Why I'm disappointed in DJI...

[UpLift Aerial]

**Before you go smashing your keyboard down below in the comments, I just want to make it clear that this is just my opinion. You are fine to agree or disagree with me and write your opinion, in fact, I would love to hear your opinion, just don't get angry with what my opinion is. Thanks.**


Back in June of 2017, DJI released the Spark. A small, amazing piece of tech, with all of DJI's signature technology including gesture and hand control, no need for a controller. Then today (January 23rd 2018) DJI announced and released the Mavic Air.

The Mavic Air has some great specs, such as front and back obstacle avoidance, 4K 100mbps, 1080p @ 120fps, 8GB internal storage and much more, but... only 21 min flight time?? I think DJI could have done better with that part.

As @nollzr said in Post #20 of the thread DJI Mavic Air,
"Getting tired of these little toy drones they keep putting out. When will the phantom 5 be released for us that are into the more professional models??"
Now I have agree with him there. DJI has been focusing on the more "consumer" side of the drone world. DJI hasn't released anything for the ones who are in to the professional stuff since 2016, It is now 2018. Again, like @nollzr said about the Phantom 5. So I have to ask, where is DJI going with this?

Another topic I want to mention is prices. In my opinion, even though the spark has some great features, it is too overpriced. It is $500 USD and that is without the controller. There is not much you can do without the controller. Although you can use gesture mode and your smartphone as a controller, you can only get about 100m in distance and 50m in altitude. In order to get the controller you must spend an additional $150 USD. That's a total of $650 USD. Or you can get the fly more combo which will cost you ruffly $850 USD. Whoever thought it would be a great idea to sell the Spark without the controller, that was not a smart move.

Back to the Mavic Air. Ever notice the battery is on the bottom same as the tinny little spark? That means that, just like the spark, if the battery is to ever detach and let go from the drone, the battery as well as the drone is going down in history. Unlike the Mavic Pro, Phantom and Inspire, where if the battery is to ever detach from the drone, at least part of the drone it there to support it and the drone can come in for a safe landing.

Overall, I think I would stick with the Mavic Pro or Phantom 4 for now until DJI gets their act together and comes out with something better.


If I have made a mistake or missed anything please feel free to send me a PM and let me know and I will continue to edit this post.

Share your thoughts below!


**Before you go smashing your keyboard down below in the comments, I just want to make it clear that this is just my opinion. You are fine to agree or disagree with me and write your opinion, in fact, I would love to hear your opinion, just don't get angry with what my opinion is. Thanks.**

 

[Deleted member 62848]

Yeh got a agree lots of hype ,,bit sad when saw email pic myself, it's a Wana bee mavric

 

[PhantomWetSuits]

Let me address part of your question in regards to the battery being on the bottom. One of the main reasons , as to why we could not make a Wet Suit for the Mavic Pro was it very poor design to negotiate water, moisture, rain, and snow.

It was because of where they put the battery smack on top of the drone, because of this , water in the battery was a big issue , so much so that we could not get approval to even make the Wet Suit for the Mavic Pro.

They learned a lot from the Mavic Pro and figured out that this was a fatal flaw and put the battery where it would be more protected , thus we will be able to make a Wet Suit for the new Mavic Air drone.

You mention the Battery in the Phantom having some support but really once the clip comes lose there is no support , its going to crash and burn. It will also crash and burn if water gets inside or top of the battery.

There are many posts of those not pressing in the Battery good enough and only hooking one clip on the battery on the Phantom and that is fatal flaw for the phantoms.

The camera on the Mavic Air is still not on par with the Phantom pro , Casey Neistat just uploaded a video in 360 rez just to see how angry people would get with poor video quality , and lets just say people are getting really use to high quality video content .

Approved Vendor
Phantomrain.org

 

[Meta4]

The Mavic Air has some great specs, such as front and back obstacle avoidance, 4K 100mbps, 1080p @ 120fps, 8GB internal storage and much more, but... only 21 min flight time?? I think DJI could have done better with that part.

