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All things Mavic Air

jogdish

Hello,
If it's okay with the mods, I would like to start this thread to post all things related to the Mavic Air ( there are a few differences between it and the Pro, so perhaps best it have it's own thread ).

Guess I will introduce myself, first time DJI owner, got my Air and loving it, so easy to control and I have confidence in it not getting away from me. I am still getting to grips with editing movies but I don't have a very good PC. I usually take lower res small videos unedited and stills in RAW.
Personally I found the DJI manual to very lacking - I was fully set up to read a proper document with all the ins and outs, but instead it's just there to get you in the air as fast as possible, thankfully online/youtube has taught me a lot. Seagulls are a bloody curse, it's like a magnet to them.

How are other people flying? Are we all obeying the rules? Anyone paying the €1500 for the training? Range records ?

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jogdish

Cupatae wrote: »

Cheers for the detailed reply! answered most my questions, i was sorta thinking it seemed abit too good to be true, i live about 15 miles away from an airport myself so it could be an issue with the fly thing if it stops the drone (i read somewhere it does gsp thing to see if its safe to fly?)

Im prob still gonna go ahead and get one and fly it just as you say use abit of common sense when doing so!

One other thing does it, work well with all android phones or would they need to be of a certain spec?

Im planning on travelling around europe in a couple of months so the portability of it was a real selling point for me!

The app should warn you within 5 miles of an airport I think, better Google that to confirm, but at 15 you should be safe.
Regards the phone, that's tricky, have a look http://www.phantomhelp.com/tips/best-tabletsphones-for-dji-go-updated-daily.18
That's a compatible list, once again best to Google of you don't see your phone there, a Google Nexus is cheap to pick up.
Lastly check out local laws if you travel, never traveled with it myself but I'm guessing some places could be very strict compared to here.

jogdish

Just got:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07BDLH3F2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

today, really nice and very easy to carry, so small too.

tedpan

jogdish wrote:

today, really nice and very easy to carry, so small too.

Nice, looks a similar size to the bag that comes with the fly more combo.

jogdish

tedpan wrote: »

Nice, looks a similar size to the bag that comes with the fly more combo.

I looked into getting the fly more bag, but some youtube video convinced me otherwise (and price), if I am right the fly more bag needs you to place things in a specific order stacked?
The one above everything has its place, apart from the three pin plug. But im sure your bag is more than lovely too

Cupatae

jogdish wrote: »

I looked into getting the fly more bag, but some youtube video convinced me otherwise (and price), if I am right the fly more bag needs you to place things in a specific order stacked?
The one above everything has its place, apart from the three pin plug. But im sure your bag is more than lovely too

Is avoiding the fly more bag the way to go? the batterys and charger looked good! im gonna get an air this week

tedpan

Cupatae wrote:

Is avoiding the fly more bag the way to go? the batterys and charger looked good! im gonna get an air this week

No, the bag is fantastic, everything fits in its own place and is well protected. The extra batteries, charging station and props are well worth the extra money.

jogdish

tedpan wrote: »

No, the bag is fantastic, everything fits in its own place and is well protected. The extra batteries, charging station and props are well worth the extra money.

I went normal ( not the fly more ), and honestly I think , buy one extra battery and one bag via amazon for 20, and be willing to swap the batteries on the charger by hand was worth it for saving the the 100 or so. But like Tedpan says, you might love it, and I've owned one so maybe im wrong

My bag is in attachment pic

tedpan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qYBO2ryiG0

A quick spin around the fields. Default settings, no filters or colour edits. Only wish it flew a bit faster in default mode

jogdish

tedpan wrote: »

A quick spin around the fields. Default settings, no filters or colour edits. Only wish it flew a bit faster in default mode

Very nice!

Was flying mine today, noticed some yaw drifting - any ideas?

tedpan

jogdish wrote:

Was flying mine today, noticed some yaw drifting - any ideas?

I'm not sure, I'm getting the same. I think it's for cinematography purposes so not to cause sudden jerks when filming. Definitely wouldn't want to fly it too close to buildings until I get used to it. My mi drone definitely doesn't do this, I'm not sure if it's a pro or con at the moment..

jogdish

tedpan wrote: »

I'm not sure, I'm getting the same. I think it's for cinematography purposes so not to cause sudden jerks when filming. Definitely wouldn't want to fly it too close to buildings until I get used to it. My mi drone definitely doesn't do this, I'm not sure if it's a pro or con at the moment..

