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Hello, I just bought the new Mavic Pro platinum to complete a job for one of our corporate clients which is a global company of transportation.

They need us to take a whole picture of a production plant, located in an area where no planes fly, where there is nothing around but this big complex that measures around 2km in extension.

At 500 meters I couldn’t cover it with a Mavic Pro so “naively” I bought a Mavic Pro platinum by what the specs state that flies up to a 5,000 meters altitud (I now understand the concept).

DJI tells me that all drones can not fly over 500m. But I’ve found that it is possible by modifying certain parameters (hacking) which I won’t even try to do for logic reasons.

My question is that I understand that certain regulations must be accomplished but in certain cases, and certain countries, for specific projects as my client’s need, we should have the option to decide and obviously the risk is ours not DJI’s.

I know there are several solutions as stitching several pictures in one, but that’s not a solution for me.

I already asked DJI to help me in changing this parameters (in my drone, for this project only) but it seems the paradigm of “it is not possible” is even on their engineering department.

So I believe us as customers should get a solution to our needs when those needs are possible, and WE ALL need to ask them to break the paradigm of “no drone in the world can fly over 500m because of understandable reasons, in certain areas cities and countries.

Imagine that same restrictions in cars’ industry. We all know most of the roads in the world have speed limits. But that doesn’t restrict constructors to limit the speed in the cars which, at the end, is the driver’s responsability.
 
Hello, I just bought the new Mavic Pro platinum to complete a job for one of our corporate clients which is a global company of transportation.

They need us to take a whole picture of a production plant, located in an area where no planes fly, where there is nothing around but this big complex that measures around 2km in extension.

At 500 meters I couldn’t cover it with a Mavic Pro so “naively” I bought a Mavic Pro platinum by what the specs state that flies up to a 5,000 meters altitud (I now understand the concept).

DJI tells me that all drones can not fly over 500m. But I’ve found that it is possible by modifying certain parameters (hacking) which I won’t even try to do for logic reasons.

My question is that I understand that certain regulations must be accomplished but in certain cases, and certain countries, for specific projects as my client’s need, we should have the option to decide and obviously the risk is ours not DJI’s.

I know there are several solutions as stitching several pictures in one, but that’s not a solution for me.

I already asked DJI to help me in changing this parameters (in my drone, for this project only) but it seems the paradigm of “it is not possible” is even on their engineering department..

You'll need to research and buy an aircraft or build one that does not use a Geo-Fence to limit the flights. There are several Flight controllers available that you can research that have no restrictions what-so-ever.

Buying off-the-shelf is often a compromise between performance, quality, and price.

Have you researched Yuneec or other brands of sUAS?

My question is that I understand that certain regulations must be accomplished but in certain cases, and certain countries, for specific projects as my client’s need, we should have the option to decide and obviously the risk is ours not DJI’s.

DJI is looking after THEIR best interest and doing so wisely. If they release an aircraft with no GeoFencing and someone flies it into a manned aircraft their sales will plummet and Govt restrictions could be imposed that would put them out of business. Look at it from their point of view and it makes a lot more sense.

I know there are several solutions as stitching several pictures in one, but that’s not a solution for me.

If you're going to be in the business to do work like this then why limit yourself from the get-go by saying "that's not a solution for me"? Mapping is easy and can be inexpensive/free in many cases. Have you researched MapsMadeEasy or DroneDeploy?

So I believe us as customers should get a solution to our needs when those needs are possible, and WE ALL need to ask them to break the paradigm of “no drone in the world can fly over 500m because of understandable reasons, in certain areas cities and countries.

Imagine that same restrictions in cars’ industry. We all know most of the roads in the world have speed limits. But that doesn’t restrict constructors to limit the speed in the cars which, at the end, is the driver’s responsibility.

You're comparing toy drones to man carrying cars. That's not an accurate comparison at all.

People driving cars usually have some degree of training/testing along with usually some level of insurance. Do you want the same requirements placed on flying your toy drone for hobby?

