Hello all,

I've been reading some posts around the net from people saying their Phantoms are just falling out of the air after updating to the latest firmware. As a new flyer this makes me extremly nervous. What are your feelings on this?

Cheers!

Hey Bud, I purchased my Standard about 1 week ago and updated it right out of the box to the newest FW for machine and app. The unit has no issues what so ever and I am getting 2000ft with stock antenna(Haven't pushed it further, had good signal the whole time)! Only thing I can say is to clear/default the app, proceed with wifi download/upload of FW(I had no issues doing this process, I chose not to use an SD card because I have seen more issues on this forum with that process.

I took the drone out for a solid fly this morning over the water for 90% of the flight... That is how much confidence I have of this FW and unit!

I've not heard of any.  Could it be down to some change in the operation of the aircraft which people haven't realised?  Although I'm not aware of any significant changes.

What it took from the replies to the main thread I was reading on the phantom owners FB page was the gentleman who had the unexplained crash was a respected and experienced flyer. All he did was update to latest FW. In the thread three or four others reported the same issue with their Phantoms just falling out of the sky. From the flight records it seems to be a sudden issue with the compass in the last seconds of the flight.

I hope this isn't true, I'm in the process of updating the firmware due to a new battery.  I will follow up and let you know.

Worrying thing is there really is no way to tell until it happens

I have a Phantom Adv with old Firmware. The aircraft works but not with new function. 2.7K, etc.
I would like to upgrade to new Firmware but there is a lot of bad stuff on this Forum about problems with 1.8, 1.6. What is the last SAFE upgrade that may not get he new function but is more current and seems to work, 1.3? What would be AC=Firmware, RC=Firmware? DJOI GO App - Version? I can't find any current COMPLETE usable documentation on upgrading firmware. Thanks.

Don't update to 1.8 yet as there are some glitches between iOS and dji, I recommend that you guys wait

Arctic man Posted at 2016-5-15 22:55
Don't update to 1.8 yet as there are some glitches between iOS and dji, I recommend that you guys wa ...

I only can tell you that i now try for 4 hours to bring my P3A back in the air, but i still have the RC Lost issue after the update...

My RC is on the latest available 1.5.80 (updated with DJI Go App), and the Bird on the 1.8.

Hope DJI will deliver either an update on the RC or an downgrade on the Drone

Jakk,

I got'a say, spreading this news unsubstantiated causes nothing but problems. Have you no links for the thread you're talking about? I know that there are some going on this DJI board that were started by some I consider to be questionable characters.

I'll tell you what I've noticed after over a year's experience and several firmware releases, is that every time a new firmware comes out, there are always:   

• A small number of people that fail the firmware upgrade procedure and brick their Phantoms. Then they start threads, blaming DJI right off the bat. Then after thier problems are fixed, they go away embarrassed, often not updating their threads to explain the fix.
• A small number of people upgrade successfully, then go out and have a mishap and immediately blame the firmware / DJI. People, coorelation does NOT equate to causation! But since the DJI products are sold the world over, there are bound to be other people with a similar problem that make it seem worse than it is when they start "piling up" (all 3 or 4 of them out of millions of DJI drones sold). It reminds me of a sign at my dentist office: "A tiny bit of blood and a lot of saliva looks like a lot of blood".
  

This happens Every. Single. Firmware. Upgrade.

"Isn't there sometimes a real problem?". Yes. See the DJI board to see how the company reps are addressing those concerns. Jakk, are you reading another non-DJI board? Because they won't be on those boards.

Go only to this official DJI board for those kinds of things. They have NO reason to "hide" real issues and in fact, that would be a mistake on their part. They know this.

Please don't start threads here with rumors of other threads unless you can provide links to said thread.

Arctic man Posted at 2016-5-16 04:55
Don't update to 1.8 yet as there are some glitches between iOS and dji, I recommend that you guys wa ...

"Don't update to 1.8 yet as there are some glitches between iOS and dji"

What glitches? First I've heard of it. I'm running find on iOS and the latest P3P firmware. Care to provide links?

jrdorr Posted at 2016-5-16 04:16
I have a Phantom Adv with old Firmware. The aircraft works but not with new function. 2.7K, etc.
I w ...

http://www.dji.com/product/phantom-3-adv/info#downloads

See the firmware .ZIP for the 3 most recent versions, the 'How To Update' doc, and the 'Release Notes' doc.

I can't comment on the 3 different versions as my model isn't an Advanced.

