Will DJI acknowledge range issues with the Mini 3 Pro?

Many many people having range issues where the drone is losing connection with the remote at distances like 300 to 700 meters, even in low density areas.

And will DJI explain what is the issue?

At first I thought it was the RC Remote, but people with the RC-N1 was also having issues, while other users were just fine with the RC remote, so that doesn't seem to be the issue.
Than maybe some chipset that DJI might source from different manufactures, and one of those are having issues while the other isn't? I've seen similar situations like this happening in the tech world, where the same product had the same chips sourced from different manufactures, and one of those was having performance issues, so it's not uncommon or unheard of.

And what will DJI do to those affected? I just sent back my drone this past week and it just arrived at their facility in Germany on Friday ( although it still shows on my progress that they haven't received ). I wonder what will happen from then on. Will it get replaced for a new one? Or did they figured out where those range issues are coming from and they are able to fix it for good?

Anyone from DJI team care to drop a comment?

I called them the other day to ask them this very question

This is what they said to me

1. They are not aware of current range issues being experienced in a large quantity, what ever it is, it's effecting a very limited number of people

2. They said they fixed it with this update (they did not) and this is likely the extent of fixing for i t

3. They advised me to return the drone, OR I could send it back to them and get a refurbished Mini 3 Pro (not new). If they send you a replacement drone it will NOT be a new drone.

I will be returning the drone on Monday.

mkdp.photos Posted at 7-2 15:03
I called them the other day to ask them this very question

This is what they said to me

Damn, refurbished... anyways, if it will be like new, and without the range issues, and any other issues for that matter, I'm ok with it if they decide to replace mine.

But yeah, I can also confirm that no firmware have fixed the range issue.

And not sure what they call a "small number of affected users", but I see quite a good number of users reporting this. Not to mention that there are those people that might be affected but just don't care to replace or be vocal about it.

Now, if DJI return me a drone with some issue, I'll be calling my CC to claim my money back in case DJI won't refund me, that's for sure.

djiuser_zH4PYuHgtlW6 Posted at 7-2 15:10
Damn, refurbished... anyways, if it will be like new, and without the range issues, and any other issues for that matter, I'm ok with it if they decide to replace mine.

But yeah, I can also confirm that no firmware have fixed the range issue.

You should call back and demand a refund

If they refuse, let them know you can take legal action for false advertisement (which this is)

mkdp.photos Posted at 7-2 15:14
You should call back and demand a refund

If they refuse, let them know you can take legal action for false advertisement (which this is)

Right? I know, easy win.

I have the same issue. Bought a new Mini 3 Pro and had two flights now. After the first flight after 700m with no obstacles between me and the drone I received the message about bad connection followed by no connection.
Yesterday after the newest update I hoped the issue is fixed but after 150m distance and some rocks between me and the drone the same problem again. So what’s that for a problem!?
The drone costs a lot of money and they promised a lot and it’s not possible to fly more than one km!?

First issue some people in Canada and USA still are having is signal range:
I have here both the Mini 2 and the Mini 3 the Mini two signal is unbelievably superior to the Mini 3 pro I have tested both same flight patterns and, same height but the distance the Mini 3 pro could push was close to 400 m before rth was activated.
the mini 2 however surpassed that by three to four times the distance at 2.5 km in the city!

The second issue:
There frequency line/option in the transmission tab. In my mini 2, I can switch frequency and change channel mode from manual to auto. The mini 3 is locked to one channel at 2.4 ghz or stuck only at 5 ghz for some. There is no frequency line/option on this menu.




Called DJI several times today hoping to speak to someone knowledgeable and got the same answer " We will be coming up with a new FW and hopefully fix your issue within the month" no time as to when that will be.
They said i should contact support@dji.com which i did and let them know the issues. Support got back saying they need a few days for engineers to go over the issue and get back to me.
No tricks like holding tin foild or your hand over the mini 3 to "trick" it into FCC works its all bull.


I have here some pictures to prove my point.

DPGNAS Posted at 7-3 22:19
First issue some people in Canada and USA still are having is signal range:
I have here both the Mini 2 and the Mini 3 the Mini two signal is unbelievably superior to the Mini 3 pro I have tested both same flight patterns and, same height but the distance the Mini 3 pro could push was close to 400 m before rth was activated.
the mini 2 however surpassed that by three to four times the distance at 2.5 km in the city!

I find extremely hard to believe that any firmware will be able to fix this.

As some people are having issues, and some people don’t.

I’m not an engineer, but it truly feels like they sourced some kind of component from different manufactures, and one of them is not working properly.

I’ve seen situation like this before, where the same product had the same chip manufactured by different companies, and one was having performance issues. It happens a lot in tech, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it is the same situation here.

