I guess DJI's next drone ( Phantom 5)..

lickitysplit11111 · Jun 14, 2017

will have the latest FW installed in it (from the factory) as a starting point which kinda means the P4P will be the last drone DJI release's where this is an option and not " The Norm". I'm referring to the NFZ
Me being a city dweller if the lastest FW worked as expected and was not an option would have made my P4P a paperweight which would have left DJI wide-open for legal troubles but if any and all future drones are sold with it from the start and advertised as such they protect themselves .
Am I on the right track here or is my thinking flawed ?

microlinux · Jun 14, 2017

What? The NFZ system is not new.

lickitysplit11111 · Jun 14, 2017

microlinux said:
What? The NFZ system is not new.

True but it was never FW enforced , its my understanding from reading the replies that if your within a NFZ you can no longer override it like before

microlinux · Jun 14, 2017

I'm not sure what you mean by "FW enforced"? You can unlock areas the same as before. Nothing has materially changed, to my knowledge.

lickitysplit11111 · Jun 14, 2017

microlinux said:
I'm not sure what you mean by "FW enforced"? You can unlock areas the same as before. Nothing has materially changed, to my knowledge.

With the new FW installed I don't think so ,that option has been eliminated by some of the comments I seen from people who were able to get the FW workable for them.

Meta4 · Jun 14, 2017

lickitysplit11111 said:
With the new FW installed I don't think so ,that option has been eliminated by some of the comments I seen from people who were able to get the FW workable for them.

All the reports are strongly suggesting no changes and the update is to allow DJI to make corrections and updates to TFR/NFZ when they occur rather than only when firmware updates come through.

lickitysplit11111 · Jun 15, 2017

Meta4 said:
All the reports are strongly suggesting no changes and the update is to allow DJI to make corrections and updates to TFR/NFZ when they occur rather than only when firmware updates come through.

May I ask why do a lot of the comments mention "not being able to take-off in certain NFZ's"

Meta4 · Jun 16, 2017

lickitysplit11111 said:
May I ask why do a lot of the comments mention "not being able to take-off in certain NFZ's"

There's nothing different in the way NFZs are treated.
It's exactly as it has been since way back in the early days of the P3 series.

bkushner · Jun 16, 2017

lickitysplit11111 said:
will have the latest FW installed in it (from the factory) as a starting point which kinda means the P4P will be the last drone DJI release's where this is an option and not " The Norm". I'm referring to the NFZ
Me being a city dweller if the lastest FW worked as expected and was not an option would have made my P4P a paperweight which would have left DJI wide-open for legal troubles but if any and all future drones are sold with it from the start and advertised as such they protect themselves .
Am I on the right track here or is my thinking flawed ?

Technically you shouldn't be in any NFZ with any companies drone.

lickitysplit11111 · Jun 16, 2017

bkushner said:
Technically you shouldn't be in any NFZ with any companies drone.

Technically you shouldn't fly beyond VLOS or wearing googles either but....

lickitysplit11111 · Jun 16, 2017

Meta4 said:
There's nothing different in the way NFZs are treated.
It's exactly as it has been since way back in the early days of the P3 series.

Thanks , I guess I was misunderstanding then..

Russ43Phantom · Jun 17, 2017

My suggestion is that you seriously focus on learning the process needed to get either an "authorization" or a "waiver". I don't believe DJI has any liability to you. In NH, the FAA says you can fly in National Forests. In the White Mountain National Forest in our state, the ruling for the forests is ... the FAA controls airspace - TRUE ... but the National Forest prohibits any aircraft (including drones) to land or take-off. I also like to take aerial images of light houses along the New England coast. Once again, my biggest learning curve is how to work with (not against) authorities. So far, it's been working except for the bureaucratic slowness of getting the authorization process to work.

EdwardMeijer · Jun 17, 2017

lickitysplit11111 said:
True but it was never FW enforced , its my understanding from reading the replies that if your within a NFZ you can no longer override it like before

Not true, you have to do advanced Unlock.
DJI Tutorials - How to Unlock GEO Zones

lickitysplit11111 · Jun 17, 2017

EdwardMeijer said:
Not true, you have to do advanced Unlock.
DJI Tutorials - How to Unlock GEO Zones

I believe some people commented that with the new FW you are no longer able to "unlock" in a yellow area, I flew this morning using the old FW and I received one of these which "I agreed " I was responsible for flying at this location. Thank you , this is what I was referring to I just didn't know the name of it.

shockwave199 · Jun 17, 2017

This is referring to geo? Just turn it off in settings. Then you'll be in the old style NFZ around airports and such- 5 mile hobby rule. If you need to fly in airspace that is truly not controlled but the app won't let you for whatever reason or error, turn on geo and tick off the disclaimers to fly if it's a warning zone or enhanced warning zone.

I've also heard reports of app glitches that won't let you unlock authorization zones in geo. Not sure if that glitch hit this update but it's worth checking into.

mark99 · Jun 18, 2017

People will soon get fed up of been ordered about and spied upon by a Chinese drone company.
Thats before we get to having your credit card stored in a country with no data laws.

Other drone makers are out there and as orders increase so will the quality of their product.

Drestin Black · Aug 7, 2017

Meta4 said:
There's nothing different in the way NFZs are treated.
It's exactly as it has been since way back in the early days of the P3 series.

Wrong.

Meta4 · Aug 7, 2017

Drestin Black said:
Wrong.

Thanks for that explanation.
Now it all makes sense.

smiller · Aug 7, 2017

Whatever the details are concerning the restrictions in the latest Phamtom 4/Mavic releases the one certain thing is a trend towards greater control over where/when drones can be flown, ID beacons, etc. In truth I'm not sure it's fair to blame DJI as this is almost inevitable as the number and capabilities of consumer drones increases. I think you can be virtually certain that the P5 will have both more secure firmware and perhaps hardware encryption to prevent tampering (as has been present in smartphones, motor vehicle ECUs, etc. for some time now.) There will be no mods to allow disabling of NFZs and altitude limits in models beyond the P4/Mavic, of that you can be sure.

blade strike · Aug 7, 2017

As others have stated, the only difference in the latest software update is the requirement to login with a valid connection once within the app. Once you do that you do not need an internet connection to fly.