Hey all, question for the experts. Given that someone just flew a Mavic Pro at the summit of the worlds 2nd tallest mountain K2, (8,611 metres (28,251 ft), is there any reason to believe a Phantom 4 couldn't fly at similar altitudes? None of the published ceilings for any DJI drone come close to these altitudes, but they've exceeded them anyhow. The phantom 4 has the highest published ceiling, so thought it might have more propulsion than the Mavic Pro. Any thoughts?

I think the ceilings are down the the proficiency at that altitude, they can go much high but i doubt the flight times will be the same length, the thin air will cause them to use more power the higher it is due to the thinner air the higher it goes...

Aloha Hover,

     They may be using custom propellers.  DJI sells high-altitude propellers for some of their industrial drones.  The new "quiet" propellers for the P4 Pro V.2 may work better at high altitudes for the Phantoms.  

     Sorry, that is it, no more thoughts!

Aloha and Drone On!

How did they circumvent the 400 meter software imposed altitude limit?

Mark Weiss Posted at 2018-8-1 07:23
How did they circumvent the 400 meter software imposed altitude limit?

It's 16,404 feet.

https://www.dji.com/mavic/info#specs

The P4 is 19,685 feet

https://www.dji.com/phantom-4-pro/info#specs

Maybe the OP can enlighten us...

Mark The Droner Posted at 2018-8-1 07:49
It's 16,404 feet.

https://www.dji.com/mavic/info#specs

The Go 4 software won't take a number higher than 500m for max altitude. That's something like 1640'. Software-imposed limitation. Like the chips they put in 'fast' cars to handicap them so they can't outrun a police cruiser.

Mark Weiss Posted at 2018-8-1 11:22
The Go 4 software won't take a number higher than 500m for max altitude. That's something like 1640'. Software-imposed limitation. Like the chips they put in 'fast' cars to handicap them so they can't outrun a police cruiser.

But isn't that 500m AGL?  Which means if ground level is 16,000 feet then Go 4 will allow the drone (if it's capable) of going 17,400 ft altitude.

Mark Weiss Posted at 2018-8-1 07:23
How did they circumvent the 400 meter software imposed altitude limit?

Maybe they didn't start down at the bottom of the mountain?

Labroides Posted at 2018-8-1 13:15
Maybe they didn't start down at the bottom of the mountain?

That would be cheating. Like a short person riding piggyback on a giant.

Thats not the point though is it, lets say i was on an expedition and climbed up to Everest base camp, then took off from there to get some shots, is that cheating, not in my book and this is what the op is on about, someone climbed somewhere and then sent out the drone to get some shots. no different to anyone else go to any other location, only that in this scenario high alt is involved, the op is only querying ceiling heights is all.

Bashy Posted at 2018-8-1 19:45
Thats not the point though is it, lets say i was on an expedition and climbed up to Everest base camp, then took off from there to get some shots, is that cheating, not in my book and this is what the op is on about, someone climbed somewhere and then sent out the drone to get some shots. no different to anyone else go to any other location, only that in this scenario high alt is involved, the op is only querying ceiling heights is all.

The ambiguity of the title leaves open the speculation that the Mavic actually climbed to that altitude, which is why I was suspicious of the statement.

Mark Weiss Posted at 2018-8-2 08:46
The ambiguity of the title leaves open the speculation that the Mavic actually climbed to that altitude, which is why I was suspicious of the statement.

The issue at that height, 28,000 feet MSL, is the lack of atmosphere.  It's in the title.  The air is thin.  Therefore, it's difficult to fly a drone because a drone requires air to fly.  I think this is obvious to most readers.  

sorry for the confusion. I want to know 2 things. (1) which drone performs better at altitude, P4 pro or Mavic Pro? (2) What hardware mods (besides props), if any, are required? Not worried about firmware or imposed AGL limits. clearly, the answer is yes from what I've seen on the web, and what just happened on K2. But are there hardware mods I'm unaware of?

I have to fly at altitudes between 18,000 to 23,000, but not from 18,000 to 23,000. I'm not worried about the 500m limit. Let's say I carried the drone to the summit.... I'd love to find hard answers or a calculator like ecalc that can give me an answer on whether the P4 is equivalent. I'd prefer to use P4 pro for better camera.

Hover10 Posted at 2018-8-2 11:02
sorry for the confusion. I want to know 2 things. (1) which drone performs better at altitude, P4 pro or Mavic Pro? (2) What hardware mods (besides props), if any, are required? Not worried about firmware or imposed AGL limits. clearly, the answer is yes from what I've seen on the web, and what just happened on K2. But are there hardware mods I'm unaware of?

I have to fly at altitudes between 18,000 to 23,000, but not from 18,000 to 23,000. I'm not worried about the 500m limit. Let's say I carried the drone to the summit.... I'd love to find hard answers or a calculator like ecalc that can give me an answer on whether the P4 is equivalent. I'd prefer to use P4 pro for better camera.

I'm fairly sure I've seen film of a Phantom flying upwards from Everest base camp with no difficulties, but the big problem up there is going to be wind, it's ability to cope with wind is probably a lot less than at lower levels and the wind tends to be a lot stronger.  The chances of suitable weather conditions must be fairly low.

I would go for the Phantom with new quiet props and turn the control sensitivities down to improve stability.  Unless I had to carry it to the top, and then I would take a Spark!