Absolutely agree with You guys! It looks more likely, like several hardware revision versions. Not possible to have different results with the same hardware and the same software.
If DJI will not acknowledge the problem, we must think about case submission to the court for DJI selling products not corresponding to announced specifications. Are there some Lawyers/ Prosecutors among DJI pilots to be able to clarify similar situations here?

This is the only issue that's holding me back from buying a new drone. There happens to always be video transmission issues on every drone I've used and DJI specs are 11KM for this unit. And some people can't even get 1KM. The chip shortage could of been the issue. They may have sourced the chips from different manufactures, and each manufacture has better manufacturing processes than the other. So that's probably why some people are seeing the issue and some not. And something like this CANNOT be fixed by software. DJI has to physically replace the bad board or the drone itself. Wonder what will happen when Amazon starts their drone deliveries with all rec users flying their personal drones around? I'm in a rural area in the US, so I'm sure I'll see those drones eventually.

Dygme Posted at 7-4 16:29
This is the only issue that's holding me back from buying a new drone. There happens to always be video transmission issues on every drone I've used and DJI specs are 11KM for this unit. And some people can't even get 1KM. The chip shortage could of been the issue. They may have sourced the chips from different manufactures, and each manufacture has better manufacturing processes than the other. So that's probably why some people are seeing the issue and some not. And something like this CANNOT be fixed by software. DJI has to physically replace the bad board or the drone itself. Wonder what will happen when Amazon starts their drone deliveries with all rec users flying their personal drones around? I'm in a rural area in the US, so I'm sure I'll see those drones eventually.

Exactly what I think it happened. Chip shortage, source from different manufactures, and now a bunch of bad drones coming out.

Again, I hope DJI will figure it out what is going on, clearly it's NOT a software issue, and that they will acknowledge the problem and recall/exchange the units that are defective.

Mine is right now in Germany at their service center. They are supposedly assessing the problem. Let's see how it goes.

Was going to use the drone for a wedding on July 22nd... pretty sure I won't have a drone back by then. But that's not the worst. The worst is if they return me a defective unit again. That's my biggest fear.

djiuser_zH4PYuHgtlW6 Posted at 7-4 19:04
Exactly what I think it happened. Chip shortage, source from different manufactures, and now a bunch of bad drones coming out.

Again, I hope DJI will figure it out what is going on, clearly it's NOT a software issue, and that they will acknowledge the problem and recall/exchange the units that are defective.

I dont think its a hardware issue because the fix for the canadian people having the issue has nothing to do with hardware

mkdp.photos Posted at 7-4 19:26
I dont think its a hardware issue because the fix for the canadian people having the issue has nothing to do with hardware

Was there any actual firmware fix? I ask because in the Facebook group people are still saying that after those last 2 updates they’re still having problems with range.

djiuser_zH4PYuHgtlW6 Posted at 7-4 19:32
Was there any actual firmware fix? I ask because in the Facebook group people are still saying that after those last 2 updates they’re still having problems with range.

Not a firmware fix but a temporary fix yes

If you turn on the RC, then the drone, then once the drone updates homepoint you turn off the drone, wait a couple seconds and turn it back on. Cover the drone to stop it getting a GPS lock the second time

This method basically forces the drone into FCC more 9 times out of 10 and you end up getting 4x the signal strength for the duration of that flight

This works in Canada since our drones seem to be defaulting to CE mode, not sure about other places

mkdp.photos Posted at 7-4 19:52
Not a firmware fix but a temporary fix yes

If you turn on the RC, then the drone, then once the drone updates homepoint you turn off the drone, wait a couple seconds and turn it back on. Cover the drone to stop it getting a GPS lock the second time

Soooo,

Not exactly a fix, but a workaround.... no bueno.

djiuser_zH4PYuHgtlW6 Posted at 7-4 19:57
Soooo,

Not exactly a fix, but a workaround.... no bueno.

Well yeah, but it kind of points to it not being a hardware issue

Because when I do that workaround, I get 1 whole battery of amazing signal strength. able to go 2km awayor even go behind objects and trees without losing any signal

djiuser_zH4PYuHgtlW6 Posted at 7-4 19:32
Was there any actual firmware fix? I ask because in the Facebook group people are still saying that after those last 2 updates they’re still having problems with range.

