On the way, where do I start?

[A.O.]

So I sold my MA2 yesterday and wasted ZERO time ordering one of these things! Supposed to be here Saturday.

So going from the Mavic world to these, where do I start? I've never flown FPV/Goggles so do I put the goggles on right away or watch what I'm doing a little to start? Looking forward to the simulator as well to learn the manual mode stuff. I figure I wont try manual for a while till I learn some of how to do it.
Anything else I need to be aware of??

WOOT WOOT... Cant wait!

 

[thetechnobear]

on the ground

first thing is...expect the initial battery charging/firmware updating to take 2+ hours... its a bit frustrating, as you want to just get out there, so just manage expectations

first flight - N/S mode are just like your mavic air, just a bit faster ... and with the FPV view. (oh, its got alot less obstacle avoidance !)

I always take off and land in N mode, and always using visual , so goggles off...
I think this is the safest way, so you can be fully aware of whats going on around you. (in my case, Im just checking my dogs haven't snuck up on me)

so first flight, I took off without goggles, put it in a hover... then I did about a minute with visual, just to check the drone was acting as expected.
then I sat down, put goggles on , and off I went, taking it slowly.

I think initially its important to sit down, as some manoeuvres can be a bit disorientating, cause a bit of dizziness (to some people!), and you really dont want to fall over whilst flying.
I think if varies alot, but I found some tighter turns, when i had a hillside in front of me (possibly lack of horizon) caused me a bit of motion sickness...
(I also found the DJI iOS sim gave me motion sickness even more, I couldn't bare more than about 5 mins!)

so my first flights were just getting used to the goggles, getting familar with controller layout (e.g where start/stop to cancel RTH) , and the speed and turns (esp. in S mode)

don't worry if you feel motion sickness (I was concerned about this) , it gets much better with every flight, it will pass.
(after a week, I can now throw it around in the sim in the goggles for long periods of time without issues!)


apart from that what I did was...once I was used to googles, I started flying lower and closer to obstacles in N mode, then S.
for M, I started flying in Velocidrone, then in DJI sim - only when I was 100% comfortable with controls did I try with the drone.

I guess the important thing... and something I keep reminding myself ... its not a race, take it slowly, at your own pace. enjoy the journey.

( I think alot of the crash videos we saw on youtube, were because the drone was new...and people wanted to post videos of thier new drone, and how great it was.
and in a rush to be a 'first' , pushed it a little too much, and paid the price.... I don't blame them, I know Ive been guility of this too )


anyway, main thing is... enjoy it, its a fantastic drone - I love it, and Im sure you are going to have a blast !


here is my first flight (not sure if I posted on this forum or not) ... as you can see, I was cautious... amazing to think this was only a week ago!

 

[A.O.]

on the ground

first thing is...expect the initial battery charging/firmware updating to take 2+ hours... its a bit frustrating, as you want to just get out there, so just manage expectations

first flight - N/S mode are just like your mavic air, just a bit faster ... and with the FPV view. (oh, its got alot less obstacle avoidance !)

I always take off and land in N mode, and always using visual , so goggles off...
I think this is the safest way, so you can be fully aware of whats going on around you. (in my case, Im just checking my dogs haven't snuck up on me)

so first flight, I took off without goggles, put it in a hover... then I did about a minute with visual, just to check the drone was acting as expected.
then I sat down, put goggles on , and off I went, taking it slowly.

I think initially its important to sit down, as some manoeuvres can be a bit disorientating, cause a bit of dizziness (to some people!), and you really dont want to fall over whilst flying.
I think if varies alot, but I found some tighter turns, when i had a hillside in front of me (possibly lack of horizon) caused me a bit of motion sickness...
(I also found the DJI iOS sim gave me motion sickness even more, I couldn't bare more than about 5 mins!)

so my first flights were just getting used to the goggles, getting familar with controller layout (e.g where start/stop to cancel RTH) , and the speed and turns (esp. in S mode)

don't worry if you feel motion sickness (I was concerned about this) , it gets much better with every flight, it will pass.
(after a week, I can now throw it around in the sim in the goggles for long periods of time without issues!)


apart from that what I did was...once I was used to googles, I started flying lower and closer to obstacles in N mode, then S.
for M, I started flying in Velocidrone, then in DJI sim - only when I was 100% comfortable with controls did I try with the drone.

