Next, the waiting game, the UAV and stuff came in two boxes and shipped out of California, it shipped out in just a few days and arrived in about a week. Actually, the full process for the reorder went faster than the original first order starting out. Both boxes arrived together and everything was ship shape. I checked everything over and found no problems. Then came the activation, update, setup, yadda yadda yadda process, I probably feared this most because of all the problems I’ve read about updates both here and elsewhere. Anyway, I first activated and updated the Goggles, since I found no known issues with them. That went exactly as advertised and as explained in the manual and tutorial videos. Wham bam thank ya ma’am it was done and all good, now to update the Phantom, RC, and Batteries, oh boy!
Following the manual and tutorials exactly, I first went to update the UAV using Assistant 2. Got everything connected and right off the bat I got some pop up messages on my computer saying there appeared to be a problem with my connected drive (UAV) and it needed to be scanned to repair it. The warning then went away so I assumed that the connection confusion was resolved. I did get the P4P icon show up in Asst. 2, I selected it, and I immediately got a window saying internal files had to be updated and to “confirm” this, I did. It then started performing that action and quickly said complete 100%, going well so far. Then another saying updates needed to be performed popped up, while the previous started running, asking for that to be “confirmed” which I did. As soon as the file upload was complete it then attempted to perform the update, however, here I ran into trouble. It did not complete, it kicked it out or stopped. I think, for whatever the reason, the drone became disconnected from the computer and did not or could not be reconnected. Possibly the disconnect occurred due to a reboot cycle, during the update process. In response, I disconnected everything rebooted and reconnected and restarted, this time I did not get the same computer pop ups messages, I believe part of the problem with the first messages were related to drivers needing to be downloaded to talk to the UAV. Now during the last effort Asst. 2 never asked me to “Activate” my Phantom, so as of yet that was not complete. After reconnecting and entering Asst. 2, it again popped up an update message and asking me to confirm it, I did. This time it finished, I then went through the Asst. 2 checking for other actions needing to be completed and in updates it showed the FW required updating, I did (I was nervous about that) and it completed 100%. Then I saw the way to “activate” the UAV and did so, that completed without issue. Next, I began the setup for updating the RC. Unfortunately, the RC can only be done using your mobile device, for which I am not a fan. I should note that before updating everything I fully charged all devices, including both my Batts. I then opened and signed in to the GO 4 Application, then powered on the RC without the UAV powered on. I then got some pop up messages on my tablet having to do with my application settings and the USB connection for GO 4. I believe it boiled down to making GO 4 a default app to open when this device (the RC) is connected, however, there were additional issues related to security and permissions and it took some time to work all that out and there was no guidance in how to do so. Once I thought that was resolved, I then went in to the aircraft status menu and selected firmware where it showed an update needed to be performed and selected this to be done. I immediately had problems here, while it initialized it did not complete. Again, I think it was related to settings in the tablet. I then switched to my cellphone to see if I could get it to work there. I got the same initial popup messages about the USB connection but being prepared I made those adjustments and attempted to update, which it did without problem. Next, I connected the UAV, powered on, to the RC, and received indications that updates needed to be completed. I assumed this might be for the battery since I thought the updates were complete for the UAV via Asst. 2, however, I am not really sure since I never saw anything saying “battery” needs updating. Overall, it took me about an hour to work through all of that to get the RC & Batts or whatever updated and ready to go. Lesson learned, while the tutorials are nice, they don’t explain things nearly enough and the manuals are severely lacking in key details, especially in areas such as this. A trouble shooting section/guide would be very helpful as an example.
Now off to the reunion and my first flights with my shiny new drone, yeah!
Look for Part III: First Flights and the Crash
First Officer