First post - Question about GPS to find lost Mavic

[GMG]

Hi,

I've been playing around with a Hubsan X4 for awhile to get my skills up for a more elaborate drone and jumped on the pre-order list for the Mavic when it came out so am eagerly awaiting delivery.

Obviously a trepidation is that a fly away or crash with a Mavic will be a lot harder to take than an X4 and I've seen a number of options for tracking devices online. But I would have thought that given the Mavic and controller (via a smartphone) both have GPS, it would make sense for there to be some way of using the controller/smartphone to get a position on an errant drone. Does anyone know if there's any capability to do this with DJI drones?

Incidentally, I noticed that the status of my order appears to have changed hours ago to "completed" on DJI's online store. I'm wondering if this is bc I had a refund on a spare gimbal cover processed (I ordered the combo pack and added a gimbal and a couple other things) or whether this means that it's shipped. I placed the order on Sept 30th.

 

[GMG]

Should just mention that while the order page was showing that the order has completed (before it was showing only that payment had been made), I'm not getting other details:

Shipping Status: Pending
Shipping Company: Tba
...and no tracking number.

 

[SKOLEZ]

Well according to Casey Neistat, when he lost his drone, DJI told him that it would show up on the map on his phone through the DJI GO app. Although not a lot of details are given, here is a link to the video. He talks about it at 7:47

 

[DefaultIT]

First of all, these have come a long way in terms of reliability (especially with the last 2 generations making use of dual sensors) so you're MUCH more likely to have to recover a crash than try to track down a mind-of-its-own drone. Second of all, the only time you WON'T get a GPS fix from a powered-on aircraft is if it can't reach any satellites (blockage/cover) or can't reach you (out of range). As for crashing, technically you should be able to see it yourself if you're playing by all the rules, but setting that aside for a second, the aircraft should continue to supply telemetry as always if the battery isn't disconnected on impact. If it is, it's my understanding that you're shown a last-known location via the app (which is I think what happened above).

The app does show you your own position as well (all via google open maps) so homing in is just a matter of connecting the dots.

 

[GMG]

Thanks SKOLEZ and DefaultIT. That's interesting. Looks like he he should have attached one of these. Maybe it'll be his next review.

 

[kykayak]

That's a pretty cool product! I fly over water a lot and don't want to risk my Mavic being gone forever. At $15 at least I can retrieve at up to 100 ft! Thanks for sharing this!!

 

[GMG]

That's a pretty cool product! I fly over water a lot and don't want to risk my Mavic being gone forever. At $15 at least I can retrieve at up to 100 ft! Thanks for sharing this!!

Yup - Got to love it when someone combines a product that's got both high usefulness and value with a low price.

 

[DefaultIT]

Interesting...i'd be curious to see the weight on that GetterBack...if there's a CO2 system in there it's probably enough to impact battery life a little. Good find though.

Also welcome to the board! Forgot in my first reply. (and don't get too comfortable...I'm sure this'll move over to a MavicPilots board pretty soon

 

[kykayak]

Weights .3 oz so no co2. One time use. $15. Wonder if he knows he's loosing out only marketing that thing to fishing rods?

 

[kykayak]

Home

 

[GMG]

Also welcome to the board! Forgot in my first reply. (and don't get too comfortable...I'm sure this'll move over to a MavicPilots board pretty soon

Thanks. I'm looking forward to the combined wisdom of people posting here.