Long story short the inspire will not all motor start on a boat due to movement.  Rendering it useless for marine research and much more.  I am on s 100' motor yacht in s protected waterway and the movement from the minimal wave action shuts the inspire down.  Ironically if I power the unit up on the dock, and then move to the boat it works.  I am even able to hand launch.  I have addressed this with the support chat folks.  They took an hour of my time asking me errelivant technical questions.  I have reviewed all of the settings on the app to no avail.  I am really disappointed to have spent over 3000 dollars on an aircraft that is supposed to be a professional unit and it is incapable of routine phantom 2 operations!  Test it yourself, take off your props, power the inspire up while gently rocking it as if you were on a boat and while rocking give a start motor command and you will find nothing works.  if the unit is moving at power up it will not fly.  It's ridiculous!  Its not in the manual either.

Here is a link to my thread on inspire pilots forum... Called

Wow thats a bummer. I had an instance when the inspire 1 wouldn't launch without an SD card. It would just blink it red whenever I tried powering the motors.

Yes, as announced in the release note, the latest firmware can't launch from boat. I get info. in the Chinese version of release note that in near future version, it will allow u to do that.

That upsets me as well! I planned on using the inspire at least 50% of the time from a boat. DJI can you please confirm if this will be changed in a near future update? If not, this might be the straw on the camels back, at least for me.

My thread on inspire pilots form is called won't lunch from a boat so I'm selling. You can see the reaction there as well is really negative. I'm sure Launching from boats represents huge portion of people who are interested in using this "professional" aircraft. advertised as a professional product yet with all of its redundancies and failsafes it ends up being useless in a professional environment. Save the redundancies and overprotected electronic's for phantoms and Toy Quadcopter's. People who buy this thing should not need auto take off auto land blah blah blah.  $3000 and the thing is useless unless you're sitting on the ground in an ideal environment.  DjI I expect a software update by Tuesday at the latest or I'm returning everything.

I planned to use mine from a boat too.
I live in Paris during the week and often in the French riviera for the week-ends.
As There is no use in Paris to me, this is a deal-breaker.

I have to admit that the pull of the iOS app with "one to many weeks" to sort It out (is there any guarantee that the app will be validated ?) is a second deal breaker to me.

My inspire 1 is supposed to arrive tomorrow at my dealer Shop.

As i am unexperienced (except a cool cheap copter) It become obvious this craft is for more experienced users in it's actual form / stage of development.

This is my fault. I should have known that a First release of a new, more complex, technological object needs a few months (and sometime a second release) to attein a good level of troublefree usability.

I Think i will cancel the day i receive It ( :-( ), and will wait that You, experienced users, recomend It as a stable product.

Thank You all for your Time.

Probably smart but I'm sure you will find it hard to return once it arrives. It will be amazing in the south! So many cool places to fly there

The Inspire has never been touted by DJI as a professional unit.

See http://www.dji.com/product/inspire-1

Nowhere has it been mentioned about it being 'for professional use'. If anything, it has gleaned some features from their professional range, the S800 and S1000 multicopters.

For me has nothing to do with professional use
.

nicholasbowersm Posted at 2015-1-18 20:44
My thread on inspire pilots form is called won't lunch from a boat so I'm selling. You can see the r ...

I agree that "auto land" and some of the new features on the Inspire 1 are silly. Professional users just expect reliance. Not features. A big part of the success if DJI is based on the reputation Wookong and Naza got, and those FC are good because they are simple and reliable.  The A2 was supposed to be better then Wookong, but is getting turned down on professional heavy drones to the older Wookong just because of to many features.

For a professional aircraft it just need to fly. Never-ever-ever refuse to fly, because of some reason. When in air it should ALWAYS obey pilot.  At moment the Inspire is -sorry to say- an expensive toy.

It sounds like this will be corrected.
This type of. B.s. is why I insisted on buying through Amazon.I am still waiting and after hearing about this and loss of control issues I am on the verge of canceling my order as well.

