"Find My Phantom"
Has anyone used it to successfully to recover a lost bird?  I hear stories about flyaways...

Don't know, but when I check my positions on my 2 birds, they are within 6 feet of actual location.  Never had a fly away.

From what I have read it shows the last known location at the time it dropped connection to the Vision App on Phone or Tablet.

So not all that useful but should give an approximate starting point for a search.

If you do reaquire connection the position will be updated again at that point, and then continue to be updated.

Cheers

It works for me - but if the problem is a non-GPS home lock, then it's likely the bird doesn't know where it is.
But in normal use - if, for example, the battery runs low and it self-lands behind a hedgerow, you should be able to get a good location on it.

Mike is correct in this sense. To achieve the next level of safety we need redundant systems....that helps the odds. So if you have two GPS trackers, there is more chance of finding a lost quad than one!

I am not sure about mine. Today, I flew about 45 mins, had three battery changes, reacquired the GPS with 6 + satelites and calibrated the compass each time. I checked the App on my return home - complete with Phantom, when I checked out of curiosity,the Find my Phantom function still recorded a position several days before and a few miles distant from today's ops. I thought it should have updated. so, what happend.? I will now check it more recently as I thought it was working OK originally. A little worrying..Does it only record a position when the 'Find' function is activated perhaps? Certainly, the last recorded point, was when I did positively check the App - I am hopng this is the reason.

Of the course the best locator is to have your name and phone number on it. Reward offered will help too.

I took a maiden flight with my new bird today - and landed it in front of the garage door. Here's what the Find My Phantom shows - that's within a foot or two of where I landed it.

Capt. Bill Posted at 2015-2-11 04:38
Of the course the best locator is to have your name and phone number on it. Reward offered will help ...

I agree.  It may be low-tech, but it just might work.  I simply printed a

This poor, scared, lost device belongs to Friffy1.
      If found, PLEASE call 610-555-1000.

If it ever gets away from me and I can't find it, it's probably my best hope of recovery!

I grabbed some sticker decals from ebay. Look great and were easy enough to stick on

Back in the 1980s I saw an RC Helicopter fly away two minutes after take off. Hard to believe they would do that back then but it just climbed straight out if sight. While it was not in good shape he did get a call from a guy 5 miles away who saw it crash in his yard because he had his name and number on it.  That is also a Academy of Model Aeronautics requirement.  

Capt. Bill Posted at 2015-2-11 05:23
Back in the 1980s I saw an RC Helicopter fly away two minutes after take off. Hard to believe they w ...

I bird took my down at about 400ft and 1/4 mile away. Behind trees and in waist high grass. That was the only way I found it. Gimble broke but got it back.....