As @nollzr said in Post #20 of the thread DJI Mavic Air,
"Getting tired of these little toy drones they keep putting out. When will the phantom 5 be released for us that are into the more professional models??"
Now I have agree with him there. DJI has been focusing on the more "consumer" side of the drone world. DJI hasn't released anything for the ones who are in to the professional stuff since 2016, It is now 2018. Again, like @nollzr said about the Phantom 5. So I have to ask, where is DJI going with this?

DJI have a large range of drones to cater for many different market segments.
More than just the Spark .. Mavic .. Phantom .. Inspire models.
You can't expect DJI to always ensure that the Phantom range gets the most recent technology before other models.
Whatever model is newest will be the one with the latest developments.
Just be glad that they have a big team working on that technology.
DJI can sell a lot more of the smaller and less expensive drones and that provides money to keep the research and development happening.
The technology will filter down regardless of which model it shows up on first.

 

[UpLift Aerial]

You mention the Battery in the Phantom having some support but really once the clip comes lose there is no support , its going to crash and burn. It will also crash and burn if water gets inside or top of the battery.

No but at least the battery is able to have support bellow it unlike the Spark and Mavic Air where the battery is underneath and have no support at all and nothing below it except the ground.

 

[UpLift Aerial]

DJI have a large range of drones to cater for many different market segments.
More than just the Spark .. Mavic .. Phantom .. Inspire models.
You can't expect DJI to always ensure that the Phantom range gets the most recent technology before other models.
Just be glad that they have a big team working on that technology.
DJI can sell a lot more of the smaller and less expensive drones and that provides money to keep the research and development happening.
The technology will filter down regardless of which model it shows up on first.

Yes but DJI hasn't released a professional grade drone since 2016. Unless you consider the Spark or Mavic Air a professional grade drone.

Like I said, just my opinion.

 

[Meta4]

Yes but DJI hasn't released a professional grade drone since 2016. Unless you consider the Spark or Mavic Air a professional grade drone.

The P4 pro was released at the end of 2016. It's only been out for just on a year.
There's still nothing to compete with it in its class.
You can't expect them to bring out new update models every few months.

In the camera world, the big makers also release more consumer models with new tech and revise their flagship professional cameras less frequently.
Many of the tech features of the lesser models are gimmicks aren't that important to professional users anyway.

 

[Meta4]

No but at least the battery is able to have support bellow it unlike the Spark and Mavic Air where the battery is underneath and have no support at all and nothing below it except the ground.

When a drone is flying around in the sky, if the battery is not securely latched, it doesn't make any difference whether it's on top or underneath.

 

[N017RW]

These sound like emotional issues with no regard for the engineering, market segment, and corporate strategy aspects of the design.

Until the design decisions are disclosed or understood then this ‘disappointment’ is derived from unrealized expectations and have no basis in the intrinsics.

 

[N017RW]

Yes but DJI hasn't released a professional grade drone since 2016. Unless you consider the Spark or Mavic Air a professional grade drone.

Like I said, just my opinion.

Have you researched their professional/enterprise offerings?

DJI Industrial Solutions

 

[Hollow Dog]

**Before you go smashing your keyboard down below in the comments, I just want to make it clear that this is just my opinion. You are fine to agree or disagree with me and write your opinion, in fact, I would love to hear your opinion, just don't get angry with what my opinion is. Thanks.**


Back in June of 2017, DJI released the Spark. A small, amazing piece of tech, with all of DJI's signature technology including gesture and hand control, no need for a controller. Then today (January 23rd 2018) DJI announced and released the Mavic Air.

The Mavic Air has some great specs, such as front and back obstacle avoidance, 4K 100mbps, 1080p @ 120fps, 8GB internal storage and much more, but... only 21 min flight time?? I think DJI could have done better with that part.

