It seems like the Inspire locks and prevents its use when firmware upgrades exist. Are these locks going to be standard, and if so, shouldn't the app provide a warning (several days) before the lock engages.

I can see this is being a real problem when you're out and about, without a computer, and an upgrade suddenly is noted, with a locked Inspire. I'd be really upset if I was traveling.

How so? Did you have .13 installed and the unit ceased operating until you installed .14?

The lock occurred out of the box, with an upgrade to all subsequent firmware updates.

That was my question.  Is the lock occurring on all subsequent firmware availability or was it just an intial lock for the first update?

I had upgraded to .13 and went to get the sunrise this morning and was locked out until I went back to the shop (missing the sunrise) and did the update.

If it is found that there is a critical flaw that might make the copter unsafe to fly, then yes, lock it out. If its just a minor update, then display an annoying warning.

Agreed. Imagine you get in your car to go to work, but then miss your window of time to beat rush hour traffic because your innovation stifling Apple branded car refused to start until you completed the 500GB download patch for the car firmware. Who the hell wants that?

People use drones to make money. If you're heading out to shoot an event but suddenly all systems are a "no-go" because some authority figure at DJI decided to lock you out for an upgrade - I'd be PISSED. One could even say such actions could be potentially litigious.

It depends, if the latest firmware is critical, aircraft will be locked unless u upgrade. Otherwise it will not be locked.

As a suggestion to the DJI R&D team, please look into the possibility of incorporating firmware updating into the iOS / Android Pilot app.

Whenever a new firmware update is available, users would be able to trigger the download of the firmware to the Pilot app, and since the tablet is already connected to the quad (via WiFi) and the radio (via Lightning / microUSB cable), the update is pushed to the quad/radio and the update progress is displayed on screen, along with success/fail alerts.

ghoonk Posted at 2015-1-7 17:51
As a suggestion to the DJI R&D team, please look into the possibility of incorporating firmware upda ...

Thanks for your advice.
We have studied the solution before and failed.

Oh, that's a pity.

I guess the trick now would be to have an Android device, an OTG cable, USB stick, and a microUSB card reader (or use the one on the Android device).

Download the ZIP, uncompress it on the Android device, then copy the .BIN via OTG to the USB stick and the microUSB card.

I'm an RC video pilot for hobby and business reasons, and could never consider an order of the Inspire 1 that has a "remote shutdown" capability. The question remains unanswered: Are Firmware Upgrade Locks Permanent?!? We use drones for security patrol. Security is only as strong as our weakest link. For "whatever reason" (political, social, criminal, cranking, etc.) it appears that one can hack in a "shutdown code" of one, all, or any number of drones. In the field of "Security Patrol" this clearly can cause loss of property, injury, or lives! Until DJI severs any and all wireless communications with its product, or has a workaround to prevent contact with the Inspire 1 controls, there will be no forthcoming orders at this time.

DJI-ZT Posted at 2015-1-7 19:10
Thanks for your advice.
We have studied the solution before and failed.

Can this lock appear during flight?