DJI FPV Impressions

[A.O.]

You can switch modes while in the air. I tried to take off a couple of times in manual mode, all of the times scraping the ground and crashing the drone. Then I started taking off in normal/sport mode. If you lift it to say 30m, then switch to manual, you see simulated sticks in the goggles, indicating in which position you should hold them for the drone to remain in a hover when in manual mode. If you keep the sticks in the required position for a determined time (1sec?), then it will switch to manual mode. Tilt the drone fwd, increase throttle a bit, and you're in business.

Same for landing; I just come in in manual mode, then switch to normal when close to the landing point and then land it that way. Lemon cheesey.

Thank you much!

 

[A.O.]

These FPV flyers are very prone to wanting to land the drone in Manual mode. Like all of them , and many have struggled flipping there drone, bouncing there drone like a rabbit on the ground.

You can at any time switch to Normal Mavic mode and land like a butterfly. I think its just below there skill level and so they
try to feather it down like they would a normal FPV but its heavier and they pay the price the first couple times .


Phantmomrain.org
Gear to fly your FPV in the Rain and Land On Water coming soon.

 

[A.O.]

Ah, good, this guy is looking better all the time...

 

[rktman]

I have a feeling there will be a lot of these $1300 FPV's crashed within 30 minutes of unboxing. The videos make it look much easier than it is. I suppose it'll create a good boost in business for the repair shops.

I think you guys are a bit overly cynical...

I opine that there will be two broad classes of customers, existing drone owners (the much larger), and total noobs buying this as their first RC aircraft (relatively tiny).

Group 1 will not have many accidents at first, being exceedingly cautious and already having flying skills, just not full-manual, acro flying. Initally, this will just be a very powerful, fast drone without the protective nannies that a Mavic Pro 2 has. Most will initially fly very carefull without the goggles, putting in hours getting the feel of the aircraft, how it responds, etc., under familiar flight conditions (LOS).

Then, once that's gotten relatively comfortable and "normal", throw the goggles on and start re-learning to fly from an FPV perspective.

That's how I'm approaching it -- have only done a single flight with the goggles, 300ft AGL, to see what it's like.

Only a complete fool would start with this drone and go through the motions to unlock Manual Mode, then take their learning-to-walk arse out there and fly it manual. There are more than enough to make parts a lucrative new business opportunity.

For the vast majority though, I expect a lot of caution.

 

[rktman]

LOL! It's a real pain to get it into full acro, so most people won't go full acro right away. Manual mode still has angle limits. It will probably take a few days to see the carnage.

I swear I read somewhere that even these limits can be disabled. Anyone know more? Maybe I saw it in a YT video.

 

[JoostGT3]

I swear I read somewhere that even these limits can be disabled. Anyone know more? Maybe I saw it in a YT video.

Yeah, you can do that. First thing to do is to remap the mode button so that when you switch it to Manual mode it really switches into Manual mode, then in the menus you have to remove the angle limitations. It's not really difficult, but just an extra step. I think it is a good one, to enable all the people like me who are not experienced with full manual to get there step by step.

 

[Kilrah]

Yes you can totally disable them, but I believe his point was that since there are 2 different settings to get to people are hopefully not going to do so "by mistake".

 

[rktman]

That part I know. Any proof of the 10k part yet from anyone?

Pretty sure that's with totally unobstructed, pure air between the goggles and the drone, 10km away. And, the pilots head was constantly make small adjustments turning left and right to maximize the signal reception.

As others have reported, real-world range with tree, buildings, other human bags-of-mostly-water (Star Trek reference, key point is water is one of the best absorbers of RF radiation), hills, mountains, and on and on in the way, it's about 1-2km.

Which really is only needed for excursions like the "Flight of the Year"...

 

[A.O.]

Pretty sure that's with totally unobstructed, pure air between the goggles and the drone, 10km away. And, the pilots head was constantly make small adjustments turning left and right to maximize the signal reception.

As others have reported, real-world range with tree, buildings, other human bags-of-mostly-water (Star Trek reference, key point is water is one of the best absorbers of RF radiation), hills, mountains, and on and on in the way, it's about 1-2km.

Which really is only needed for excursions like the "Flight of the Year"...

Too bouncy jumpy on the video..

 

[droneguy]

Range depends heavily on interference and signal reflections. If you are in an urban area where 2.4 and 5.8 signals are pumping through the air everywhere, then you won't get too far. If you want to stretch the legs out, you need to go somewhere more rural with less interference and better line-of-sight. Like 6kms away over a frozen lake kind of setting.

 

[Lon Denard]

There is no problem with landing on the battery, What has happened is many people have attempted to land in Manual mode and in doing so have crashed the drone into the ground . In the case of Ken video he slammed the drone into the ground when he forgot to throttle and he expected it to be okay , it was clearly a hard crash.

