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Tracking Fly Away
1944 26 2017-4-30
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Rick James Bish
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So the idea of $1200 flying away concerns me and has kept me from purchasing the Mavic Pro.  I have had a couple of Quads, including a DJI and have never had it happen but it can happen. I have read about a couple of tracking options but would like advice on what I can get that would best increase my chances of locating a Mavic Pro should I encounter a Fly Away.  Any help appreciated.  Thanks
2017-4-30
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dronist
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Trackimo is one of them...But the best bet is fly in LOS and practice flying ATTI to bring it back home...
2017-4-30
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Eagle_Eye
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dronist Posted at 2017-4-30 06:57
Trackimo is one of them...But the best bet is fly in LOS and practice flying ATTI to bring it back home...

How do you engage Atti mode?
2017-4-30
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Rick James Bish
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dronist Posted at 2017-4-30 06:57
Trackimo is one of them...But the best bet is fly in LOS and practice flying ATTI to bring it back home...

I typically always fly within sight and not just seeing it as a dot, but being able to tell orientation. The Trackimo is one I read about but a little confused on its ability. Unless I read incorrectly, it requires cell service. I would be using this quite a bit for off road recording in remote locations.  Mountainous regions with little vegetation so you have good view but run into cell service about once or twice in during a 6 to 8 hour trip. Is there a beacon type option ?
2017-4-30
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dronist
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Rick James Bish Posted at 2017-4-30 07:20
I typically always fly within sight and not just seeing it as a dot, but being able to tell orientation. The Trackimo is one I read about but a little confused on its ability. Unless I read incorrectly, it requires cell service. I would be using this quite a bit for off road recording in remote locations.  Mountainous regions with little vegetation so you have good view but run into cell service about once or twice in during a 6 to 8 hour trip. Is there a beacon type option ?

Trackimo needs cell and after the first you need to pay a fee. There is other beacon styles but you need to around 100' or less to track them.

Check this one then:
https://www.thetileapp.com/lost- ... FzNMCFVgIDAodQfUKLQ

This one is more expensive:

https://www.uavfind.com/?gclid=CLjZgffFzNMCFcpLDQod_X4NIQ
2017-4-30
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dronist
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Eagle_Eye Posted at 2017-4-30 07:07
How do you engage Atti mode?

You can't on the MAVIC. You can use any of the phantoms or buy a cheap drone for like $30.00 / $40.00 and practice on it.

It is a lot cheaper than buying a new MAVIC because of a fly away.
2017-4-30
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Rick James Bish
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dronist Posted at 2017-4-30 07:57
Trackimo needs cell and after the first you need to pay a fee. There is other beacon styles but you need to around 100' or less to track them.

Check this one then:

Hmmm... that second one has me interested. Might be the ticket.
2017-4-30
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Rick James Bish Posted at 2017-4-30 08:16
Hmmm... that second one has me interested. Might be the ticket.

Like I said, it is a little more expensive but if you are going to be in no where land it might be a great option. Keep us posted if you got it!! Good Luck

SAFETY FIRST - FUN SECOND
2017-4-30
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Rick James Bish
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dronist Posted at 2017-4-30 08:20
Like I said, it is a little more expensive but if you are going to be in no where land it might be a great option. Keep us posted if you got it!! Good Luck

SAFETY FIRST - FUN SECOND

Will do. I think its worth a shot. At the least I can recover it and try to get replacement. I plan on doing the replacement warranty deal but add this tracker and that puts me at about $1600 and I have read some DJI can be difficult about replacement despite purchasing that option.
2017-4-30
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Rick James Bish Posted at 2017-4-30 08:21
Will do. I think its worth a shot. At the least I can recover it and try to get replacement. I plan on doing the replacement warranty deal but add this tracker and that puts me at about $1600 and I have read some DJI can be difficult about replacement despite purchasing that option.

Oh yes, not only that it will take forever to get back your drone with all the backlog they currently have...
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Rick James Bish
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dronist Posted at 2017-4-30 08:23
Oh yes, not only that it will take forever to get back your drone with all the backlog they currently have...

