Litchi first impressions.

[KennyJr]

This is by no means an expert review. This is the first time I flew with Litchi. It's either been too wet, too windy or too cold to fly.

The first test was tracking. I've found it works best with high contrast targets. It had no problem following Delilah (mostly white dog) against the green grass. Me wearing a camo jacket against the white house no problem, but as soon as I started walking past the hedges it lost track of me. Once I put my orange vest on tracking was spot on.

Next test Way Points. Note: MAKE SURE TO SET WAY POINTS HIGHER THAN OBSTACLES.
My first test nearly ended with the Phantom in a tree. Once my heart rate returned to normal I added 50 feet to my altitude and second test worked well, but I noticed the camera wasn't pointed at my POI, but over it. I set the gamble to shoot 60 feet above my POI (church steeple) and third mission was a success.

The next time I'm at my sister-in-laws where I have wide open spaces I'll try some long range tests. Unless you like to run way point missions I think DJI Go is more than enough for most people. Tracking is another nice feature as long as you target doesn't blend into the background. I also liked that I could set it to an announce altitude and distance so I didn't have to keep looking at the screen. There is a little bit of a learning curve, but overall it is an interesting app.

 

[dwallersv]

The problem with your POI (probably) is you didn't set the altitude of the POI. It defaults to 3m (10').

So, if you're shooting something like the steeple of a church, you need to make sure and set the POI height appropriately.

 

[alokbhargava]

Waypoints need advance offline planning for successful missions. Common mistake is incorrect guess for safe altitude.

 

[KennyJr]

Waypoints need advance offline planning for successful missions. Common mistake is incorrect guess for safe altitude.

I had the right height for my location, but didn't take into account the elevation rise from my location to the church which is further up the hill. 100' AGL here is probably around 50' AGL at the church.

I didn't get much of a chance to fly this afternoon. We were babysitting, 6 year old boys and spinning props is not a good combination.

 

[dwallersv]

I had the right height for my location, but didn't take into account the elevation rise from my location to the church which is further up the hill. 100' AGL here is probably around 50' AGL at the church.

Ahhh yes... that one's bitten me before too! The steeple's 60 feet tall, so the POI height is set to 60 feet, of course

Now that Litchi supports ground-relative waypoint altitudes, perhaps this will be extended to setting POI's as well -- we can hope.

In fact, now that Litchi has this feature, it would be nice to see a new overall mission parameter that can be set so that WP altitudes are interpreted as ground-relative, so you can just set them to the height above ground you want that waypoint to be, and when looking at several of them in the display the AGL height is what is displayed.

This would aid greatly in eliminating the in-head calculations we have to do with the current UI.

 

[snamvar57]

Great thread. I am a beginner who bought a P4P on impulse and trying to learn the basics, so I know which way to go. I have few questions about Litchi and this seems to be the right thread to ask.
How about the conflict about FAA Line Of Sight rule and autonomous flying aka missions ?
dji go 4 does not support autonomous flights. Right ?
I read better reviews about "autopilot" than Litchi (for iPad). Any idea as which is a better choice?

The idea of autonomous missions is just amazing. Specially when you can repeat the same mission. So many useful applications.

Cheers

 

[goblues38us]

but I noticed the camera wasn't pointed at my POI, but over it. I set the gamble to shoot 60 feet above my POI (church steeple) and third mission was a success.
.

I too have noticed this in these conditions. I take off on top of a hill. That point is 0 feet in altitude.

Fly west for 500 meters off the side of the hill. The AGL at that point is 100 feet below my take off point. If I set a POV that is -100 feet below take off point, then set camera to that pov, it acts like the pov is at o feet instead of -100 feet. To correct this, when I set the POV, I set it to the - negative number below first way point. This seams to work.