DJI Merge Power and Smart Features to Give the Gift of Flight to All

If you’ve never experienced flying a drone then taking the first steps to selecting which drone to purchase and flying for the very first time may seem a little daunting.  There are several different manufacturers out there offering different types of drones for different uses. These uses include racing, video and photography or simply for the fun of flying and it’s important to select the drone that best matches your needs.

One of the world’s largest drone manufacturers, with seven out of every ten consumer drones in the sky, is DJI.  DJI have a range of drones in their line-up ranging from the easy-to-fly straight of the box Phantom range to the more prosumer interchangeable lens Inspire series and onto the professional Matrice series used for films and industrial inspections.

The latest addition to the Phantom series, the Phantom 4 Advanced Credit:DJI

The latest addition to the Inspire series, the Inspire 2 Credit: DJI

The latest addition to the Matrice series, the M210 Credit:DJI

DJI also shook up the market with the Mavic Pro, a drone that folds up to just the size of a small water bottle and weighs less than 750g.  You may think that in order to achieve a drone of this size some of the smart features included in other DJI drones needed to be discarded but this is not the case.  The DJI Mavic Pro not only includes the same intelligent features as other DJI drones but goes even further and enhances them. Its compact size hides a high degree of complexity that makes it one of DJI’s most sophisticated flying cameras ever.

“We merged power and smart features making it easy for everyone to fly and create beautiful images,” explained a DJI spokesperson.  “The toughest challenge for us was finding the sweet spots between form and function.”

With 24 high-performance computing cores, five vision sensors to help avoid bumps and scrapes, and a 4K camera stabilized by a 3-axis mechanical gimbal, the Mavic Pro helps to turn the sky into your very own canvas ready for you to create your own masterpiece easily and without worry.

The DJI Mavic Pro fits in the palm of your hand Credit: The Verge

The DJI Mavic Pro is the perfect example of what the DJI CEO Frank Wang strived for when first setting up the company just over ten years ago. His aim was to make it easy for anyone to pick-up a radio control and fly without the frustrations and difficulty associated with keeping radio controlled helicopters in the air.

They say that a picture tells a thousand words and thanks to DJI innovations simplifying flight and aerial imaging for all, there are an almost infinite number of words to be told.

 

 

 

 

 

The post DJI Merge Power and Smart Features to Give the Gift of Flight to All appeared first on Drone Inner.

The Mavic Pro will mean different things to different people

I have been very impressed with the DJI Mavic Pro and as a first time drone owner I’ll try and break down its features based on how they impacted my decision. I purchased the bundle which came with the additional accessories and the shoulder bag. My overall rating is based on the quality of the drone because the accessories, in my opinion, will mean different things to different people.

The Drone:
So my primary qualification for getting a drone was portability. I wanted something I could take with me camping and on family vacations which would give some interesting options beyond a handheld camera. The DJI Mavic Pro certainly fits that bill. When folded it’s surprising how compact it is. The Mavic Pro also feels very sturdy and not cheaply made at all. I have put about an hour of total flight time onto the drone with no issues. It is very easy to setup and fly. Each of the 3 modes (standard, sport, & tripod) work exactly as advertised and fit different purposes. In standard mode I can hit about 24 mph, sport will do a little above 40mph, and tripod mode offers a nice slow, stable flight experience. On a fully charged battery, depending on use, I can fly for about 25 minutes before I get too worried about hitting the critical battery status.

Controller & App:
The DJI Mavic Pro’s controller is much more compact than a Inspire or Phantom controller. In addition to the DJI GO 4 app makes it very easy to change settings on the fly. It displays a lot of flight data and can even play it back later. It also does a great job of tracking flight information.

Accessories:
1. Car Charger – This accessory will come in super handy for trips. Being able to charge as you go is a big plus.
2. Charging Hub – If you have more than one battery, which I would suggest and since the bundle comes with 3 batteries, this is a great accessory. It doesn’t charge all the batteries at once, but does allow you to connect them all so you don’t have to worry about monitoring your batteries and swamping them out.
3. Charging Adapter – This is a neat little accessory which allows you to turn your drone’s batteries into mobile chargers. Not necessary for the drone experience, but very cool and I can see it coming in handy traveling.
4. Shoulder Bag – It has good quality construction, but doesn’t offer a lot of protection. Also, because it’s very compact you can really only fit the drone with a battery in it, the controller, and two additional batteries in the outside mesh pouches. Fitting additional blades or a fourth battery will be a challenge.

Suggested Items:
1.DJI Mavic Phantom 2 3 4 Inspire 1 protective Accessories Mini landing pad – Having a landing pad helps with the drone’s return to home feature. In addition to GPS the drone also takes a picture of where it took off from. Having a high contrast object like a landing pad improves this feature. It also protects the drone from dust/dirt and moisture. When using my landing pad the drone returns to home within inches of where it took off from.

2. Waterproof Hard Case with Foam Insert for DJI Mavic – Having a hard case, in my opinion, is a must for travel. The shoulder bag is great for going out and about, but I’d never use it for air travel or when I’m loading up the car for a camping trip. I’m not a fan of the “pluck and pick” cases so these laser cut ones are more attractive to me.

The post The Mavic Pro will mean different things to different people appeared first on Drone Inner.

Where did you buy your DJI drone?

