I always walk to the seawall each night before going to bed...it's a nightly ritual for me. And I am checking my boats to see if they are safe, To my surprise I saw a lit-up small drone flying over the area, so of course I got interested. It was not doing anything very impressive..but being at night I was impressed with the operator's nerve anyway. And you know what happened next.... I fired up my long-closeted M3 just for the heck of it. Of course it took many many minutes to get a lock on the sats (BOOO!!!). But once airbourn, it went fast and accurate. It flew fast and controlled in the dark better than any other drone I own. The mysterious guys nearby noted the bigger and much faster drone in their airspace and vacated it in fear ;-) Not what I wanted.


Maybe I can do something useful with this drone....the jury is still out on it. Perfection is so elusive today.

Hello there GaryDoug. Good day and thank you for sharing these interesting information with us. Have a safe and a happy flying always.

Seems you are not alone as there are still many Mavic 3 pilots waiting on fixes to be released.  I intended to buy the Mavic 3 but decided to wait and see how the reviews went.  So based on what I was reading in the forums and personal experience from a close friend who has the Mavic 3 I decided it wasn't time to buy.  He still very unhappy with the Mavic 3, especially since he sold his Mavic 2 Pro in anticipation of getting the Mavic 3 and no longer needing the M2P.  

I fly regularly in the area. I noticed that other people started to get into drones too. But it seems these are small unbranded drones the size of DJI mini, but probably bought for $100 or so. Most of the time people just sit on a bench trying to figure out how to get the drone up in the air and they give up after trying for a while. I tried to help, but I also was not able to figure out if these drones are even designed to fly. They look like drones, but they are built so cheaply that it seems most people won't be able to get them in the air. These are non DJI no name drones and seems more and more people in the area buy them for being so cheap. I tried to help, but also gave up

i dont really like to fly my drones in an area where other drones or rc aircraft are present, despite their size or capability.  so i usually land and pack up and leave when it happens.  don't want to risk an unfortunate encounter or collision.  i once heard an fpv off in the distance and could see the small group keeping it local so i stayed but generally there is only room for just one drone at a time in my opinion.

The thing is they don't physically fly the drone, they just bring it and try to fly it, but these are unbranded small drones,  none of the people that brought these were able to get them up in the air at least the ones I have seen

Glad you got a chance to get the M3 out.  Nighttime is a great time for this one for sure.

Thanks Tony. I only have to watch out for kites as sometimes people fly them here. I usually fly during the day or close to 5p.m. , 3 hours before sunset. Have you gotten a chance to fly yours? I have managed to fly about 8 times in the past 3 weeks.

TonyPHX Posted at 5-30 15:24
Glad you got a chance to get the M3 out.  Nighttime is a great time for this one for sure.

It is. Too bad for your random downvote....not mine. The reason for the good night flight is the stability. When flying at night we need that to make sure the drone does not wander from our aim since we have no eyes. I surprised myself with the dead-of-night acrobatics possible. This drone has serious possibilities when the politics of it's weakness fades away.

GaryDoug Posted at 5-30 20:44
It is. Too bad for your random downvote....not mine. The reason for the good night flight is the stability. When flying at night we need that to make sure the drone does not wander from our aim since we have no eyes. I surprised myself with the dead-of-night acrobatics possible. This drone has serious possibilities when the politics of it's weakness fades away.

It wasn't my downvote either btw.

GaryDoug Posted at 5-30 20:44
It is. Too bad for your random downvote....not mine. The reason for the good night flight is the stability. When flying at night we need that to make sure the drone does not wander from our aim since we have no eyes. I surprised myself with the dead-of-night acrobatics possible. This drone has serious possibilities when the politics of it's weakness fades away.

Sometimes people downvote me just to crush my hopes and dreams of being loved.  lol. I don't even look.  The benefits of being an adult with a life.  : )

I really enjoyed the nighttime videography I was able to do with the M3.  Stability for sure, and now I am looking forward to testing with the new firmware that landed today.  : )

Mzp Posted at 5-31 05:09
It wasn't my downvote either btw.

My life mission is to find out who downvoted.  : ). lol, not.  : )

GaryDoug Posted at 5-30 20:44
It is. Too bad for your random downvote....not mine. The reason for the good night flight is the stability. When flying at night we need that to make sure the drone does not wander from our aim since we have no eyes. I surprised myself with the dead-of-night acrobatics possible. This drone has serious possibilities when the politics of it's weakness fades away.

Maybe the new update will make you happy?

TonyPHX Posted at 5-31 08:38
My life mission is to find out who downvoted.  : ). lol, not.  : )

lol that's funny Tony

GaryDoug Posted at 5-30 20:44
It is. Too bad for your random downvote....not mine. The reason for the good night flight is the stability. When flying at night we need that to make sure the drone does not wander from our aim since we have no eyes. I surprised myself with the dead-of-night acrobatics possible. This drone has serious possibilities when the politics of it's weakness fades away.

it sure does.  the drone and what it can do is amazing and i feel we are a decade behind where we could be had it not been for the politics and i have to say it....the laws and the restrictions all in the name of "safety."  at this rate, it will take 15 more years before we have any good that is drone-related aside from the amazing one-off events that we only read about or dream about.

i wish you could see the name on the downvotes, i often wonder about that.

The Saint Posted at 5-31 09:23
it sure does.  the drone and what it can do is amazing and i feel we are a decade behind where we could be had it not been for the politics and i have to say it....the laws and the restrictions all in the name of "safety."  at this rate, it will take 15 more years before we have any good that is drone-related aside from the amazing one-off events that we only read about or dream about.

i wish you could see the name on the downvotes, i often wonder about that.

I think the forum downvote thing is kind of funny.  I'm not sure why it would even matter.  I figure in any roomful of functioning adults there are always gonna be a few that misunderstood, walked in needing a snickers, or just outright really hate everything or anything you could say.  : )

TonyPHX Posted at 5-31 10:07
I think the forum downvote thing is kind of funny.  I'm not sure why it would even matter.  I figure in any roomful of functioning adults there are always gonna be a few that misunderstood, walked in needing a snickers, or just outright really hate everything or anything you could say.  : )

Maybe a poll to find out who downvoted you would be in order   Oh and it's not me! The only person I have downvoted is the forum member who should remain nameless but also has many names... Now who could that be???
Edit: I had better be careful or I could get a downvote! Also there are special councilling service available for crushed hopes and dreams... stay strong!! (and Original)

Bussty Posted at 5-31 15:47
Maybe a poll to find out who downvoted you would be in order   Oh and it's not me! The only person I have downvoted is the forum member who should remain nameless but also has many names... Now who could that be???
Edit: I had better be careful or I could get a downvote! Also there are special councilling service available for crushed hopes and dreams... stay strong!! (and Original)

For the record, I went to downvote this, and somebody had already done it!  : ). LOL

TonyPHX Posted at 5-31 18:35
For the record, I went to downvote this, and somebody had already done it!  : ). LOL

I appreciate your candor, now I will have to start a poll!  chortle chortle

Haha. I am back a week later and still can't understand why ;-) Must be the clever repertoire.