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Low range
2291 22 2018-8-4
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maurom82
Second Officer
Flight distance : 143757 ft
Italy
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I don't know why but I see that my Mavic Air even in an open area..very far from houses or buildings, in the middle of hills I am not able to reach good ranges. The mean value of maximum range is below 400 m. I reached in the same flight today 4-5 times the data loss warning below 400m, and 3 times at 500 and 630m.
These warnings were using 5.8GHz transmission, if I use the 2.4 I lose soon the video transmission. In one case I lost signal at 158m..
I am very happy of all features of my MA, but I am seriously thinking to sell it in order to have one with ocusync or one with a wide range.
2018-8-4
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Paul_IA
Captain
Flight distance : 4959019 ft
United States
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"In the middle of hills" kind of caught my attention. If you're flying out in the open, but there are hills, that may be your problem. If you fly low and then fly over a small hill, your range will be affected. Have you tried flying at a higher altitude to see if your range increases? Also, do you have the RC antenna oriented toward the MA (i.e. are you facing the MA all the time while flying)? Just some suggestions to try to help you out.
2018-8-4
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maurom82
Second Officer
Flight distance : 143757 ft
Italy
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Paul_IA Posted at 2018-8-4 08:37
"In the middle of hills" kind of caught my attention. If you're flying out in the open, but there are hills, that may be your problem. If you fly low and then fly over a small hill, your range will be affected. Have you tried flying at a higher altitude to see if your range increases? Also, do you have the RC antenna oriented toward the MA (i.e. are you facing the MA all the time while flying)? Just some suggestions to try to help you out.

Paul you are right about what you're saying, but I was always in sight with the drone, I was on the hillside and I drive drone along the  valley. The drone was always in sight. I had no problem with the altitude reached but the distance from me was very lower than what I expected. The antenna was always perpendicular to the drone as suggested also by DJI, I will post a screen of the warnings
Screenshot_20180804-185045_Chrome.jpg
2018-8-4
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maurom82
Second Officer
Flight distance : 143757 ft
Italy
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these are warnings..
2018-8-4
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hallmark007
Captain
Flight distance : 9812789 ft
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United Kingdom
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This video should help.

2018-8-4
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dont slow down
Second Officer
Flight distance : 574977 ft
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Welcome to the horrible distance club
2018-8-4
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InvisibleName 7
Captain
Flight distance : 795653 ft
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For heavens sake! How many more threads on “my Mavic Air has poor range” and then someone chips in with “yep”. There are plenty of examples on here where people say they easily get over 1km (and often much more).  It’s NOT the Mavic Air!
Have a look here for examples of what the MA can do MA range leader board
2018-8-4
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小仙女的星巴克
Captain
Flight distance : 4657841 ft
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United States
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Lol....
You are in CE area and never read manual.
My range is 3Km in Urban City and 4 Km or more in country side.
2018-8-4
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forager3215
Second Officer
Flight distance : 230951 ft
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小仙女的星巴克 Posted at 2018-8-4 11:36
Lol....
You are in CE area and never read manual.
My range is 3Km in Urban City and 4 Km or more in country side.

You surely are not using the mavic air to get that range. I've Flown the mavic air in the Middle of the Desert where there was Nothing around not even a tumble weed while standing on a huge sand dune and was barely able to get 2800 feet.
2018-8-4
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小仙女的星巴克
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forager3215 Posted at 2018-8-4 18:42
You surely are not using the mavic air to get that range. I've Flown the mavic air in the Middle of the Desert where there was Nothing around not even a tumble weed while standing on a huge sand dune and was barely able to get 2800 feet.

Here flying in Urban City full of interference.

10313 ft = 3.14 Km

2018-8-5
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rolling56
Captain
Flight distance : 138310 ft
United States
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hallmark007 Posted at 2018-8-4 09:37
This video should help.

https://youtu.be/kaz7W9GcTmg

Nice video and should help someone in the future.
2018-8-5
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Paul_IA
Captain
Flight distance : 4959019 ft
United States
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I would say you'll have to settle on two facts here: a) The MA is capable of flying at a longer range when properly configured and b) If you're not getting that range on a properly configured MA, then you need to send it in for repair as it's probably damaged (thinking antenna(s) here). I don't think this is an out of the box product issue here. Just my 2 cents worth.
2018-8-5
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forager3215
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Flight distance : 230951 ft
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小仙女的星巴克 Posted at 2018-8-5 04:42
Here flying in Urban City full of interference.

10313 ft = 3.14 Km

Were u standing on a hill ? i see you were using 5.8 g i've tried both 2.4 and 5.8 g .
2018-8-5
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小仙女的星巴克
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forager3215 Posted at 2018-8-5 05:57
Were u standing on a hill ? i see you were using 5.8 g i've tried both 2.4 and 5.8 g .

no....not on hill or high rise building! If I can fly from a deck on a building I think it can fly further if the battery permit.
2018-8-5
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dont slow down
Second Officer
Flight distance : 574977 ft
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InvisibleName 7 Posted at 2018-8-4 11:26
For heavens sake! How many more threads on “my Mavic Air has poor range” and then someone chips in with “yep”. There are plenty of examples on here where people say they easily get over 1km (and often much more).  It’s NOT the Mavic Air!
Have a look here for examples of what the MA can do MA range leader board

How come I can fly 3x the distance with my P3A in the exact same location as my MA? By the way they both use 2.4ghz. Even with a $100 4hawks antenna upgrade on the MA I still can't reach the same distance with my Air.
2018-8-5
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InvisibleName 7
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Flight distance : 795653 ft
United States
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dont slow down Posted at 2018-8-5 07:54
How come I can fly 3x the distance with my P3A in the exact same location as my MA? By the way they both use 2.4ghz. Even with a $100 4hawks antenna upgrade on the MA I still can't reach the same distance with my Air.

