Dear All,

I am the proud owner of DJI drones since the first Phantom , then the Phantom 2 Vision + , Mavic Pro and now recently aquired a Mavic Air . I live at the outer islands of Indonesian Papua , Raja Ampat and mainly use my drones for aerial photograph over there on openwater with no Urban area or any settlement containg WIFI signals in 100 KM of range .

My recent expierience however with the mavic Air is frustrating . My first flight out there resulted in loosing signal at 154m distance to me ( with remote controller ) . I then occasionallt made it to 254m with ignoring multiple signal losses in between and positioning my remote various styles on top of the open Ocean .
After this frustration , i returned to Sydney where i reside inbetween my travels to Papua  and sent out my Mavic for inspection to Mavic Support , only to have it sent back to me telling there is nothing wrong with my drone .

I dont fly my Drone in Australia , so taken it back with me right now to papua , i have tested it on top of the Ocean at the beach in Bali with again very frustrating results . Video of this test flight is attached and i will add another one after i arrive in Papua in a couple of days .

My main line of photograhy is photographing marine live for research from the air  , thats why i need to be able to fly far distances from a boat on the open ocean .

I was really attracted to the mavic Air due to his size and the claimed / advertized 2000m to 4000m distances according to area , but there is no way this drone is able to achieve this . It is frustrating to pay 1700 AUD for a fly more combo , leave your mavic pro at home and then not being able to achive a decent distance to do some decent aerial imagery.

I would there for like to inquiere how people where able to post 2000m +++ distance videos with this drone and if something is seriously wrong with my drone .

Please kindly know that everything recommended in this forum has been already tried out .Nothing achieved so far . And the area i am flying in , has barely have any settlements let alone a wifi signal . I appreciate any input / recommendation and realy looking forward to achieve the distance you all our posting up here.

Best Regards,
Tunc

Wayag Raja Ampat Papua

I totally understand your frustration, especially when you have a Mavic Pro to compare it with. At some locations I've flown it out  to 1700m and still had a solid connection but at some locations, the poor thing hits RTH at not much over 200m. So the cold truth with the Mavic Air is: it's a brilliant camera drone when you're at the right location, in other words, you don't choose your shooting locations; the locations choose you!

Make sure the antennas are flat side toward the drone. Also, try manually selecting the wi-fi band and see if that helps. I have had good luck in the 5ghz band. Also, I am in the USA and I believe FCC mode provides a stronger signal Thant the European or other country modes. I have seen many complaints about the rage of the Air outside the USA.

I see that you did not put the phone into Airplane mode, not sure if this will drastically affect range but. The range that you are getting is very poor and by looking at the signal strength of your transmission on 5.8 ghz I would agree with GL above that you should try to switch frequency to the 2.4 wifi range and see if it gets any better.

Trust me guys, I have seen how good my Air's video link and radio range can be; however, at a BAD location, there's literally no difference between 2.4 and 5.8, or how good you've positioned your antennas. If you haven't experienced this, then it only means you haven't been to a BAD enough location.

very nice picture.  Not so good that you are experiencing disconnect issues.

Before you give up, try to force your setup to FCC mode. You can "spoof" the country. On "mavicpilots" forum, you can find more information if you like but this is NOT an official endorsement, recommendation or permission...if you catch my drift. The reason is simple, check out the specification of the Mavic Air remote controller (note, in the 5Ghz range you go from 500m to 4000):

Max Transmission Distance (unobstructed, free of interference)       
2.400 - 2.4835 GHz:
FCC: 4000 m
CE: 2000 m
SRRC: 2000 m
MIC: 2000 m

5.725 - 5.850 GHz:
FCC: 4000 m
CE: 500 m
SRRC: 2500 m

Recently replaced my Mavic Air’s antennae with a 4Hawks Raptor SR one and there is no video lag.  The distance seems it can fly farther out too.  Check it out...

Dear All ,
Thank you for all the supportive comments. I have tried all the suggestions and havent achieved a smooth flight without transmission loss further than 150 m . I dont want to risk breaking my warranty by switching to FCC mode . I have emailed DJI again yesterday and told them  again about these issues with the video above . They requested the drone back . Will do a couple of more tests in papua , before i head back to Australia and sent in the drone. It is a very frustrating and negative experience for me after owning so many DJI drones without any flaws would be more acceptable if DJI would have admitted that this particular one or batch is not able to fly further or has a flaw rather than sending it back to me sating nothing is wrong with it . I am banging my head at the moment for not taking my Mavic Pro with me for my planned excursions . Thanks for all the valuable comments , i am open for any further suggestions, i really
want this drone to work as advertised/ properly. Cheers

FCC mode won't void any warranties since it's the same as traveling to a FCC country...
So id try that if I was you.
I've had some lag but it's better.