Our editor recently saw an interesting thread on DJI forum. Where did you buy your DJI drone? DJI.com, Amazon.com, B&H, or your local dealer?  If you bought the drone from places other than DJI website, what was the reason behind it? Customer service, price, accessibility?

It’s a good question as many people love DJI drones but don’t know where to buy.

We found the majority of them order direct from DJI.com according to their responses. The motivations behind are in the following.

• From DJI.com best price at the time.
• From DJI.com only for availability.
• If there was any issues I didn’t have any middle men to deal with!
• From DJI to take advantage of points, no tax, free shipping and automatic activation of Care Refresh.

Those orders from other places under these circumstances.

“I ordered from an amazon.com reseller on the day of the Mavic Pro announcement. I tied to purchase directly from DJI but the site was overloaded at the time and wouldn’t accept my order.”

“Simple, bought by a local dealer. It is because the Guarantuee period by a local dealer in Denmark is much longer and more comprehensive than that DJI can provide. Should the workshop choose and exchange My Mavic Pro to another and not repair the old, I am claim a Shiny new and not one that is gathered by other old spare parts.

Another thing is that I only have to send my Mavic to that traders of purchase and not to another country.”

“Amazon.com (sold by Amazon). There’s no sales tax where I live, so that wasn’t a consideration. I did like the fast shipping with no additional charge. I really just ordered from there because it’s easy.”

“I bought mine from Multicopter Warehouse which is a DJI authorized dealer here in Castle Rock, Colorado. They know there stuff & any issues I can call and get it resolved. I did, however, purchase the DJI Refresh from DJI…BEFORE I EVER FIRST turned it on.  No issues.”

“Amazon.com because they have real warranty and customer service. When I buy something from them, I now that if anything is wrong with the item, they will send me a new one or give me an instant refund no questions asked.”

Where did you buy your DJI drone?Let us know in the comment.

Thank you for reading!

 

 

 

 

 

The post Where did you buy your DJI drone? appeared first on Drone Inner.

Range is not an issue with the GoPro Karma

GoPro is a camera company that made a drone. The Karma drone is first an accessory for GoPro cameras.

TechCrunch reviewed, on paper, the GoPro Karma looks like it’s going to compete with the DJI Mavic drone. They’re both packable drones with limited feature sets, designed with portability in mind. In reality, the Karma’s main competitor is the DJI Phantom.

But we think the Karma’s competitor is not the Phantom 3 or 4 but it is the Mavic Pro. Portability is what the Karma was developed for and it falls short when compared to the Mavic although it does have a much better camera with the Black. The Karma will be the go to for those deep in the GoPro ecosystem and for GoPro’s first shot at a drone it’s a home run, but let’s not minimize the impact of the Mavic, it is the standard everyone will now try to emulate.

It’s clear that the product bundle itself is one of the main differences between the GoPro Karma and its DJI rival. GoPro shares a single camera between both the drone and its gimbal grip, and wants you to buy it separately. You’ll need to supply a Hero4 Black or Silver, or the new Hero5 Session or Hero5 Black camera for use with your drone, bolstering GoPro’s camera sales in the process unless you already own one. But the drone ships with its gimbal grip as a free accessory, and realistically speaking, many target customers likely already own one or more GoPro cameras anyway.

Range is not an issue with the GoPro Karma. Its maximum flight distance is 3,000m, which in most cases is far enough for the pilot to lose sight of the drone, breaking one of the key FAA rules of piloting a drone of keeping the drone in visible range. However, many other drones available around the Karma’s price now have a range of 5,000 meters or farther.

The DJI Mavic has a claimed a maximum flying distance of 8 miles (13km). OcuSync long-range-transmission technology is capable of relaying a signal up to 4.3 miles line-of-sight while supporting 720p HD video (1080p HD transmission in short-range mode). Every time you fly, OcuSync scans a range of available frequencies to find and use the one with the least interference to give you more reliability and control, OcuSync transfers vital statistics of the Mavic to you in real time, and can also be used to download photos and videos at up to 40 Mbps while flying. It can be controlled using the DJI Go app over shorter ranges. If you to want to fly further the you can add a tiny remote controller which increases the range to a claimed 7km. The remote can link to a mobile device and view a live feed from the copter in 1080P.

On the whole, the GoPro Karma is a great drone. Think of it as a flying GoPro mount, though, instead of an autonomous aerial vehicle. It lacks collision detection and follow-me abilities — the latest features found on most drones in the Karma’s price point. And that’s a shame, too, as both are excellent additions to drone technology. Think of the Karma as one of the best drones from 2014, and maybe, for GoPro’s core audience, that’s fine.

The post Range is not an issue with the GoPro Karma appeared first on Drone Inner.

Mavic Pro shot with the fighter jets was a surprise

( Video via Matthew Me )

I have been messing with my new Mavic Pro the past few days in Colorado. Other than the fact that I have blur on the right side of my image I love this drone.

*DISCLAIMER* All of this video was recorded outside of all no fly zones and I never flew this flight more than 150feet or so from the ground level. The shot with the fighter jets happened about 10 minutes into my flight and I did not know they were in the air nor did I know they would be flying so damn low.

You may wonder who recorded the Mavic Pro in flight? I was flying with a friend of mine who also owns a Mavic so I recorded him recording me. Unfortunately I didn’t have anything recording sound so I had to borrow a sound effect to put in the video but I think it fits in well.