As @nollzr said in Post #20 of the thread DJI Mavic Air,
"Getting tired of these little toy drones they keep putting out. When will the phantom 5 be released for us that are into the more professional models??"
Now I have agree with him there. DJI has been focusing on the more "consumer" side of the drone world. DJI hasn't released anything for the ones who are in to the professional stuff since 2016, It is now 2018. Again, like @nollzr said about the Phantom 5. So I have to ask, where is DJI going with this?

Another topic I want to mention is prices. In my opinion, even though the spark has some great features, it is too overpriced. It is $500 USD and that is without the controller. There is not much you can do without the controller. Although you can use gesture mode and your smartphone as a controller, you can only get about 100m in distance and 50m in altitude. In order to get the controller you must spend an additional $150 USD. That's a total of $650 USD. Or you can get the fly more combo which will cost you ruffly $850 USD. Whoever thought it would be a great idea to sell the Spark without the controller, that was not a smart move.

Back to the Mavic Air. Ever notice the battery is on the bottom same as the tinny little spark? That means that, just like the spark, if the battery is to ever detach and let go from the drone, the battery as well as the drone is going down in history. Unlike the Mavic Pro, Phantom and Inspire, where if the battery is to ever detach from the drone, at least part of the drone it there to support it and the drone can come in for a safe landing.

Overall, I think I would stick with the Mavic Pro or Phantom 4 for now until DJI gets their act together and comes out with something better.


If I have made a mistake or missed anything please feel free to send me a PM and let me know and I will continue to edit this post.

Share your thoughts below!


**Before you go smashing your keyboard down below in the comments, I just want to make it clear that this is just my opinion. You are fine to agree or disagree with me and write your opinion, in fact, I would love to hear your opinion, just don't get angry with what my opinion is. Thanks.**

DJI is a business, they don't build drones to meet you're or my wishes, they build drones to make money.
I'm not a cheerleader for any company but they seem to have a pretty good product for the price.

 

[With The Birds]

The OA and AI tech and imaging system advances are the product of external suppliers to DJI- you will see them incorporated in all DJI models as and when they are available.

 

[N017RW]

Let me address part of your question in regards to the battery being on the bottom. One of the main reasons , as to why we could not make a Wet Suit for the Mavic Pro was it very poor design to negotiate water, moisture, rain, and snow.

It was because of where they put the battery smack on top of the drone, because of this , water in the battery was a big issue , so much so that we could not get approval to even make the Wet Suit for the Mavic Pro.

They learned a lot from the Mavic Pro and figured out that this was a fatal flaw and put the battery where it would be more protected , thus we will be able to make a Wet Suit for the new Mavic Air drone.

You mention the Battery in the Phantom having some support but really once the clip comes lose there is no support , its going to crash and burn. It will also crash and burn if water gets inside or top of the battery.

There are many posts of those not pressing in the Battery good enough and only hooking one clip on the battery on the Phantom and that is fatal flaw for the phantoms.

The camera on the Mavic Air is still not on par with the Phantom pro , Casey Neistat just uploaded a video in 360 rez just to see how angry people would get with poor video quality , and lets just say people are getting really use to high quality video content .

Approved Vendor
Phantomrain.org

Unless you have ‘insider’ information many of the points you are trying to make is nothing more than speculation. Others are not substantiated.

 

[Erised]

I for one am not in a hurry for the P5. I hope that dji is developing and testing and even waiting for availability on the latest technology to incorporate in another flagship bird (for the price). Over a year ago many where complaining that dji should have got all the bugs out before selling the P4..... well this may be exactly what their trying to do. For me to buy another Phantom it would need significant improvements on what I already have, so do it right dji and I need more time to figure how I'm going to sell the wife on getting a new bird! it has to do a whole lot more, ironing and folding the laundry would be a easy sell but being just a bit better is a no go for me. All I really need is longer flight times and a better camera and settings, all that other stuff I don't really need or use.