I guess the important thing... and something I keep reminding myself ... its not a race, take it slowly, at your own pace. enjoy the journey.

( I think alot of the crash videos we saw on youtube, were because the drone was new...and people wanted to post videos of thier new drone, and how great it was.
and in a rush to be a 'first' , pushed it a little too much, and paid the price.... I don't blame them, I know Ive been guility of this too )


anyway, main thing is... enjoy it, its a fantastic drone - I love it, and Im sure you are going to have a blast !


here is my first flight (not sure if I posted on this forum or not) ... as you can see, I was cautious... amazing to think this was only a week ago!

Thank you very much, good "write up" and exactly the kind of thing I was looking for.

So all the stuff for setting up.. RTH and whatever that was done on my phone or iPad is now just done in the goggles? But there is no touch screen so how is that achieved?

 

[Phantomrain.org]

One thing that you need to know to save some very frustrating time is that the Menu in the google goes bottom to top when scrolling as if you just scroll up you will never
get to the next menu. I thought my googles broken because of this , anyway I just saved you from that head ache.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to protect your FPV and fly in the Rain.

 

[thetechnobear]

yeah, menu navigation takes a bit of getting used too....

iirc, the only thing I changed for my first few flights was 'auto record on takeoff/land'.
thats a really cool option, esp. as I was so focused on actually flying - I think id forget to record alot of the time!

 

[A.O.]

on the ground

first thing is...expect the initial battery charging/firmware updating to take 2+ hours... its a bit frustrating, as you want to just get out there, so just manage expectations

I've seen this video before ,nice. Where is this? To me it looks like what I would think Australia would look like. I love the house configuration, love a courtyard set up!

 

[thetechnobear]

I've seen this video before ,nice. Where is this? To me it looks like what I would think Australia would look like. I love the house configuration, love a courtyard set up!

thanks
I live in Southern Spain, close to Granada/ Sierra Nevada

 

[A.O.]

thanks
I live in Southern Spain, close to Granada/ Sierra Nevada

Pretty countryside!

 

[JoostGT3]

...

I always take off and land in N mode, and always using visual , so goggles off...
I think this is the safest way, so you can be fully aware of whats going on around you. (in my case, Im just checking my dogs haven't snuck up on me)

so first flight, I took off without goggles, put it in a hover... then I did about a minute with visual, just to check the drone was acting as expected.
then I sat down, put goggles on , and off I went, taking it slowly.

...

This.
Just get a feeling for it in the way that is familiar to you. Then get it to a decent altitude (50+ m), put your finger on the emergency brake if you want, and then put the goggles on.
Have fun mate!

 

[thetechnobear]

Then get it to a decent altitude (50+ m), put your finger on the emergency brake if you want, and then put the goggles on.

this is a good habit to get into - the name 'pause' is a good one!

reason: if/when you stop the auto centering on the throttle - you'll want to use pause as a kind of 'hold position', when you put the googles on so that if you knock the stick, nothing will happen.

when Im switching between N/S <-> M , I also usually hit pause, to get things nicely stable...
so its not just for emergencies

 

[A.O.]

Good news, just got an update from amazon, its coming early and supposed to be here Thursday!!

 

[A.O.]

this is a good habit to get into - the name 'pause' is a good one!

reason: if/when you stop the auto centering on the throttle - you'll want to use pause as a kind of 'hold position', when you put the googles on so that if you knock the stick, nothing will happen.

when Im switching between N/S <-> M , I also usually hit pause, to get things nicely stable...
so its not just for emergencies

So do you hit pause and hold it, or just hit it and let go?

 

[A.O.]

So I have the drone coming, one extra battery, and I just ordered the "arm bracers" .. now it just needs to show up.

