akozc Posted at 10-2 16:57
One more cons about SC , its would be my nightmare if the SC lost the connection totally ( blackouts)and you dont know how to bring back to  home your drone , Conventional controller has telemetric screen that can at least still asist you to navigate  your drone distance and altitude.

not understanding this.

if your sc loses connection, the drone should return to home automatically.
if the drone remains connected but you can't see the screen to guide your drone, you can hit the rth button and the drone should return to home automatically.
if the connection remains but all the buttons are frozen and the screen is frozen, the drone should return to home automatically when the battery gets really low.

find a big wide open location and practice these scenarios so you are familiar with them.   that's what i do.  you can simulate them by powering off your controller right in the middle of your flight.

i also have a second controller and goggles so if things get really bad, i can grab one of those and try to make a connection.

fans9b28d06a Posted at 10-5 08:46
not understanding this.

if your sc loses connection, the drone should return to home automatically.

thanks a lot that may release some pressure, but what does it mean " powering off your drone right in the middle of your flight" .
I guess any drone powered off in mid air only  one way to go straight forward down.
May be what you try to say is powering off the SC?  

akozc Posted at 10-5 16:35
thanks a lot that may release some pressure, but what does it mean " powering off your drone right in the middle of your flight" .
I guess any drone powered off in mid air only  one way to go straight forward down.
May be what you try to say is powering off the SC?

^correct.  i edited my previous reply.
you should try it.  you can see how quickly the drone will respond when it loses signal from the controller and if you when you power up the controller, you can see how quickly you can regain control over the flight.  re-connect happens alot sooner than the screen display.

fans9b28d06a Posted at 10-5 23:24
^correct.  i edited my previous reply.
you should try it.  you can see how quickly the drone will respond when it loses signal from the controller and if you when you power up the controller, you can see how quickly you can regain control over the flight.  re-connect happens alot sooner than the screen display.

thanks mate good to know that

fans9b28d06a Posted at 10-5 08:46
not understanding this.

if your sc loses connection, the drone should return to home automatically.

Well if you cannot see the screen to guide your drone back then you are not in VLOS of the drone then.....or am i not following this discussion correctly?  

When I bought my bundle I went with the smart controller and I'm very happy I did. Sure there are cons, but the pros outweigh them by tons, in my opinion. The bright screen, no need to worry about my phone being clogged with data/heating up/draining the battery, no disturbance from calls or notifications on my phone, quick setup, and more.
The main con for me is the weight and bulkiness. If you travel extensively, particularly if you fly on airplanes a lot, that's something you have to consider within the weight limit on your carry-on. i guess for extensive travelers, like travel vloggers who have to consider every pound of weight they carry around, that could be an issue. Another con is the lack of a SIM card slot, which means you can't have your map update online during flight with all the details.
Still, like I said, for me the pros outweigh the cons big time.

djiuser_Kf4iPA3DtL3S Posted at 10-6 03:02
When I bought my bundle I went with the smart controller and I'm very happy I did. Sure there are cons, but the pros outweigh them by tons, in my opinion. The bright screen, no need to worry about my phone being clogged with data/heating up/draining the battery, no disturbance from calls or notifications on my phone, quick setup, and more.
The main con for me is the weight and bulkiness. If you travel extensively, particularly if you fly on airplanes a lot, that's something you have to consider within the weight limit on your carry-on. i guess for extensive travelers, like travel vloggers who have to consider every pound of weight they carry around, that could be an issue. Another con is the lack of a SIM card slot, which means you can't have your map update online during flight with all the details.
Still, like I said, for me the pros outweigh the cons big time.

If you have Tmobile you can use the wingman free wifi service (GOGO) and then use your phone as a hotspot so you can update your maps etc... they give you an hour for free.....or just buy the wifi from the airline and use that. The weight thing? no idea how to get around that.
Edit:
I guess you would always take a few things out of the drone case and put them in your luggage that goes in the belly of the aircraft maybe? Then carry the drone case on with you. Only thing i can think of so far.

I prefer a larger tablet. bigger screen and good enough to get by under the sun

I had been having great luck with it until using the drone for the big 5 digit job I actually bought it for. Here I am running out of time for this shoot and I simply can not get the damn AC to unlock to fly in an otherwise FAA / LAANC approved Geozone.

I really regret spending all this money and time on this garbage, if I had any idea what that this would be the case I would have just kept on subcontracting out drone pilots for this work and be done with it.

I have a job to do and these toys are not being tools. I'm 99% sure I am selling all thius stuff and moving on from DJI.

