Another Reason to Loathe DJI

Got my panties in a bunch today ... why? DJI.

Luckily I was only 8 miles out of town. Town is where the cellular internet is. Even as far out as the airport, there is nothing.

I imagine what if I was out on one of my trips, where up in the Yukon or out at sea, there is no internet access anyway, anyhow, not happening, nothing, sorry ... ??

What happened was I was using the OSMO RAW on my Cineslider with a jib to access shots unavailable in any other way. The light was lovely, the ice formations to die for. Got it all rigged up, and fired up the Go App and the Osmo RAW, positioned the Osmo RAW out over the flowing water, and ...

App throws up a message saying "DJI Go App need to be updated" "Update with Google Play or Direct Download"

Those were my choices. Yep ... no internet access, out in the field, as it were, and $3000 worth of gear is totally defunct until I drive back to town.

Lovely.

OK .. 8 miles isn't a huge deal. I did lose the lovely light and the shot, and I got angry. But what made me most angry is that this happened without the phone having been connected to the internet in any way for almost a week. So how in hell did the App decide it needed to be updated, and WHY would it be unusable? What happens when I'm out in the sticks days at best from connectivity?

Thanks DJI.

Just got off the chat with DJI tech.

No real explanation as to why the App "DJI GO" which was working fine before with NO connectivity to internet, suddenly stopped working with no warning.

But apparently there are now TWO DJI Go apps: DJI Go, and DJI Go 4. The second is meant for devices including and after the Phantom 4. The first is meant for devices before the P4.

So ... if you have a DJI Go App device ... and yes, they RELY on the app to work ... MAKE SURE you update your APP before you head out to where internet is scarce and time matters ...

Why they did not send out a message warning us, I do not know. I sure seem to reliably get their messages telling me they have something to sell ...

DJI announced a couple weeks ago that the Go App was no longer to be supported and Go 4 was the one to use. I use the Go 4 on the Mavic and indeed it has failed numerous times while the drone is flying. It seems to not really like the Samsung S7 Smartphone. Yes DJI sucks when it starts to fail. When things are working they are great products.

"Announced"

Seems they are very good at announcing things for sale, but I did NOT get the memo about the Go App (which was working great on my S7 ... at least, it only crashed once in a while, but usually was fine)

Yes .. now that the Mavic is on the way and I see many reports of Go 4 being buggy .... no, not happy.

What happens when App crashes while in the air?

I know that feel, bro, happen to me sometimes with my motion timelapse setup, the phone just don't detect the controller sometimes...

when's the next batch of dji stuff coming out? Trying to decide on getting a phantom 4 pro now or wait a few more weeks...

Mavic looks REALLY cool. Test shooting tomorrow. Flew in the basement downstairs. Sticks in one spot in the air like it's on a tripod.

Cute.

DJI apologized for being crappy today. Of course I said some things. But I got my point across, and they promised to "send it up" to hopefully make sure such oversight/glitches do not happen again.

That's all I wanted to hear.

I've been flying the Mavic for over a month. It is indeed very stable, far better than anything before. The camera is very delicate and small. The protective dome is very cheap brittle plastic and the attaching tabs will break off very soon as mine did. The range of control is very long. Not a problem flying and controlling it to almost a mile. The follow-me, circle and track capability is real nice.

The photos and videos are pretty good but somewhat grainy with murky blur far too often. With the 2.8 lens I found I had to get some ND filters for sunny days.

If you want quality photo/video then get the P4P, a much better camera. If you want something smaller to fit in a coat pocket then get the Mavic.

I believe DJI will announce a Phantom 5 around NAB time. I think within a few months they will announce a Mavic II with a better camera.

When Go 4 crashed while flying I re-started the app and gained control. Each time I was hovering so no issue. If you are flying towards a building who knows what would happen ... hopefully collision avoidance would work. The Go 4 App would only fail on my S7 when it was very cold outside.

http://news.mnogoinfo.net/dji-has-a-new-drone-and-its-time-to-speculate/