- Location
- Grantsville, Utah
I expect it's a source of pain for Greg at this point. Probably will be until a new Mavic arrives at his door.
Helicopters/drones for filming
- Thread starter Skylinerider
- Start date
I expect it's a source of pain for Greg at this point. Probably will be until a new Mavic arrives at his door.
- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
It'll get shipped to DJI for all the repairs this weekend, the gimbal took most of the damage. It'll be good as new and better than used very soon!!
It happened within 5 min of flying on our recent trip, I was trying to capture some cliff dwellings and flew a few hundred feet away from where I was standing, got close to a dwelling and thought it would be neat to have a shot with the Phantom flying up. What I couldn't see from my vantage point was the overhanging ledge, about 15' up from there I was flying. The sun was bright and I was simply too far to clearly see what was above my drone. Totally my fault, very preventable and a dumb accident.
It was very painful, hate thinking about it. What really bothers me is that I brought the Phantom to film at Alstrom Point.... and I ruined that opportunity.
Guess I'll have to go back!
Hopefully I can get a Mavic coming soon!
If the Karma didn't have enough problems competing with the mavic already, this isn't going to help
http://money.cnn.com/2016/11/08/technology/gopro-karma-recall/index.html
Especially since they aren't just fixing them, they are issuing refunds (which i'd appreciate) How many of those refunds are going to straight to DJI?
http://money.cnn.com/2016/11/08/technology/gopro-karma-recall/index.html
Especially since they aren't just fixing them, they are issuing refunds (which i'd appreciate) How many of those refunds are going to straight to DJI?
Last edited:
rholbrook
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Kaysville, Ut
I have been wanting a drone for quite a while and this year I decided to take my Christmas present into my own hands. I have spent the last week or so studying and watching reviews on everything from the DJI's, Yneec, Autels and everything in between. I was wanting the Mavic or a Phantom 3 Pro or 4 but when it came down to it, customer service won out and DJI lacked it for me. I ended up with this, an Autel Robotics X-Star Premium. I wanted a Mavic but still too new and not much history with them. Love the compact aspect of it but it needed to have some history.
Looks a lot like DJI Phantom and is comparable to the Phantom 3 Pro. It does have a follow me mode, orbit mode and waypoint capability thats pretty cool. I wish I didnt have to have the controller in my hand to get it to follow me but I dont have to have my iphone or tablet connected to fly it either. I almost got the Yuneec Typhoon 4K but it was bigger and all the reviews said it was pretty sluggish to fly.
They are on sale for $699 down from $899 and I bought another battery. I was told by the RC Shop that their customer support will answer the phone (24/7 and in the USA) when you call. I tried it and they were right. If I ever have to send it off for repair, its going to Bothell, WA. I have read horror stories on the DJI. Don't know how true they are but I figured for my first drone, this should work great for me. I have already fun a battery through it and it has flown as advertised. I saw it at Best Buy but went to the local RC shop to buy it. I am on a buy local kick right now. Besides that, if I have any questions, they will be much more helpful to me.
Looks a lot like DJI Phantom and is comparable to the Phantom 3 Pro. It does have a follow me mode, orbit mode and waypoint capability thats pretty cool. I wish I didnt have to have the controller in my hand to get it to follow me but I dont have to have my iphone or tablet connected to fly it either. I almost got the Yuneec Typhoon 4K but it was bigger and all the reviews said it was pretty sluggish to fly.
They are on sale for $699 down from $899 and I bought another battery. I was told by the RC Shop that their customer support will answer the phone (24/7 and in the USA) when you call. I tried it and they were right. If I ever have to send it off for repair, its going to Bothell, WA. I have read horror stories on the DJI. Don't know how true they are but I figured for my first drone, this should work great for me. I have already fun a battery through it and it has flown as advertised. I saw it at Best Buy but went to the local RC shop to buy it. I am on a buy local kick right now. Besides that, if I have any questions, they will be much more helpful to me.
Tonkaman
Well-Known Member
- Location
- West Jordan
Awesome! I'm excited to see how you like it
- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
Congrats Russ, keep us updated as you get more time flying & filming!
airmanwilliams
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Provo, Utah
SOOOOO tempted today. A guy offered me a phantom 3 professional today for my red sidekick we are selling and if it wasn't for the wife I would have grabbed it.
rholbrook
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Kaysville, Ut
So far I have run two batteries through it during the day today and one tonight after dark. Loving this thing. So easy to fly. I took it off beginner mode which limits it to 96ft high and 11 mph and no autonomous flying. I have already been playing with the follow me and orbit mode where it will circle you based on how high and far away from me I program it. I took off running in the Orbit Mode and it started following me until I stopped so it could circle around me. Amazing what these things can do.
The Autel is basically an exact copy of the phantom line...a good copy from my understanding. I am a loyal DJI customer and have been since the beginning...they have always treated me right and I have no complaints for any of their products that I have owned. Repairs have always been timely and fairly priced. I haven't touched my Inspire Pro since I got my Mavic about 6 weeks ago...this thing is unreal...just ridiculously unreal...it blows anything on the market right out of the water and I can't wait for my Inspire 2 to show up! I hope it gets here before KOH!
rholbrook
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Kaysville, Ut
I finally got some real air time and but when my battery would get to 40% or so it would literally go from 40% to critically low and land immediately. I had this happen to both batteries so I called Autel because I had heard their support was second to none. US based support and open 7 days a week out of Washington state. On my conversation with them they had me give them a couple of screen shots of the battery detail and decided that the battery cells were out of balance and had me hover the drone until the batteries got to 7%. That was hard because they literally went from 40% to nothing in seconds. At about 45% I landed and watched and as soon as it got the critical message I hurried and shut it down. They wanted me to recharge the batteries and try it again. Well..same issues and I actually crashed the drone because I was over my house when it decided to come down with an auto-land because of critical battery error. It landed on my roof and slide off landing upside down breaking two props.