Afaik the cinematic mode needs to be manually enabled for any of the 'smooth' flight stuff to become active, when I got my Air originally it was rock solid - last two flights:
1) Gimble has issues keeping the horizon level
2) The Yaw drift.

Before those issues I collided with a tree, one prop took damage and I replaced that one prop - perhaps I should have replaced all four? I just mention this since it might be an issue.

ozmo

jogdish wrote: »

Just got:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07BDLH3F2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

today, really nice and very easy to carry, so small too.

Looking for a case myself- and ... Dunno - looks kinda large at what seems twice the height of the mavic air? I like how the mavic is so portable...
I wouldn’t expect to need bring the chargers etc with me when I go out...
A bag for the mavic air, remote, Extra battery and iPad mini would be ideal.

jogdish

ozmo wrote: »

Looking for a case myself- and ... Dunno - looks kinda large at what seems twice the height of the mavic air? I like how the mavic is so portable...
I wouldn’t expect to need bring the chargers etc with me when I go out...
A bag for the mavic air, remote, Extra battery and iPad mini would be ideal.

Perhaps the fly more combo bag, can get it in argos too ? but doubt it would take the ipad also.

tedpan

jogdish wrote:

Perhaps the fly more combo bag, can get it in argos too ? but doubt it would take the ipad also.

Yeah, I'm guessing it will be a tight fit, you might get an iPad mini in the side

jogdish

@tedpan
Hey, just a follow up to my questions about my Air above (wobble, yaw drift, gimble).

I changed all the props today, and did a tiny test flight (windy!), so only a head height up and down the garden (5m up and down). Perhaps its my imagination but the new props have made it a tad less nosiy. I strafed left and right and the gimble horizon seems to hold. Was unable to test the yaw drift since it only ever happened at height.

Prior I plugged the Air into the PC and said updating the firmware, even though the app told me it was up to date(?), calibrated the gimble a level table and calibrated the RC sticks too. Hoping to give it a full test in the next day or two - but after reading the DJI forums there seems to be more than me having similar issues - so im hoping (:() its a firmware issue, which sucks given the price!

tedpan

jogdish wrote:

I changed all the props today, and did a tiny test flight (windy!), so only a head height up and down the garden (5m up and down). Perhaps its my imagination but the new props have made it a tad less nosiy. I strafed left and right and the gimble horizon seems to hold. Was unable to test the yaw drift since it only ever happened at height.

Hmmm, weird one. I was thinking of changing to a new set of props too, I replaced 2 after the cat chewed them on day 3

jogdish wrote:

Prior I plugged the Air into the PC and said updating the firmware, even though the app told me it was up to date(?), calibrated the gimble a level table and calibrated the RC sticks too. Hoping to give it a full test in the next day or two - but after reading the DJI forums there seems to be more than me having similar issues - so im hoping ( ) its a firmware issue, which sucks given the price!

Yeah, the latest firmware seems to be the worst released and it's not downgradable unfortunately. It's been 5 months since a firmware update and unfortunately it's the only version I've used, I do find it buggy sometimes. I hope DJI release something soon, the spark had an update last month.

jogdish

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=

@tedpan

Okay, early morning test done before the wind/rain. Flying with four all new props,
1) Almost certain is a tad more quiet
2) That odd shake/wobble is almost gone - first drone rose tinted glasses, it may have always been that way.
3) Yaw drift no longer present during a flight of 8min, altitude at 2m,10m and (forgive me) 20m.
4) Gimble horizon slanted after strafing (sideways motion) - gone, well let me explain : once again rose tinted fresh out of the box me may just have never noticed this. I was holding an altitude of 10m looking towards a railway track, 90% stick to left and right sideways. During the motion the horizon (railway track) tilts about (guess) a degree or two, I stop and SLOWLY the horizon rights itself - I am almost certain this used to happen alot quicker but it goes straight at least.

I then went full left, then full right and back again, and after maybe 2 second the railway track lines up with the 3x3 grid on my phone screen. Now I will admit the railway track is not perfectly level but its all I had. see video
https://youtu.be/bPRpVjAFKc8

So cautiously optimistic my gimble calibrate, RC calibration and new props sorted my issues - touch wood fingers crossed etc etc.

jogdish

@tedpan
Sorry to be the guy replying to himself, but did a second test with the Air again this evening. Pretty much as my last post - fingers crossed my yaw drift and gimbal horizon issues seem to have been 'fixed' but using all four new props, not one new, three old. Didn't bother to video the test, but almost identical to the video above regarding the ongoing issues.
Any luck with yours @tedpan?

tedpan

jogdish wrote:

@tedpan Sorry to be the guy replying to himself, but did a second test with the Air again this evening. Pretty much as my last post - fingers crossed my yaw drift and gimbal horizon issues seem to have been 'fixed' but using all four new props, not one new, three old. Didn't bother to video the test, but almost identical to the video above regarding the ongoing issues. Any luck with yours @tedpan?