Someone asked me regarding the fighter jets, where I in any particular mode (tripod, cinematic..) while filming? They flew directly over my head and then circled in front of where I was so I had a few seconds to prepare myself. That being said the panning was quite jerky but I ran it through stabilization in Final Cut Pro and that smoothed it out quite a bit and made it looks as if it was a smooth constant speed.

 

 

The post Mavic Pro shot with the fighter jets was a surprise appeared first on Drone Inner.

What can we expect from the DJI Mavic Standard?

Drone Manufacturer DJI will in all probability soon come with an entry-level version of the Mavic Pro on the market. Not entirely the drone DJI Mavic Standard will be called surprising and have lesser specifications. These new drone will also be offered for sale without a controller. The selling price of the basic model without transmitter would not more than $ 500.

Model M1S

On the FCC website there is in fact a photograph surfaced of a product label showing the designation M1S. On the Mavic Pro adorned with a similar label, but with the indication M1P.

Anyhow, the introduction of a DJI Mavic Standard (or just ‘Mavic’) is a logical continuation of that DJI. The Phantom 3 Standard was announced 6 months after the release of the Phantom 3 Professional and Advanced. At the end of this March, the Mavic will be turning 6 months old, so we can expect that a cheaper iteration will hit the market around that time.

If such a model were introduced, we would expect that its specification might be limited as follows:

• Camera resolution limited to 1080p/2.7K camera.
• Ocu Sync video transmission (same as the pro). That means the Mavic Standard will also be able to fly as far as 7km (4.3mi)
• Removal of obstacle avoidance sensors
• No remote controller
• Controlled only by the DJI Go 4 app
• $ 699 for the version with controller and only $ 449 for the Mavic Standard without remote.

Delivery Problems

Many retailers still have many orders are on backorder. These may put off potential buyers as such a specification would severly limit the functionality of the Mavic Standard.

Thank you very much for reading!

The post What can we expect from the DJI Mavic Standard? appeared first on Drone Inner.

GoPro Karma vs DJI Mavic:See What They Think

GoPro Karma and DJI Mavic are considered two entirely different drones, however, it is inevitable for users and enthusiasts to have it compared neck-and-neck. These are two of the more popular brands from the competitors with almost the same features and specifications so it is understandable why comparisons are necessary. Almost is an understatement as one may have more than the other.

The site MyFirstDrone provides some thoughts on this battle.DJI Mavic is going to be the better choice because of how small it is and the additional automated features that it has. While the GoPro owners out there are going to love it. In a way, it’s almost like the 3DR Solo drone, but made by GoPro. He thought what it comes down to is price. People who have GoPros and don’t want to spend as much money will probably get the Karma, and people who want the smallest drone with the most features are going to get the DJI Mavic.

Unfortunately, there’s no follow features on the Karma. You get a 2 point cable cam mode, dronie mode, reveal mode, and orbit mode. These are the same features that other drone manufacturers have had for the past year. Upon its initial launch, the Karma was criticized for a lack of functionality, even the basic ‘Follow Me’ was missing.

The site Gizmodo thought it depends who is flying and under what conditions. On basic specs, the DJI Mavic Pro seems to have bested the GoPro Karma in several categories. Some aspects such as top speed, battery life, portability, remote controller, features modes, it looks like DJI Mavic wins.

When it comes to versatility of video recording, the GoPro Karma easily beats DJI. It was built to combat these type of situations. It can be outfitted with the new GoPro Hero 5 Black, the Hero 5 Session, Hero 4, and Hero 3 cameras and its removable stabilizer that can be used as a handheld gimbal for shooting nice clean shots on or off the drone.

As added by FASTCOMPANY, GoPro may have missed its chance to claim a substantial share of the market, let alone be a serious challenger to China’s DJI, the undisputed industry leader. That’s particularly true since the initial release of the Karma was delayed for about a year, and because the recall came not long after DJI launched its Mavic Pro, which was seen as a direct Karma competitor offering more features like obstacle avoidance and follow-me features that the Karma can’t match.

In conclusion, DJI Mavic Pro is better than GoPro Karma, at least on paper. We’re hoping to get our hands on both drones when GoPro Karma is on sale this year so we can really test the claims both companies are making.

The post GoPro Karma vs DJI Mavic:See What They Think appeared first on Drone Inner.

How to manually set the Mavic Pro camera?-Video

( Video via CAPTAIN DRONE )

The great thing about the camera on the DJI Mavic Pro (or any DJI camera) is that you have lots of options. You can choose to go full automatic and have the camera do everything, or go full manual and change every setting you can think of.

This video gives a quick demonstration on how to manually set the DJI MAVIC PRO camera for optimal video/picture and do things the hard way for the most flexibility and control over the footage.

The post How to manually set the Mavic Pro camera?-Video appeared first on Drone Inner.

DJI Mavic competitor from ZeroTech…

DJI’s first foldable drone Mavic Pro is sought after as soon as it hit the market. Now another Chinese brand ZeroTech, maker of the Dobby, has introduced a similar product, a DJI Mavic competitor.

The aircraft can also be folded, which is almost the same size as the Dobby. At first glance, it’s very similar to DJI Mavic, but different in details. Such as the smaller size, the battery installation and the configuration. It seems it aims at hobby market.