Not A Speck Of  Posted at 2016-5-15 22:21
http://www.dji.com/product/phantom-3-adv/info#downloads

See the firmware .ZIP for the 3 most rece ...

I can only agree with what you've said. I'm running IOS 9.3.1 on iPad pro & iPhone 6s plus. No problems at all in either upgrading or operation. What they have not done is fixed the altitude drop after a sudden stop, nor have they fixed the 'tilted horizon' issue with the gimbal. Hopefully a future firmware fix will sort these out, otherwise I will just have to work around these by changing my procedure.

Edit:-  I have the P4....

I had my 1st ever problem last week. Was running on firmware 1.6. I was flying with no problems and then with out warning my p3p flashed up "compass error'  and tilted. Lost signal and dropped from the sky. I eventually found it after 2 hours searching. Luckily it hit a tree and landed upside down wearing down the propeller nodules. That was the 1st time I have had any issues  other than the gimbal alignment seems to be off . I've been running on the same firmware since December and as I said it happened without warning. Have since upgraded to 1.8 but have not yet flown as I have lost confidence in the bird.

jamesedler@hotm Posted at 2016-5-15 23:23
I had my 1st ever problem last week. Was running on firmware 1.6. I was flying with no problems and  ...

So the compass error was prior to doing any updates ? I would have been tempted to raise a case with DJI, could be a faulty compass module ? Or does all 'appear' to be OK after the 1.8 upgrade. Might be worth a calibration of all, IMU, gimbal, RC and compass. Then try it on some short test flights to build up confidence in the machine again. If it's a system failure then it would be up to DJI to fix under warranty.

jrdorr Posted at 2016-5-16 06:16
I have a Phantom Adv with old Firmware. The aircraft works but not with new function. 2.7K, etc.
I w ...

Update to 1.4 and you'll get the new features without any problems.
And most users have no problems with the later versions either.

Jakk Posted at 2016-5-16 00:58
What it took from the replies to the main thread I was reading on the phantom owners FB page was the ...

"From the flight records it seems to be a sudden issue with the compass in the last seconds of the flight. "

This probably has  nothing at all to do with the compass.
Any Phantom falling and tumbling will show all kinds of compass errors but that's just the compass recording the tumbling.

It's showing what happens after a crash and is not a cause for a crash.
Compass problems make the Phantom to have problems flying straight but they don't make a Phantom fall from the sky.

You should not upgrade. It completely ruin my Phantom 3 Advanced.

Not A Speck Of  Posted at 2016-5-15 17:15
Jakk,

I got'a say, spreading this news unsubstantiated causes nothing but problems. Have you no lin ...

I just came to the official DJI board to ask a question. If I had titled the thread "1.8 FW will kill your bird!" I could understand why you seem so upset but I just wanted to see what peoples opinions were on here. Are some questions off limits?

FWIW (and just posted this elsewhere)... The sequencing of how you do the upgrade seems to be more important with 1.8.  I did my P3P without a single issue and subsequent flights have been totally fine.  Recommended sequence..  Update Aircraft via micro SD with RC powered OFF, update to latest DJI GO app on smart phone or tablet, restart your mobile device and new (latest) DJI Go app and upgrade RC (with aircraft turned OFF)..  You may need to relink RC and Aircraft..  There are some cases where it seems you have conrtol, but no video feed (happened on IOS devices).  In that case Apple told DJI to tell customers to do a full backup, and to then reset via iTunes and NOT the reset within the iPhone or iPad..

Jakk Posted at 2016-5-16 08:01
I just came to the official DJI board to ask a question. If I had titled the thread "1.8 FW will k ...

I'm not a moderator or a DJI employee and your question is not off limits. But if you say "I've been reading some posts around the net from people saying their Phantoms are just falling out of the air after updating to the latest firmware", I have to call BS and ask for links to those posts you've claimed to see.

Because I've been 'around the net' and have not seen those posts, none at all, where people are claiming that firmware updates are causing their UAVs to fall out of the sky. And if they exist, I would like to see how solid they are. There are a lot of hand-wringers out there.

Dude, there are people that read your words, then repeat them. "I'm 100% sure, I read it on the DJI official forum". So go ahead and spread worry if that's your bag. I would prefer you take more care.

It was just a simple question to forum members to see if anyone else had had issues, not a statement of fact or accusation. No offense was meant. The main thread in question can be found here

https://www.facebook.com/groups/ ... id=1463322868984952

I'm not sure if you will be able to see it unless you are a member of the Facebook group.

Not A Speck Of  Posted at 2016-5-16 05:15
Jakk,

I got'a say, spreading this news unsubstantiated causes nothing but problems. Have you no lin ...

