Had Phantom 4 since May. ABSOLUTELY PERFECT, literally not ONE TINY GLITCH IN ANY CIRCUMSTANCE NO MATTER WHAT! (all firmwares, climates, weather conditions, etc)
So far I've had 7-8 issues with the Mavic, that has varied from different firmwares:

3x - Lose GPS randomly.
4x - Atti mode not accepting input (or so little it was not useful in any way)
10x+ - Gimbal going crazy (mid flight and while landed before flight, sometimes inside)
8x+ - Random 90 degree turns after gimbal freaks out.
10x+ - Focus going weird/wavy at regular intervals (mid flight and while landed before flight, sometimes inside)

- Gimbal tilt is not correct (no, this is not calibration or gimbal roll, will do seperate post)
- During some of the above video will stop recording automatically
- Excessive wind warnings (pretty much every flight, and in same conditions where was flying Phantom 4 and NEVER got wind warning)


So final score:

Phantom 4 = 0 (Glitches/Errors over 9 months)
Mavic Pro = 30+ (Glitches/Errors over 2 weeks)

What the hell DJI???!?

Have you ever experienced automatic landing initiated without being able to cancel it. So craft just started landing?

How is your IMU and Compass readouts?  

lxffm Posted at 2017-2-26 13:46
Have you ever experienced automatic landing initiated without being able to cancel it. So craft just started landing?

I have never had landing start automatically.

I HAVE had landing not work correctly, where holding down starts the landing, and it reaches the ground/floor, and while STILL holding down, the blades stay on and it bounces around or skips across!

The Phantom 4 landing was PERFECT! Not sure why they changes how this works on Mavic, where going down, it hovers for a second, then initiates the landing, etc.

Phantom 4 you had full control right down to the ground, and never really had problem with it shutting off!

There is obviously a totally different technique programmed in the Mavic compared to Phantom 4

Jdwyier Posted at 2017-2-26 13:51
How is your IMU and Compass readouts?

They always report ok when I look, except of course when in the car or whatever, and compass shows issue, but obviously that goes back to ok when clear from interfering objects.

SnowBirdNL Posted at 2017-2-26 14:28
They always report ok when I look, except of course when in the car or whatever, and compass shows issue, but obviously that goes back to ok when clear from interfering objects.

The gimble going crazy and sudden 90% turns while in flight, tilted horizon, etc make me wonder if a careful IMU & compass calibration would be a big help.

As for landing issues - Turn off Landing Protection in the app. I found it quite bothersome. No weird pause followed by the Mavic doing it's own thing during landing with it turned off.

Jdwyier Posted at 2017-2-26 14:36
The gimble going crazy and sudden 90% turns while in flight, tilted horizon, etc make me wonder if a careful IMU & compass calibration would be a big help.

As for landing issues - Turn off Landing Protection in the app. I found it quite bothersome. No weird pause followed by the Mavic doing it's own thing during landing with it turned off.

I have recalibrate everything to death lol!! Many times on each firmware!

Very interesting idea about the landing setting!!

I have been through settings 10 millions times but have not seen this option?!

Could you tell me where it is?? (Because I friggin' hate the landing on this thing lol, really ticks me off lol)

SnowBirdNL Posted at 2017-2-26 14:50
I have recalibrate everything to death lol!! Many times on each firmware!

Very interesting idea about the landing setting!!

Don't have my Mavic with me and you have to have the Mavic turned on and connected to access it I beleive. I think it's under the sensor options menu. (The little symbol the looks a bit like a wifi icon) but I can't recall for sure.

Jdwyier Posted at 2017-2-26 14:54
Don't have my Mavic with me and you have to have the Mavic turned on and connected to access it I beleive. I think it's under the sensor options menu. (The little symbol the looks a bit like a wifi icon) but I can't recall for sure.

Thanks!

I googled and apparently Litchi also has control over this setting.

I have purchased Litchi after I got Mavic, but sadly I have not had enough confidence in the Mavic yet to move to another app, which is very disappointing because I honestly expected to out of the box be able to treat it like I do the Phantom (confidence wise), but am still far more afraid with Mavic than confident!!