The photos published on drone-rumour site sb-dji.com suggest a folding format drone. Specifications which at this time are rumor/speculation stand as follows:

• Approximately 7-15 minutes flight-time.
• 1.5km flight distance/range.
• Folding propellers.

The industry predicts that the performance of the drone will not be very high, at least is less powerful than Mavic Pro. The advantage is its price, it should be somewhere within $500 USD

What are your thoughts about the competitor? Please let us know in the comment below.

The post DJI Mavic competitor from ZeroTech… appeared first on Drone Inner.

In which case do you hand launch/catch the DJI Mavic Pro?

Many people are curious how many people are hand launching and catching with the DJI Mavic Pro. Below are the cases from DJI Mavic Pro forums.

# “I was hesitant to hand launch and catch but since I fly from mountain locations where this is the only option, I have now done this many times with no issue. I do not have time to fiddle with settings like disabling OA or VPS. I just catch the Mavic Pro from the front (camera side). It’s easy to grab a good firm hold there with no chance of slipping and you can avoid the bottom sensors. If it does try to lift off, that’s not a problem either, it’s easy to hang on. ”

# “Generally no hand launches; when the terrain makes it necessary I use one of those foldable landing pads. The only exception is when I (occasionally) find myself in a (rebar-heavy) concrete jungle that my compass doesn’t like: then I’ll hand launch. And personally haven’t yet found a reason to hand catch, but I understand that some people (e.g., in boats) have a reason to or just prefer it.”

# “I almost strictly hand launch and hand catch. Too much snow right now and since I travel light, I don’t carry any kind of pad. I find it super easy and I do not turn off anything. I have added a removable neck strap to the controller to make it easier to use with one hand while launching and landing.”

# “I do both hand launch and hand catch and I literally have never tried landing my DJI Mavic Pro on ground. I find my fingers are impossible to touch the props if you catch it from the belly (just like everyone else does)”

# “I hand launch and catch whenever I need to. These days, snow would simply not let me take-off and land normally from the ground. I tried several things, but what works best for me is to make sure the DJI Mavic Pro hovers steadily on my right-hand side, 1 foot above my head. I set the automatic landing with two hands on the RC, then I hold the RC with my left hand only and raise my right hand in the air just underneath the quad. The Mavic Pro starts going down and stops when it reaches my hand and feels what it thinks is the ground.

The other thing I do as often is just lowering the quad manually with my left hand on the RC, while my right hand is grabbing the quad. Usually there is a second or two where the drone tries to escape due to the sensors but it does not resist for long. You just have to stay full throttle down until props stop. The worst that can happen if you miss your shot and don’t have a good grip is the quad lifting off by a couple of feet. You just have to start again with a firmer grip.

I find both techniques safe enough for this kind of conditions (snow, water, rocks on the ground), but I’d rather take-off and land from a flat and clean surface when I can.”

# “I have hand launched and caught a couple of times – when there is no suitable site for auto takeoff. I turn the Mavic Pro facing away from me so it doesn’t detect any objects. Then put my hand up under it quickly and grab, then throttle down quickly. It struggles briefly, but then is ok. Launching is no problem. I set the controller on auto takeoff – hold the Mavic with other hand (facing away from me), and hit the take off button. Sometimes I have my wife hit the button. It just lifts out of my hand and stays there until I’m ready with the controls.”

It seems that most of the pilots launched/caught the DJI Mavic Pro manually if necessary in some special conditions like landing/catching from the snow,water, rocks, jungle and boat etc..

The video below may show this technique and offer some good tips for Mavic Pro hand launching or catching.

( Video via Tech We Want )

The post In which case do you hand launch/catch the DJI Mavic Pro? appeared first on Drone Inner.

Do you really need Mavic Pro propeller guards?

DJI launched new accessories for the Mavic Pro, one of which is a propeller guard. These aren’t the most exciting releases but they’re, as theverge said “practical gadgets.” The Mavic Pro propeller guards come with two variants. One is priced at $16 and the other one is $159.

No idea whether to buy the Mavic Pro propeller guards? Just check out the buyer’s comments from Amazon and DJI forums below.

# “I am a newbie and waiting for my Mavic Pro-I got the prop guards for use outside to be on the safe side until I become more skilled. I have no intention of flying inside yet.”

# “I bought Mavic Pro propeller guards from Amazon. They installed quickly and really do a nice job against walls and other such in-home obstacles. I recommend them. The Mavic is a bit clunkier with them on but overall flies great. I recommend turning off forward sensors not because the guards interfere with them, but because you can get sudden movements that aren’t fun to experience even with prop guards on!

But note that small objects (like posts less than 11 inches in width) can fit between the prop guards and then impact the props. You could run a string or strong tape across that opening to prevent that if you wanted but it probably would be in the camera field of view and would definitely interfere with the forward facing sensors.”

# “It works fine but is a bit of a pain to put on and it seems to leave some small marks on the Mavic Pro‘s arms when it is slid on.

This will not protect your props with any level of certainty. It will also not be a guarantee that the Mavic cannot cut you or things the Mavic collides into. It works best when it’s a straight level collision, in those cases the Mavic will just bounce off or stay up against the object. If the object you collide with has a complex shape then all bets are off because the Mavic can tilt at an angle and expose the impact zone to the spinning blades.”