You have hit the nail on the head.....
If you are going to see issues reported it will be in forums.....regardless of the equipment or manufacturer.
People rarely report successes, of all the phantoms in the sky the amount of issues reported here are minuscule by comparison.  

People automatically (wrongly or rightly) assume that the latest update causes the issues they are having...only occasionally this is proven to be correct.
I have completed 3 or 4 updates since buying my P3p a few months ago...had no dramas what so ever.

Well this thread has had over 300 views and only two people have posted  horror stories, thats a good sign so I will consider my original question answered, in a way.

Cheers!

Hello Jakk, the firmware has nothing to do with crash or fly-away. Please keep in mind that safety is the best policy.Hope these safety tips can help you:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8-vxWY64sBOmkQQJ2KWNL-uRBZsP43-r

I agree with "Not-a speck-of" about all the bad press. Although I am relatively new at this, I have a P3A for some time now, not as much as a lot of you, and I have gone thought a number of firmware upgrades myself. I have always been one of those that want the latest upgrades, it could be computers, cell phones etc. Although I also had challenges at first upgrading my Phantom, most of the time it was due to me not following procedure. The last several versions I have updated with have gone without a problem and I have never had any type of issue flying. I upgraded to the new release on April 7, 2106 the day it came out. I am running an android tablet, but it woks flawlessly. I hope I haven't cursed myself here! LOL There is a tremendous amount of helpful information on these forums and I think they are a great resource. If you have an issue more than likely someone else has had the same problem. I see a lot of times someone has a problem and describes what they have done, and it looks to me like they may have not followed the right procedures, and then they blast DJI for it, which is unfair as far as I am concerned. I don't think a firmware upgrade is going to make your bird fall out of the sky. If it does, I think it is due to flying in an area you shouldn't be, or that you don't realize may have some interference you are not aware of. I wish for everyone to have fun with their drone, but I think it is worth the time to at least read through the manual several times and explore these forums. You can't believe everything, so I do think it is important to keep an open mind and filter out some things you read. I do believe when someone says that something has happed to them, that they are not making it up, and I am sure there are issues at times with any type of manufactured equipment, but I think DJI has done a pretty good job and can't think for one minute that they would intentionally put something out there knowing it was an issue. I would bet there is a fair amount of testing done on these upgrades before they are released.

Hello,

I  am Dutch and live in the south of the Netherlands, realy enjoiing flying my Phantom 3 Pro.
I had my Phantom  3 Pro running on Firmware v1.8.80 from 2016-04-07 and for weeks no problems at all.

The day before yesterday (it was raining) I updated to Firmware v1.9.60 from 2016-06-13. Yesterday
weather was fine and tested the new software, but problems starts.
The App was slow, or did not response, so I rebooted the Samsung 5, the remote and the plane.

All seems fine now, standing on the ground, but when I started to fly, I was 5 m up the sky, the app stopped and hang.
The plane did not drop and staid on level, waiting for me. It was still lissening to the remote.
So I landed the plane correctly and rebooted all again.

The app was slow again and the response was slow. It gave now the message I was in the airport aria, but this is not the case?.

I deleted the cache memory from the DJI GO app and rebooted Phone, remote and plane again.

When all was rebooted all looked fine with the plane on the ground, I changed some parameters in the app and all was fine.
But, the app stopped again when the plane was just started  (10 m high) , and with the remote I could land correct. The plane leds gave green pulses, no errors on plane and remote.

Today I will do some tests again. Will inform you when you are interested.

My P3A is flying perfectly fine after upgrade to the latest firmware (it was flying perfect with previous one (1.8) also).
I waited with the upgrade for about two weeks to see what other people are saying, in my opinion in most cases it may be just coincidence - and it is not related to the firmware upgrade.

Happy flying!
Greg

Not A Speck Of  Posted at 2016-5-15 21:47
I'm not a moderator or a DJI employee and your question is not off limits. But if you say "I've be ...

You said:

"A small number of people that fail the firmware upgrade procedure and brick their Phantoms."

"A small number of people upgrade successfully, then go out and have a mishap and immediately blame the firmware / DJI."

Let's see some links that prove the above and then some more links that prove what they said was actually false.

Otherwise, I'm going to have to call 'BS'.  