KS-6 Posted at 10-15 09:08
I had been having great luck with it until using the drone for the big 5 digit job I actually bought it for. Here I am running out of time for this shoot and I simply can not get the damn AC to unlock to fly in an otherwise FAA / LAANC approved Geozone.

I really regret spending all this money and time on this garbage, if I had any idea what that this would be the case I would have just kept on subcontracting out drone pilots for this work and be done with it.

Are you FAA part 107 certified? You should be if not. People think it is easy to just turn these things on and go fly it but they are more complicated than smart phones and computers.

Now tell us what your problem is? You cannot unlock the no fly zone you're wanting to fly in? Is that correct? Are the buttons covered up and you cannot tap on them? If so explain what is happening to us and then one of us will reply with the help you need and not me necessarily as i don't know everything......

BobB Posted at 10-16 01:02
Are you FAA part 107 certified? You should be if not. People think it is easy to just turn these things on and go fly it but they are more complicated than smart phones and computers.

Now tell us what your problem is? You cannot unlock the no fly zone you're wanting to fly in? Is that correct? Are the buttons covered up and you cannot tap on them? If so explain what is happening to us and then one of us will reply with the help you need and not me necessarily as i don't know everything......

Yes, I run a real business so of course I am P107. The problem is that the smart controller being Android and not having inherent wifi connectivity makes the unlocking kludgy and infrequent at best. Connecting to it via phone hotspot is slow and only works about 30% of the time. For example, yesterday was the last day to get a particular shot for this firm for the season, next iteration  is with proper snow coverage. I got my usual instant LAANC approval for the 50AGL zone through skyward, got my DJI NFZ unlock done on my laptop correctly, flew one battery successfully.

Then I immediately land, swap batteries, go to launch and get the usual can't take off red box in the upper left of the screen, go through the motions of self unlock and check the now two boxes under the message that I have approval to fly and get unlock failed messages for the rest of the shoot, no more flights so hardly any usable images.

This is infuriating and I really hope that someone from DJI is reading this when I say that in the markets I serve, I am very well connected and funded. If you do not get this horrible hoop jumping process streamlined with either a paid professional option for actual working content creators or just get the regular one working reliably, you could be looking at lawsuits.

For several reasons I can not and will not use my smart phone for this job, I bought the smart controller for all that it does right. But the integration and the lack of instruction behind reliably and promptly getting the pairing of smart controller and drone to work when it is go time in otherwise approved NFZ's is a slap in the face and makes the prospect of me using this for paid work a total non-starter.

Thus far, I have wasted my time and money and exposed my reputation. So DJI, if you do not get a handle on this you will lose market share and fast, I will make sure of that and you can count on it.

KS-6 Posted at 10-16 06:16
Yes, I run a real business so of course I am P107. The problem is that the smart controller being Android and not having inherent wifi connectivity makes the unlocking kludgy and infrequent at best. Connecting to it via phone hotspot is slow and only works about 30% of the time. For example, yesterday was the last day to get a particular shot for this firm for the season, next iteration  is with proper snow coverage. I got my usual instant LAANC approval for the 50AGL zone through skyward, got my DJI NFZ unlock done on my laptop correctly, flew one battery successfully.

Then I immediately land, swap batteries, go to launch and get the usual can't take off red box in the upper left of the screen, go through the motions of self unlock and check the now two boxes under the message that I have approval to fly and get unlock failed messages for the rest of the shoot, no more flights so hardly any usable images.

Are you shutting off the RC when swapping batteries? I don't understand why you have to unlock the the NFZ more than once? unless you are shutting down the controller. I've never had that problem but i am sure it happens.

KS-6 Posted at 10-16 06:16
Yes, I run a real business so of course I am P107. The problem is that the smart controller being Android and not having inherent wifi connectivity makes the unlocking kludgy and infrequent at best. Connecting to it via phone hotspot is slow and only works about 30% of the time. For example, yesterday was the last day to get a particular shot for this firm for the season, next iteration  is with proper snow coverage. I got my usual instant LAANC approval for the 50AGL zone through skyward, got my DJI NFZ unlock done on my laptop correctly, flew one battery successfully.

Then I immediately land, swap batteries, go to launch and get the usual can't take off red box in the upper left of the screen, go through the motions of self unlock and check the now two boxes under the message that I have approval to fly and get unlock failed messages for the rest of the shoot, no more flights so hardly any usable images.

If I was flying my drone for business I would NLD the heck out of it!  The heck if I would place my business and reputation in the hands of......You can always check the legal flight information on the app.  