# “These guards go on easy and really are study protection. I haven’t noticed any affect on the flying of my Mavic besides a slight shorting of flight time, that I haven’t noticed. You can fly right into a wall and the Mavic just bounces off. I feel so much safer flying my Mavic now.”

# “I got these prop guards, have used them once and removed them. Though they will certainly protect the props, they are heavy relative to the mass of the Mavic Pro and they seem to lower the aircraft’s wind tolerance. I was getting wind warnings when the tree tops were moving only slightly, conditions I had flown in previously and seen no warnings. Other than that they seem to be well made and fit tightly. Each guard is two pieces. On piece fits around the motor and over the arm. The other piece fits down on the first and is connected by two plastic clips. They appear to made of standard polystyrene and are therefore not likely to tolerate any significant impacts but that is pure speculation on my part.”

The post Do you really need Mavic Pro propeller guards? appeared first on Drone Inner.

Trip in France with my first drone Mavic Pro

( Via Christian D )

I pretty much just received my Mavic Pro drone. This is actually the first drone that I ever had – I have never flown a drone before, so I have really taken a lot of time to practice how to get good, smooth and good looking shots. After playing with it for a couple of weeks, I decided to take it with me to my trip to Avoriaz in France.

To be honest, I’m quite proud of the result! This is the product of hours of shooting across multiple days around Avoriaz, and even longer time editing the video!

Avoriaz is a small city, lying deep into the french alps. Situated 1800 meters above sea level on a plateau of a cliff, you get the stunning views together with great skiing opportunity.

 

 

The post Trip in France with my first drone Mavic Pro appeared first on Drone Inner.

Mavic Pro vs GoPro Karma

Now that the two “sensations of the moment”, the GoPro Karma and the DJI Mavic Pro, have been presented to the public and the minds are gradually calming down, I would like to take the time to compare their main technical characteristics.

Many users tend to rely mainly on purely technical characteristics to compare “high-tech” products, which does not always give a faithful image to the reality of things (fan boys Of Apple will surely recognize here …).

It is true that the Mavic Pro really looks great on paper but the two drones have not been really tested, it is important not to bury the Karma drone which still has some assets on paper .

Most of the videos available online today are commercial videos and do not reflect the reality of things in my opinion.

This article is a means of comparing the technical characteristics of these two products by putting them face to face. Although not exactly the same position and the same targets, these two companies are currently boosting the industry and pushing it forward by the competition generated by these devices.

Ok these two quadcopters share some similarities, they are both foldable and compact but also possess characteristics of their own.

Gopro clearly has a positioning targeting fans of extreme sports or outdoor activities in general and offers here a versatile and ultra portable drone.

Let’s start by comparing their main differences:

Characteristics	Mavic DJI	Gopro Karma
Autonomy	27 mins	20 mins
Wight	734g	1006g
Dimensions	L: 198 / W: 83 / H: 81	L: 365 / W: 224 / H: 90
Max Transmission Distance	7 kms	1 km
Built-in Camera	Yes	No Gopro
Return screen	Yes	Not on the input pack
Camera	FOV 78.8° 28 mm f/2.2	FOV 94° 17.2mm f/2.81
Resolution	4K / 2.7k 30p + C4K 24p	4K 30p / 2.7k 60p1
Subject Tracking	Yes	No
Avoiding Obstacles	Yes	No
Vision positioning system	Yes	No
Transport bag	Optional	Included
Battery prices	$104	$94

What is the best?

On paper, the Mavic Pro beats Karma in the following areas:

• Autonomy in flight (27mins against only 20mins for Karma). Claimed by the manufacturers.
• Special Flight Modes, Follow me, Active track, Tap to Fly …
• 4 Sensors to avoid obstacles.
• Range of 7km.
• Top speed of about 65 km / h in sport mode.

On paper, GoPro Karma beats Mavic in the following areas:

• Versatility thanks to the integration of the GoPro which can be detached to be used in different ways.
• No need to buy a product in addition to have the video return (if you own the remote control)
• Possibility to use the old versions of the GoPro (Hero 4)
• The Gimbal is detachable to take videos in manual
•  Appearance of a flat mode on the Hero 5 to correct the effect fish eye that some do not appreciate!

Conclusion

For many users of quadcopter, GoPro Karma will offer a better added value in its versatile side. Perfect for a sportier mode of use and for “moving” videographers.

Mavic Pro will offer more interest for budding dronists and / or DJI enthusiasts looking for more versatility and portability without sacrificing quality or functionality.

It’s up to you to see what your preferences are!

The post Mavic Pro vs GoPro Karma appeared first on Drone Inner.

Mavic Pro advice for beginners-Part III

The Mavic Pro is my first drone, and I’ve had it for about a month.  It’s been pretty easy for me to learn, as long as you take it easy, don’t get too ambitious too fast, and watch a few YouTube videos to get a feel for the various Intelligent Flight Modes. I actually started flying it indoors before even taking it outside, but make sure you have a good GPS lock if you do that, or it could drift into a wall or furniture!

You can join some forum like http://mavicpilots.com/ .

Second watch this video gives you a lot of good info on setting up the Mavic Pro.