Something is definitely not right with it, have you reset the gimbal or tried calibrating the compass? Mine seemed ok on the last flight although has done jittering like yours on descent. I don't have the horizon issue like yours though.

I'll bring it out tomorrow and let you know if I have any further issues.

tedpan

Yessss, new firmware is out. Will try to take for a test flight this afternoon

jogdish

tedpan wrote: »

Yessss, new firmware is out. Will try to take for a test flight this afternoon

Just updated, still have my tilted horizon issue

in talks with amazon about a return now

tedpan

jogdish wrote:

Just updated, still have my tilted horizon issue in talks with amazon about a return now

Yeah, I wouldn't be happy with that. Let us know how it goes..

ozmo

jogdish wrote: »

Just updated, still have my tilted horizon issue in talks with amazon about a return now

Did you do all the calibrations - I had this issue on a Phantom and did an IMU calibration (make sure you do it in a COLD room on perfectly level ground) -

Then do an image calibration using a PC. I think this is the one that fixed it for me...:
https://www.heliguy.com/blog/calibrating-the-aircraft-vision-systems-dji-mavic-air/

Then there are the two menu items that are supposed to fix it...
The Auto calibration and the manual one if all else fails:
https://www.diyphotography.net/fix-dji-mavic-pro-tilted-horizon-problem/

Its such a common thing to fix - theres a remote shortcut to adjust this without having enter the menus or touch the phone at all.

ozmo

Shortcut -> "Press and hold right back button and use the right scroll wheel to adjust the horizon."

jogdish

ozmo wrote: »

Did you do all the calibrations
Then do an image calibration using a PC. I think this is the one that fixed it for me...:
https://www.heliguy.com/blog/calibrating-the-aircraft-vision-systems-dji-mavic-air/

I did the firmware upgrade, then the IMU calibration - well it was room temp. the same as the evening unboxed the drone.
I never knew about the above, i just used the auto calibrate gimbal on the phone screen. The adjusting the gimbal using the settings only solves it for a little bit its out of whack again once I move left/right.
After chatting to DJI they told me it must be a hardware issue?

ozmo

jogdish wrote: »

The adjusting the gimbal using the settings only solves it for a little bit its out of whack again once I move left/right.

Ah - sounds like one for dji to fix alright.... hope you get it sorted quick - There are a lot of reports out there of this happening - some saying it was after they updated the firmware - personally Im on stock fw and not going risk updating mine!

The Cold room is because I found if you do it in a hot room - the mavic takes longer "initialising IMU" each power on when out in a cold field - while I guess it warms up internally to the temperature it did its calibrations at - if you do it in a cold room there is no delay at all at this stage of power on.

Cupatae

So im gonna bite the bullet and buy one this, week any suggestions on the best place to buy one ? seen someone ebay for 600 with everything but they look a little bit too good to be true! argos is looking for 1000 with nothin just the drone.

tedpan

Cupatae wrote:

So im gonna bite the bullet and buy one this, week any suggestions on the best place to buy one ? seen someone ebay for 600 with everything but they look a little bit too good to be true! argos is looking for 1000 with nothin just the drone.

I bought the fly more combo from adverts almost 4 months ago. Brand new in the box for 890e. The price should only come down due to the Mavic 2 release.

ozmo

Cupatae wrote: »

...any suggestions on the best place to buy one ? seen someone ebay for 600 with everything but they look a little bit too good to be true! argos is looking for 1000 with nothin just the drone.

Amazon is a good place to buy - no messing about if there are any issues - I would ensure with a delicate/expensive item like this that its sold or "fulfilled" by amazon - not a third party. Use CamelCamelCamel to choose the right time to buy.

Here is a few (Amazon guaranteed) - box damaged ones for 533 pounds posted if you are feeling lucky:
https://amzn.to/2zMazzQ
They take it back free post if its not good enough for you when it arrives.

tedpan

jogdish wrote: »

Just updated, still have my tilted horizon issue in talks with amazon about a return now

Any news?

Here's a clip from today

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEndGeRPjb8