I got a brand new Smart Controller this week and was happy before I switched it in the first time. In the meantime I start hating it :-(. And here is why:
- during the first start of the Controller I activated it and the controller wanted to update to the latest version. This update failed. I tried it again and again and finally it worked. But I had a bad feeling now, so I installed the latest Assistant 2 for Mavic on my iMac and tried to refresh the firmware, unfortunately that failed every time. I guess I tried it 15 times! Also a reset to factory defaults didn’t help.
Well, I said to myself: the latest firmware is installed, let’s do a flight. That worked for several minutes, but then I lost the video signal and the Go 4 App hung.
What the he’ll is that? I bought a 650€ device, because I thought it’s better and more reliable than the normal controller, but in fact the opposite seems to be the case. What can I do? Send it back?

I've seen threads whereby FW updates failed on the SC if you have a micro SD card installed. Did you take that out before turning on the SC to do the update?

A J Posted at 8-27 14:09
I've seen threads whereby FW updates failed on the SC if you have a micro SD card installed. Did you take that out before turning on the SC to do the update?

Thanks! I never had a SD card installed, so this seems not to be the problem in my case. However, I will send the SC back today. I also lose the  Video signal during a flight again and that's more than annoying. I never had this problems with the normal controller and a mobile phone - I will go back to this setup :-(

djiuser_pxwwLtM5yb2t Posted at 8-28 01:05
Thanks! I never had a SD card installed, so this seems not to be the problem in my case. However, I will send the SC back today. I also lose the  Video signal during a flight again and that's more than annoying. I never had this problems with the normal controller and a mobile phone - I will go back to this setup :-(

That's disappointing but does happen. I bought a brand new Phantom 4 Pro directly from DJI when it was first released in Nov 2016 and the IMU was bust out the box - had to return it but they replaced it with a brand new one as deemed what they call a DOA claim. The replacement took 4 weeks to be delivered but it worked perfectly. My advice would be to do the same and quicker the better. If you leave it too long you may pass the deadline for DOA classification in your claim and end up with a refurb unit as opposed to a brand new one... I'd contact DJI or the store where you bought it and raise a ticket today if I were you.

A J Posted at 8-28 01:12
That's disappointing but does happen. I bought a brand new Phantom 4 Pro directly from DJI when it was first released in Nov 2016 and the IMU was bust out the box - had to return it but they replaced it with a brand new one as deemed what they call a DOA claim. The replacement took 4 weeks to be delivered but it worked perfectly. My advice would be to do the same and quicker the better. If you leave it too long you may pass the deadline for DOA classification in your claim and end up with a refurb unit as opposed to a brand new one... I'd contact DJI or the store where you bought it and raise a ticket today if I were you.

I will use the 30 days money back warranty from Amazon, that usually always works in such cases. I don't know yet if I will rebuy the SC again - but I have whole weekend to think about this ;-). Thanks for your recommendations and help!

djiuser_pxwwLtM5yb2t Posted at 8-28 02:32
I will use the 30 days money back warranty from Amazon, that usually always works in such cases. I don't know yet if I will rebuy the SC again - but I have whole weekend to think about this ;-). Thanks for your recommendations and help!

Phew - pleased you have that return in place. I'm yet to buy the SC as waiting for compatibility with the MA2 but I have read many excellent reviews on it. Don't let one hiccup from Amazon deter you as you bought it for a reason.

Hi. I am sorry for the trouble this has caused. This is not the experience we wanted you to have with your new DJI Smart Controller. With regards to this concern. As AJ advised at post #4 it would be best to contact our DJI support team to further assists you regarding this matter or contact the store where the said remote controller was purchased if they can assists you faster. Again, I am sorry for the trouble. Thank you.

The device uses a TCP/IP connection to the Assistant 2 application. On a Mac this can often change the network interface preference and cause you to lose the default route to the internet and the update will fail to connect to DJI to get the update. You can fix this by changing the network interface priorities in network settings. The other issue with the Mac that effects updates is USB3 and above. For some reason I am yet to fathom the Assistant 2 interface fails on everything except USB1 and USB 2 if your iMac is all USB 3 only you need to put a USB hub between the DJI USB and the device.   

Thanks for your support! I also tried it with my companies laptop running Windows 10, but the result was exactly the same. Anyway, I keep your hints in mind, they sound useful for similar situations!