It is just too familiar to the 1.5 years with the parrot Bebop (which of course has NEVER become usable, each update with that over months would fix one thing, but break something else that used to work.. I mean EVERY UPDATE caused other issues, so Bebop (like communism) is only good in theory lol!


Just sucks that it feels like the Mavic is much closer to the Bebop experience than the Phantom 4 experience, where you constantly have to second guess what it is going to do, or always be afraid it will do something unexpected at any moment
How can such similar products from the same company be so night and day??

All in all I have had more unexpected behaviour than expected with Mavic, again unlike Phantom which has been 100% as expected from the first second!

Sorry to hear but I've flown my Mavic in lots of places under different conditions and its NEVER given a SINGLE problem. There are now at least 3-5x more Mavic flyers than P4 ones and believe me, if there were this much issues with it, DJI would have heard an earful by now.

Mike-the-cat Posted at 2017-2-26 15:14
Sorry to hear but I've flown my Mavic in lots of places under different conditions and its NEVER given a SINGLE problem. There are now at least 3-5x more Mavic flyers than P4 ones and believe me, if there were this much issues with it, DJI would have heard an earful by now.

What do you mean?

There are UNLIMITED reports between the forum, google, and youtube with all the same issues I've had!

Each time I have an issue I search, and sure enough, more examples than I can sift through lol!


That being said I do see lots of people like you who have had all perfect flights, so gives me hope it is possible, but there is definitely something going on with some of them, either hardware or software, time will ultimately tell!!

FYI: Some examples of gimbal failure

Just want to put some perspective into this, lets think about the number of iterations for the DJI Phantom.

• Lets not just think about the Phantom 4, lets start from the begining of the Phantom line.
• There were Phantom 1, Phantom 2, Phantom 2 Vision, Phantom 2 Vision+, Phantom 2 FC40, Phantom 3, Phantom 3 Professional, Phantom 3 Advanced, Phantom 3 Standard,  then Phantom 4 and finally Phantom 4 Pro.
• It took over 9 iterations to get to the Phantom 4 model and a whole heap of firmware updates with each iteration.
  

So now comparing to the Mavic, first iteration...

Technology and lessons learnt from the Phantom can be adopted, but it is still it's first iteration and it's bound to have issues.

• We can only hope that all these issues get addressed and in time the next iteration of the Mavic can be improved.
  

SnowBirdNL Posted at 2017-2-26 15:26
FYI: Some examples of gimbal failure
https://youtu.be/6_ZIGhepTc0

You have a defective unit. Period. Send it in for a replacement.

cluc Posted at 2017-2-26 15:50
Just want to put some perspective into this, lets think about the number of iterations for the DJI Phantom.

Lets not just think about the Phantom 4, lets start from the begining of the Phantom line.

There were Phantom 1, Phantom 2, Phantom 2 Vision, Phantom 2 Vision+, Phantom 2 FC40, Phantom 3, Phantom 3 Professional, Phantom 3 Advanced, Phantom 3 Standard,  then Phantom 4 and finally Phantom 4 Pro.

Outstanding observation!

As a new Mavic owner, after reading through this forum, I wondered if I made the right decision - I do feel better after reading your post.

Thank You

SnowBirdNL Posted at 2017-2-26 15:26
FYI: Some examples of gimbal failure
https://youtu.be/6_ZIGhepTc0

Sorry to hear about the issue with your Mavic.
I'd suggest you sending it in for diagnosis and repair.
Did you get in touch with our tech support before?

SnowBirdNL Posted at 2017-2-26 14:50
I have recalibrate everything to death lol!! Many times on each firmware!

Very interesting idea about the landing setting!!

You'll find the Landing Protection option under the Advanced Vision Settings. If you're on IOS, then this option would have only appeared within the last couple of weeks. If you're on Android, it should have been there for a couple of months, at least. And I'm assuming you're using GO 4, not GO 3.

SnowBirdNL Posted at 2017-2-26 15:05
Thanks!