That's not promising.. lol.   I don't get it. I have always read mostly negative things about DJI support yet it seems to be the go to brand.  Any recommendations ?   I'm not locked in on the Mavic.
2017-4-30
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Rick James Bish Posted at 2017-4-30 08:28
That's not promising.. lol.   I don't get it. I have always read mostly negative things about DJI support yet it seems to be the go to brand.  Any recommendations ?   I'm not locked in on the Mavic.

The drones are incredible, I have almost everything under the sun exceptt P1 AND P2 and the industrial ones. I use the P4P and the P4P+ for serious business I prefer the P4P+ because of the incredible bright screen and I use the P4P during cloudy days.

The MAVIC is different story.. I love it for the fun flying, compact and easy to carry around. The pictures are also pretty good if you take your time.

So it depends on what you want to do with the drone.

The question about backlog is that their products are in high demands and you a have a lot of newbies  that don't read manuals, or be responsible to know theior drones before they fly up, and up and up plus some of the defective units which is to be expected when you have large volume of manufacturing. So it is causing a lot of returns which causes a lot of back log.

Knock on wood so far I never had to return any of my drones or the OSMO's.

Good luck!
2017-4-30
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AG0N-Gary
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Rick James Bish Posted at 2017-4-30 08:28
That's not promising.. lol.   I don't get it. I have always read mostly negative things about DJI support yet it seems to be the go to brand.  Any recommendations ?   I'm not locked in on the Mavic.

Kinda depends on what you are going to do with it.  If you don't have to have the smaller size, the Phantom 4 Pro would be an excellent choice.
2017-4-30
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hallmark007
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You also have find my drone on Mavic now.
2017-4-30
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thehippoz
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Only thing noticed with mine least. If you're in high winds and sport mode for over a minute, the gps goes screwy and it doesn't drop into atti. So it's best to leave it high coming in and make sure she's not swirly before coming down. Be aware of your rc connection too. The mavic doesn't drop into atti like it should when the gps is affected by emf (probably from the wiring). I think gonna take mine apart today and shield the wiring then re calibrate the thing. I'm used to it though, so know what to expect. New mavic owners like seen in threads here already, the gps goes screwy and they try to land it, a bad idea.
2017-4-30
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Someone forgot about the this one:  http://www.loc8tor.com/everyday/loc8tor-lite-rc.html/  

400 foot range on that one.  Your find my drone app will get you to within this distance with the last known location then Loc8tor can be used to home in on it.
2017-4-30
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Rick James Bish
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dronist Posted at 2017-4-30 08:45
The drones are incredible, I have almost everything under the sun exceptt P1 AND P2 and the industrial ones. I use the P4P and the P4P+ for serious business I prefer the P4P+ because of the incredible bright screen and I use the P4P during cloudy days.

The MAVIC is different story.. I love it for the fun flying, compact and easy to carry around. The pictures are also pretty good if you take your time.

Thoughts on the DJI replacement plan ?   Worth it or is it something they are doing to get more money but not following through ?
2017-5-1
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DroneFlying
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Rick James Bish Posted at 2017-5-1 08:29
Thoughts on the DJI replacement plan ?   Worth it or is it something they are doing to get more money but not following through ?

Thoughts on the DJI replacement plan ?   Worth it or is it something they are doing to get more money but not following through ?

I think it's worthwhile as long as you understand the most important caveats -- which many people apparently don't:

  • To use it at all, you must first recover the aircraft -- including the camera / gimbal assembly -- and send it back to DJI. If your Mavic goes for a swim in the ocean and is never seen again, you won't be getting a Care Refresh replacement.
  • The terms allow DJI total discretion in terms of what they send back: your original aircraft repaired, someone else's refurbished, or a brand new one. It's their choice.
  • Any talk about "priority service" is largely marketing hype, at least at this point: send your Mavic in and you'll be waiting a while to get a replacement. A month seems to have been pretty typical for recent replacements in North America.

Personally I have both Care Refresh and a personal articles policy (PAP) from State Farm. If I crash and recover the aircraft I'll use Care Refresh to get a replacement; if I can't / don't recover it I'll use the insurance policy.