 

[JoostGT3]

So do you hit pause and hold it, or just hit it and let go?

A.O. The pause button can be tapped, and the drone will do everything it can to grind to a halt as quickly as possible. As long as you don't touch any of the controls, the drone will keep hovering, even if the throttle is not centered. If you then touch any of the controls, the drone will switch to Normal mode, independent of the setting of the rocker switch (Normal/Sport/Manual). When you were flying manual and want to switch back to that, you first put the rocker switch to either Normal or Sport, then switch it back to Manual. The drone will ask you to center the sticks and if you hold them like that for about a second, it will switch back to Manual.

 

[JoostGT3]

So I have the drone coming, one extra battery, and I just ordered the "arm bracers" .. now it just needs to show up.

Oh man, you're going to regret not getting more batteries! ?
I am on the fence about the arm bracers. I like the idea of less chance of heavy damage, but I hate flying with all these appendages on the drone... But I can see myself getting them in the future.

 

[A.O.]

Oh man, you're going to regret not getting more batteries! ?
I am on the fence about the arm bracers. I like the idea of less chance of heavy damage, but I hate flying with all these appendages on the drone... But I can see myself getting them in the future.

YA YA YA... I know, I will definitely need more batteries!!! I'll get there.
Someone was talking about those bracers (they are called bracers on the site) and that they are always sold out, so I put down to be notified when the came back in stock, I got a notification today and ordered them, don't know if I will install them right away or not, just thought it would be nice to have a set.
I see they are already out of stock again.

And I also see none of the hard cases have a provision for the bracers.

 

[Phantomrain.org]

So do you hit pause and hold it, or just hit it and let go?

This might be the best video for you to watch ,
Also we are not a huge fan of the Bracers. There are to many videos showing that if the font arms snap the bracers take all the other legs with it , something to consider.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to protect your FPV

 

[thetechnobear]

I think the arm bracers are actually a pretty good idea....

the theory is simple - in lighter impacts no arms will break, since the force is distributed over 2 arms.
however, for sure, in heavy impacts, its likely to break both arms.

unfortunately, as they have been in and out of stock, there seems to be few reports of crashes, and how they have faired... Ive only heard one, there the guy reported no arms were broken in a case he thought would have broken an arm without. but I think until we get lots more reports, we wont really know.

(those that are flying them, have said it didnt seem to alter flight characteristics much)

we simply dont know, how heavy an impact before both arms break (or crack) ... also would that same impact be likely to do more severe damage anyway?

then there is the another factor... if you have care refresh, its the same if you break one or two arms, so then it appears to be worth it.

I think overall seems worth it, simply because getting the drone repaired is more or a pain (time) , than if its one or two arms. (unlike in a diy drone, where it so simple to replace an arm)

 

[A.O.]

So what do you think of the Care Refresh on this, do you have it? I had it on my MA2 but it was a lot cheaper!! I have 48 hr to decide from when I get it hopefully today

 

[thetechnobear]

we had a bit of a discussion around this here : DJI Care - is it worth it?

its a tough one, there is no doubt its expensive for what it is....

current repair reports, are saying around $100-150 for repairing one arm - so feels like for these kind of accidents it is not worth it - but its possible, you might have a much more severe accident.

I was very tempted not to buy care refresh , but I did end up buying it, largely because at the moment - there are no spares (like arms) available to 3rd parties, and so currently you are totally at the mercy of DJI to repair and what they charge. (*) - perhaps in a few months, the situation will have change - but we just dont know.

the other side, i help to 'justify' my decision... was without care refresh, I might end up feeling like I had to fly very conservatively... so the care refresh might liberate me a bit....
(not sure how true this really is, given its still a $260 bill if you crash with care refresh!)


-----------------------------------
(*) also I had to make the decision, before the repair reports started coming in, and at that time there were fears DJI would be charging > $200 for one arm replacement, but that turned out to be incorrect - repair costs seem to be pretty reasonable. (though we've still not see repairs costs in the EU yet)