Flying my Phantom 4 today and after two successful flights I experienced an error in the DJI Go app at the flight status window saying "Vision Positioning System Malfunction" during flight after switching from GPS to Sport and then back to GPS.  No matter how I switched from ATTI to Sport to GPS the VPS system never began to re-function.  After returning home and charging my batteries I restarted the Phantom 4 and the GPS with Optical Avoidance is operating.  First time this has ever happened on any of my Phantom 4s previous.  This was only the 4th flight of this unit.

Has anyone else experienced this?  I continued to fly in Sport mode and had no issues other than the inability to re-establish the GPS mode to functioning state.

Hello bengalboy69, do you install any 3rd-party gimbal protector below the VPS?

Haha,, no,, I'm the guy who did the test on the gimbal protector issue.  This occurred during flight and the behavior of the Phantom 4 was like it never switched out of Sport mode.  Would fly very fast and the GPS was working, hover, etc all functioned properly, it just would not activate the GPS mode and object avoidance.  The error message remained in the DJI Go app flight status throughout the flight.  This occurred on 1 battery only.  After landing and recharging batteries the Phantom 4 powered up with GPS mode functioning properly.  Just wondering if its a glitch in the software, the hardware or something I need to be concerned about.  Going on a trip to Bali and want to make sure my Phantom 4 doesn't have any issues while I'm over there filming.  Its a brand new Phantom 4, only 4 flights before this error was displayed.  I've not seen this error before on my previous Phantom 4s.

bengalboy69@gma Posted at 2016-8-2 06:01
Haha,, no,, I'm the guy who did the test on the gimbal protector issue.  This occurred during flight ...

When you fly low, do you think the VPS is working to help you stabilize the drone?

I would suggest you send it back for inspection if you have two week's time before your trip to Bali.

I'm confident the VPS is working because when I bring it in to land the VPS changes the flight attitude of the Phantom 4 once it sees the concrete pier area.  It becomes rock solid in maintaining altitude, while anything over water below 20 feet still causes it to Yo-Yo slightly.  Some high speed passes over water are at an altitude of 10-15 feet.  Most are approximately 20 feet.  I am practicing flight control with the new .503 firmware upgrade over water while filming moving boats.  Anything 30 feet or higher prevents me from creating the sense of speed I'm looking for.  I will test again this weekend to see if it happens.  I'm hesitant to send it in as I just received it last week and I'm leaving August 30.    Only time I ever sent my Vision+ in for repair it took over 45 days to receive it back.

bengalboy69@gma Posted at 2016-8-3 05:06
I'm confident the VPS is working because when I bring it in to land the VPS changes the flight attit ...

DJI USA repair times are 1-2 weeks now and have been for a while.
If you are over water withing VPS range, then you will have the limitations and nothing can change that.

Thanks for information on VPS DJI-Ken and suggestions. I'll fly again this weekend and see if I have any more errors with the GPS mode obstacle avoidance system.  I'll take a photo of the error on the DJI Go app if it occurs again.