fans56ec9bf8
 lvl.1
United States
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Hello All - (Newbie from Dallas, TX):
I ordered my Mavic Pro direct from DJI store about January 12. At the time their website said they were shipping in 5-7 days. They processed the payment immediately. It shipped about 12 days later. I received it 3 days after that. A total of 15 days from the date I ordered it.
I'm loving it so far. Exceeds my every expectation. I'm 47 years old and this is my first drone. I've been researching them for about the past 6 months and this seemed like the only logical option for me.
One word of advice for newbies: GET THE PROPELLER GUARDS AND USE THEM! If one of the propellers even BARELY TOUCHES anything, that bird is going DOWN immediately! The propeller guards have saved me a couple of times when I barely miscalculated stopping distances and the drone barely "bumped" something with the propeller guards. NO crash! - Just bounced off. They do not seem to affect flight at all as far as I can tell. They do make it look funny (huge), and you DO have to remove them if you want to fold the legs in, so that sucks because it totally negates the portability factor, but they only take about 2 minutes to take on/off and much better than a $500 camera repair. I will continue to use them until I feel like I'm an expert pilot, or unless I'm flying somewhere with absolutely NOTHING that I can run into.
I bought my prop guards from amazon for about $20 I think, and included the "landing gear" legs which raise the entire unit up off the ground an inch, which I find incredibly helpful as well. The legs also easily slide on and off in seconds. Without the legs, if you land in ANY grass you basically become a $1000 lawn mower.
Other notes: Realistically, I get about 15 minutes flight time if I want to land with about 15% battery left. That's when I'm flying in Sport Mode and hauling-ass everywhere and constantly climbing and diving and filming in 4K at the same time. I'm sure I'd get more time if I was flying slow and steady in low winds. The farthest I've had it away is about 3000 feet, which is where I start to lose connection with it. I'm flying it IN the city all the time, so lots of interference I'm sure. The highest I've had it is about 1200 feet once (I know, above the legal limit - just testing it). I haven't had the chance to get out and about and find any real scenic areas to fly it, but there are several small lake/ponds near me I fly around - unfortunately all in residential areas.
I try not to fly it if the wind speed is over about 12 mph - just makes me nervous and really eats up the battery.
My two biggest concerns (which are more or less out of my control) are:
1) some crazy redneck is going to see it fly over his back yard and shoot it down with this shotgun. I try to never hover or linger too long in any one area in residential areas for this reason. I don't want anyone to think I'm spying on them (I'm not).
2) Birds: I've already noticed some big white birds and/or buzzards suddenly circling nearby it. No attacks (yet). I'm guessing I accidentally got in their territory. I've heard from other forums that buzzards "probably" won't attack anything, but I KNOW that hawks and mockingbirds will and do, and we have plenty of both in my area. Even if an attack is violent enough to "grab" the drone or knock it out of the sky, all they'd have to do is to slightly touch one prop for 1 second and MY bird is going down! I'm also afraid I'll be flying (relatively) low over water and startle a whole flock of birds resting on the lake, which will all fly up and inevitably hit the drone, which will instantly add a scuba-suit to my Amazon cart. {:4_157:}
I did register it with the FAA - quick and easy online ($5).
I applied the black carbon-fiber decals to it and it turned out well - looks pretty sharp. Very time-consuming to apply correctly, and you have to be very meticulous and cautious, but if you take your time and do it slowly, it looks great. I did use a hair-dryer to "seal-the deal" and it helped a lot. I figure it will protect the drone from cosmetic damage in case of a crash, and for $14, I can just peel them off if they get scratched or scuffed or start looking bad or peeling up. Does not affect flight or reception.
Possibly a stupid question: I've seen drone footage (fairly recent) of some of the tallest buildings in downtown Dallas, flying and and around the tops of the buildings, both at day and night. It looks very cool, and I'd love to do this once I get my pilot skills a little sharper. Does anyone know if this is illegal? (if you keep it below 400 feet?) Did they have to get a permit to do this? Or do you just count on NOT getting caught? It's NOT within 5 miles of an airport. 
I welcome any feedback or comments from other newbies or experienced pilots - especially in the Dallas or Texas area.
Tray - 22 hours of flight time and counting.
Coppell, TX
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