Hey guys,

I'm looking to buy a Mavic Pro (or maybe a Phantom 4) here in China. I'm living out here, and the prices of the DJIs are also much cheaper out here.

My concern with the mavic is the language of the controller. Of course, if I buy the mavic in China then the language of the controller is going to be in Chinese, which I cannot read ANY of.

So do you know if it's possible to change the language of the controller within its on board settings, or if not, if it's possible to change the language by plugging it into a pc and downloading a language pack of some kind.

If the answer to this question is negative (I.e., no, you'll be stuck in chinese), do you know if you buy a phantom in a foreign land if it will connect with your English version of the DJI app therefore negating any type of language barrier that the drone could potentially have.

I know this is a longwinded thread, but I've been spending a lot of time watching mavic/phantom 4/3 Pro footage and I want to buy one so much. This is my main source of hesitancy currently.

Thanks guys,

Thick_Shake

I really really believe language can be set.. but now I'm wondering also if that will be a problem.. i'm considering to buy mavic in China too...

I live in China, and my Mavic is arriving soon. It has shipped, so I'm pretty confident in that "soon".

It doesn't seem like this will be a problem. Most of the controls are going to be on the DJI app, which is in the language you want. I've already downloaded DJI Go, and everything is in English. I'm pretty sure the controller is in English too, but even if it isn't, almost all that information is also displayed on the phone.

I'll tell you what I find when I get my Mavic. Hopefully tomorrow.

JasonMBryant Posted at 2016-12-1 18:04
I live in China, and my Mavic is arriving soon. It has shipped, so I'm pretty confident in that "soo ...

Hi Jason,

I live in China as well and I'm waiting for my Mavic...

There hasn't been much shipment information for China, in contrast with the US and Europe where we can see precise daily activity.

Could you share your order date and shipped date please, that would be a welcomed data point!

Thanks in advance,
Eloi

Eloi Posted at 2016-12-1 22:47
Hi Jason,

I live in China as well and I'm waiting for my Mavic...

Sure. Here's what I put in the "Mavic Combo Pkg - Currently Shipping [All orders upto Oct 10th]" thread.

Order Date: 2016-10-10
Ship to: Jinan, China
Site ordered: DJI
Fly More Combo: No
Shipping status: Shipped

I got the shipping notice on Nov 30th. The tracking info from the shipping company says that it is expected to arrive on Dec 3rd.

Thanks guys,

I know most of the data would be on the app anyways, but I'd prefer everything to be in English as a small mistake with this kit could do damage. I don't mind my laptop being in Chinese because I can guess everything without having problems; I've got too much stuff on it for work currently to install an English version of Windows.

It'd be great if you guys could keep me up-to-date with your orders and controllers, feelings about the drones etc. Definitely cool to see it's not just me as a foreigner looking to buy in China!

Thick_Shake

JasonMBryant Posted at 2016-12-1 22:40
Sure. Here's what I put in the "Mavic Combo Pkg - Currently Shipping [All orders upto Oct 10th]" t ...

Had missed your post in the shipment thread...
Thank you Jason.

I'll add another question to this thread as a first time drone buyer. The GPS that the drone/controller needs to connect to, is this partially achieved by activating the internet/gps on your phone, or do the drone and the controller connect to GPS satellites independently of what the phone is doing?

I live in China and have mine already... don't worry guys, everything comes set up in English already (except the manual but that you can just download)

i confirm ... i  just talked on chat with assistanfce.. RC is in english and language can still be set up ! ;)

The language of controller is English, please do not worry about it.

I went to a DJI stall in a local shopping mall, and yes, the RC was in English! Very happy!

Mine was just delivered. As others have already confirmed, the remote is in English right out of the box. Even "Charging" is in English.

The manual is in Chinese, and there's no way around that. A friend ordered mine for me, and he specifically asked them if they could ship it with an English instruction manual. They couldn't. So if you buy it in China, you have to download the manual online. That's not so bad, I was reading the manual a month before my drone was delivered.

Out of interest- how much cheaper? I was in Shanghai a while ago and looked at a Phantom 4 and if anything it was slightly more expensive - or almost the same - as the USA $$ price...

It's 6500rmb for just the drone and 8000rmb for the combo package... But on top of that comes the tax if you bring it back to your country. For me as a German still around 150€ cheaper than back home

fansd244ab8e Posted at 2016-12-3 13:11
Out of interest- how much cheaper? I was in Shanghai a while ago and looked at a Phantom 4 and if an ...