I will wait another week or so and pray they get the numerous issues resolved.
I have plans on taking my 20'boat with an 8 ft. Beam out to many areas and using the inspire to use to video our north coast area as well as lakes and then delta. This (and ground station) are needed for me.

jannej Posted at 2015-1-19 00:27
I agree that "auto land" and some of the new features on the Inspire 1 are silly. Professional use ...

Honestly, it is

The DNG files are not much better than what comes out of a good Android smartphone (I'd actually go as far as to say that my iPhone files are cleaner)

The video quality, on the other hand, is stupid good. If only my video post processing skills and cinematography were better.

ghoonk Posted at 2015-1-19 01:01
Honestly, it is  

The DNG files are not much better than what comes out of a good Android smart ...

Don't get me wrong
I really like the idea and everything about the Inspire 1, but it's not professional yet. I think the camera need CineCurve (flat gamma curve) then it is little closer to be professional.

No, the camera isn't professional grade for photography.

Is CineCurve is the same as LOG?

I have launched from a boat with inspire twice no problem? And only a 26' boat! Was prior to latest firmware upgrade. Had no problem hand catching either.

Try after firmware update!

Try doing after the updat!

How about an answer dji?!?

+1
This "functionality" is critical for me!!!!!

All of the marketing rhetoric is about the ultimate filmmaking machine. The marketing is geared towards professionals. All their videos show professional use of the inspire. To say that it was never marketed as a professional unit is horseshit. What a family is going to spend $3000to make their home videos for the flying Weedwhacker? I don't understand why some people on this forum are so defensive of thiscompany. In any other industry this kind of management of product would have you hung by the consumers!but since they have the only corner on the market for the most part we're all a bunch of pandering dogs. They need to fix this thing now or everyone should move on.

Yeah. Launching from a boat is crucial to me too.

ghoonk Posted at 2015-1-19 00:25
The Inspire has never been touted by DJI as a professional unit.

See http://www.dji.com/product/in ...

Yes it has every piece of marketing has been geared towards professionals. Give me a break. What the hell would someone use the unit like this for otherwise? Let's take a family portrait with a $3000 drone!

nicholasbowersm Posted at 2015-1-19 23:35
Yes it has every piece of marketing has been geared towards professionals. Give me a break. What t ...

Let's be objective - show me where in any marketing collateral did they declare this to be a product for professionals.

Opinion does not make fact.

nicholasbowersm Posted at 2015-1-19 21:29
All of the marketing rhetoric is about the ultimate filmmaking machine. The marketing is geared towa ...

I'm not defensive of DJI. I simply do not agree with people who don't read spec sheets and assume what they are getting.

Case in point - I failed to read the spec sheet about the Max Altitude being limited to 500m (my P2 goes to 1km without too much issues). I was cheesed off when I download the app and discovered the limit. I contacted customer support and asked them what the deal was, and more importantly, if it could be worked around. The answer was no.

I checked the spec sheet, and lo and behold, there it was, clear as day.

Mea culpa for not doing my homework.

I'm not saying that it wouldn't be great to be able to launch from a boat. It would be. And in my book, it would be great if DJI provided customers with a means to override the restriction after accepting terms and conditions that in the event of any unexpected behaviour from the Inspire, DJI cannot be held responsible. This way, the onus lies on the owner to ignore restrictions and accept consequences when the drone is used in a way it was not meant to be used.

nicholasbowersm Posted at 2015-1-19 23:35
Yes it has every piece of marketing has been geared towards professionals. Give me a break. What t ...

Whatever you want to use the Inspire for. I hear drone selfies are a new thing

Official DJI channels like B&H have a 30-day return policy. This is great when you discover that a product won't work they way you expected. Send it back.

p.s. I know people who buy $3000 camera and can't compose to save their lives. Then there are people who buy an $8000 Leicas to take famliy portraits. There's all kinds of people out there ;)
p.p.s. not being able to take off from a boat = DJI bad. I'm with you on this.
p.p.p.s. Inspire is a professional tool = can't agree with you on this as it's not claimed to be such.

Give me a break, all the scenes inspire adds have been in professional settings filming vineyards etc.  So when the business is filming something for their business that's not professional use? Is that a hobby?

jannej Posted at 2015-1-19 00:27
I agree that "auto land" and some of the new features on the Inspire 1 are silly. Professional use ...

