I don't care why it works, but it sure does!
Aaron, you have made a true believer out of me!
Sorry for doubting you in the first place, but hopefully you will understand my previous skepticism. It is counter-intuitive to me that 5.8 Ghz should have better range. Thank you for being patient in answering my questions so I could find out what was different in our very similar setups. It works! I'm so happy!
I used Auto with 5.8 GHz selected on iOS on three back to back flights, late this afternoon and early evening, and, as you stated, it stayed in 5.8Ghz the entire flight, out to 4 miles away, over water on the first flight, before I turned around, only because of the battery, like you did. On my second flight, I flew it up a nearby mountain top to 3 miles away before turning around due to flying back against a strong headwind. After building up my confidence with the first two flights, I then flew it low over the 3 mile urban area between me and the beach, and was able to drop down to 25 feet over the water once reaching it, just like I do with my P4's with the boosted DBS-02 on the GL300A! I'm in awe!
THANK YOU!
The 5.8 might get better range with direct LOS, this will be due to less congestion from other devices. Not because it is "more powerful" as you are suggesting. 2.4 will perform significantly better if there are any obstacles in the signal path.
While you wait for your issue to be resolved with DJI, you might consider picking up a replacement P4P from Best Buy to keep flying. They offer a liberal return policy of 15-45 days depending upon your purchases over the last 12 months ($1500+ for 30 days) , and then you can decide to return it or keep it as a backup bird or your main bird, before the return period, and, by then, your DJI claim will be resolved, one way or the other.
A well designed windsurfer should, potentially, increase the range by up to 30% or more, depending upon the environment, or make the signal more stable at the extremes, but also makes the signal much more directional.
Awesome! The proper settings are the key!
This has been a very productive thread. You don't own it. Once you start it, it takes on a life of its own.
On iOS, one needs to select one or the other under the Auto setting prior to lift off, but it can and will switch during flight as needed, but, if it does switch out of 2.4GHz, switch it back to 5.8Ghz for best range. Best to select 5.8Ghz. On Android, on the P4P+, as I recall, you can't preselect which band under Auto.