Not much cheaper compared with US, but significantly cheaper than in Europe or Australia.

The issue is warranty, the drone only has warranty repair in the country/continent where it is bought.

Thick_Shake Posted at 2016-12-2 14:17
I went to a DJI stall in a local shopping mall, and yes, the RC was in English! Very happy!

thick_shake could u please tell me which city? cause i'll be in march in China.. thanks :-)

The digital manuals are actually more convenient -- you could search it, zoom it, bring everywhere.

int0x80 Posted at 2016-12-3 04:31
The digital manuals are actually more convenient -- you could search it, zoom it, bring everywhere.

Absolutely. I like to have both, but if I had to choose, I'd choose the digital manual.

JasonMBryant Posted at 2016-12-2 08:04
I live in China, and my Mavic is arriving soon. It has shipped, so I'm pretty confident in that "soon".

It doesn't seem like this will be a problem. Most of the controls are going to be on the DJI app, which is in the language you want. I've already downloaded DJI Go, and everything is in English. I'm pretty sure the controller is in English too, but even if it isn't, almost all that information is also displayed on the phone.

Does China have any rules for bringing in drones and leaving with drones?  Heading to Shanghai in two days...  Not sure if I can bring my Phantom..

DJI-Thor Posted at 2016-12-3 14:23
Not much cheaper compared with US, but significantly cheaper than in Europe or Australia.

The issue is warranty, the drone only has warranty repair in the country/continent where it is bought.

Wish that was clear or that,  I read it else where.

fans542f8dff Posted at 2016-12-3 09:03
thick_shake could u please tell me which city? cause i'll be in march in China.. thanks :-)

This is in Taiyuan, Shanxi in a shopping mall called Bei Mei. I'm still not sure if the stall actually sells them or if it's just for advertisement and then they expect you to go onto the online website.

Frankly, my chinese is very poor, so I need my girlfriend or someone from work to go with me to find out.

JasonMBryant Posted at 2016-12-3 12:20
Absolutely. I like to have both, but if I had to choose, I'd choose the digital manual.

I don't know how much exp. you have with flying drones, but do you know of any rules/regulations of flying in China? I don't want to take it to a park to get swamped with police, who then take my drone or something.

fans825c0532 Posted at 2016-12-5 07:17
Does China have any rules for bringing in drones and leaving with drones?  Heading to Shanghai in two days...  Not sure if I can bring my Phantom..

For bringing drones into the country, I don't think there are any rules about that. I just did a general search for rules about flying with drones. I think the rules I found were for the American TSA. I generally find that the other countries have the same rules and procedures as the TSA. I know my Mavic should be fine to take in my carry-on bag, but I don't know about a Phantom. Check the rules and compare them to your batteries. There are several good websites out there with information about flying with a drone.

Thick_Shake Posted at 2016-12-5 11:02
I don't know how much exp. you have with flying drones, but do you know of any rules/regulations of flying in China? I don't want to take it to a park to get swamped with police, who then take my drone or something.

China doesn't seem to have many rules on flying drones. I did an internet search not long ago and found that the rules are kind of preliminary now. You should probably do an internet search for the rules of any country you are going to fly in. For China, sticking to the American rules (nothing near airports, don't fly over buildings, etc) should be more than enough. I'm taking a trip to Thailand soon, and when I looked up the rules for Thailand I found out that the maximum height is lower than in America.

My personal experience is extremely limited since I just got my drone a few days ago. On Sunday the campus police politely asked me to stop flying on the college campus where I live. On Monday the people at the park all seemed to love the drone, including the people who worked there.

JasonMBryant Posted at 2016-12-6 06:42
China doesn't seem to have many rules on flying drones. I did an internet search not long ago and found that the rules are kind of preliminary now. You should probably do an internet search for the rules of any country you are going to fly in. For China, sticking to the American rules (nothing near airports, don't fly over buildings, etc) should be more than enough. I'm taking a trip to Thailand soon, and when I looked up the rules for Thailand I found out that the maximum height is lower than in America.

My personal experience is extremely limited since I just got my drone a few days ago. On Sunday the campus police politely asked me to stop flying on the college campus where I live. On Monday the people at the park all seemed to love the drone, including the people who worked there.

