Hi I ordered a Mavic and it will be my first experience with a drone. And in waiting for it to ship I have read a lot of horror stories of the drones flying away never to be seen again. I know that they have built in GPS tracking but would it also be wise to put a small battery operated tracker on this just in case it goes down and battery goes dead. Sorry for the post if this sounds crazy. Thanks

It will just be a case of where do you put it, I'm sure somebody will figure out a holder and a place to put it, but your right tracker is a good idea.

This one looks like it might fit the bill:  gps tracker

NoeowzPj9hqX Posted at 2016-10-13 02:56
This one looks like it might fit the bill:  gps tracker

How did I never hear of this one?

Do you use this with any of your current birds?

If you watch some of the videos, there is a GPS tracker already built into the app and drone.  Watch the video of Casey N losing his drone.
Look around 7:58 mark of the video

He never explains how he lost it.  I honestly think it was a low battery situation.  When the battery gets to 10% it just lands where ever the bird is.  And correct me if I am wrong but the GPS signal that was shown in the video was the last location transmitted.

I think that with a Phantom3 or later if there's an aircraft lost there was some sort of user influence.
You can probably mount a GPS tracker on top of the battery or on top in front of the Mavic.

ArtistFirst Posted at 2016-10-13 03:30
How did I never hear of this one?

Do you use this with any of your current birds?

That one looks like it would be perfect for the Mavic, small and light, a bit of Velcro on top of the battery and quick to transfer to the next battery.

F6B-Rider Posted at 2016-10-13 04:40
That one looks like it would be perfect for the Mavic, small and light, a bit of Velcro on top of  ...

Yes, a small tracker would easily fit on the battery. you just shouldn't cover up any of the LED's, but there's enough room that you wouldn't need to.

NoeowzPj9hqX Posted at 2016-10-12 12:56
This one looks like it might fit the bill:  gps tracker

It dose look like it would work great. I wonder if it needs a cell signal to send location though? I guess something is better than nothing.

Gmman Posted at 2016-10-13 07:43
It dose look like it would work great. I wonder if it needs a cell signal to send location though? ...

It does need a cell signal to work, either AT&T or Sprint as it can use either. The coverage is Europe, Canada, and the US, with other countries available for an additional fee. First 30MB are free (a year or more) then about $5 a month for service. Cheap insurance to know the exact location of your drone if it goes down.

F6B-Rider Posted at 2016-10-13 11:01
It does need a cell signal to work, either AT&T or Sprint as it can use either. The coverage is Eu ...

A GPS tracker is awesome insurance for that just in case time.
Also you can use it for tons of other things, like sticking it in your kids backpack to see where he really goes when he says he's going to school.
I'm just guessing, I have no kids

Look at the Marco polo RC tracker. I've had them I'm on all my drones and never had to use it.

P2-I1-P4 Posted at 2016-10-12 22:17
Look at the Marco polo RC tracker. I've had them I'm on all my drones and never had to use it.

That looks awesome! Why have I not heard of those before. Very cool! Thank you.

I used this one in my Phantoms and I really appreciate having the idea two times...

https://www.amazon.com/Tracker-W ... -STAR/dp/B01AQATXN8

lol I'm sure Casey N sure could use one....

Daley Posted at 2016-10-13 03:53
He never explains how he lost it.  I honestly think it was a low battery situation.  When the batter ...

that is true. he was also out of the line of sight. one reason he didn't know the general location of where he landed.

DJI-Ken Posted at 2016-10-13 11:54
A GPS tracker is awesome insurance for that just in case time.
Also you can use it for tons of oth ...

lol so in other words tracking people

2000vadasz2 Posted at 2016-10-14 09:01
lol so in other words tracking people

Sure, or attach to your pets is case they get loose.

There's pretty much only 2 places to mount a Trackimo, If you mount on the battery it will cover a few LED's. I think I'll mount my Trackimo on the top front.

alexcabrils Posted at 2016-10-13 17:34
I used this one in my Phantoms and I really appreciate having the idea two times...

https://www.am ...

Still have to have cell coverage for this one to transfer location data to find it.

DJI-Ken Posted at 2016-10-13 18:23
There's pretty much only 2 places to mount a Trackimo, If you mount on the battery it will cover a f ...

Whelp... I wasn't worried about flyaways until I saw a DJI employee insuring against it.

KLRico Posted at 2016-10-14 22:03
Whelp... I wasn't worried about flyaways until I saw a DJI employee insuring against it.

Since the P3 came out I bet almost every lost aircraft had some sort of a user induced thing and it could have been prevented.

Gmman Posted at 2016-10-14 11:42
Still have to have cell coverage for this one to transfer location data to find it.

That is correct.

DJI-Ken Posted at 2016-10-14 10:23
Since the P3 came out I bet almost every lost aircraft had some sort of a user induced thing and i ...

I've got a flyaway because of low temperature, at the end, I was the responsible for flying under too low temperatures...