I googled and apparently Litchi also has control over this setting.

good to hear someone else had a Bebop,   such a shame that,  as the bebop and skycontroller was fantastic other than its firmware/software,  strange that the mavic has the very same issues,  i have just bought a yuneek because of this nonsense, and will look to buy the H920 as well on release as DJI are really stuck with their heads in the sand,  continuing trying to get phones calculators (LOL) and tablets to work as the interface on their devices,  i was ready to fill my fleet with DJI products,  i already have  the Mavic and Inspire and was just about to go for the phantom 4 pro,   Inspire 2  and the new M210rdk,   but as i fly proffesionally i cant be doing with expensive machines that wont fly repetively and safely,  i am so dissappointed as the mechanicals of DJI are superb,   the way they fly are second to none  and i believe the best there is!    But if you dont have the confidence in the interface system and software/firmware theres no point,  so if i have to buy a machine that wanders a little in gps mode, and has a few features less, but is reliable every time i fly it, then that has to be my choice.  

Hi SnowBirdNL,

Hi SnowBirdNL,

I bet you recommend me to buy a Phantom 4 Pro instead of another Mavic Pro - since the last one crashed into the water.

What are the pros and cons between the two?

I need it to record water sport activities in the summer. I purchased the Mavic Pro cause I saw the video with the googles doing the race. I wanted to do that aswell. But most important is that it is reliable and don’t drop into the water.

Can you get inflatables for Phantom 4 or the Mavic Pro?

DJI Mindy Posted at 2017-2-26 19:58
Sorry to hear about the issue with your Mavic.
I'd suggest you sending it in for diagnosis and repair.
Did you get in touch with our tech support before?

I already contacted and opened an RMA and got shipping label.

Was about to ship when the last update was released so figured I'd try that first.

Was a major improvement with update, so now not as convinced it's hardware related, which of course would put me without it for a couple weeks for no reason if so!

Jason Lane Posted at 2017-2-26 21:01
You'll find the Landing Protection option under the Advanced Vision Settings. If you're on IOS, then this option would have only appeared within the last couple of weeks. If you're on Android, it should have been there for a couple of months, at least. And I'm assuming you're using GO 4, not GO 3.

Thank you!

That will at least take care of that problem for good! Really annoyed me lol!

cluc Posted at 2017-2-26 15:50
Just want to put some perspective into this, lets think about the number of iterations for the DJI Phantom.

Lets not just think about the Phantom 4, lets start from the begining of the Phantom line.

There were Phantom 1, Phantom 2, Phantom 2 Vision, Phantom 2 Vision+, Phantom 2 FC40, Phantom 3, Phantom 3 Professional, Phantom 3 Advanced, Phantom 3 Standard,  then Phantom 4 and finally Phantom 4 Pro.

This point is well made!

I do acknowledge Phantom has much more time to be refined, this did occur to me even before receiving the Mavic.

I got in DJI only in the last year, and the Phantom 4 and OSMO Mobile were such friggin' high quality that I was in awe for or less (especially compared to such bad experiences with other makes).

I guess was just still a little surprised to get something DJI and not be 100% confident in it!

Even if I have defect (which means some batches must be cause of other reports of same issues), than I will send and no harm done.... Above state still would apply


I will officially concede that I should have more patience with something this new!

Mike-the-cat Posted at 2017-2-26 16:15
You have a defective unit. Period. Send it in for a replacement.

That's what I thought for a bit, but evidence doesn't explicitly support that, and don't want to go without drone for 2 weeks for no reason at all, especially now weather is finally getting a bit nicer!

Drone was fine -> Update -> Drone was crazy/unpredictable -> Update -> MUCH better

So is it really hardware for sure???

I will send, after I downgrade to original firmware which seemed fine before, but if still shows problem after downgrade...

That should prove one way or other!!

Nikon 1 Posted at 2017-2-26 16:23
Outstanding observation!

As a new Mavic owner, after reading through this forum, I wondered if I made the right decision - I do feel better after reading your post.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the Mavic, and I will always want one lol!


it probably sounds like I am more complaining than anything, but my ONLY intention is to help draw awareness to issues which in the long run can only help DJI to make improvements, and maybe provide some input to others experiencing similar issues.