I never said that the MA had the same range as any other drone, I just made the point that it's not bad
2018-8-6
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dont slow down
Second Officer
Flight distance : 574977 ft
United States
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InvisibleName 7 Posted at 2018-8-6 03:45
I never said that the MA had the same range as any other drone, I just made the point that it's not bad

If you have an iPhone X  and an iPhone 8 both operating on the same 4G Verizon network you would expect the same signal performance on both phones right?? 100-200 meter signal range is terrible considering the same technology is being used on other models with much better results.
2018-8-8
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InvisibleName 7
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dont slow down Posted at 2018-8-8 08:50
If you have an iPhone X  and an iPhone 8 both operating on the same 4G Verizon network you would expect the same signal performance on both phones right?? 100-200 meter signal range is terrible considering the same technology is being used on other models with much better results.

The phones have got nothing to do with the MA range, unless you’re  flying without the RC connected.
2018-8-8
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dont slow down
Second Officer
Flight distance : 574977 ft
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InvisibleName 7 Posted at 2018-8-8 09:24
The phones have got nothing to do with the MA range, unless you’re  flying without the RC connected.

I’m not talking about using the phone to fly the drone. This is an example. Let’s pretend you go to a cell phone store and want to buy a new iPhone, you look at all the different models and choose let’s say the iPhone 8 for example. Wouldn’t it be a reasonable expectation that you will get the same cell reception in all locations with the iPhone 8 as you would with say the iPhone X? If you bought the iPhone 8 then drove to your home and lost your cell signal even though they just put up a shiny new cell tower 200 meters from your house would you think that’s normal? Do you really think wireless transmissions only work in direct line of sight?

My point is the signal technology, the 2.4ghz and 5.8ghz signals, are the same signal as many things. The MA, Phantoms, Spark, WiFi routers, your phone, they all use the same frequencies. Now when you take those frequencies and put them in a drone the performance should be identical. If you look at the specs the MA remote even has a stronger decibel rating than the phantoms, yet many many people report only 100 meter range, or less! How is it that the MA is so much less than the phantom when it uses the same signal technology and has a stronger output? There must be a flaw in the software or firmware or even the hardware that is causing such short distance. Saying 200 meters is good range is not good!
2018-8-8
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GDL
First Officer
Flight distance : 2768694 ft
Singapore
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Read the article below to understand how to get better range.

http://blog.parrot.com/2018/07/31/anafi-wi-fi-range-efficiency/
2018-8-8
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InvisibleName 7
Captain
Flight distance : 795653 ft
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dont slow down Posted at 2018-8-8 17:44
I’m not talking about using the phone to fly the drone. This is an example. Let’s pretend you go to a cell phone store and want to buy a new iPhone, you look at all the different models and choose let’s say the iPhone 8 for example. Wouldn’t it be a reasonable expectation that you will get the same cell reception in all locations with the iPhone 8 as you would with say the iPhone X? If you bought the iPhone 8 then drove to your home and lost your cell signal even though they just put up a shiny new cell tower 200 meters from your house would you think that’s normal? Do you really think wireless transmissions only work in direct line of sight?

My point is the signal technology, the 2.4ghz and 5.8ghz signals, are the same signal as many things. The MA, Phantoms, Spark, WiFi routers, your phone, they all use the same frequencies. Now when you take those frequencies and put them in a drone the performance should be identical. If you look at the specs the MA remote even has a stronger decibel rating than the phantoms, yet many many people report only 100 meter range, or less! How is it that the MA is so much less than the phantom when it uses the same signal technology and has a stronger output? There must be a flaw in the software or firmware or even the hardware that is causing such short distance. Saying 200 meters is good range is not good!

Ok, so I now understand your analogy, but I never said that 200 metres was acceptable, if that is all an MA can do, there is definitely a problem somewhere.  However I easily get over 1km with mine using an iPhone X, latest MA FW (drone & RC) & DJI Go4, and there are plenty of others that have achieves this & much further. I also don’t dispute that there appears to be either a build quality issue with the hardware, or bugs in the software.
2018-8-8
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maurom82
Second Officer
Flight distance : 143757 ft
Italy
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InvisibleName 7 Posted at 2018-8-8 22:33
Ok, so I now understand your analogy, but I never said that 200 metres was acceptable, if that is all an MA can do, there is definitely a problem somewhere.  However I easily get over 1km with mine using an iPhone X, latest MA FW (drone & RC) & DJI Go4, and there are plenty of others that have achieves this & much further. I also don’t dispute that there appears to be either a build quality issue with the hardware, or bugs in the software.

you said that there are many people that achieve more than 1 km but there are more that achieve less then 1 km. In an open space like I said above, with the drone in sight, I have lost signal 250 m far, and video is lagging before, at 200m or sometimes around...
it's a bit strange for a drone that is sold specifying 7 km of range..isn't it?
2018-8-9
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InvisibleName 7
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maurom82 Posted at 2018-8-9 11:02
you said that there are many people that achieve more than 1 km but there are more that achieve less then 1 km. In an open space like I said above, with the drone in sight, I have lost signal 250 m far, and video is lagging before, at 200m or sometimes around...
it's a bit strange for a drone that is sold specifying 7 km of range..isn't it?

As I said, I don’t dispute that people are having range issues, but neither of us can say which way the balance is
2018-8-9
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