New to Phantom...advice please

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Well, ive squeezed in around 20 hours of flight in this week since I got my P3A. I have got a fair bit of experience having had a Bebop 1 and 2.

What i want to do is use Litchi which I bought for Android to do some missions that I have prepared in advance...ive basically taken them from the ones i did with the bebop, so quite confident in the accuracy of the waypoints etc.

A couple of things Im not sure of yet with the Phantom.

What happens if I lose contact....either video or controller during a mission?
Ive had the message "lost contact" pop up a couple of times while flying. Always been fairly close though, so can easily fly the drone back, even though I get the choice to send home.
Not sure what is causing that seeing as its less than 100m away at the time.
AM i right in thinking if its on a mission, as long as it is calibrated correctly before it goes off, it will carry on all the way round?

Ive set Litchi to start recording at the first waypoint...but it doesnt seem to take any notice of that...i need to test that more i guess....but i think it will be easier to jsut press record after take off.

If I am recording with Litchi and then stop recording to take a photo....I take a photo, and then the screen jsut stays on the pic...so I have to manually bring the drone down and then reset the app....I like Litchi but it seems a bit Glitchi ;)

Is there anything else I need to think about before starting these missions? Most of them are around 3kn long and take around 10 mins or so
 
Well, ive squeezed in around 20 hours of flight in this week since I got my P3A. I have got a fair bit of experience having had a Bebop 1 and 2.

What i want to do is use Litchi which I bought for Android to do some missions that I have prepared in advance...ive basically taken them from the ones i did with the bebop, so quite confident in the accuracy of the waypoints etc.

A couple of things Im not sure of yet with the Phantom.

What happens if I lose contact....either video or controller during a mission?
Ive had the message "lost contact" pop up a couple of times while flying. Always been fairly close though, so can easily fly the drone back, even though I get the choice to send home.
Not sure what is causing that seeing as its less than 100m away at the time.
AM i right in thinking if its on a mission, as long as it is calibrated correctly before it goes off, it will carry on all the way round?

Ive set Litchi to start recording at the first waypoint...but it doesnt seem to take any notice of that...i need to test that more i guess....but i think it will be easier to jsut press record after take off.

If I am recording with Litchi and then stop recording to take a photo....I take a photo, and then the screen jsut stays on the pic...so I have to manually bring the drone down and then reset the app....I like Litchi but it seems a bit Glitchi ;)

Is there anything else I need to think about before starting these missions? Most of them are around 3kn long and take around 10 mins or so
Loss of video uplink means you dont see the video. Loss of RX uplink for more than 10-15 seconds triggers a return to home. Make sure your antennae position is correct. When directly overhead, they need to be parallel to the ground. when out further, they need to be perpendicularish to the ground. The signal radiates from the long flat sides so is best if the long flat sides of the antennaes are radiating to the UAS.

IF you are on a mission, I think the RTH behavior is the same in the DJI app. In Litchi, it will finish the mission even if you lose signal. I think that is correct but not sure since I use Litchi exclusively for missions.

I havent had issues that you describe with Litchi so cant help ya there.
 
All that makes sense, thanks for the tips :)
Yes, I think I will use litchi purely for the missions, ive just been testing out both while learning the phantom. I prefer the overall look off DJI go.
 
1. RTH happens when the drone looses RF contact with the control signal in the controller.
2. Loosing video does not trigger RTH.
3. Be sure to set the RTH altitude for your CURRENT surroundings. (Just because you are in an open field today doesn't mean that a 300' water tower won't be in the way tomorrow. Check altitude EVERY location)
4. Litchi uploads the missions to the bird which it then follows, despite loosing RF contact during it. Always set your last waypoint close to home or at home to ensure you regain RF lock at the end of the mission.

There is a preview timer on photos. At work so I don't have the apps handy. Maybe you have the preview set wrong?

And you don't have to land to change apps. You can, while in flight, close litchi or go and re-launch or swap to the other app. The bird is fully flyable with the sticks on the RC without any app running.
 
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Thanks for that...
Managed to take it out for a quick test today with the new firmware and a new nexus 7 tablet. On the positive side, the tablet is a lot easier to see than my lenovo a2 10....although it wasmt such a bright day today.

I had premade a mission on my pc and synched it on the tablet before i left, but the maps hadnt cached on the tablet when i got there and couldnt be bothered setting up tethering my phone for the data connection as it was getting late.....so, more testing to do, hopefully tomorrow lunch time
 

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