Again if you want to operate without GEO then you have lots of options but not with the "Easy" aircraft like Mavics which are toy grade.
 
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You'll need to research and buy an aircraft or build one that does not use a Geo-Fence to limit the flights. There are several Flight controllers available that you can research that have no restrictions what-so-ever.

Buying off-the-shelf is often a compromise between performance, quality, and price.

Have you researched Yuneec or other brands of sUAS?



DJI is looking after THEIR best interest and doing so wisely. If they release an aircraft with no GeoFencing and someone flies it into a manned aircraft their sales will plummet and Govt restrictions could be imposed that would put them out of business. Look at it from their point of view and it makes a lot more sense.



If you're going to be in the business to do work like this then why limit yourself from the get-go by saying "that's not a solution for me"? Mapping is easy and can be inexpensive/free in many cases. Have you researched MapsMadeEasy or DroneDeploy?



You're comparing toy drones to man carrying cars. That's not an accurate comparison at all.

People driving cars usually have some degree of training/testing along with usually some level of insurance. Do you want the same requirements placed on flying your toy drone for hobby?

Again if you want to operate without GEO then you have lots of options but not with the "Easy" aircraft like Mavics which are toy grade.

Thanks for your comments. I already bought this “toy drone” which I thought would match my needs completely for this project for being small, light and silent. A bigger or noiser drone is not an option. I believe Mapping wouldn’t help because of the level of detail (resolution) my client needs (i will take a look at it) A wider lens would do it. A higher altitude would do it. But none of those are possible with what I already bought specifically for this project.
 
Maybe sell this unit to recoup some of your $$ and then buy one that will do what you need/want?

Sometimes when you jump into the professional arena you have to have multiple pieces of equipment to meet various requests (aka demands) from your client.

If your client understated their requirements you could possibly go back and review the contract to get more $$ built in for the required equipment.

I would pretty bet my bottom dollar you'll get a LOT more detail running a MAP mission at lower altitude than you can from flying higher to capture more real estate. Lower = more resolution.
 
DJI won't change the limit, period. You say "we" need to get this changed. Why we? "We" don't really have a problem.

You might be able to "hack" the Phantoms firmware to allow a higher flight. You can search this form for that info.
 
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Maybe sell this unit to recoup some of your $$ and then buy one that will do what you need/want?

Sometimes when you jump into the professional arena you have to have multiple pieces of equipment to meet various requests (aka demands) from your client.

If your client understated their requirements you could possibly go back and review the contract to get more $$ built in for the required equipment.

I would pretty bet my bottom dollar you'll get a LOT more detail running a MAP mission at lower altitude than you can from flying higher to capture more real estate. Lower = more resolution.

My deadline is this 31st of july so there is no time to get a refund and get a new one , because of certain limitations of my client, my drone should not be seen or heard.
 
My deadline is this 31st of july so there is no time to get a refund and get a new one , because of certain limitations of my client, my drone should not be seen or heard.
Then you are out of luck. You aren't going to get the limitation changed.

You bought the wrong tool for your job without fully vetting it.
 
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That’s a fact. I’ll need to photoshop and stitch the pictures.

But I insist. I don’t Imagine cars limited to run up to the speed limits of roads.

You may not like the firmware restrictions, but if you are complaining that they are unreasonable because they won't let you break the law then you are not going to get much support. Many cars are limited to below their top speed. DJI equipment is limited to a much higher altitude than most countries' laws permit too, so they are, in fact, directly equivalent. Your recourse to not liking them is not to buy the product. Alternatively, 30 seconds of web searching will show you how to remove the restriction and be able to break the law as much as you like.
 
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That’s a fact. I’ll need to photoshop and stitch the pictures.

But I insist. I don’t Imagine cars limited to run up to the speed limits of roads.

If you use MapsMadeEasy (MapPilot for iOS) you can upload the images to the cloud service and get the stitching done virtually.

Most of our hobby sUAS are fairly inconspicuous over 200'.
 

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