Nice Video for learning how to do basic flight:

Never do what this guy does:

Moreover, I’ll give is that you need to decide whether you’ll purchase the ‘DJI-Care‘ insurance plan to cover damage or replacement of your drone during the first year, as soon as you get it (preferably at the time of purchase).  The plan costs $99, and while it looks like it would cover 2 complete drone replacements in the first year, that’s not entirely accurate.  If the amount of damage is bad enough to need a replacement drone, the first one will cost you around $80 more, and the 2nd one around $128 extra.  If you don’t get the insurance within 48 hours of activating the drone, it becomes nearly impossible to buy it later. It is technically possible, but DJI requires that you submit for approval an in-depth demonstration video where you must verify that nearly every single aspect and setting of your drone and controller are working perfectly, before they will sell you the insurance. It has to be done in a single take, with no cuts or editing, and you’d need a 2nd cameraman to document everything, as well as to have a detailed checklist of all of the things that need to be shown, and in what order.

The post Mavic Pro advice for beginners-Part III appeared first on Drone Inner.

Any 90% satisfied Mavic Pro pilots?-Part II

The post is an update to the Part I.

# 110% satisfied with my Mavic Pro. Not a single issue that wasn’t supposed to exist anyway. Not perfect, but insanely fun and easy to deal with.

These compact drones with real-time video and GPS and 1000K ballpark are a godsend for us hobbyists used to a lot more trouble. Trouble we love but still in R/C it’s a lot more work and a lot less time flying. Now, work on these toys is fine and fun. But flying and filming is a lot more and what it’s about, that’s my point.

Take your time to learn, start slow and build knowledge and confidence. Be responsible. Many new pilots just rush things and then put the blame on the equipment. In R/C and hobby there’s no such thing as instant gratification. The learning curve is steep, long and expensive. DJI has cut a lot of that in our favour, but still every move right or wrong has a price.

# I absolutely love my Mavic Pro. I used the DJI Ground Station Pro App to take 90 pictures of a large area so I could create my own ‘google maps’ and it worked flawlessly. I used Photoshop to stitch together all the pictures. The video quality is superb. I would invest in the Polar Pro filters to get your shutter speed to double your frame rate for the best cinematic filming.

I also flew mine into a tree by accident. Sent it back to DJI for repairs and surprisingly cost me $103 and I didn’t have DJI Care. No other drone on the market even comes close to functionality and price.

# It’s been a great, capable little drone, and I’ve enjoyed learning about aerial photography. Flew it in wind, cold (within reason of course, cautiously) and found it performed at or exceeding expectation.

No jello in the video for a long time, no firmware updates have failed yet, and even when I lost signal flying it above power lines, it just flew right back within half a minute.
Steady as a rock within 30 feet of the ground, fast as all get out in Sport, and takes great photos as far as I’m concerned.

Grumpy that the plastic gimbal cover broke, but it’s $11 for another one, so… no big deal. Not going to affect my flying.

# 95%, with only one loss of RC issue to go against the many, many positives.

I think the experiences with Mavic Pro are pretty binary so there won’t be many ‘75%’s out there.

It’s like dating a supermodel… You’re on top of the world until it all goes sideways, and then you’re devastated.

# 90%+ satisfied… I had my Mavic Pro for 2 weeks and flown around 5/6 times in the same location at home.

Only issues I’ve encountered are loss of signal to the controller at 900-1000m so I’ve not yet managed any further than 1000m. Didn’t want to go further when I’m struggling to see where I’m flying from my phone.

Then during 1 flight it kept stopping due to invisible objects. The sun was behind clouds so not sure why it was happening.

Other than it’s been fine… just waiting for the weather to improve!!!

# My Mavic Pro is perfect so far …100%…  What blows me away, is that people expect the android app to work perfectly on every single android device available what 24,000 devices all with different versions of android, different versions of manufacture software and different hardware. If your device is not on the compatible list, it may not work correctly and its not a problem with the app. How don’t people understand that ?

How do you like you Mavic Pro? Please feel free to post below.

The post Any 90% satisfied Mavic Pro pilots?-Part II appeared first on Drone Inner.

Any 90% satisfied Mavic Pro pilots?-Part I

Surfing online and reading through forums can find many horror stories of the Mavic Pro.It probably doesn’t help that folks often seem less likely to post about the times that the expected or satisfactory happens.However, many owners still want to know are there any satisfaction stories?

Then we post the thread on some Mavic forums to get the idea.

Loving it at 37 flights, 6.5 hours of flying time so far. The toolset is deep and there’s a lot for me to learn still about advanced functionality, what works best for the kind of photography I want to take, etc.

# Mine has been trouble free and flys great. May be a slight blurry on right side. I’ve been using basic auto focus and need to learn camera settings which I’m doing now.

# I’m satisfied with my purchase.  It would be nice if the camera was a notch higher grade than it is but it’s been a trouble free unit so far. Only a bit over 4 hours of flight time so far.

# It’s portable and the distance stock is better than expected. What’s not to like? The thing that puts it over the top is the dji programmable modes, poi, waypoints, pano, active track. There’s other software for it too.

# I’m at the 95% Satisfied column. I’ve logged 30 flights/5 hours 10 minutes of flight time and over 38,000 meters. I’ve flown higher, longer distances and got the best pictures/video with the Mavic Pro than all of the previous quads I have built. This is a good platform for the size factor.

# Mavic Pro is the first drone that I have ever owned, and I am loving it! The only problem is with me not knowing enough about it! To date, I have had not problems at all and have accumulated just under eight hours of flight time in 42 flights!100% satisfied!