M Stuart K Posted at 10-17 12:17
If I was flying my drone for business I would NLD the heck out of it!  The heck if I would place my business and reputation in the hands of......You can always check the legal flight information on the app.

I figured that was over this person's head

After using it many times, it is 100% worth it because you can still see the screen no matter what.  When the phones get hot, because they have no cooling, they get darker and darker to the point where it becomes very, very difficult to see.  The phone won't tell the user the brightness has "throttled" as it's still maxed out at 100%, but it definitely gets gradually darker.  If you are watching it, you can see it gets darker in steps.

The other issues w/ Standard controllers are, when the USB gets nudged a bit, it asks the phone what app to open, it can request permission to use the connected device over and over.  I had this happen on the P4 that eventually let to an app disconnect.  I still had control, but I kept it close while I was trying to reconnect, which eventually broke the controller until I turned the drone off and back on meaning, the P4 auto-landed.  With DJI drones, if you are within 25m, they land where they are and won't fly back to the point they took off from.  it would be nice if you could configure the radius, but I assume in parameters you can but which one and what variables.  Anything you get a "Disconnected" fly back to you and make sure the landing zone is clear because it might just straight disconnect, and you have Zero control.

If I were new to DJI, I would freak out, but luckily, I started DJIs with the Spark that grew into the M2Z, which drove the confidence way up in everything else.  Inspire 1 Pro magnetic interference and compass errors while in flight is not comforting, but I didn't get it to film.  I got it as a 3rd person drone to have fun with.

Being able to fly in 3rd person w/o GPS hold proficiently is a must but is not taken seriously enough just as some people don't take learning to ride on the streets proficiently enough that end up in the ICU and worse with ease.

Everyone pays to live, but some areas just aren't paid for enough.  If Heaven is made after due to the lack of stuff, then we should come to a conclusion, it was better to have less, but if not, then..

The weak point of course is the distance, in comparison to the standard remote !!
The strong point and obviously the screen, so I am mixed for the price !!

Emma Posted at 1-19 01:49
The weak point of course is the distance, in comparison to the standard remote !!
The strong point and obviously the screen, so I am mixed for the price !!

It costs approx $300 for a RC it costs anything from $300 to $1000 for a device so at $650\$700 yeah SRC is both better and cheaper than buying a device and RC, I know people will say I already had a device, but I’m hoping for further releases of dji craft the SRC will work so negate the need for purchasing a RC if this is so then the savings are potentially huge and will make the SRC a very cheap. Option .

Negative, given that a number of DJI's own apps are not supported, and the 3rd party apps are a hit/miss.

If it supported more drones, at least my Mavic Pro and potentially my Mavic Air I'd buy one in a flash.  

My iPhone 11 Pro Max has a screen nearly as bright, and $749 is just so pricy for a brighter screen.

not worth it ... maybe a time, but since the last known firmware update of video signal loss, and the mavic air 2 that will be released soon will run on dji fly and not on dji go 4, so it will not be supported by the smartcontroller.

How much do you bet that a new version of smartcontroller with ocusync compatible with the "old" mavic 2 pro and the new mavic air 2 will be released with the mavic 3 pro and ocusync 3?

in my opinion this is not the time to buy it, wait for the new one (then run on android version 7, we are almost at...11, so 32 bit app with several bugs).

great idea but prehistoric software.

BobB Posted at 2019-10-18 23:29
I figured that was over this person's head

Yes sir; maybe so!

I would love to get one cheap because I need one to fly because I can't use a phone

Love mine especially now that I can use it with both my Mavic 2 Pro and Phantom 4 Pro V2.  With the Phantom I was using its controller with the larger Crystal Sky display. Nice but it was heavy. Also the control sticks on the SC seem so much easier to use with smoother results. So yes for me it was worth it.

Do NOT buy the smart controller. I spent $2,300 for the mavic 2 pro and smart controller package. Customer service is non existent with the smart controller. I run into issues with CS telling me to use my phone app to link to the Mavic 2, problem is I can’t with the smart controller. It only gives the option to link with a different remote. Can’t do it with the smart controller. The over seas customer service doesn’t help nor care about solving the issues. Just the same generic email replies. DONT DO IT

At first I didn't think it was a justified cost. TOO Darn expensive and I had already purchased a Crystal Sky.
The Crystal Sky was a Major improvement  as far as flying in the sun, but the Smart Controller is really the cat's pajamas!!
No cords to fiddle with...Up and flying in seconds vs. minutes. no distractions or interruptions form the phone... but of course you have to have a drone that it is compatible with.
If you do, consider getting this accessory.

Masterp Posted at 2019-1-13 12:26
If you like the screen, you can buy the crystalsky monitor. It works not only with mavic 2 but also other DJI drones. On the crystalsky, if the battery dies you can put on a new one.

$600 just buy a controller is just ridiculous. Well, the PRO filmmakers don't care about price.

Hi
The Crystal Sky does not work with the new Mavic Air 2.  The Smart Controller does... and also the Phantom 4 Pro v. 2.0
We have to move with the times, I say that but I hate change too, but not as much as I hate trying to see my phone screen in the blazing sun/
Even at twilight times or in the shade it's not as clear as the Crystal Sky or the Smart Controller.

I've been using it while I do commercial work.  I have no issues.  With the Smartphone it becomes hard to see at times because of the brightness issues of the smartphone having no fan and having to throttle especially when outside in the sun.

ET214 Posted at 5-24 10:14
Hi
The Crystal Sky does not work with the new Mavic Air 2.  The Smart Controller does... and also the Phantom 4 Pro v. 2.0
We have to move with the times, I say that but I hate change too, but not as much as I hate trying to see my phone screen in the blazing sun/

I haven't tried the Smart Controller on the P4PV2.0.  I need the P4PV2.0 to work properly w/ DJI GS Pro so I can ortho with WebODM.

AntDX316 Posted at 5-30 14:25
I haven't tried the Smart Controller on the P4PV2.0.  I need the P4PV2.0 to work properly w/ DJI GS Pro so I can ortho with WebODM.

hmm not sure what you mean about "ortho with WebODM"

fansa3e8dc5f Posted at 5-12 14:29
Do NOT buy the smart controller. I spent $2,300 for the mavic 2 pro and smart controller package. Customer service is non existent with the smart controller. I run into issues with CS telling me to use my phone app to link to the Mavic 2, problem is I can’t with the smart controller. It only gives the option to link with a different remote. Can’t do it with the smart controller. The over seas customer service doesn’t help nor care about solving the issues. Just the same generic email replies. DONT DO IT

Hi are you still unable to link to your M2Pro with the Smart Controller?
do you even have a regular controller to use with your phone? Thats the only way you can use the phone app to connect to the drone.
I purchased the M2 Pro with regular controller because I had the Crystal Sky.
Then I got the smart controller.. no problems with connected.

Maybe you can try and update the smart controller first and update DJI Go4 and then try and connect the drone?

Maverick104 Posted at 4-27 05:12
I would love to get one cheap because I need one to fly because I can't use a phone

find a Crystal sky. They have dropped in price.
but the real beauty is  the Smart Controller.

ET214 Posted at 5-30 15:28
hmm not sure what you mean about "ortho with WebODM"

Orthomosaic is a way of stitching photos together with GeoTIFF EXIF data that the drone records.  WebODM is how to stitch it.  It's great for clients that need volume measurements and other things for inspection.

AntDX316 Posted at 5-31 03:24
Orthomosaic is a way of stitching photos together with GeoTIFF EXIF data that the drone records.  WebODM is how to stitch it.  It's great for clients that need volume measurements and other things for inspection.

OH ,OK. Thanks for the clarification . When you said Ortho, I thought it was referring to orthopedic medicine  and there was some nifty new way to use a drone with studies in orthopedics.
WebODm is close to WebMD, and I thought it was an offshoot for  Ortho Medicine.

ET214 Posted at 5-31 06:36
OH ,OK. Thanks for the clarification . When you said Ortho, I thought it was referring to orthopedic medicine  and there was some nifty new way to use a drone with studies in orthopedics.
WebODm is close to WebMD, and I thought it was an offshoot for  Ortho Medicine.

oh yeah : )

I purchased the MA2 and am going to purchase the MAPro in about three weeks. Hoping that the smart controller will work with the air

I purchased the MA2 and am going to purchase the MAPro in about three weeks. Hoping that the smart controller will work with the air by then. If not I just use it with the pro till it is comparable.

rickphelps Posted at 9-11 17:14
I purchased the MA2 and am going to purchase the MAPro in about three weeks. Hoping that the smart controller will work with the air by then. If not I just use it with the pro till it is comparable.

The SC DOES work with the MA2 after the recent SC FW update

rickphelps Posted at 9-11 17:14
I purchased the MA2 and am going to purchase the MAPro in about three weeks. Hoping that the smart controller will work with the air by then. If not I just use it with the pro till it is comparable.

Hi The SC now works with the MA2. And as an added bonus you can plug the DJI goggles into the Smart Controller for a truly immersive experience and maybe fly FPV. Another reason for the SC.