Agreed ! 100%  my phantom 2 gopro zemuse to iosd mini to fatshark 600mw video TX sent to my FS predator googles , know right where I'm at never lost signal frame bird or video all the way to 1000 meters  crystal clear signal , puts the pilot in the cockpit and is awsome for flying close to work or filming a waterfall , screens are good but googles are way better , then return home slide em up on my forehead
For a visual landing , Never had a problem or close call after tons of use on phantom 1.1 or my newer phantom two , looking at the new fatshark 720p HD googles for the inspire with HDMI in port .

daver/m Posted at 2015-1-20 09:55
Agreed ! 100%  my phantom 2 gopro zemuse to iosd mini to fatshark 600mw video TX sent to my FS pre ...

Wow thank God I read this thread.  I use mine 90% of the time from a boat!  Hope this change this soon or I will not purchase and go in another direction.

They are working on a solution, please give them some time

I suppose you tried lifting off in all flight modes?

Tried launching from my boat today, no dice
Got IMU error can't fly message, drove boat up to land and had bow on the sand and it started up no problem
there is some calibration issue during gimbal dance...

Blade_Strike Posted at 2015-1-22 00:29
They are working on a solution, please give them some time

Blade_Strike can you give more info as to this issue and it being addressed by DJI

Sorry but that's all the information I have on the subject.

Good info.  I wanted to touch on the Visison sensor, what will happen if I take off from the top of a table and fly over the ground.
If the take is a 36" , will the inspire drop close to the floor once it passes over the table?   I have a bebop with a similar bottom camera and it flown in the above scenario, "it drops to the floor"

Regarding this being a pro tool or not, that is a subjective matter. An S1000 with an SLR is not necessarily more professional that an inspire in my opinion.  We have to look at the definition of professional equipment. I think the camera controls and the fact that those controls are integrated in the controller make the inspire a very nice tool and really sets if apart from other drones.  You can't deny the inspire is a step up from a phantom. It is more geared toward a power user / prosumer / professional.

The boat thing doesn't matter to me, but I do find it odd that so many people in this thread and others are saying it's not intended for professional use. That has been a large component of their marketing strategy, and is the key reason I'm awaiting delivery of mine--the lack of a fisheye lens was one of their methods of appealing to professionals. Here's just one source where they say their whole market is high-end hobby and entry-level pro: http://youtu.be/vKht76-zRBI?list=UUiDJtJKMICpb9B1qf7qjEOA

Here's another video of DJI's Eric Cheng discussing that this is a professional product:

Here's an article: http://www.4kshooters.net/2014/1 ... t-everyone-can-fly/

There really is no debate here.

jannej Posted at 2015-1-19 00:27
I agree that "auto land" and some of the new features on the Inspire 1 are silly. Professional use ...

Yeah, if you are so professional, why come to a hobbyist forum? Go stick to the the S1000+ or other 'pro' gear and quit whining here. Good luck for your business.

So I spent last weekend in Bimini, Bahamas doing a shoot for a stand up paddle board company. I launched all weekend from a 32ft center console Intrepid. I launched from the bow of the boat but could not start the motors until all sensors were zeroed out, meaning the boat had to be perfectly still. Did not matter when I powered up only when the boat would stop rocking for a split second could I start the motors. I also got on live chat with DJI about the issue and they are working on a firmware update to remedy this issue. If you have any questions about my trip email me ryan@aerialodyssey.com. Thanks

nicholasbowersm, This may something you have alrady tried but I can not imagine that a 100' boat is not stable enough in 1-2' seas that it woud not take off. I am going to assume that you are doing this from the bow or an upper deck. This of course magnifies the movement the farther you move vertically from the surface of the water. have you tried launching from the swim platform at the stern? Assuming it has one.

Houston

1.) over a month out, and I still don't know when my camera / gimbal can be repaired, and how long.

2.) Still can't launch from a boat?  DJI said in mid January a fix was coming in a couple weeks.  It is April ... clearly more than a couple weeks.

... and Firmware updates?  ... any tricks?