Considering the Crystal Sky Ultra, but how does it stack up?

[alsobrook4336]

Read your review I’m glad I read it I’m wondering if everyone has that problem I’ve got the phantom for pro plus and it’s pretty much blah us not to tickled with the android system in the plus but as far as my flight or any freezing up or lag it’s next to perfect occasionally there’s a little bug her too I just have to restart every day and everything goes perfect that’s a real drag I was just about to get the David to phantom with the crystals guy just as a back up because I love the phantoms camera I’ve got a Mavic pro solid little boring but the camera just cannot touch the phantoms camera I’m sure one the phantom five comes out or the Mavic pro to phase issues you’re talking about will be fixed have you ever tried rolling back to earlier farm where are use the 104.600 I believe in the In the phantom and it’s next to perfect

Sorry about the wonky text I speak into my text which is a big mistake

 

[$gambino$]

That's interesting. I wonder why my 5.8 AUTO setting does 4mi and you're doesn't. Are you using a windsurfer?

Same with my v1 ....5.8 auto was the ticket....over 20,000 ft every time. Stock antennas

 

[Russ43Phantom]

If you are going to spend the money, my experience with any phone or tablet or enhanced display is that sun is still a factor. Using the Epson BT-300 (with a brimmed cap) provides excellent contrast, saturation, and sharpness ... better than so called bright screens exposed to sunlight. I would suggest you try out a BT-300. I got mind from B&H because, at the time, they offered a return policy if the BT-300's did not perform up to your expectations.

 

[lickitysplit11111]

If you are going to spend the money, my experience with any phone or tablet or enhanced display is that sun is still a factor. Using the Epson BT-300 (with a brimmed cap) provides excellent contrast, saturation, and sharpness ... better than so called bright screens exposed to sunlight. I would suggest you try out a BT-300. I got mind from B&H because, at the time, they offered a return policy if the BT-300's did not perform up to your expectations.

“With a brimmed cap “

 

[Basspig]

Ugh. that voice recognition was hard to figure out.

 

[lickitysplit11111]

Ugh. that voice recognition was hard to figure out.

Three flights this morning totaling 105,000 ft with no problem ,only limited by the battery

 

[Basspig]

Three flights this morning totaling 105,000 ft with no problem ,only limited by the battery

What was the ambient temperature? I think there's a correlation with warm days and frequent app stops responding messages, but I don't have large enough statistical sample to be certain.

 

[lickitysplit11111]

What was the ambient temperature? I think there's a correlation with warm days and frequent app stops responding messages, but I don't have large enough statistical sample to be certain.

Dunno know around 70 it was at 7:00 am, yesterday’s I flew around noon with even longer flights

 

[Basspig]

My hunch is that the CS Ultra throttles the CPU clock down as it gets hotter, and performance starts to lag badly.

On the two colder days when I flew, it actually worked without any glitches. But yesterday, right from takeoff, the video feed was tearing and halting. When I got the drone back home, the CS Ultra completely stopped responding. It was warmer that day. And the tablet itself was quite warm to the touch.
If they used OLEDs, they'd probably solve 90% of the heat production.

 

[lickitysplit11111]

My hunch is that the CS Ultra throttles the CPU clock down as it gets hotter, and performance starts to lag badly.

On the two colder days when I flew, it actually worked without any glitches. But yesterday, right from takeoff, the video feed was tearing and halting. When I got the drone back home, the CS Ultra completely stopped responding. It was warmer that day. And the tablet itself was quite warm to the touch.
If they used OLEDs, they'd probably solve 90% of the heat production.

May I ask how long have you owned your CS ?

 

[nollzr]

Got my crystal sky the other day. I ordered the high bright with mount, but got the ultra bright with no mount. No complaints from me! I did the update and set it all up. Things worked smoothly. Flew with it for a while in 92 degree sun filled sky's. WOW...could see everything nice and bright and never had any over heating issues. Was nice to transfer my files onto another sd card right after flying. Seems to work perfect! Glad they sent me the Ultra version instead. Very happy with it!

 

[Basspig]

May I ask how long have you owned your CS ?

Almost two weeks now. Have flown with it about a dozen times so far.
The app terminated without warning today while in the park. Drone was hovering when it happened. The last thing I did was try to tap on the icon to change camera to stills mode, so I could capture a sunset in RAW. And DJI Go just vanished from the screen. Temperature was in the upper 70s at the time.

 

[John Locke]

Can someone clarify whether changing the channel settings affects only the video feed, or whether it also affects the remote control of the aircraft?

I seem to recall about a year ago someone confirming that switching to 5.8 affects both control signal and video downlink. This is different than Yuneec who uses 2.4 for control and 5.8 for video, but they use plain old WiFi technology, won't even reach 1 mile. I assume they use the two bands to minimize interference between the two signals.

 

[lickitysplit11111]

Almost two weeks now. Have flown with it about a dozen times so far.
The app terminated without warning today while in the park. Drone was hovering when it happened. The last thing I did was try to tap on the icon to change camera to stills mode, so I could capture a sunset in RAW. And DJI Go just vanished from the screen. Temperature was in the upper 70s at the time.

Id return it while you still can and repurchase from another vendor you may have received one of the original ones which had problems, who you get it from ?

 

[MaryKay]

Hi Paul, my experience has been very similar to yours. 2 good weeks with CrystalSky Ultra and Mavic Pro, but I got a Phantom 4 Pro v. 2.0 this week and attempted a test flight running the new firmware. I had the same pixelations and stuttering you described. I've also reported to DJI that in Go4 I can't adjust most of the slider controls like battery warnings. How did you return your CS? I can't find any info on DJI's website. Thanks! Mary Kay

 

[lickitysplit11111]

Hi Paul, my experience has been very similar to yours. 2 good weeks with CrystalSky Ultra and Mavic Pro, but I got a Phantom 4 Pro v. 2.0 this week and attempted a test flight running the new firmware. I had the same pixelations and stuttering you described. I've also reported to DJI that in Go4 I can't adjust most of the slider controls like battery warnings. How did you return your CS? I can't find any info on DJI's website. Thanks! Mary Kay

May I suggest after the firmware install to do a "Reset" of the CS via the menu, the guy on YT who does tons of DJI product videos suggested that and it worked like a charm for me
He's has very good videos explaining things

 

[MaryKay]

May I suggest after the firmware install to do a "Reset" of the CS via the menu, the guy on YT who does tons of DJI product videos suggested that and it worked like a charm for me
He's has very good videos explaining things

Thanks for the tip! I will try the reset and check the guy’s videos out. I’m afraid to fly the Phantom any distance now with CS and I’m surrounded by water here...so I have to keep borrowing husband’s iPad Mini 4

 

[Henry Matias]

I was surprised also. It's strange to me that DJI can't get the software issues fixed. This forum, the mavic forum, and the DJI Phantom forum all have similar posts which point to software non-reliability issues with the Phantoms.

Still keep using mine as when I can, it's still the best solution, I guess besides a Pro+ monitor/controller.

Paul C

I have had the High Bright now for 4 months. I have used it on Spark, Mavic and P4 Pro.

Spark, it's worthless as you need the Wifi turned on from CS and thus battery life suffers, but I had a ton of control problems so said, no more.

Mavic, it's for the most flawless. A lot of flights, no App lock ups, no Video lock ups. The only thing I see is an occasional video lag on pans. The video jumps to catch up as you pan. Sometimes the video live view pixelates, but that does not last more than a few seconds.

P4 Pro and P4 Pro Vr 2.0. Both have IMO really severe issues.

1. App disconnects, during flight you get a message that the app has disconnected, your video will freeze where the disconnect happened. You still have full RC control and if in VLOS can fly back manually, but if you are a ways out say 1600 feet, (I still can see a P4 out that far), you still have to figure out craft orientation and that far out it can be difficult to not to panic.

2. Video Freezes, here the app never disconnects, but the video still is frozen. You can attempt a reboot of the CS or power cycle, but personally I would rather not do that.

3. Camera freeze when switching between video and stills. This just started with the latest firmware to support P4 Vr 2.0.
On switching to the stills from video, the shutter button is greyed out and all camera features are locked up. Reboot or power off of CS does not fix this, you have to power cycle the drone so I am not sure if it's a CS or P4 Vr 2.0 issue. But I have not seen this with the iPad on the Vr 2.0.

Net, I love the hardware and design of the CS. I returned my Ultra bright due to all the problems folks were having with the ultras burning out. The high bright 7.5 is a great design, love the size and touch screen is excellent. I can see the high bright in most of the outdoor shooting and the screen resolution/app have a much better unification. Thus your stills look more in focus than with the iPad (the djigo4 app does not respect retina resolution, "respect" is an Apple developers term) Instead the djigo4 app is displaying around 720 and that is way below the iPad screen resolution. So critical focus is much hard to work. This is not an issue with the CS as images on screen have much better display resolution.

Battery life, is all day, (well 1 battery will last much longer than a P4 on 6 flights). You need a p4 charger to charge the CS as it doesn't come with one.

I am surprised at just how many issues the Phantom seems to have with the CS. Problems that IMO should not be there. The version of djigo4 on the CS is not the same as the standard android version and DJI rolls out updates a bit behind the standard android version. But still if android users were seeing as many lockups and app disconnects with their phones or tablets, I feel that there would be a lot more posting. Instead those products seem pretty solid.

For now I only use the CS on my P4's for short flights and where I know I will stay in good VLOS. On the Mavic I have gone out much further, with no problems.

Paul Caldwell

please explain... are you saying that my controller for my CS for my P4+ can also work to fly my Mavic Air??? Please explain!

 

[Basspig]

May I suggest after the firmware install to do a "Reset" of the CS via the menu, the guy on YT who does tons of DJI product videos suggested that and it worked like a charm for me
He's has very good videos explaining things

How does doing a reset fix the temperature problems? My CS Ultra only seems reliable when it's chilly out. Once it gets over 70 degrees, it has app hangs and generally sluggish UI response.

 

[lickitysplit11111]

How does doing a reset fix the temperature problems? My CS Ultra only seems reliable when it's chilly out. Once it gets over 70 degrees, it has app hangs and generally sluggish UI response.

When did the video or I ever said it did ? He suggest doing a reset after updating the Firmware ,
If you can’t use it above 70 degrees I don’t know why your keeping it it’s above 70 degrees 6 months out of the year, no ?