I've seen people complain about not stopping level but losing 8-10 feet in altitude when braking. . . . but I cannot find where I commented on this topic before.
I've got a few hours in low level heli flight Bell206 Kiowa Twin Huey. This reaction seems normal to me given all the aerodynamics, autopilot inputs and human controlling going on, so I decided to experiment with my new P4 and see what it does naturally. It does indeed lose a few feet if you brake quickly and use no other inputs just like a real helicopter. The autopilot/GPS/Sonar does actually compensate to maintain altitude . . so it really depends on how aggressive you are on the controls and how close you are to the ground. The sonar sensors underneath are only effective below about 30ft. I was able to brake slowly and smoothly at about 3ft altitude and it was pretty rock steady with virtually no loss in height.,. . . moving in any direction. If I race in at full speed and brake by just letting go, either forward or sideways it can and does lose up to 6ft or more . . and it can lose even more if I actively reverse direction and brake aggressively.
If you want to brake aggressively, with no height loss, all you need to do is anticipate the brake and add a little touch of left forward "collective" input just before it stops . . and it reacts quite predictably by stopping quickly with no dip. I suppose dji could program a small control move that would match the rate of deceleration . . but its really a natural control move if you are actually "flying" the machine rather than just "controlling" it.
I only have about 10-12hrs on the P4 and it has behaved exactly as expected . . very responsive . . and quite predictably. It's auto modes are nothing short of amazing if you can appreciate all of the aerodynamics, gyroscopic forces, response times (latency), processor/firmware behavior, GPS/IMU/Compass calculations, radio frequency and camera performance . . . all going on in the midst of you shoving controls around expecting it to do what you want rather than what you just told it to do. . . . really amazing. I built my own drone 2 years ago so I got a feel for what it takes to assemble and tune a quadcopter with an autopilot and a camera so nice job on this Phantom 4. I love it. . . some last advice too . . keep your "braking sensitivity" under 100 (under Advanced Settings) until you have 10-15 hrs just flying around. Have fun. . . and what are some of your experiences?
I've got a few hours in low level heli flight Bell206 Kiowa Twin Huey. This reaction seems normal to me given all the aerodynamics, autopilot inputs and human controlling going on, so I decided to experiment with my new P4 and see what it does naturally. It does indeed lose a few feet if you brake quickly and use no other inputs just like a real helicopter. The autopilot/GPS/Sonar does actually compensate to maintain altitude . . so it really depends on how aggressive you are on the controls and how close you are to the ground. The sonar sensors underneath are only effective below about 30ft. I was able to brake slowly and smoothly at about 3ft altitude and it was pretty rock steady with virtually no loss in height.,. . . moving in any direction. If I race in at full speed and brake by just letting go, either forward or sideways it can and does lose up to 6ft or more . . and it can lose even more if I actively reverse direction and brake aggressively.
If you want to brake aggressively, with no height loss, all you need to do is anticipate the brake and add a little touch of left forward "collective" input just before it stops . . and it reacts quite predictably by stopping quickly with no dip. I suppose dji could program a small control move that would match the rate of deceleration . . but its really a natural control move if you are actually "flying" the machine rather than just "controlling" it.
I only have about 10-12hrs on the P4 and it has behaved exactly as expected . . very responsive . . and quite predictably. It's auto modes are nothing short of amazing if you can appreciate all of the aerodynamics, gyroscopic forces, response times (latency), processor/firmware behavior, GPS/IMU/Compass calculations, radio frequency and camera performance . . . all going on in the midst of you shoving controls around expecting it to do what you want rather than what you just told it to do. . . . really amazing. I built my own drone 2 years ago so I got a feel for what it takes to assemble and tune a quadcopter with an autopilot and a camera so nice job on this Phantom 4. I love it. . . some last advice too . . keep your "braking sensitivity" under 100 (under Advanced Settings) until you have 10-15 hrs just flying around. Have fun. . . and what are some of your experiences?
