By the specs the tranmission range is 7km (4.3 miles) and the max flight distance on a single battery is 8 miles. With that said it will take 8.6 miles to reach the full range and come back. That means at best your drone will land .6 miles from home(better have a friend who you can trust to pick up your drone).  HOWEVER not everyone will be able to use the range to its full extent due to their enviroment/surroundings and the extra boost of signal will help in those situations.

That's like saying "Your tires are rated too fast for your car."

That 8 miles distance means that's how much ground it can cover and not fly 8 miles out. For instance, you could fly a point of interest mode for a total of 8 miles and still be over your head.

Carlos Danger Posted at 2016-9-30 10:42
The thing is no one has spoken about real life range yet. The P4, although rated at 3.1 miles, in re ...

In time answers will be given as this new aircraft is not even in the publics hands yet. I'm sure more specifications will come out as time goes on.

Yea if it can fly HALF the rated range (2mi) in almost any environment stock I would be super happy. DJI-Ken we are talking about reliable transmission range (i.e. full video and control of drone), not maximum battery range.

jstefanop Posted at 2016-9-30 14:45
Yea if it can fly HALF the rated range (2mi) in almost any environment stock I would be super happy. ...

Max transmission range is 7 km as the website states, but that is with no interference and in an obstructed view.

I would think for my purposes, i.e. covering ground like the perimeter of a lake by example, the trip could easily reach 4 miles even though the drone might not be one mile away at any given moment. For me that is a great advantage. I do a lot of marsh and beach work, and cruising back an forth would be great for my purposes.

DJI-Ken Posted at 2016-9-30 19:41
Max transmission range is 7 km as the website states, but that is with no interference and in an  ...

Yea Im more interested in real world performance than perfect scenario. (i.e. if I'm a mile away and my LOS has to go behind a tree or building will I lose connection?)

jstefanop Posted at 2016-10-2 14:39
Yea Im more interested in real world performance than perfect scenario. (i.e. if I'm a mile away a ...

If behind a tree, it depends how dense the tree is and how far away you are from it.
A building, I'd say you'd probably lose connection. But if it's a small building say a house then you may not lose signal. If flying downtown behind a skyscraper you probably would lose signal.

The mavic will be my first drone. I have worked around them but not ever flown them and those instances they were LOS and in a controlled open area (no skyscrapers).

What would happen in the above scenario if you DID lose connection? would the aircraft drop out of the sky?

I appreciate the guidance and information.

skay Posted at 2016-9-30 18:06
That's like saying "Your tires are rated too fast for your car."

Damn it ... I was gonna post that lol

marctronixx Posted at 2016-10-2 00:05
The mavic will be my first drone. I have worked around them but not ever flown them and those instan ...

Short Answer: No.  

Like most other DJI drones including the P2, P3, P4 and Inspire...  If you fly out of range or the drone looses the control signal it will automatically turn around and return to the home position and land.  The "return to home" feature has been standard on DJI drones for a long time.  It has saved my P3 more than once.

Has there been any range test to be shown off yet ??

Fulgerite Posted at 2016-10-2 15:12
Short Answer: No.  

Like most other DJI drones including the P2, P3, P4 and Inspire...  If you fly ...

And as such, don't forget to set your RTH height at a safe altitude to return.

I trust this was the one Putin referred - tested to a distance of 7035m range (at 4:49 in the footage) over the ocean. The quality of OcuSync video downlink is quite impressive here, although it isn't representative of "real" distance in normal conditions.


Henry

Putin Posted at 2016-10-6 01:25
Yep - that's the video. And yep - it's over the water in the middle of nowhere. I really want to s ...

These tests will be done as time goes on.

Henry Mo-Yung Posted at 2016-10-5 11:19
I trust this was the one Putin referred - tested to a distance of 7035m range (at 4:49 in the footag ...

In the video it looks like he started with a battery at 98% ....and reached 7km at 64%

Just found out another range test video, looks good but maybe fake.

Wow there's now fake video? Good grief.

At this point ive seen enough video and text to solidify and confirm my decision to continue with my pre order and am also satisfied of the quality of the drone.  All the points i was concerned about (image quality, focusing , battery life) have been addressed.

I found out its max SD card is 64gb. Can someone who represents DJI or a knowledgeable  person of DJIs Drones suggest the top SD card to use with this drone? Amazon link would be choice!

I noticed in the first video in one scene he was using a iPad mini to view the DJI Go app, just holding it I assume as it won't fit the holder. I will have to look into making a holder for the controller and an iPad as I love the larger view on my P3A. (Mavic on order, glad I passed on the P4 as this suits my needs much better)

In terms of range, I personally have gotten as far as a mile, line of sight in a suburban area, before my video feed even started to stutter.

jstefanop Posted at 2016-9-30 13:45
Yea if it can fly HALF the rated range (2mi) in almost any environment stock I would be super happy. DJI-Ken we are talking about reliable transmission range (i.e. full video and control of drone), not maximum battery range.

Agreed I haven't taken it pas 800 feet yet but I want to push it to at least 1/2 a mile to see if it can handle urban environment.

I just did some long range tests a few days ago.
For test 1, I flew to the north. There was a small hill and trees between me and the AC. The max distance was 1.4 miles. I was barely able to hold a connection. At one point it was .1 seconds away from initiating failsafe RTH. Although 1.4 miles is much shorter than 4.3 miles I am very happy with that. That's VERY far.

For test 2, I flew to the south. This is direct line of sight with a valley below. I flew 2.91 miles. I had between 4/5 and 5/5 bars the whole way. The only reason I flew back is that I knew there was apprx. an average 10 mph wind at the same heading as my drone (later confirmed with HD), so I wanted to be safe with the battery. When I turned around I had only a minute of flight time before battery RTH, but when I got back I had I still had 45% battery.

I also did a test where I flew .3 miles away and landed in a feild. There was a 30ft building in between me and the field but otherwise I had LOS. I had a great connection until I was about 5 ft off the ground. At that point it started to go in and out. I initiated auto land and as soon as it touched down it lost connection. I just walked to the right of the building where I immediately got connection and was able to take off.

Essentially the AC will outfly it battery with true LOS. But if there is stuff in the way you or wifi interference you mileage will go down, but not enough to affect it to get in the way of real world use… unless your use involves flying VERY far.

Yes I know these flights were less than legal. Save me the lecture.

Test 1:


Test2: