Another report of a spinning drone with a mind of its own.

Maybe an iPhone problem? Maybe a RC problem? Is it software or hardware? This is starting to have a touch of the Note 7 about it. With so few people having received them on this forum and a high proportion with problems. Same story on MavicPilots as well.

This could be serious as these machines can be potentially dangerous and DJI need to get ahead of it quickly. When Note 7s started going up in flames forums were the same as this. Blaming users for using bad cables etc. Here they are blaming new pilots or magnetic inteference. This could quicly snowball if the same proportion of deliveries are affected as they are now going forward.

Could be compass errors. People forgetting to calibrate before each flight.

Perhaps share some info with us, have a link to this forum or footage?
Calibrating is not needed before every flight, stated in manual.

Enkeixpress Posted at 2016-10-30 08:40
Could be compass errors. People forgetting to calibrate before each flight.

W R O N G    A D V I C E

They all calibrated compass. It needs acknowledging by DJI. That's the biggest concern.

Delta Nine Posted at 2016-10-30 17:03
W R O N G    A D V I C E

Exactly. Only calibrate compass when prompted before flight.

I'm literally a day away from buying and come across the YT vids showing spinning out of control issues.... To buy and hope this gets sorted out by DJI or in fact wait and contemplate the Karma....???? How long do these issues normally take to sort out?

I actually choose to calibrate my compass system when using de Mavic for first time and when travelling large distance. I'm not willing to take a risk when the Mavic is being calibrated at China and taken for a first fly in the Netherlands(huge distance). Leaving the IMU allone. But that's my choice.

I thought I saw a DJI staff member recommend to calibrate before a flight if you've made a big change in location.
Just how many out of control drone issues have we had. Lets get some facts together before we start going ape shit.

I think there is a reliability issue with the Mavic.  DJI rushed the announcement as the Karma was being launched.  Ive seen various testers on YT complain they had a fly away and have lost their drones.  This could be user error or it could be a fundamental issue with the firmware.  Given the ongoing issue with LiPo batteries and Samsung's disgraceful treatment of customers, I think DJI are panicking and are either checking all their batteries or have found the same issue and are quietly replacing their stock.  The launch of the Mavic has been poorly managed from the start.  The guy who presented it stood on stage like a poor mans Steve Jobs and pulled out the drone as if it were the holy grail.  Yet the camera work in the theatre was poor, the lighting was poor and the delivery was really poor.  This is a clear sign that DJI didnt plan the event. In the last few months we have had the Mavic, the Z3, the Z30 and a year ago we had the XT.  The XT has probably sold about a dozen units, the Z30 was quietly dumped on the market shortly after the Z3.  The Mavic delivery estimate on Apple.com is 6-7 weeks.  I can see this being delayed until January 2017 at the earliest.

Anoniem Posted at 2016-10-30 12:36
I actually choose to calibrate my compass system when using de Mavic for first time and when travell ...

http://forum.dji.com/thread-68522-1-3.html
Kevind does advice this

I took my Mavic Pro up for the first time yesterday and I didn't run into any major problems. Following the manual, I did not calibrate the compass before takeoff because there was no indication to do so. I flew for about 8 minutes but I did notice that towards the end of the flight, the compass calibration error popped up a few times and then disappeared. I flew the drone back to me and landed it manually without any drama. I was flying in a large empty field with no power lines or anything around since it was my first test flight with this drone (previously had a P3A). Is it normal for the compass to fall out of calibration mid-flight?

I'm worried about any software/firmware issues too, and hope that the majority of these incidents are pilot error, no offence intended. Despite what you may have read or heard, surely it makes sense to conduct all the calibration settings on the device and controller as well as software updates when you first receive your drone to minimise any issues that could affect your $£1,200.00 investment.  Why wouldn't you?

Ed Pasterino Posted at 2016-10-30 13:00
I took my Mavic Pro up for the first time yesterday and I didn't run into any major problems. Follow ...

please read http://forum.dji.com/thread-68522-1-3.html post from kevin. You should have callibrated because its only done in china....

Jenkins Posted at 2016-10-30 10:06
They all calibrated compass. It needs acknowledging by DJI. That's the biggest concern.

I wouldn't worry, this is very much par for the course with new drones, it's a good thing that guys are posting problems, as it helps others to know what to look out for,
It won't be surprising for dji to issue new firmware in the near future, it was the same with P4 which had a couple of firmwear upgrades soon after release.
It can seem a bit daunting for new flyers listening to all this, but a lot of these problems are common mistakes, which can be sorted with some common sense.

Anoniem Posted at 2016-10-30 08:09
please read http://forum.dji.com/thread-68522-1-3.html post from kevin. You should have callibrate ...

That makes sense. I know my P3A asked to calibrate right out of the box. I was just a bit confused because the Mavic Pro manual said not to calibrate unless there was a message that said it needed it.

I've got about 30 minutes of total flight time and 7 different flights on 1 battery while I wait for the rest to arrive. I did the compass calibration and also the controller calibration. I haven't had any issues other than not having enough batteries. =)

Dirty Bird Posted at 2016-10-30 23:39
Conjecture on my part but, given the current state of things, I believe the Mavic was intended for ...

Just because the Karma is inferior doesn't mean that wasn't DJIs intention for the fast release. I'm sure they had the unveiling scheduled before they knew what the Karma was going to be. I think a lot of sales are going to come down to which company actually has drones to sell before Christmas.

trance728 Posted at 2016-10-30 23:43
Just because the Karma is inferior doesn't mean that wasn't DJIs intention for the fast release. I ...

The release was already scheduled.  People that think that these events happen overnight are deluding themselves.  It takes months of planning.  

As someone who creates in eagle cad, fabs my own boards, designs my own circuits and programs my own microcontrollers (strait to metal btw). The process of making one elite item, like nothing out, can take a couple of days as they are hand made with parts sourced from s korea, japan, isreal. I can't say China makes good parts, they assemble parts well, but making mosfets, inductors, microcontrollers, no. Sense resistors, caps, diodes, yeah. China has manufacturing down though. Like if I need aluminum parts, it's China. Anything milled or lathed in mass, China. But I notice they play the game too. If you want something cheap, they will make it cheap, I mean monkey wrench in the cnc design. Non flat surfaces the whole bit :]

They know how to price things and destroy competition. Think their currency is rigged too. China dominates world manufacturing right now. I like to say, China puts together the best hardware on the planet and they can design things that are way ahead of others. Software, not so sure. Look at the One Plus X and 2, and now 3. The phones are absolutely awesome, but they come with a OS written by a little kid. Devs from all over the world love the phones though. Like the X can record 4k video at 30 fps, once a hobby dev figured it out. The thing is horrible stock and can't even do 60 fps in 1080p. Devs even got the phone to run cooler and not suffer performance using Marshmallow. One plus devs are still on Lollipop. Same with the 2, I own both of them and they are better than any android out there because of the dev community.

I think the mavic will be the same way. I have so many mods in mind for this little thing. The base is perfect, it needs a few hardware tweaks to put it over the top.

Ed Pasterino Posted at 2016-10-30 20:00
I took my Mavic Pro up for the first time yesterday and I didn't run into any major problems. Follow ...

Hi !
Well, i think it only learns about a compass calibration during flight as you only get reliiable GPS heading if flying at a certain speed.
So you take off THEN start speeding up and THEN the System realizes compass heading is very much unlike GPS Heaading and gives you an error.
This is UNLESS the FC stores the GPS position of the last compass calibration and gives an error if the new position is more then XXX km away from that. Would be smart but i dont believe so.

I am new to DJI (would never consider a DJI unless it was for the Mavic. Would pay 50% more easily if the Mavic was drom 3dr using open stuff but thats just me).

On APM / Pixhawk and very much all other FC's i had you get a "toilet bowl" --> circles with widening radius if GPS heading and compass heading disagree.
Would explain the Crash-circle Probems if Yaw is stuck.
DJI allows yawing while RTH, if above is messed up that results in widening circles during RTH, q.e.d.

Could be but i guess they will get on top of this soon.
Lets pray its Software, would be horrible to have to send my Mavic back immediatly after i get it (in a few weeks as i messed up my first order, ARGHH).

Nils

thehippoz Posted at 2016-10-30 18:01
As someone who creates in eagle cad, fabs my own boards, designs my own circuits and programs my own ...

look forward to seeing your ideas, good job

  I wish it wasn't so!  For the second time now I've taken my DJI Mavic out to fly and have had issues with mavic not responding to the controller.  So much so today I had to wait until the battery drained in order to regain control of my Mavic. Yesterday it did the same thing except it spun around, it jittered, alot and then cut my finger as I tried to remove the battery to stop it from spazzing out and flying away.

I had a very worrying flight today. It's only my 3rd "real" flight with my mavic due to weather and work. I took off with full gps lock in nice open country side miles away from anything electronic. About 1 min into the flight I got an error saying underside vision system error re calibrate. I was about 10m high and about 30m away still line of sight easy. I pressed the return to home button on the controller and it started beeping like it should but the live feed from the camera cut off...no a problem as I was in line of sight and still had full control . I flew it back and pressed land on the screen menue. It would not land and kept quoting the vision error message. In the end I had to get as low to the ground as possible and use the emergency stick combo to kill the motors and land that way. Luckily it was cm from soft grass but still not the best way to set down. I think I'll be waiting to take it up again.

I just spent my first day with the mavic and although it's nice, it's not new iPhone 7 nice. It's more like new android phone nice. Seems to fly ok, no issues.

This is maybe a long shot, the antennas on the RC are suppose to be straight out and parallel to each other and if they are tilted towards each other or touching this will weaken the signal and potentially impact the beam of the signal. Is this a possibility for maybe some of the the lack of control (poor signal intermitant commands confusing the A/I? It seems all the cases are when the Mavic is close to controller/operator. No reports of this happening at mid to long distance. Maybe it might be a idea to have a brace between the antennas to prevent them leaning towards each other.

Just a uneducated guess so maybe the controller antennas are creating their own interference. It is right on Page 5 of the manual warning to keep the antennas parallel or it will cause a weak signal. One might suggest then why is it not a problem at distance maybe the signal beam is wider at distance and narrow in-close.

Just a uneducated theory

Does not sound at all good at present for the mavic, I want one but refused to buy one straight away as i knew there would be issues there always is with new products.
I speak to lots of model shops as i fly all platforms up to 200mph turbine jets and speaking to them they have 50 pre orders each.

With regards to the way the aerials point is does not make any difference as i fly JR and they say to point it down.

I will order one in January when we know all is ok

Let me add one to the pile: I received my Mavic a few days ago and have experienced problems consistent with those indicated above in this thread. I have not crashed the aircraft but I receive numerous sporadic compass errors that seem to self-resolve and i have also had the craft go from being perfectly stable and controlled to almost uncontrollable.

Worse: on one occasion the craft was returning to me and I let both sticks go to stop / hover and it JUST KEPT FLYING away and would not respond to backward stick inputs to reverse the direction. I yawed sideways and used side stick to bring the aircraft home and land immediately. This move seemed to prevent the aircraft from wanting to go into un-commanded forward flight. Very unsettling.

After that I was making a flight in my large indoor office space but on the last flight it went from perfectly stable / controlled flight to an UN-commanded (slow) yaw style spin for no reason and without warning. I fortunately was only a few feet off the ground and I landed without incident but the aircraft was NOT IN MY CONTROL and almost struck the ground with a blade as the craft was still spinning (slowly) as I brought it down.

Finally - I have also seen a sporadic lag/delay whereby I make a pitch or roll input and the aircraft has a delayed reaction to my input for a few inputs but then returns to a normal / responsive aircraft.  FYI:  I am an experienced pilot who has flown a phantom 2, 3 and an Inspire 1 Pro.  

Prior to flying drones I flew medium size electric RC Heli's and I am capable of light 3D acrobatic flight. For reference, I have NEVER CRASHED a DJI aircraft.  I have probably ~40 flight hours (mostly on the Inspire) and have never seen anomalies or apparent bugs / defects while flying the Inspire or other DJI aircraft like I have seen in the Mavic.

I am not sure how I should proceed. I really don't want to be a free beta tester and break my $1200 toy and / or hurt someone. But I do want the product. I am thinking the best thing to do at this point it so ask DJI for my money back and then buy the Mavic when the issues are resolved.

Kurt@vectorform Posted at 2016-11-10 05:52
Let me add one to the pile: I received my Mavic a few days ago and have experienced problems consist ...

Did you try the new firmware?

Mine flew very reliably outdoors. Nothing unexpected at all. Gained a lot of confidence flying it that I was happy sending it quite far further away.

jvanderhoff Posted at 2016-11-9 15:59
Did you try the new firmware?

I agree. Since your exhibited this behavior, I am eager to learn if your mav performs as expected over time. Please let us know how it's going, even if there are no issues.

jvanderhoff Posted at 2016-11-10 05:59
Did you try the new firmware?

I always update the firmware -when prompted - before flying

Kurt@vectorform Posted at 2016-11-9 17:34
I always update the firmware -when prompted - before flying

Were you prompted recently? I believe the new firmware was released today.

Kurt@vectorform Posted at 2016-11-10 09:34
I always update the firmware -when prompted - before flying

The new firmware that suppose to fix the non responsive control just release yesterday so we are not sure when is your last flight. If you check and run the test again that would be much appreciated.

For those who have experienced problems, did you report it to DJI so they can investigate the cause?  They need all the data points possible so they can debug the firmware.  

The Mavic is an incredible piece of engineering, but nothing tests it like the many users now using it, which will cause the Mavic to be flown in environments that it was never tested before.. e.g. I remember the video when the Mavic was flown from a balcony in a high rise building without GPS lock... After leaving the balcony, it automatically started descending because it didn't have GPS lock, and downward vision system was on, and it had a Max Alt of only 5 metres...   This situation was resolved with the first firmware update after release..

fans11982671 Posted at 2016-11-5 04:32
I wish it wasn't so!  For the second time now I've taken my DJI Mavic out to fly and have had issu ...

Have you had better luck with your mavic lately or found a solution

fans1a7abbaa Posted at 2016-11-11 18:08
Have you had better luck with your mavic lately or found a solution

The Firmware update did the trick! i went back for a third time and it flew beautifully!!!

Firmware updated a couple days ago. Compass calibrated locally. I had the Mavic up in Sport Mode, and it performed a single uncommanded 360 spin. Flight record shows the spin, with zero yaw input on the left stick.
Not sure how much I am willing to trust the bird after that stunt.

bpurvis Posted at 2016-10-30 06:28
I'm literally a day away from buying and come across the YT vids showing spinning out of control iss ...

The Karma was recalled for falling out of the sky and is nowhere near the Mavic

Mine just started spiralling out of control, and hit a tree, breaking 2 props. After hitting the tree, it regained control and I was able to land it. Not sure if I should trust this thing anymore though, which is a bad feeling for a $1000 drone