DJI makes the Phantom.  DJI writes the firmware.  DJI knows more about the Phantom than anyone.  DJI knows more about the firmware than anyone.  DJI knows more than anyone about the app.  DJI takes in data from hundreds if not thousands of Phantoms every day.  They know what works, and what doesn't.  They know what breaks and what is especially strong.  They, through their amassing of data, can learn trends, traits, and even quirks that can often be fixed or thwarted with software and firmware updates.  DJI has a lot of motivation to make their Phantom's software / firmware more reliable.  In fact improved firmware helps the company, and bad firmware hurts it, simple as that.  So even if they weren't motivated just to do the right thing (and I think they are), good, stable firmware and software appeals to their greed as a for-profit company.

Even at that, it just makes common sense that a company that wants to sell their product can be motivated by good performance.  Further, what is the benefit of DJI to make products and code that cause their product to drop out of the sky?  To sell replacements?  Come on, folks!  If I thought a company was that dirty, I wouldn't give them five bucks, much less fourteen-hundred.

I've said it a hundred times.  It's fine to wait a couple of days for the dust to settle just in case there is an unknown problem (that happens to the best of us), but when it comes to your $1400-dollar investment, are you going to put your trust in the company that designs, manufacturers, codes, tests, implements and repairs these units?  Or will you put your trust on a dude on the internet?

(Short version:  Don't listen to me or anyone else.  Listen to the manufacturer (who will also be executing your warranty!)

In my opinion everything from DJI is dangerous now.

F/W upgrades are silently reducing the range
DJI APP is silently pushing more NFZ's.

Kyokushin Posted at 2016-7-7 19:38
In my opinion everything from DJI is dangerous now.

F/W upgrades are silently reducing the range

Actually, the new GEO system will allow us to fly in MORE places.  For example, I just noticed that the NFZ at BofA Stadium here in Charlotte has now disappeared (and I strongly suspect that it will reappear whenever it's game day here).

These "black helicopter" theories just don't hold water.  We can say anything we want, and make whatever claims we can imagine.  Proving them is a bit tougher.

rwagenaar Posted at 2016-7-7 01:18
Hello,

I  am Dutch and live in the south of the Netherlands, realy enjoiing flying my Phantom 3 Pro ...

It is obvious that the problem that you are having is totally with the app. You have to somehow fix the app first. May be delete the app and install again?

bobasbury Posted at 2016-7-7 14:59
Actually, the new GEO system will allow us to fly in MORE places.  For example, I just noticed tha ...

So you have a proof:

Geo:


Old:


Additive value: 0
What we get?
1. Red circles stayed - no change
2. Yellow authorisation over red - more DJI spying, less freedom
3. Green warning zones - good
4. More RED and YELLOW zones at all than old red.

If you are playing the poker, then you must know the someone will say 'i am checking'.

bobasbury Posted at 2016-7-7 04:35
DJI makes the Phantom.  DJI writes the firmware.  DJI knows more about the Phantom than anyone.  DJI ...

I'm going to call this BS....
My investment was only $700 for a P3P with three new batteries and a nice packpack case.

UCLABruins Posted at 2016-7-7 12:57
I'm going to call this BS....
My investment was only $700 for a P3P with three new batter ...

I wanna know where you got such an amazing deal!...was this a NEW P3P?

Not A Speck Of  Posted at 2016-5-16 10:47
I'm not a moderator or a DJI employee and your question is not off limits. But if you say "I've be ...

I agree with your thoughts. I am running the latest firmware 1.9.6 with no problems. I did lose a Hubsan after a firmware upgrade. They took down the firmware from the website a week later and ignored the numerous posts all describing the same problem or saying there was absolutely no problems reported with the firmware.

I trust DJI and assume they are thoroughly testing their upgrades before releasing them as they seem to actually care about their reputation. I would wait a week or two after release before upgrading just as a precaution.

My take after being on several forums is that a lot of problems arising from pilot error, warranty issues or failure to do a proper update gets blamed on firmware. As pointed out, correlation is not the same as evidence. If it was, we would blame cancer on eating pizza.

UCLABruins Posted at 2016-7-8 00:57
I'm going to call this BS....
My investment was only $700 for a P3P with three new batter ...

I was using that as an example, however my system was a Phantom 4  with an extra battery. Don't be hatin' 'cause you're slummin'.

UCLABruins Posted at 2016-7-8 00:57
I'm going to call this BS....
My investment was only $700 for a P3P with three new batter ...

I was using that as an example, however my system was a Phantom 4  with an extra battery. Don't be hatin' 'cause you're slummin'.

bobasbury Posted at 2016-7-14 09:57
I was using that as an example, however my system was a Phantom 4  with an extra battery. Don't b ...

You know I was kidding, right?