I confirm, I still have this problem.
I tried on the beach without interference my record is 900m (I'm living in Japan means just 2.4Ghz, 5.8Ghz is illegal).
But in DJI information Japan has the same result of CE countries.

mkdp.photos Posted at 7-4 19:58
Well yeah, but it kind of points to it not being a hardware issue

Because when I do that workaround, I get 1 whole battery of amazing signal strength. able to go 2km awayor even go behind objects and trees without losing any signal

Than this is pretty awkward. Why some people are having the issue and others don’t? Supposedly they all have the same hardware and software?
As some are pointing out, even the latest firmware didn’t resolved the range issues.

mkdp.photos Posted at 7-4 19:52
Not a firmware fix but a temporary fix yes

If you turn on the RC, then the drone, then once the drone updates homepoint you turn off the drone, wait a couple seconds and turn it back on. Cover the drone to stop it getting a GPS lock the second time

still this method DID NOT work for me im in Canada

djiuser_zH4PYuHgtlW6 Posted at 7-4 21:18
Than this is pretty awkward. Why some people are having the issue and others don’t? Supposedly they all have the same hardware and software?
As some are pointing out, even the latest firmware didn’t resolved the range issues.

Exactly. I also live in canada but the new firmware didnt fix mine so it has to be hardware issue

djiuser_zH4PYuHgtlW6 Posted at 7-4 21:18
Than this is pretty awkward. Why some people are having the issue and others don’t? Supposedly they all have the same hardware and software?
As some are pointing out, even the latest firmware didn’t resolved the range issues.

I'm guessing they are shipping different batches of drones. Hardware revisions of course. Usually on the greenboard or possibly a sticker

DPGNAS Posted at 7-4 21:53
Exactly. I also live in canada but the new firmware didnt fix mine so it has to be hardware issue

Bring your drone into the middle of your house or the basement for the 2nd reboot and bring it outside after 5-10 minutes. You need to block GPS signal acquisition timing and if it's not working it's probably because GPS is locking on too quickly where you're doing the reboot

DPGNAS Posted at 7-3 22:19
First issue some people in Canada and USA still are having is signal range:
I have here both the Mini 2 and the Mini 3 the Mini two signal is unbelievably superior to the Mini 3 pro I have tested both same flight patterns and, same height but the distance the Mini 3 pro could push was close to 400 m before rth was activated.
the mini 2 however surpassed that by three to four times the distance at 2.5 km in the city!

This statement of yours is 100% correct. People, don't fall for the nonsense being propagated by some YouTube channels.

No tricks like holding tin foild or your hand over the mini 3 to "trick" it into FCC works its all bull.


The drone should be using its FHSS to coordinate a hop to a less noisy channel. From what you describe the Frequency Hopping is not working.

That would mean this drone would effect local flying clubs as it would jam a particular channel permanently during flight.

mkdp.photos Posted at 7-4 19:52
Not a firmware fix but a temporary fix yes

If you turn on the RC, then the drone, then once the drone updates homepoint you turn off the drone, wait a couple seconds and turn it back on. Cover the drone to stop it getting a GPS lock the second time

This method basically forces the drone into FCC more 9 times out of 10 and you end up getting 4x the signal strength for the duration of that flight

This is a BS theory from some non knowledgable YouTubers that don't understand.

You drone is not changing from FCC to CE and vice versa.

All you are doing by moving it into your house is exposing it to a higher level of interference so it is picking a different channel to operate on.

If you have significant wiFi in your area and the wiFi in those houses are left in their default settings you may find that by blocking your wifi Channel will most likely assist in the drones range as the other wifis in the area are using the same default channel as you.

This is the reality, not the BS, FCC CE swap nonsense that is being promulgated.

The fault with the drone is that it's not hopping frequencies as it should.

This should be fixed with a software update.

If DJI have in fact implanted a faulty RF module that will not hop then we are all in trouble.

bjr981s Posted at 7-5 04:41
This method basically forces the drone into FCC more 9 times out of 10 and you end up getting 4x the signal strength for the duration of that flight

This is a BS theory from some non knowledgable YouTubers that don't understand.

I still doubt any firmware update will fix this.

bjr981s Posted at 7-5 04:41
This method basically forces the drone into FCC more 9 times out of 10 and you end up getting 4x the signal strength for the duration of that flight

This is a BS theory from some non knowledgable YouTubers that don't understand.

Unfortunately you are incorrect. It is well documented that CE mode is a lower DB rating (which can be verified on the Transmission tab) and the transmission lines as they relate to the 1KM and 4KM markers. It's like this for a DJI drones in the last few years. More details here if you're interested: https://mavicpilots.com/threads/how-to-tell-ce-or-fcc.81294/

There is also an issue with the drone not properly changing frequencies as you mentioned but this is a separate issue.

bjr981s Posted at 7-5 04:41
This method basically forces the drone into FCC more 9 times out of 10 and you end up getting 4x the signal strength for the duration of that flight

This is a BS theory from some non knowledgable YouTubers that don't understand.

I can confirm I just checked the model number and I have the FCC model but no matter what I do it's stuck at 2.4 GHz and there's no frequency tap for me to change between 2.4 and 5 GHz

There's like a 15 page email thread with DJI after back and forth they just email me telling me "we haven't got any response from you and so this thread would be closed'. Just mind blowing how bad the customer service is, the last email they sent me was they will get back to me within two to four business days from their engineers now this email just proves how unreliable the technical support is.
I'm stuck with a defective drone at this point s are others, there is no indication of a patch or a firmware update, the retailer dronepoint.ca tells me there is a 20% restocking fee?!? Lol there's no way I'm going to pay that.
If they can't fix it within the next 5 days and have no answers I'll be forced to call my credit card company

DPGNAS Posted at 7-5 11:55
I can confirm I just checked the model number and I have the FCC model but no matter what I do it's stuck at 2.4 GHz and there's no frequency tap for me to change between 2.4 and 5 GHz

There's like a 15 page email thread with DJI after back and forth they just email me telling me "we haven't got any response from you and so this thread would be closed'. Just mind blowing how bad the customer service is, the last email they sent me was they will get back to me within two to four business days from their engineers now this email just proves how unreliable the technical support is.

Ya I am getting similar responses. They are asking for all kinds of details, logs, etc and if I don't provide them within a couple of days, their auto-response system tries to close the ticket. So unless I do the support for them, they deem the issue irrelevant and close it off like nothing is the matter.  Maybe this is why they don't seem to acknowledge the problem because they just close support requests which masks issues.

I've spent more hours trying to help their support team then I have flying the drone...

I got this as my 1st drone. My range is 400m max in suburbs with trees etc. When the drone is right next to me, I checked that transmission graph and it constantly jumps to red zone with drone right next to me! What the hell.....it was like $1300 with kit.

djiuser_4WdSZbzPDUaG Posted at 7-5 16:13
I got this as my 1st drone. My range is 400m max in suburbs with trees etc. When the drone is right next to me, I checked that transmission graph and it constantly jumps to red zone with drone right next to me! What the hell.....it was like $1300 with kit.

I observed this as well. Free frequencies/bands, and the drone stuck on a busy one... Yeah, feel kinda bad have paid close to 1400 euros here in Europe with the Fly More Kit and the DJI Care Refresh... hope they will exchange or fix my drone, but really hope they acknowledge that there's some issue.

DJI are going to have lawsuits on their hands if this isn't fixed sometime this month

mkdp.photos Posted at 7-5 20:33
DJI are going to have lawsuits on their hands if this isn't fixed sometime this month

you can't successfully sue someone for poor performance.  well, i guess you can in canada.

mkdp.photos Posted at 7-5 20:33
DJI are going to have lawsuits on their hands if this isn't fixed sometime this month

Got an email hours ago. They are replacing the core board from the drone, and the main board from the controller, all under warranty.

Let's see when it comes back. I want it flying like in this video here >

Will update when I receive back my drone.

djiuser_zH4PYuHgtlW6 Posted at 7-5 21:08
Got an email hours ago. They are replacing the core board from the drone, and the main board from the controller, all under warranty.

Let's see when it comes back. I want it flying like in this video here >

Ok so they know they have a hardware issue and are not issuing a recall?

This is literally illegal in many countries/states

Can you share the email (leaving out personal info obviously)


(Also good luck on receiving your drone back before September)

mkdp.photos Posted at 7-5 21:36
Ok so they know they have a hardware issue and are not issuing a recall?

This is literally illegal in many countries/states

They’ve told me 5 working days + shipping time

djiuser_zH4PYuHgtlW6 Posted at 7-5 21:44
They’ve told me 5 working days + shipping time
[view_image]

Hi
So wait a min why did you send it back in the first place

mkdp.photos Posted at 7-5 21:36
Ok so they know they have a hardware issue and are not issuing a recall?

This is literally illegal in many countries/states

What will you do with yours send it back and exhange or send it to get fixed using DJI care

DPGNAS Posted at 7-5 22:06
Hi
So wait a min why did you send it back in the first place

Did you even read the title of the post? Range issues. Terrible unreliable signal.

djiuser_zH4PYuHgtlW6 Posted at 7-5 22:09
Did you even read the title of the post? Range issues. Terrible unreliable signal.

Ya i mean to say did you send it back not why lol
So this is clearly a hardware flaw on some and like mine which is stuck at 2.4 and constantly the lines are in the red on the transmission tab.
There is no frequency change option.
I tried every trick in the book.

DPGNAS Posted at 7-5 22:13
Ya i mean to say did you send it back not why lol
So this is clearly a hardware flaw on some and like mine which is stuck at 2.4 and constantly the lines are in the red on the transmission tab.
There is no frequency change option.

Yah man, contact support, open a repair case, send it back for repair.

This won’t get fixed with firmware updates.