 

[PhantomWetSuits]

Unless you have ‘insider’ information many of the points you are trying to make is nothing more than speculation. Others are not substantiated.
How do you know you can provide any enhanced weatherproofing?
Will it inhibit folding?
They made a point in the presentation about system cooling, How have you determined this will not be compromised?
Please be specific if you can share your info with us.

That is a good point , we did it with the Entire Phantom 4 drone series , as you can see some of the video below as the drone sustains 26 minutes in the torrential downpour. We were not able to make it for the Mavic Pro as the battery was on the top of the unit and the camera was not made to be water resistant as it was on the Phantom 4 Pro for instance. Now that the battery is on the bottom of the unit and the vents not facing upward , we can use our Bi Level Phantom Rain Wet Suit design we used on the Phantom 4 series and make the Mavic Air much more weather resistant than it is now. Of course we will need some heavy rain and winds to test it out as we did with the Phantom series, The goal was to keep the water out without closing off the vents , we achieved that and much more and we have a design that is going to work great with the air but was not possible on the Mavic Pro. I put this video together below really quickly , but there are tons of videos on our site showing how weather resistant we made the Phantoms using are Wet Suits and Design. We also made a slow motion video of where every rain drop goes.

Approved Vendor
Phantomrain.org

 

[sar104]

Yes but DJI hasn't released a professional grade drone since 2016. Unless you consider the Spark or Mavic Air a professional grade drone.

Like I said, just my opinion.

But it's simply not true. The Matrice 200 series was released just last summer. Those are professional grade drones.

 

[PhantomWetSuits]

But it's simply not true. The Matrice 200 series was released just last summer. Those are professional grade drones.

This is a great point, for about $6000 I could get the Matrice 200 being that I live on the lake front , its doable however, DJI sometime forces you to update the software , not always perfect and I think that really scares many of us from going this route. Its one thing to loose $2,000 because DJI got one bad update but $6,000 and knowing that updates are sometime mandatory, that is why I cannot make the move. My trust level is at the 2 grand mark , unless there is something special about the software they use that I am not aware of such as you can lock in a certain update, game changer for me than.

 

[sar104]

This is a great point, for about $6000 I could get the Matrice 200 being that I live on the lake front , its doable however, DJI sometime forces you to update the software , not always perfect and I think that really scares many of us from going this route. Its one thing to loose $2,000 because DJI got one bad update but $6,000 and knowing that updates are sometime mandatory, that is why I cannot make the move. My trust level is at the 2 grand mark , unless there is something special about the software they use that I am not aware of such as you can lock in a certain update, game changer for me than.

Good luck configuring a M200 for $6k. It's much more than that once you add a couple of cameras. But no one is going to fly that type of equipment without hull insurance so it should be upfront investment, not the replacement cost, that is the biggest consideration. As a professional tool for those who need their capabilities, for the price, they are a bargain. Compare to the Indago, for example.

 

[Meta4]

DJI sometime forces you to update the software , not always perfect and I think that really scares many of us from going this route.
... Its one thing to loose $2,000 because DJI got one bad update

The only forced update I'm aware of was a year ago when there was a genuinely faulty firmware update for the P3 Standard.
How many people are losing Phantoms due to faulty updates? This is a myth.

 

[PhantomWetSuits]

The only forced update I'm aware of was a year ago when there was a genuinely faulty firmware update for the P3 Standard.
How many people are losing Phantoms due to faulty updates? This is a myth.

Yeah , its not always about loosing your phantom, right now on the DJI forum there are many posts going on as we speak about the last update causing the drone to wobble really bad they are posting video after video of there drones. , This is just an example , but I have not updated to this last update and so when I fly using the Pro Plus I have a error message telling me to update. So far i am flying ignoring the message but the message will not go away and you know what that is no fun.

This is where I might be headed if I make the last update:
Aircraft totally unstable and aggressive after recent firmware up...