The only Problem that we see is the Power Button is not Water Resistant on the Drone, thus a red flashing light on the drone on the inside wings is a warning that the Battery has been compromised even when the Battery has been turned off.

This is why we made the Battery Covers to Seal the Power Button and Overall Protect those Bottom feet and they come with the Impact Wet Suit Package.

Phantmomrain.org
Gear to fly your FPV in the Rain and Land On Water coming soon.

Oh don't misunderstand me, I'm a big promoter of your products, have been for years. I'm merely reacting to the notion that there's an inherent problem. Thanks for the reply!!!

 

[rktman]

You can switch modes while in the air. I tried to take off a couple of times in manual mode, all of the times scraping the ground and crashing the drone. Then I started taking off in normal/sport mode. If you lift it to say 30m, then switch to manual, you see simulated sticks in the goggles, indicating in which position you should hold them for the drone to remain in a hover when in manual mode. If you keep the sticks in the required position for a determined time (1sec?), then it will switch to manual mode. Tilt the drone fwd, increase throttle a bit, and you're in business.

Same for landing; I just come in in manual mode, then switch to normal when close to the landing point and then land it that way. Lemon cheesey.

Heck, I RTH them back and let 'em land on their own. I'm plenty skilled at flying home and landing on my own after all these years. It's boring... Let HAL, the on-board AI do it. ?

 

[Phantomrain.org]

Heck, I RTH them back and let 'em land on their own. I'm plenty skilled at flying home and landing on my own after all these years. It's boring... Let HAL, the on-board AI do it. ?

lol, Nobody abuses the RTH feature like we do in a massive thunder storm to help Negotiate the heavy winds yet always be on the way back to the home point after riding into the lightning. We captured our first Tornado that way .

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly your DJI FPV in and out of the Storm.

 

[thetechnobear]

it finally arrived yesterday, and I thought Id film my first flight, and reactions....

Really enjoyable first flights, and going to be doing many more today... Im still waiting for fly more kit, but battery is charging pretty quickly.

Im happy now all the talk/research about whats good/bad can be pushed to the back, and I can just concentrate on improving with what I have to hand.
overall in N/S mode it feels pretty similar to the Mavic Air, but with that added immersive feeling I was after.

plan is now simple... take it slow, enjoy the ride...
I want to be able to fly in N/S mode smoothly, and make it cinematic..
In parallel, Ive started using the DJI Flight Sim and Velocidrone to learn to fly manual mode, so when Im competent in the sim, I can try it (slowly) on the. dji fpv.

thanks for everyone help, hope your also having fun.

keep happy, keep flying ...

 

[A.O.]

Heck, I RTH them back and let 'em land on their own. I'm plenty skilled at flying home and landing on my own after all these years. It's boring... Let HAL, the on-board AI do it. ?

Open the pod bay door Hal

 

[Kilrah]

Cool!

I would expect it's best not to spend too much time in the sim since the feel is quite different, but once you've got the general hang of it move to the aircraft with some good height margin, and having well trained where that pause button is

There's nothing like the real thing, and the pause button is going to be an awesome thing to have and be able to hit anytime you're not feeling comfortable.

 

[JoostGT3]

Cool!

I would expect it's best not to spend too much time in the sim since the feel is quite different, but once you've got the general hang of it move to the aircraft with some good height margin, and having well trained where that pause button is

There's nothing like the real thing, and the pause button is going to be an awesome thing to have and be able to hit anytime you're not feeling comfortable.

Yup! It already save my @ss in my first manual flight; I was coming in for a fast and slightly descending curve, where the yaw/roll reversal had me confused. The aircraft rolled in a different direction than I had expected, and correcting is than something that can turn out for the worse. Decided to hit the panic button and couldn't be happier with the results! Just take a second or two to let go of the controls, get your heartbeat back to normal and back to flying!

 

[A.O.]

Cool!

I would expect it's best not to spend too much time in the sim since the feel is quite different, but once you've got the general hang of it move to the aircraft with some good height margin, and having well trained where that pause button is

There's nothing like the real thing, and the pause button is going to be an awesome thing to have and be able to hit anytime you're not feeling comfortable.

So even in manual mode the pause button will stop and hover you?

 

[Phantomrain.org]

So even in manual mode the pause button will stop and hover you?

YES at any time, But when your pushing close to 90 mph , many have found they could not push it fast enough. ?

 

[rktman]

lol, Nobody abuses the RTH feature like we do in a massive thunder storm to help Negotiate the heavy winds yet always be on the way back to the home point after riding into the lightning. We captured our first Tornado that way .

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly your DJI FPV in and out of the Storm.

Didn't happen without a video