Gmman Posted at 2016-10-13 23:42
Still have to have cell coverage for this one to transfer location data to find it.

Yes, you are right...

alexcabrils Posted at 2016-10-15 00:11
I've got a flyaway because of low temperature, at the end, I was the responsible for flying under  ...

Did the app give you a low temperature warning before you took off?

DJI-Ken Posted at 2016-10-14 12:40
Did the app give you a low temperature warning before you took off?

Nope, I did a first flight without problems, when I changed the battery (sitting inside my backpack at -15 C) everything was going okay but a sudden drop in the battery power make the Phantom start a Low Battery Landing, I was flying over a lake, luckily the Phantom crashed with some trees and with the GPS tracker I found the bird lying in the snow, one broken propeller and the battery flew away (I saw a few days later that was swollen, so I decided to dispose it in a recycling center near home). My guess is that the first battery came from the backpack that was inside the car at normal temperature, after maybe 40 minutes with the backpack outside the temperature of the battery was probably dropped too much to fly, lesson learned... My fault.

alexcabrils Posted at 2016-10-15 12:32
Nope, I did a first flight without problems, when I changed the battery (sitting inside my backpac ...

Sorry about that, were you on old firmware? The few most recent firmware versions warn you to warm the battery forst

I've owned a few trackers for my drones and this is by far the best and smallest I've tried. It is about a quarter of the size smaller than the one that alexcabrils refers to.  That was the first one I purchased.    I now own 4 of them 2 for my drones and 2 for my kids.  It is basically a mini cell phone that you can program to call or text specific numbers.  It costs me, $10.00 for 3 months as long as the kids don't use it to talk a lot.  The tracking function doesn't seem to use your minutes and that's why it is only $10 dollars for the 3 months.  I also put a small label on my drones If found press A button.  Which automatically sends me the exact location and calls me.  You can find it on amazon and eBay but gearbest is the cheapest. The one from gearbest also comes with a wrist band for the kids.  Hope this helps some of you out.
http://www.gearbest.com/car-gps-tracking/pp_232609.html?wid=21

DJI-Ken Posted at 2016-10-15 00:40
Did the app give you a low temperature warning before you took off?

Not to hijack but I live where there are elevation changes and usually when you get higher in elevation the temperature drops. The other day I wanted to take off from my home around 43 degrees and fly to the top of the mountain where it was covered with rime ice usually indicating a temperature below 32. Can it be done? I would love to get some nice aerials of the beauty or is this highly not suggested?

DJI-Ken Posted at 2016-10-12 10:53
Yes, a small tracker would easily fit on the battery. you just shouldn't cover up any of the LED's ...

Wont this gps tracker interfere with the gps thats already on the Mavic. sorry, i am also interested in buying a gps tracker since this is a 1.3k investment just wanted to secure it.

hyderja Posted at 2016-12-2 14:42
Not to hijack but I live where there are elevation changes and usually when you get higher in elev ...

All I can say is the specs state the operating temperature is 32°-104°, so if the summit is below 32° then it's up to you.

Crisisremix Posted at 2016-12-2 14:47
Wont this gps tracker interfere with the gps thats already on the Mavic. sorry, i am also interest ...

If you mounted it on the rear where the GPS is then it would interfere. If you mount the GPS tracker on the front top of the Mavic you should be ok.

DJI-Ken Posted at 2016-12-2 12:00
If you mounted it on the rear where the GPS is then it would interfere. If you mount the GPS track ...

Thank you! With another gps on it hopefully it won't be stolen i hope

Crisisremix Posted at 2016-12-2 15:09
Thank you! With another gps on it hopefully it won't be stolen i hope

Just make sure you land when you are and it can't be stolen

DJI-Ken Posted at 2016-12-3 09:00
If you mounted it on the rear where the GPS is then it would interfere. If you mount the GPS track ...

To avoid blocking important signals or causing interference with a tracker, do you have a map of the location of various sensors and transmitters (GPS, WiFi, Ocusync etc) and antennae in the Mavic body?

I was thinking of sticking a GPS tracker on the rear end of the Mavic, but I saw an image somewhere where it looked like there was some sort of sensor there, which I guess is the Mavic's own GPS module.

sanuk Posted at 2016-12-2 15:49
To avoid blocking important signals or causing interference with a tracker, do you have a map of th ...

Sorry, there is no map detailing where all the components are.
The GPS is in the rear so do not stick anything there.

DJI-Ken Posted at 2016-12-3 10:05
Sorry, there is no map detailing where all the components are.
The GPS is in the rear so do not st ...

If it's there, the GPS module must be tiny. All I can see against the rear of the Mavic is the large Ocusync transmit unit, as seen in this teardown image from here:



https://www.rcgeeks.co.uk/blog/d ... ardown-whats-inside

Re the GPS unit, when this guy in the video below points to something he thinks is the Mavic GPS unit, it does seem to be close to the rear, but it seems to lie underneath the top circuitry. But (to me) it doesn't make sense to locate the GPS unit underneath the Mavic circuitry.