P.S. Here's the current spreadsheet of State Farm agents known to offer "drone" policies if you're interested and it's available in your state.

2017-5-1
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Rick James Bish Posted at 2017-5-1 08:29
Thoughts on the DJI replacement plan ?   Worth it or is it something they are doing to get more money but not following through ?

From what I saw on this forum, is that some people get new one and most got refurbished one. It is in their policy that they have the choice to give you a new one and OR something as good as your unit.

IMHO, I never bought a plan. I am extremely careful and I don't put myself or the drone into any situations that will might cause me to loose or crash my drone.

I always check the machine, batteries, props, before and after every flight. I use UAV FORCEAST to check on the weather, KP, wind direction. I don't fly if I don't have at least 14 stats. I survey where I want to fly before I fly etc...

So far I crashed once in the early days (3 years ago)  when I did NOT have a check list to go by.

Again, it is up to each person... Good luck and post some footage/pics when you are ready!
2017-5-1
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Rick James Bish
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DroneFlying Posted at 2017-5-1 08:45
Thoughts on the DJI replacement plan ?   Worth it or is it something they are doing to get more money but not following through ?

I think it's worthwhile as long as you understand the most important caveats -- which many people apparently don't:

Ok I looked at the spreadsheet.. Am I understanding this correctly ?  $60 a year, no deductioble and covers accidental ?  So is the replacement ? Repair ?  Sounding to good.
2017-5-1
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DroneFlying
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Rick James Bish Posted at 2017-5-1 09:03
Ok I looked at the spreadsheet.. Am I understanding this correctly ?  $60 a year, no deductioble and covers accidental ?  So is the replacement ? Repair ?  Sounding to good.

Am I understanding this correctly?

Yes, you probably are: the premiums are shockingly low . . . for now. And that covers pretty much everything imaginable, including theft, accidental damage from a crash, total loss (e.g., in the ocean), etc.

The only "catch" is that it's like any other personal articles policy: file a claim against it and premiums on other policies might rise, and I've seen one or two people say their drone policies were canceled after filing a claim for a replacement. But so far every case I've heard of where a claim was filed State Farm delivered as promised.
2017-5-1
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Rick James Bish
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Ok.. Im going for the Mavic..   Anyone know of any deals ? Otherwise ordering direct or can I get it faster ordering elsewhere ?
2017-5-1
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Rick James Bish
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Sorry I should have asked this in the last post but editing is cut off after 2 minutes..

To increase the chance that I don't get an earlier production should I order direct ?   And if I order from somewhere like B&H can I still get the 99 dollar a year replacement deal from DJI ?
2017-5-1
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Rick James Bish Posted at 2017-5-1 09:44
Sorry I should have asked this in the last post but editing is cut off after 2 minutes..

To increase the chance that I don't get an earlier production should I order direct ?   And if I order from somewhere like B&H can I still get the 99 dollar a year replacement deal from DJI ?

Anyone know of any deals ? Otherwise ordering direct or can I get it faster ordering elsewhere ?

B&H should be fine, especially if the coupon code they recently offered still applies for Mavic purchases. I've had good luck with NewEgg, but now that there aren't as many back-orders I don't think it'll matter as much who you buy from. I do recommend against buying directly from DJI because their return policies are probably quite a bit more strict than what you're used to.

And yes, you can get Care Refresh without buying the Mavic directly from DJI.
2017-5-1
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Rick James Bish
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Yipeee... Love loving in California.  They will not insure quad copters here.
2017-5-2
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Rick James Bish
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Suppose to be love living, which is obviously sarcasm.  Not sure why I cannot insure here. I contacted two agents on the spreadsheet and since they both told me the same I don't see a need to pursue it.
2017-5-2
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Rick James Bish Posted at 2017-5-2 04:45
Yipeee... Love loving in California.  They will not insure quad copters here.

No, sorry, that's true: State Farm won't offer you a drone policy in California. At least that's what I've heard repeatedly and I should have thought to mention that earlier.
2017-5-2
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