Litchi --- finally tested it today.

[Volkhard]

After I was downloading Litchi last week and getting familiar with the GUI I was able to do a quick test flight today.
It was the first flight after upgrading my P3P, the GO app and downloading Litchi. Therefore I was a little uneasy at first.... GO gave me some trouble at first, asking for FW upgrade of the Phantom. After uninstalling and re-installing it finally worked out.

I recalibrated the compass and launched manually using GO for a short flight. Everything worked fine. I landed, turned motors off but left the Phantom, controller and tablet on. I switched to the Litchi app.

Launching in FPW view to gain some altitude. Check.
Switching to GS. Check
Loading a pre created mission.Check.
Take off manually. Check.
Switching to F-mode. Check.
Flying a one minute mission I created a couple nights ago.Check.
Switching to Home lock. Check
Switching to Course lock. Check.
Landing in P mode.

Getting more confident I might do a longer mission this afternoon as another test before traveling to Europe tomorrow.

For the functions tested, Phantom and Litchi performed flawlessly. No critical moment, no surprises.
My longer mission I will try this afternoon might or might not create a signal loss, but the mission is planned with the last waypoint close to home. As the mission continues (as long there is sufficient GPS coverage) even with a broken connection to the controller, I am trusting the Phantom to fly its mission and, should the connection being lost, to reconnect in time for me to take over for landing.

I will report, should I be able to fly that mission. My trip to Europe takes almost 40 hours and might give me time for some basic editing enroute and posting the footage when I find a fast a strong wifi.

As I did not uploaded a video before: what's the proper process to do so on this forum? Uploading to youtube and using the link?

 

[bbfpv]

As I did not uploaded a video before: what's the proper process to do so on this forum? Uploading to youtube and using the link?

Yes

 

[Volkhard]

Just completed my first longer mission. roughly 3350 meter (roundtrip), about 9 minutes flying time. As expected at the far end of the course (~1500m hor at 50m vert) I lost connection. The mission continued as planned and shortly after I regained connection.

At distance the video to the tablet is lagging. At close range it is almost latency free. At the end of the mission Litchi shut down unexpected. I think, If I had not forgotten to set my tablet to "Airplane mode" it might not hat happened.
I will try to shorten up the appr. 9 minutes of beach front video in something view-able and will post it here in a couple of days.

Again I am happy with my setup and can't wait to explore Litchi more to learn how to have the camera keeping the point of interests in focus while flying by. At the moment just the tilt angle is adjusted but the camera direction is at the next waypoint ...... I hope that can be set differently but I had not enough time to study Litchi in detail.

 

[FCPhantom]

I have also today test Litchi (version 2.06). The FPV video quality was very good, much smoother, comparing to DJI GO. I have latest Google Play service updates and still the video was very good (hardware decode enabled). There is something work to do with stability, Litchi crashed end of the fly, but start up again fast (WIFI disabled, mobile data enabled).
My configure: Nvidia Shield, P3A

Pros and cons:
+ FPV video quality (no lag)
+ Ground station, POI and Follow me features are awesome! You can plan your flight before, save it and download later.
+ Map, radar and FPV video onthe same display
+Support, it will get better all the time.

- Camera settings missing, you have to use DJI GO (camera settings are coming also to Litchi)
-Stability

 

[tcope]

Thanks for the reviews. I download Litchi about a week ago but only used it once. I did not think it was anything to write home about but reserve my opinion once I've done some more testing.

 

[Mark The Droner]

I too tested it yesterday with my Vision. I did a fairly short waypoint flight. The software seems a bit awkard to me but maybe I'm just not used to it. There are tons of tall trees and very hilly landscape all around me so flying can be treacherous if you're not careful. I started high, then flew it about 700 feet distance over some tall trees and out of sight. Then had it drop down towards a grass area that was clear of trees, then had it run back up, then back to me where it hovered until I brought it down. This was all waypoints and the area it dropped down into was already researched using this handy site: Distance Calculator which gives me distance and elevation info.

I lost both video and control contact which is what I expected but the Vision finished its mission, also as expected (yes, I know this is not recommended).

I also found myself with 13 satellites which is a new record for me.

There is nothing I did that I couldn't do with the normal phantom app, but Litchi will let me fly further in waypoints (past 500 meters) then the phantom app will, and I might test that out today. It will also give me the Orbit and Follow me functions which is cool (I can't have those functions on my Vision with the standard app). So I'm anxious to test this further...

 

[fhk]

"There is nothing I did that I couldn't do with the normal phantom app"
Yeah, nothing other than those minor few items that litchi was designed to do. Sheese, what did you buy it for??

 

[n6vmo]

There is nothing I did that I couldn't do with the normal phantom app, but Litchi will let me fly further in waypoints (past 500 meters) then the phantom app will, and I might test that out today. ...

I was under the impression that when using the DJI App, you had to be airborne before you could set WP or POI locations? With Litchi, all this can be done before even leaving the house.

 

[rrmccabe]

I was under the impression that when using the DJI App, you had to be airborne before you could set WP or POI locations? With Litchi, all this can be done before even leaving the house.

Thats right. The Go App missions must be flown first to set the way-points. Its more of a replay feature than a mission planner.

 

[Mark The Droner]

I don't know anything about POI. I don't have that with my Vision, but the Vision did come with Waypoints.

I don't know why you think you need to be airborne. Maybe the Phantom 3 is different? I haven't used the Go app yet, though if that's what you're referring to.

I've used waypoints many times with the normal Phantom app. Turn everything on, set the waypoints, and go. No need to be airborne.

With litchi it's the same way. Set the way points in advance and go.

But what sets litchi above and beyond, IMO, is the ability to plan the mission on your desktop. Keep the bird in the case. Go to flylitchi.com and click on Missions. Plan your mission. Download to your desktop with an appropriate name. A file will be saved to your desktop. Connect your phone/tablet and transfer the downloaded file into the litchi/missions folder. Shazaam. You've got a saved mission in your app ready to go. Do it again and again. Multiple saved missions are now in your app on your phone/tablet.

It's sooooo much easier setting up a mission on the desktop using a mouse with a pointer rather than a finger on a tiny screen.

 

[rrmccabe]

@Marknmd, well you are in the P3 forum.

So the Vision and Phantom 3 are totally different animals.

 

[Mark The Droner]

Okay. I had actually found this thread on google. I didn't realize it was the P3 forum. My bad.

 

[rrmccabe]

Yea no big deal. Just thought I would make you aware. Thus the difference in opinions on the software/hardware.