Still arguing if I should get the Pro tho

OK, I sold my Pro a few months back, and I missed it, so I went for an Air for something different. First flight, terrible, 100m bad reception poor control, nothing like the Pro. Read some reports on Apple Watch causing some issues, took off my watch for next flight, much better result. 400m, but didn't try to go much further. Flight 3 was from a place I often flew the Pro, 250m before I lost connection. I switched to the 5.8 range then achieved 550m on the next flight. Definitely lots of trees surrounding the area I flew, could well have blocked some signal. Last night I forced FCC on the Air, and today I launched from my home in the middle of suburbia. 1754m when I turned, but I hadn't lost signal at that point. Take FCC out of the equation, and maybe the fact that I had a clear line of sight and nothing in between myself and the Air was helpful.

I think its a tale of two cities, if you want mega range in a bulkier package, the Pro is for you, if you want a portable unit, great for travel, with a camera almost the same as the Pro, the Air is the unit for you. While I had flown my Pro 4000m away from me, do you ever really feel comfortable with your craft out of your sight? 150m up, 500m away is fine for 95% of users, the quality of the output is #1 factor to be concerned with.

Still an awesome shot   

I have the Mavic air, and it worked great until a week after I purchased it, I would constantly get loss of video signal transmission .  My wifi was strong, i searched for weeks and finally found the solution in youtube....
I upgraded to bower carbon fiber blades a week after i bought it, and it disrupts the video signal big time, i switched back to stock and instantly no more issues!

My name is Michael from Nigeria, am having similar issues with my mavic air can’t go beyond 150m before lost of image transmission and also I can’t switch to the 5.8ghz mode on the drone. Don’t know what to do?

i have the same issue, except you got better range and inflight GPS signal

fans906a4e41 Posted at 2018-10-8 08:36
My name is Michael from Nigeria, am having similar issues with my mavic air can’t go beyond 150m before lost of image transmission and also I can’t switch to the 5.8ghz mode on the drone. Don’t know what to do?

same thing here

tomair3 Posted at 10-7 19:49
I have the Mavic air, and it worked great until a week after I purchased it, I would constantly get loss of video signal transmission .  My wifi was strong, i searched for weeks and finally found the solution in youtube....
I upgraded to bower carbon fiber blades a week after i bought it, and it disrupts the video signal big time, i switched back to stock and instantly no more issues!

Thank you for this! I too upgraded to carbon fiber blades and this caused an interference with the video signal. I switched to the factory blades and no more problems. I was almost to the point of sending my drone back. Thanks again!

tomair3 Posted at 10-7 19:49
I have the Mavic air, and it worked great until a week after I purchased it, I would constantly get loss of video signal transmission .  My wifi was strong, i searched for weeks and finally found the solution in youtube....
I upgraded to bower carbon fiber blades a week after i bought it, and it disrupts the video signal big time, i switched back to stock and instantly no more issues!

Man I have been having signal loss big time.
Basically from 4ft off the ground and up.

I was switching channels etc and just SO frustrated.
I thought to myself earlier, what if the carbon blades are an issue.

Then reading here and you say that, I am going outside in a few minutes with the stock blades to test.

Thanks!

Very strange... I have MA too, and i can fly up to 2 km in city with no problems. My record is 3.5 km in open place.

Did U try swich channels to 2.4ghz?  I always fly on that frequency, because it gives max distance. Did U open antenas on legs?

Easily fly 2 KM in City full of WiFi interference in 5.8Ghz and no video loss.

I have similliar problems as u guys, max distance was around 500+ after burning through 4-5 batteries on my MA. Tried switching between 2.4 and 5.8 but it does not help me with my range.

I do not have any issues and using auto settings for transmission signal, I can go up to 2000m with no issues.

That is annoying at least.  I regularly take my Mavic Air out to +2000m over the ocean.  Have you tried 5.8MHz?

I too have had loss of connection ever since the Panama update, I will get up and fly for roughly 2-4 mins and a circumference of 200-300m and loose connection, it won’t grab the strongest signal just RTH back and then nothing till I shut down the drone and restart it. But the same happens again.

tomair3 Posted at 2018-10-7 19:49
I have the Mavic air, and it worked great until a week after I purchased it, I would constantly get loss of video signal transmission .  My wifi was strong, i searched for weeks and finally found the solution in youtube....
I upgraded to bower carbon fiber blades a week after i bought it, and it disrupts the video signal big time, i switched back to stock and instantly no more issues!

Just experienced the same issue!!  Went back to stock props and all was fixed.  

Any obstruct acts negatively, including sea hugeness, land hugeness, but not free air hugeness.

Go up and then see if it helps?
Some obstructs destroy the air too

I wonder what actually is occurring with the beamed connection impinging said obstructs. It just disperses dissipates vanishes?