# At this point, less than a month in and only a few hours of flight I would call Mavic Pro 95% satisfied.

I’m carefully learning to fly and exploring all the controls.  So far I’ve found it superior to most quads I’ve flown. It has good picture quality and is well stabilized even in moderate winds.  The packaging was maybe a little excessive but it felt like you were opening a premium product. So far it’s performed like one.

I think my only point of concern is that the remote holds my Samsung G6 only without it’s case and that makes me nervous. Plus taking the case off to fly and putting it back on again when I’m done flying is a bother. Just going to have to buy a small tablet to use when I’m flying.

# 98% satisfied. I had a problem with softness in video but hopefully it solved by changing profile and set sharpness to +1 to remove the NR.

The only thing i miss is the 60/96 FPS which is a huge disappointment. Others from that it is pure fun and love, tested all intelligent flight modes. Been flying where I had hundreds of errors with my phantom 3 without any problems nor errors.

# Delighted with mine – first time drone owner and loving the toolset and YouTube rabbit holes its opened up for me to learn more.

Absolutely love the Mavic Pro and surprised at how exciting it is to use, as usual though if you hang around the Internet forums you can get a bit overwhelmed with the negativity and moaning going on.

I’m 46 now and if you told the 10y old me this sort of thing would be possible and I’d have it one day I’d have thought you were mad (god I wish I had one of these when I was 10)

#The Camera is of course not as good as that on an Phantom 4 Pro and Inspire, but this was never the claim of DJI.

Overall I’m almost 100% happy with my Mavic Pro! This is really a great piece of hightech and does the job very well!

We’ll continue to collect the feedback,please stay tuned to us.

The post Any 90% satisfied Mavic Pro pilots?-Part I appeared first on Drone Inner.

Mavic Pro advice for beginners-Part II

Here we’ll continue to talk about the Mavic Pro first flight.Below are some beginner advice which may help you.

As was said at the last post, but also wait for very calm weather. It’s one thing to get used to the controls, its another to get used to the controls and fight the wind.

Use the beginner mode for your first flight. It will limit the Mavic Pro to 30 meters distance, which isn’t a lot. Just get used to the controls and how the drone responds. 10 minutes might be enough in that mode. But don’t just then jump to a long distance flight, do incremental flights.  A little higher, further, longer each flight as you get used to it. I have managed 5 flights so far (newborn eating all my time) and just went over 750m distance this past weekend for the first time.

I will say the controls for the Phantom 4 and the stability of the drone is excellent. The Mavic Pro should be just as good. Being a newbie to drone flight as well I was worried about crashing and damaging a rather large monetary investment. As a result I researched drone crashes on youtube to see what caused most people to crash.

From what I saw the Return to Home function causes many crashes. That seems counter intuitive, but it’s true. When you set your return to home function in the controller you need to set it to a height above the tallest object you will fly over relative to the elevation the home point is set. This is what trips most people up.

I live on the side of a hill. The line of trees behind my house are about 20-30 meter high. If I set my RTH height to 40m I will clear the trees behind my house. But since I live on a hill the trees on the top of the hill are 30m + the elevation difference from the RTH point and the top of the hill. The top of the hill is another 30m above me + the height of those trees. If I set RTH at 40m I could still hit the trees at the top of the hill.

The next most common crash is caused by flying backwards and only looking at the camera view. You should always fly line of sight and be aware of what is around the Mavic Pro drone in 360 degrees as well as above and below it. Don’t get locked in to the camera view.

The post Mavic Pro advice for beginners-Part II appeared first on Drone Inner.

Mavic Pro advice for beginners-Part I

Scan Mavic forums to discover thread like “I have been waiting for the right time to get into drone photography and video. I pulled the trigger on the Mavic Pro with the extra batteries and stuff. It will arrive soon. Needless to say I am excited and a little nervous.

I wanted to reach out and ask for beginner advice. Anything a total noob might benefit from. I have exactly zero experience flying these thing.”

With so many new pilots coming in, we wanted to offer you some beginner advice that we collected from a wide array of sources to get started the Mavic Pro.

#”Learning on an expensive drone could be costly. Best advice that I can give you is to find a deserted wide open field with no obstacles. The reason I say deserted is because if there are people around they will come and check out your drone and want to talk. That’s fine and dany, but not when you’re learning. First few flights should be on calm days and don’t bother taking pics or filming. Just learn the basics of flying first. ”

#“Make sure you keep a long way from anything. If I learned anything from flying RC planes and helis (now drones) for years is that given 60 yards of clear air and six inches of tree the RC will try to occupy the same space as the tree EVERY DAMN TIME.

Be VERY aware of orientation if you are flying by looking at the Mavic Pro, if its facing you and you push the right stick away from you it will fly towards you (in most modes) also left and right will be reversed. It is surprisingly difficult to get your head around this at first.”

#”RTFM at least 3 times

Review all the sUAS (drone) info at the US FAA website: www.faa.gov/uas. That’s assuming you are in the USA.

Take it slow and easy. Do not get close to anything but the ground for Takeoff and Landing.”

#“RTH is the cause of a lot of crashes but mostly with drones that don’t have obstacle avoidance. The pilot hits RTH and the building in the way takes it out. The Mavic Pro should be good that way. Trees are still tricky though, especially bare ones. You can help it a lot by setting the RTH altitude higher than anything around.

