Anafi Crashed Going Backward in Follow Me

[Chorobe]

I was not happy my Anafi crashed when I was attempting a Follow Me session. Basically it hovered fine. I selected myself as the target and I was in front of it. I simply walked forward a few steps and noticed the Anafi was not following me. In fact it went backwards into a tree and then crashed into asphalt breaking one of the legs. I assumed it would keep the distance and follow me. The tree it crashed into was about 10-15 ft away. I can only guess maybe it thought I was too close and it wanted to back away. What do you guys think?

I’ll just use epoxy to fix it.

 

[Vegasrobbi]

Lots of questions here. What follow mode were you in were you in Dynamic? In another follow mode Anafi will try to clock around to your rear and track you . If in Dnamic mode Anafi can do some strange things I find that locked follow works the best from the front.

Also I have erratic results with Android and find iOS is the way to go when following.

 

[Chorobe]

Lots of questions here. What follow mode were you in were you in Dynamic? In another follow mode Anafi will try to clock around to your rear and track you . If in Dnamic mode Anafi can do some strange things I find that locked follow works the best from the front.

Also I have erratic results with Android and find iOS is the way to go when following.

I use iOS. I wasn’t in any kind of orbit type of mode. I’m really not sure. I just selected the default Follow Me and drew a rectangle around myself. It was probably fine until I started walking forward. I’m waiting for the epoxy to fully cure before I try it again in a more open area haha. I’ve used Follow Me on a Phantom 3 before and I’ve watched a lot of videos on Anafi’s Follow Me, so I am familiar with how it should have worked.

 

[Vegasrobbi]

I believe the default is dynamic which is very unstable next time switch to locked.

 

[Krusty Geeza]

I believe the default is dynamic which is very unstable

If that is indeed the case, that needs to be changed, urgently by Parrot! They do not warn you of the true nature of its behaviour anywhere, yet. Nowhere does it let you know that it may randomly fly off erratically at 50 kph. I think if they did, there would be far less accidents by new owners.

 

[Zamzara]

I was not happy my Anafi crashed when I was attempting a Follow Me session. Basically it hovered fine. I selected myself as the target and I was in front of it. I simply walked forward a few steps and noticed the Anafi was not following me. In fact it went backwards into a tree and then crashed into asphalt breaking one of the legs. I assumed it would keep the distance and follow me. The tree it crashed into was about 10-15 ft away. I can only guess maybe it thought I was too close and it wanted to back away. What do you guys think?

I’ll just use epoxy to fix it.

I would request a replacement, the worst they can do is say no, and other people seem to have got fairly good outcomes. (Unless you're really happy your repair is solid.)

 

[Chorobe]

It was using Tracked mode but when I switched to Locked it did much better, I was pleased with the results. The repair with epoxy is solid, it’s just a little ugly. But maybe I will contact customer service though not sure if they can help now that I’ve done the repair myself. Someday I guess I could get the body kit to replace all the broken or scuffed up parts!

 

[justDee]

Who does repair work on the Anafies? The drone repair places I've called in my area all specialize in DJI.

 

[rsvibhadaniya]

I was not happy my Anafi crashed when I was attempting a Follow Me session. Basically it hovered fine. I selected myself as the target and I was in front of it. I simply walked forward a few steps and noticed the Anafi was not following me. In fact it went backwards into a tree and then crashed into asphalt breaking one of the legs. I assumed it would keep the distance and follow me. The tree it crashed into was about 10-15 ft away. I can only guess maybe it thought I was too close and it wanted to back away. What do you guys think?

I’ll just use epoxy to fix it.

Yesterday i had same thing but i was little bit lucky that nothing broken but 4 legs are opened and had a little slit on all of them and something little dust stuck in gimbal motor that i can not lift camera up and down by hand also. I m now looking to disamble gimbal and clean gimbal motor . And for leg i made order of 3d printed leg protector

 

[Chorobe]

Guys I did what Zamzara suggested. Contacted Parrot with their online form. Then they sent me an email that I had to reply to and include all kinds of information. It is a hassle but I submitted those things. Today I got an email with a pdf for a shipping label and RMA. Looks like I got approved but the email does state they have to examine the product once they receive it (“Once we receive your product, verify and inspect, we will send your replacement.”). I talked with customer service, basically once approved these get swapped with brand new units. That would be nice considering mine was actually refurbished and it showed as such on the receipt I had to send. Also I did mention I repaired the broken leg with epoxy. So anyway I’m going to send in the unit. I’m supposed to send the whole package in terms of how I received it. If for some reason they send mine back I’m fine since it actually flies fine with my repair. Just looks a little ugly. I’ll post here if I actually get a replacement.

 

[Chorobe]

I finally got my Anafi back after they had it for almost a month. Actually I think they sent me a new one. The refurb I got originally came in a plain brown box but the one they sent came in a retail box that was sealed. So I’m a happy camper. I just don’t like that it took so long. It was supposed to be 7-10 days.

 

[PascalG]

I was not happy my Anafi crashed when I was attempting a Follow Me session. Basically it hovered fine. I selected myself as the target and I was in front of it. I simply walked forward a few steps and noticed the Anafi was not following me. In fact it went backwards into a tree and then crashed into asphalt breaking one of the legs. I assumed it would keep the distance and follow me. The tree it crashed into was about 10-15 ft away. I can only guess maybe it thought I was too close and it wanted to back away. What do you guys think?

I’ll just use epoxy to fix it.

Let me get this right. You had the drone 10 to 15’ from a tree, you walked toward it and are surprised it backed into the tree?

Even if you didn’t walk straight towards the drone, 10 to 15’ from an obstacle is close especially with a drone that doesn’t have any sensors like Mavic

 

[Chorobe]

I walked away from the tree. I’ve been flying drones for a very long time. Definitely not a newbie. The drone should have followed me as I walked away from the tree.

 

[PascalG]

Still. I would never relinquish control to a piece of software that close to obstacle. Personally i never use any of these so called smart modes. You can get the same footage manually flying the thing

 

[pmh1nic]

The instructions for the app say the drone should be at least 5 meters high and 10 meters away from you when you start the app. I don't know if that means the drone will increase the distance if you're closer than that but it's a possibility.

 

[AaronB]

Still. I would never relinquish control to a piece of software that close to obstacle. Personally i never use any of these so called smart modes. You can get the same footage manually flying the thing

Unless the drone has no manual control...

 

[geekdaddy]

Resurrecting this thread since I crashed my little Anafi a few weeks ago while testing Dynamic track. As I walked it adjusted the dynamic flight plan to get a different angle and slowly veered on a new path towards a tree. It wasn't a high-speed fly-away or error but seemed to be "in control" via the dynamic track routine and was just finding a new angle. I stopped moving and attempted to manually direct it back towards me but the Anafi wasn't responsive and seemed to stay its course. Hit the tree and then dropped to the pavement and broke the rear left leg.
Made repairs and all is good now. Re-tested dynamic track (this time nowhere near any obstacles) and noted that most of the time I had full manual control in nearly every direction to influence or change the track. However, a few times the Anafi strongly resisted my input and seemed to want to continue its track. For example, while flying sideways and to the left, it took full right-hand stick to the right to stop or slow it from moving left -- but it didn't move to the right. Again, most of the time it was responsive but a few times it resisted during my tests.

I suspect this is the nature of dynamic tracking and it's best used in wide open areas. However, would appreciate if others can share how dynamic track is working for them and how well they are manually able to override. In addition, is there a quick/easy way to halt dynamic track? I'm selecting manual flight from the flight options menu in freeflight but that's not a very quick way to do it.