They asked who I bought the drone from and then asked if it was a small RC shop. I told them yes and then the explanation they gave me was that the smaller shops don't sell enough to where their inventory gets rotated enough and my serial number was linked to a shipment that was older and that the batteries can have issues if they are not maintained they can cause a cell to not be balanced and that can cause all kinds of problems. The explanation made some sense to me but when I asked them what they were going to do about it they said take care of me.
They apologized, put me on hold for 3 min or so and when they came back on they told me to get my drone boxed up and look in my email for an RMA and prepayed shipping return shipping label. They told me that as soon as it showed that the drone was on the way back that they would ship a new replacement so they would cross in the mail. That was late Friday so I got it all ready and dropped off Saturday afternoon and today I got an email with the tracking number of my replacement which should be here Wednesday.
Bummer that I am out a drone for a few days but how great is their support? Had this been some other company, I'm afraid that I would be wrestling with the company to get things fixed. I have a friend that has been without his Phantom 4 for almost 3 weeks now because of a camera issue that they wanted him to send it back in for and he still has no idea when he will get it back.
I really want a Mavic but when I get some flight time under my belt, I will get one for sure. Until then, I have really liked flying the Autel for the first 60% percent of my battery.
They asked who I bought the drone from and then asked if it was a small RC shop. I told them yes and then the explanation they gave me was that the smaller shops don't sell enough to where their inventory gets rotated enough and my serial number was linked to a shipment that was older and that the batteries can have issues if they are not maintained they can cause a cell to not be balanced and that can cause all kinds of problems. The explanation made some sense to me but when I asked them what they were going to do about it they said take care of me.
They apologized, put me on hold for 3 min or so and when they came back on they told me to get my drone boxed up and look in my email for an RMA and prepayed shipping return shipping label. They told me that as soon as it showed that the drone was on the way back that they would ship a new replacement so they would cross in the mail. That was late Friday so I got it all ready and dropped off Saturday afternoon and today I got an email with the tracking number of my replacement which should be here Wednesday.
Bummer that I am out a drone for a few days but how great is their support? Had this been some other company, I'm afraid that I would be wrestling with the company to get things fixed. I have a friend that has been without his Phantom 4 for almost 3 weeks now because of a camera issue that they wanted him to send it back in for and he still has no idea when he will get it back.
I really want a Mavic but when I get some flight time under my belt, I will get one for sure. Until then, I have really liked flying the Autel for the first 60% percent of my battery.
Yeah I think Greg was having some issues with his 3rd party batteries for his Phantom doing that same thing. It is frustrating but the fact that the craft will initiate a landing when it has a cell issue is a good thing...maybe not so convenient when it isn't in a spot to land but the fact that some engineer thought of that is pretty cool.
Batteries are the main weakness of these flying things...they are amazing pieces of technology but batteries are fickle and very susceptible to temperature, shock and vibration. A drone company can be made or broken on the quality of batteries they get from their suppliers. Give em a chance to make it right...hopefully they take care of you!
Batteries are the main weakness of these flying things...they are amazing pieces of technology but batteries are fickle and very susceptible to temperature, shock and vibration. A drone company can be made or broken on the quality of batteries they get from their suppliers. Give em a chance to make it right...hopefully they take care of you!
- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
Yeah, don't buy cheap reproduction batteries! I had 2 issues with them, one of them causing a unplanned landing (where I couldn't see) right in the middle of the highway and the other caused a straight out power failure, mid-flight... ending in a drop from about 300' high and right into my neighbors property.
rholbrook
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Kaysville, Ut
These were both Autel batteries that were bad. I am glad that they stepped up to the plate to make it right
Do you have to send DJI stuff out of the valley for repair? One of my neighbors is the warehouse boss for HRP distribution and I thought he said they had DJI factory trained repairman in their shop. I'm pretty sure they sell and service a lot of the local law enforcement drones in the area. It looks like they carry the Autels too. I've been looking at the RC cars lately since its been hard to find the time to fly with my kid. Seems like with an RC car its a lot easier to stop when he needs something than try and wrangle him while flying and worrying about taking an epic crash.
HRP website. They are right off Bangerter and 201, north east corner.
HRP website. They are right off Bangerter and 201, north east corner.
rholbrook
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Kaysville, Ut
HRP are good people. Have known them for a long time
rholbrook
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Kaysville, Ut
I just got my new drone back today. Can't wait to fly it again. Charging batteries and controller now. Hopefully it will stay a little warmer.
- Location
- The Land Northward (Bountiful), Utah
Russ. I'm excited to see that drone.
rholbrook
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Kaysville, Ut
Got the drone out for a minute yesterday afternoon.
Here is Harrison messing around.
[video]https://youtu.be/KFC9zJl9OP0[/video]
Little sunset
Here is Harrison messing around.
[video]https://youtu.be/KFC9zJl9OP0[/video]
Little sunset
- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
So I sold my Phantom 2 with the Pelican case and all extra batteries, charger & other parts to Bret (blznnp on here) last weekend. I had a lot of fun with it, filmed some amazing adventures and it was a great drone to start out with. I decided to step up my game and ordered a DJI Mavic... I actually ordered it in October, but they were back ordered big time. It arrived this week, it's been pretty cold but I have been flying when I can.
I love the size, that was my biggest draw to the Mavic. I've also really been enjoying the obstacle avoidance features, intelligent flight modes, etc. I hope to get some great footage in the near future with the Mavic!
I love the size, that was my biggest draw to the Mavic. I've also really been enjoying the obstacle avoidance features, intelligent flight modes, etc. I hope to get some great footage in the near future with the Mavic!