Do the parks by you have the annoying "don't go on the grass" rule too?

Thick_Shake Posted at 2016-12-6 11:23
Do the parks by you have the annoying "don't go on the grass" rule too?

Some. It depends on the park. Usually the "Don't go on the grass" rule is written out in a lovely poem that talks about how mellow the grass is and how happy it is when nobody is pressing it down.

fans825c0532 Posted at 2016-12-5 23:17
Does China have any rules for bringing in drones and leaving with drones?  Heading to Shanghai in two days...  Not sure if I can bring my Phantom..

You can, there's no rule about it.

Now I am in Shanghai , Hoping to buy a Mavic in the next few days.
Does anyone know where can i locate one?

Now I am in Shanghai , Hoping to buy a Mavic in the next few days.
Does anyone know where can i locate one in Shanghai?

There are walk-in DJI stores, but your luck won't be any better in China than in America. I went to a DJI store here in Jinan a couple of times. Both times the salesman tried to convince me that I should cancel my order online and buy from him. He didn't have any, and he couldn't say when he would. I gave him my number and told him to call me if any came in.

That was two weeks ago. DJI sent me my Mavic four days ago. The guy from the DJI store still hasn't called me. I would have been screwed if I'd listened to him.

JasonMBryant Posted at 2016-12-7 18:16
There are walk-in DJI stores, but your luck won't be any better in China than in America. I went to a DJI store here in Jinan a couple of times. Both times the salesman tried to convince me that I should cancel my order online and buy from him. He didn't have any, and he couldn't say when he would. I gave him my number and told him to call me if any came in.

That was two weeks ago. DJI sent me my Mavic four days ago. The guy from the DJI store still hasn't called me. I would have been screwed if I'd listened to him.

I just ordered mine on JD.com (pay on arrival), and I'm going to expect that it'll take the advertised 6-8 weeks (what DJI.com says)... one of my chinese assistants said that it says they have stock in the Shanghai warehouse, so she said that maybe it could be here in under a week. Seems unlikely, but I'm hopeful.

Thanks guys... seem like it will not happen as i am leaving tomorrow and have visited a couple of Applestores and they only have P4 ...

Buying in china as an Englishmen..
(I'm going to hell)

Harro
Number 32 - 1 DJI maric fry-more combo with sweet sour pork.

Reviving this thread:

Ordered through JD.com on the 7th of December. Now over 4 weeks have passed.

DJI website claims that if I order through their website that it'll definitely ship before 15th of Jan... tempted to cancel my order through JD.com, who apparently don't have any stock and just go through DJI at the same price anyways.

My dilemma is I'll be visiting home (UK) and Sicily as of the 19th of January, so I really want it to arrive before then, so it doesn't turn up in China whilst I'm not even here. Especially after this wait, I'm not the most patient person.

Cheers.

fans825c0532 Posted at 2016-12-5 07:17
Does China have any rules for bringing in drones and leaving with drones?  Heading to Shanghai in two days...  Not sure if I can bring my Phantom..

I do not believe so. Sometimes they don't like it when you drone is on the outside of your backpack. Aka hanging from the back. Otherwize, you should be fine., but don't quote me on that.

Hi

I found on Aliaba mavic for 400 - 600 $.

https://www.alibaba.com/product- ... bo_50028272015.html

is it OK or fake?

hey fellas, could anyone tell me the exact price of the mavic pro's in Shanghai ?
how much i would pay if i would go to a store any buy it ? or can i pay online and pick it in the shop ?

Regarding buying the drone here in China, there is no issue regarding the language. This can be set, you will need to download without using vpn since, the app here has more information, recomend you to download the offline maps. Also, you will need to activate the GPS calibration for mainland China before flying and use amap because that's the map app that DJI uses here. When flying you will have to fly without vpn also. And finally if you are flying here you will need to register your drone to the CAAC,this is compulsory and need to stick the QR generated by the system on your drone. www.caac.uas.gov.cn

Hope this helps.

fans825c0532 Posted at 2016-12-5 07:17
Does China have any rules for bringing in drones and leaving with drones?  Heading to Shanghai in two days...  Not sure if I can bring my Phantom..

No, China has no issue with bringing drones, but you need to register to fly. www.caac.uas.gov.cn

They might check your batteries to see that they are under 100Wh.