I just got a Phantom 3 Standard which does not have avoidance so I’ve been pretty cautious. First couple of flights were up, a little distance and then back down/home.  I’ve got about 15 flights (er, 15 flight sessions) now and I am a lot more confident but still pretty cautious. Just take it slow. You sound thoughtful – I think that’s about 75% of a good pilot right there.”

For more beginner advice please stay tuned to us and we will update soon.

The post Mavic Pro advice for beginners-Part I appeared first on Drone Inner.

Learn to fly Mavic Pro without using RTH

When learning to fly Mavic Pro I would learn to fly your drone back to the home point WITHOUT using RTH. I think RTH should be viewed as a very handy “oh crap” failsafe. Not as your only means of getting your drone back. Too much could go wrong in the process that may not be an issue if you know how to flyback on your own. With that I will say DJI’s RTH is very trustable but if GPS is ever lost then so is your drone.

Learn to fly home without the RTH and use it in an emergency.  If you get used to RTH, you never acquire the skill of flying the darn thing and manual is way more fun!

For further flights. Be extremely cautious of RTH. I’ve seen it be more trouble than it’s worth, especially when using a battery life indicator as a method of when to activate that RTH function.

Example. “Oh Geez, 50% left on my battery. Time to come home”  Drone hits a head wind on the way back, lands a half mile short of “Home” due to increased power consumption and not enough power to get “home”.nA lot of times it’s even shorter than that as many of these batteries won’t let you run it down to 0%. Most times it’s 20%.

Most importantly. I’ve learned really quick not to fly over people. I never hit anyone, but witnessed the force of a 3 pound quad hitting the ground from 100 feet after losing binding during a flight.  It will seriously hurt someone and it will do significant damage to property such as vehicles if it falls from these heights.

Lastly. Have fun. You are taking a big step going right into a Phantom which is no big deal, but it’s going to sting a little bit more when you tumble it or have mishaps. As a quick side recommendation some people suggest buying a cheap “toy” quad to fly and practice with also. I did this and it will help you develop your skills on something less expensive and more resilient to crashing. I am having fun learning on my Syma X8G which is basically a low end beginners quad.  I’ve beat the hell out of it learning and it’s never really bothered me since I only payed $150 for it.  I will eventually be upgrading to a DJI Mavic Pro but for right now. I’m having a good time with it.

The post Learn to fly Mavic Pro without using RTH appeared first on Drone Inner.

Top 4 Ways to Fly Your Drone Safely

Whether it’s for filmmaking, hobby use, industrial use, or public safety, drone usage continues to grow in many industries. However, publicity hasn’t been very kind to the tech. New pilots and people who are unfamiliar with the technology may be overly alarmed about safe flying procedures and restrictions. So how can an average consumer make sure they are flying legally and safely? Here are the top 4 ways to ensure your flying in the safest manner possible.

1) Use Geofencing. Consider getting a drone with built-in geofencing. Geofencing systems are designed to allow the pilot to make sure they are only flying in legal and safe areas. Airports, government facilities, prisons, stadiums, and more are restricted airspace. Invisible to the naked eye, these airspace restrictions can be found on government and drone websites and are often built in to the apps you use to control your drone. A wonderfully implemented example is DJI’s GEO Within the map in their DJI GO app, there are visual indicators of where the “no fly zones” (or NFZs) are. The aircraft itself will either give you warnings or actually stop you from flying in them. You can visit DJI.com for a map with colored NFZs for more info.

2) Join a local drone club. If you are new to drones and like a personal learning experience, a model aircraft club may be a good option for you. The Academy of Model Aeronautics, or AMA, has a tool on their site that gives you a list of clubs and allows you to find the most convenient one for you. These clubs will give you access to other more experienced members with a wide knowledgebase to help you ease into the industry. Most clubs meet at a local public space designated for model aircraft flight. One major benefit comes automatically with membership to the AMA – drone insurance.

3) Get your official drone certification. Last year the FAA developed a certification process (CFR 14 part 107, or just 107 for short) that rapidly sped up the ability for drone pilots to earn money with their aircraft. Even if you aren’t looking to make money, the whole process is a fantastic way of learning about airspace, weather patterns, drone maintenance and more. Visit gov for more info on how to get started. Speaking of the FAA, they also have a great website and app resource called Know Before You Fly.

4) Fly a drone with safety features built in and be sure to learn them. As drones get more and more powerful, with better cameras and longer lasting batteries, so too are the safety features being improved. For example, the DJI Mavic and Phantom 4 Pro both come with stereoscopic obstacle avoidance cameras (the Phantom with 5-way sensors), automatic return-to-home, ground detecting cameras so they don’t land on water accidentally, and more. You can physically make the drones safer with things like propeller guards which DJI just developed for the Mavic as well.

Once these few basics are out of the way, the only thing left to do is get flying practice. The great thing is, unlike years ago where drones needed a ton of manual input to remain stable, today’s drone like the aforementioned DJI Mavic and Phantom 4 Pro practically fly themselves. Anyone can fly safely if they follow recommended procedures and use drones with well known reputations of safety and reliability.

The post Top 4 Ways to Fly Your Drone Safely appeared first on Drone Inner.