I talk up the thing, and it's one of the coolest things I own!

MikeQView Posted at 2017-2-27 02:09
good to hear someone else had a Bebop,   such a shame that,  as the bebop and skycontroller was fantastic other than its firmware/software,  strange that the mavic has the very same issues,  i have just bought a yuneek because of this nonsense, and will look to buy the H920 as well on release as DJI are really stuck with their heads in the sand,  continuing trying to get phones calculators (LOL) and tablets to work as the interface on their devices,  i was ready to fill my fleet with DJI products,  i already have  the Mavic and Inspire and was just about to go for the phantom 4 pro,   Inspire 2  and the new M210rdk,   but as i fly proffesionally i cant be doing with expensive machines that wont fly repetively and safely,  i am so dissappointed as the mechanicals of DJI are superb,   the way they fly are second to none  and i believe the best there is!    But if you dont have the confidence in the interface system and software/firmware theres no point,  so if i have to buy a machine that wanders a little in gps mode, and has a few features less, but is reliable every time i fly it, then that has to be my choice.

yes, bebop had A LOT of promise with the hardware it had! It just never was implemented properly, I bet I could do a list of 100 issues with that thing!!

And maybe not that I am having same issues with Mavic as Bebop, more that being stressful when flying Mavic felt like with Bebop because you are constantly thinking in back of mind "is something unexpected going to happen" lol... does make me feel alive thought lmao!!!

Sounds like you had some Mavic issues as well? or was other DJI stuff?

Certainly I haven't gotten to thinking about another brand yet. Have had so much good luck with other DJI stuff that really just need to know for sure if my Mavic is hardware of software deficient, so I can avoid going without it for 2 weeks over firmware lol!

TeaMdRuIm Posted at 2017-2-27 02:51
Hi SnowBirdNL,

I bet you recommend me to buy a Phantom 4 Pro instead of another Mavic Pro - since the last one crashed into the water.

Of course the obvious different is the portability!

I do find this part to be convenient enough to warrant a Mavic, but obviously this is person to person.

If you had to ask me personally which one is more reliable, I would be forced to say Phantom 4 (and I'm sure Phantom 4 Pro would be similar reliability).

But also there are people who have had perfect experience with Mavic, but sounds like you also had Mavic issues!

So if reliability at this moment is more important than portability, choice may be obvious, but I am confident Mavic will be ok soon enough, either with updates or people with trouble ones getting them serviced!

I am not sure about the accessories though.. Phantoms have been around so long with that shape, that my guess would be more is available for them at the moment, but that of course will change soon!

SnowBirdNL Posted at 2017-2-27 06:12
Of course the obvious different is the portability!

I do find this part to be convenient enough to warrant a Mavic, but obviously this is person to person.

When you're flying above water the reliability is the most important thing I guess. I just think the Mavic look 10 times cooler and was so excited about it that I don't believe the Phantom 4 Pro can give me the same excitement

There are still 2 months until I need the drone for recording. But want to practice it a bit first to get some nice recordings when it's on.

Loved everything about that Mavic thought... Except from completely dropping signal and crashing into the water of course...lol ...

In my case, the first Mavic I bought had a well and truly defective gimbal, and the one they replaced it with is darn near perfect, with the few issues being software-related, noncritical and fixable. So from where I'm standing, it looks like hardware reliability may vary between batches or units or something.

I agree that the phantom 4 was dji's. Shining moment, I had the p4 and flew everyday all summer at work and weekends and never had 1 issue. I sold it to get the p4 pro,what a mistake, after 3 defective units in a row I finally gave up and got my money back.

TeaMdRuIm Posted at 2017-2-27 06:41
When you're flying above water the reliability is the most important thing I guess. I just think the Mavic look 10 times cooler and was so excited about it that I don't believe the Phantom 4 Pro can give me the same excitement

There are still 2 months until I need the drone for recording. But want to practice it a bit first to get some nice recordings when it's on.

