I have had a P3A for 4 years and tomarrow i get a Mavic Air 2!  I have flown the P3A 239 times.  The Mavic has a huge range and i think i really should attach a gps tracker in case it ever gets lost.  What is the best one the forum knows of?  

Not GPS or cell but I use a marco polo tracker
https://eurekaproducts.com/produ ... systems-for-drones/

dji drones have their own built-in gps tracking capability which is mostly sufficient.

don't spend a lot of money trying to track down a lost drone.  take a look at the vifly finder 2; that's all you really should need.

raven swe Posted at 6-7 08:21
Not GPS or cell but I use a marco polo tracker
https://eurekaproducts.com/product-category/advanced-recovery-systems-for-drones/

That unit is $235 and has a range of only 2 miles - for a drone with a 6 mile range.  

so drive closer till you pick up the signal, your gonna know the general direction, or should do, not only that, you telling me you can see your drone at 6 miles out, VLOS an all that. the other option is if its not for you and you want a tracker is go find something your happy with.

The notion os having visual contact is absurd even with my P3A!  I was often .75 miles away and could not hear it or see it.  In Georgia, there are trees everywhere, so it is out of sight after 100 yards.  
I think the GPS/cell method is best.  What if I mis-read the UAV weather (or they are wrong) and my new drone blows away?  At 300 feet the wind is often over 50 mph here.  I better be able to find it no matter where it lands.  

Not a GPS tracker but you might look into Firehouse Technologies ARC XL beacon/finder.

The Saint Posted at 6-7 09:15
dji drones have their own built-in gps tracking capability which is mostly sufficient.

don't spend a lot of money trying to track down a lost drone.  take a look at the vifly finder 2; that's all you really should need.

And the built in system is useless if the aircraft ran out of battery. The advantage of completely separate trackers is that they areself powered and designed to last for many hours.

bob37 Posted at 6-7 12:15
That unit is $235 and has a range of only 2 miles - for a drone with a 6 mile range.

You aircraft does not have a 6 mile range, that is optimistic DJI advertising. And, as said, drive closer to where the aircraft is to get in range. The other thing is the hand held receiver of the Marco Polo unit will guide you all the way to the aircraft, it has a directional display on the hand-held unit. GPS trackers are no use if the aircraft falls somewhere where the tracker cannot get a signal.

'In Georgia, there are trees everywhere, so it is out of sight after 100 yards.' Even more reason to use the Marco Polo, if there are lots of trees, an aircraft on the ground has little chance of receiving GPS.

Geebax Posted at 6-7 14:17
And the built in system is useless if the aircraft ran out of battery. The advantage of completely separate trackers is that they areself powered and designed to last for many hours.

but that's not how you use the gps find my drone in the dji.

The Saint Posted at 6-7 14:31
but that's no how you use the gps find my drone in the dji.

Well, perhaps you could explain how you think it is used?

Geebax Posted at 6-7 15:13
Well, perhaps you could explain how you think it is used?

it doesn't matter how i think it should be used; perhaps someone else can explain it better than me:  
i think you kinda feel like somebody is claiming the dji way is better than the polo or that the dji method is foolproof.  that would be a no to both.  anyway enjoy the video since 90% of dji drone flyers will rely on it and in fact will be most successful.  teh polo is way overrated.  i realize you recommend me and that's ok.  but my opinion is don't waste your money on a marco polo.  i would much rather pay $60 to state farm insurance (if available to you).

The Saint Posted at 6-7 15:40
it doesn't matter how i think it should be used; perhaps someone else can explain it better than me:  https://youtu.be/3k5EPlrpUa4
i think you kinda feel like somebody is claiming the dji way is better than the polo or that the dji method is foolproof.  that would be a no to both.  anyway enjoy the video since 90% of dji drone flyers will rely on it and in fact will be most successful.  teh polo is way overrated.  i realize you recommend me and that's ok.  but my opinion is don't waste your money on a marco polo.  i would much rather pay $60 to state farm insurance (if available to you).

I have the Marco Polo, and it works extremely well. The DJI Find My Drone feature is pretty useless, you will find many examples on here where it failed completely, particularly when the aircraft drifted away with strong winds and was lost. The last position it showed was miles from where it probably was. The Marco Polo is self-powered, runs for hours after the aircraft is lost and the tracking feature works extremely well.

Geebax Posted at 6-7 16:28
I have the Marco Polo, and it works extremely well. The DJI Find My Drone feature is pretty useless, you will find many examples on here where it failed completely, particularly when the aircraft drifted away with strong winds and was lost. The last position it showed was miles from where it probably was. The Marco Polo is self-powered, runs for hours after the aircraft is lost and the tracking feature works extremely well.

thanks for bring up that scenario.  sorry did you say you had an example of a blown away drone by high winds that was found and located using the marco polo?

I will freely admit if you fly your Mavic Mini in high winds and you are a mile out downwind 50mp and 400 feet up with 5% battery left on cine mode, the gps location in the Mavic Mini is not going to bail you out.  i agree with you, for that situation it is absolutely and completely useless.  but do we know how many times it has been helpful when a drone has been crashed and lost under ordinary and regular conditions?  a few times, most of the time?  will a Marco Polo probably work better?  perhaps.  but I simply cannot recommend polo for mm and ma2 drone pilots.  get a vifly beacon locator thingy instead, that would be my opinion.

The Saint Posted at 6-7 17:53
thanks for bring up that scenario.  sorry did you say you had an example of a blown away drone by high winds that was found and located using the marco polo?

I will freely admit if you fly your Mavic Mini in high winds and you are a mile out downwind 50mp and 400 feet up with 5% battery left on cine mode, the gps location in the Mavic Mini is not going to bail you out.  i agree with you, for that situation it is absolutely and completely useless.  but do we know how many times it has been helpful when a drone has been crashed and lost under ordinary and regular conditions?  a few times, most of the time?  will a Marco Polo probably work better?  perhaps.  but I simply cannot recommend polo for mm and ma2 drone pilots.  get a vifly beacon locator thingy instead, that would be my opinion.

The vifly beacon is not a lot of use unless you are right on top of it, and with a continuous beeping alert, it will run out of power in a short time. The Marco Polo put out a radio beacon, the hand-held tracker shows you on a map display where the aircraft is located and when you are close, it can be made to beep at you. Much better solution, particularly for those countries that have dense bush undergrowth.

Geebax Posted at 6-7 18:08
The vifly beacon is not a lot of use unless you are right on top of it, and with a continuous beeping alert, it will run out of power in a short time. The Marco Polo put out a radio beacon, the hand-held tracker shows you on a map display where the aircraft is located and when you are close, it can be made to beep at you. Much better solution, particularly for those countries that have dense bush undergrowth.

ok Geebax.

garmin glo 2

AntDX316 Posted at 6-7 19:17
garmin glo 2

Pay attention. How has that got anything to do with the question?

Hello there bob37. Thank you for reaching out and for sharing these information with us. I hope that you will get the best recommendation from our DJI co pilots on what GPS module are they using on there DJI drones. Just a reminder if you will be putting this device or a 3rd party accessory on your DJI drone, it will add weight and it might affect the performance of the drone in flight. Thank you.

Geebax Posted at 6-7 20:09
Pay attention. How has that got anything to do with the question?

oh yeah, opps

I was looking for mine so I misunderstood

If your drone crashes consider it lost