go4 app as setting options:

I think I understood quite well. but I do not update ever. I switched off auto-updates on my iPad Ar 2, and do not connect with the Internet in any way on the Air 2, therefore it never nags me about updating.

Here is another P3P flyer that rarely updates firmware. "Fixing" things that work is simply asking for trouble. So as a rule: automatic updates are switched off and the NEXUS 9 that I use for flight doesn't get connected to internet (unless really necessary) and allows No background processes.

johnsr Posted at 2018-2-28 02:09
Here is another P3P flyer that rarely updates firmware. "Fixing" things that work is simply asking for trouble. So as a rule: automatic updates are switched off and the NEXUS 9 that I use for flight doesn't get connected to internet (unless really necessary) and allows No background processes.

Reading along with all the latest firmware "issues", i just don't believe that the people having trouble with firmware updates are all at fault, are they cramming to much crap into the firmware?
I;m so happy that i use Litchi as my go to, to fly my P3A & Mavic pro.

FlanniganFlyer Posted at 2018-2-26 16:21
Thanks to all that have taking the time to reply to this thread, what it comes down to realy is reliability (of course with saftey in mind) should be top of there list of priorities

Please inform us if you have any doubt in your case. Thanks for your understanding.

DJI Elektra Posted at 2018-3-4 23:50
Please inform us if you have any doubt in your case. Thanks for your understanding.

Hi DJI Electra, I’ve just had contact from repair service and the repair is being done free of charge and will be shipped back to me within a couple of days, can you pass on from me to the support team and repair department my gratitude, my experience with the DJI equipment hasn’t been totally satisfactory all the time but the support teams have done an exceptional job every time I have had an issue

bob37 Posted at 2018-2-26 16:05
I agree - I don't update and all has been great for 1.5 years and hundreds of flights.

l agreed with that - but it came back to bite me in the backside.
My P3P has no image transmission, although everything flies and records fine.
My FW and app are both original from 2015. I'm pretty sure l can't safely update at this point.

FlanniganFlyer Posted at 2018-3-6 09:09
Hi DJI Electra, I’ve just had contact from repair service and the repair is being done free of charge and will be shipped back to me within a couple of days, can you pass on from me to the support team and repair department my gratitude, my experience with the DJI equipment hasn’t been totally satisfactory all the time but the support teams have done an exceptional job every time I have had an issue

Thanks for your positive feedback. Hope you get your drone back soon.