Reliability is key!! ...and again I think the Mavic will get there!

Agree Mavic is cooler looking, and damn cool to put in jacket pocket, walk up a trail and deploy.. Phantom in a backpack seems trivial, but in 2 separate trips i went on, did 20-25km on foot each day, with the Phantom on my pack for 90% of it!!

Let me tell you I would have traded the quirky behavior of the Mavic for that any day because after the 10th or 15th km of the day, your shoulders are killing, and back super sweaty lol!

I just hope this feeling with the Mavic of "always wondering" when flying will completely go away even if I get a replacement!


Still hard to say what I would choose if I had to pick one or the other today!!

Short term, Phantom 4 would probably be better, long term Mavic probably would be better.. IDK!!

No1much Posted at 2017-2-27 08:48
In my case, the first Mavic I bought had a well and truly defective gimbal, and the one they replaced it with is darn near perfect, with the few issues being software-related, noncritical and fixable. So from where I'm standing, it looks like hardware reliability may vary between batches or units or something.

I am curious, what kind of behavior was your gimbal exhibiting?

Was it the same "flipping out" thing?

If so, what firmwares (if you know)?

R&L Aerial  Posted at 2017-2-27 09:00
I agree that the phantom 4 was dji's. Shining moment, I had the p4 and flew everyday all summer at work and weekends and never had 1 issue. I sold it to get the p4 pro,what a mistake, after 3 defective units in a row I finally gave up and got my money back.

Really?

So the Phantom 4 Pro was not near the quality of regular Phantom 4??

What did you go with after??

SnowBirdNL Posted at 2017-2-27 09:09
Really?

So the Phantom 4 Pro was not near the quality of regular Phantom 4??

I had P4 from the beginning just like Mavic there were many problems, tilted horizon, drop in altitude on breaking etc, after a few firmware updates it got much better and today it is a great AC, I now have. P4 pro and it's like P4 , but a much improved AC it's a truly great machine with a camera equal to many great DSLR cameras, I marvel at it every day.

I also have a Mavic, I was one of the first to get one, it flys like a dream it has great poise and balance it does everything in spades, and it's portability is to die for.

The camera on Mavic is a through wonder, but in order to take good photos which is one of my interest's you have to have a bit of knowledge and be prepared to work at it to get great photography.

I've had one problem and now it's gone because of firmware update, that was too sensitive wind warnings. It's truly a great machine..

SnowBirdNL Posted at 2017-2-27 09:09
Really?

So the Phantom 4 Pro was not near the quality of regular Phantom 4??

I now have the mavric pro and inspire 1 pro with x5 camera, there my main birds.

SnowBirdNL Posted at 2017-2-27 05:46
I already contacted and opened an RMA and got shipping label.

Was about to ship when the last update was released so figured I'd try that first.

Your problem has nothing to do with firmware. DJI firmware is not perfect but it is nowhere as buggy as many non-technical noobs say.

This is not a fly-by-night bunch of engineers we are talking about. No matter how many people say so. The  evidence is in the overall engineering of the products we have in hand.

If you poll a hundred people, some will come up with complaints whether they are justified or not. I suggest you spend your time flying the P4, waiting for the Mavic to return and keep yourself happy that way.

Mike-the-cat Posted at 2017-2-27 17:10
If you poll a hundred people, some will come up with complaints whether they are justified or not. I suggest you spend your time flying the P4, waiting for the Mavic to return and keep yourself happy that way.

This sounds like solid advice. I have been a Fortunate One with my Mavic. No untoward behavior, even while guiding it below a Goodgodbejesus bridge and never losing contact. KNOCK ON MADERA!

maybe cause phantom 4 is on version 4 so 4 years of working out the kinks vs mavic is a brand new product. in 4 years itll be just as flawless

Blucenturion Posted at 2017-2-27 17:40
This sounds like solid advice. I have been a Fortunate One with my Mavic. No untoward behavior, even while guiding it below a Goodgodbejesus bridge and never losing contact. KNOCK ON MADERA!

aye aye Captain!