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Giving up on the Anafi after Flyaway and Crash

TJBC75

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Well, after owning Parrot products for nearly 4 years, I am now “Parrotless”. I am giving up on the Anafi. Since 2016, I have owned two Bebop 1’s (one original and one replacement), two Bebop 2’s, a Parrot Disco and an four different Anafi’s (one original and three replacements). I have always like their styling and how they fly, but reliability has always been an issue, especially with the Bebop 1’s and Anafi.

The Anafi was my favorite drone of the three I own – fun to fly, very good camera, lots and lots of features, very quiet and good battery life. But……I bought my first Anafi new from BH Photo in September of 2018. The first one lasted two weeks and mysteriously fell out of the sky (motor cutoff error) plummeting to the ground and breaking an arm. BH Photo replaced that one with a new one. That one lasted 10 months and had two serious crashes – the first was when a prop broke off on takeoff and the drone nearly landed in the Pacific Ocean
and second was when I had a vertical camera error in mid air on another flight that ended up with the drone crashing on a roof top
After the crash, the Anafi would no longer finish its start up sequence. BH Photo replace that one with a new one. The next one seemed to be fine except for the battery – it would charge normally, but when inserted onto the drone, the telemetry read 0% charged and although the Anafi would take off, it would land immediately due to low battery. Back it went to BH Photo who replaced it with my 4th and last new Anafi. After two weeks of successful flying – about 9 flights – I had a flyaway that was a bit frightening
Luckily, the Anafi hit an evergreen tree about 200 feet from where I was standing, but it was traveling at 38 MPH when it hit the evergreen only about 6 or 7 feet above the ground. Fortunately, no one was hurt and no damage was done to any homes or vehicles, but it was a scary moment since I had no control over the drone. I sent this one back and BH Photo refunded me my purchase price for the original Anafi. They were great to work with.

The Anafi was fun to fly and had some features that even the DJI drones did not have. But after so many mishaps, I could not trust it to perform without a malfunction. I currently still own a Mavic Pro and Autel Evo, and both have been very dependable and have had only a few minor glitches.

I used the Anafi mainly as my travel drone (it is light and quiet) and with my refund from BH Photo, I bought a Mavic Mini from BH. I will use it in the same way – as my travel and backpack drone. A lot less features, but it will probably be a whole lot more dependable. I will continue to check in this forum from time to time and I want to thank all of you that contributed to the forum because I really got a lot of great tips/tricks and knowledge from forum members. Best of luck to all of you!
 
I think you was extremely unlucky. You will miss A LOT the x3 zoom, the image quality and and the low noise of Anafi.

I would prefer a Mavic 2 Zoom than the Mini.
 
Well, after owning Parrot products for nearly 4 years, I am now “Parrotless”. I am giving up on the Anafi. Since 2016, I have owned two Bebop 1’s (one original and one replacement), two Bebop 2’s, a Parrot Disco and an four different Anafi’s (one original and three replacements). I have always like their styling and how they fly, but reliability has always been an issue, especially with the Bebop 1’s and Anafi...

Sorry to hear about your bad experiences with the Anafi. I've had mine for about eight months and so far no issues while flying the drone (original controller battery wouldn't charge). It's my go to drone since it's easy to set-up and the app is pretty straight forward. I have a Mavic Pro I fly but it seems to always need a compass calibration and the app updates are a pain.

Note that the Mavic Mini hasn't yet been updated to unlock if you're going to fly in a restricted zone. The NFZ's is one of the things I least like about DJI drones.
 
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Yes, I agree those are things I will miss. Like I said, the Anafi had great features and was very versatile. I liked it a lot and was torn about sending it back. But after that last flyaway, combined with the other problems I had over the past year, I just could not trust it. It is a shame since I really liked it.

Since I already have an Autel Evo and a Mavic Pro, I needed something light and easy to pack for hiking and trips hence, the Mavic Mini. I know it does not have the features of the Anafi, but it should suffice for my needs.
 
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The Anafi has a battery issue which I faced 3 weeks ago while on holiday in NZ. My battery now turn itself off almost without warning when it is drained to below 10%. The cut off is immediate causing the drone to fall from the sky. I have another good battery where this does not happen, the battery will go down to 1% before the auto-landing procedure kicks in. Tried a few times by performing a 1ft hovering test over a soft mat so that if the drone drops, it doesn't get damaged. Don't know how the bad battery got 'spoilt', I never put the battery in extreme temperatures. The lowest temperature it was exposed to was 4C in NZ windy night. But one thing is for sure, I am not alone in this, many Anafi's might have fallen out of the sky because somehow batteries got damaged.
 
The Anafi has a battery issue which I faced 3 weeks ago while on holiday in NZ. My battery now turn itself off almost without warning when it is drained to below 10%. The cut off is immediate causing the drone to fall from the sky. I have another good battery where this does not happen, the battery will go down to 1% before the auto-landing procedure kicks in. Tried a few times by performing a 1ft hovering test over a soft mat so that if the drone drops, it doesn't get damaged. Don't know how the bad battery got 'spoilt', I never put the battery in extreme temperatures. The lowest temperature it was exposed to was 4C in NZ windy night. But one thing is for sure, I am not alone in this, many Anafi's might have fallen out of the sky because somehow batteries got damaged.
As the batteries get older, their capacity decreases and what may appear to be 10% is actually exhausted. Reset your battery.
Click on the drone battery charge symbol to see how much it shows below. This is an indication of battery wear, not the current charge.
 
Well, after owning Parrot products for nearly 4 years, I am now “Parrotless”. I am giving up on the Anafi. Since 2016, I have owned two Bebop 1’s (one original and one replacement), two Bebop 2’s, a Parrot Disco and an four different Anafi’s (one original and three replacements). I have always like their styling and how they fly, but reliability has always been an issue, especially with the Bebop 1’s and Anafi.

The Anafi was my favorite drone of the three I own – fun to fly, very good camera, lots and lots of features, very quiet and good battery life. But……I bought my first Anafi new from BH Photo in September of 2018. The first one lasted two weeks and mysteriously fell out of the sky (motor cutoff error) plummeting to the ground and breaking an arm. BH Photo replaced that one with a new one. That one lasted 10 months and had two serious crashes – the first was when a prop broke off on takeoff and the drone nearly landed in the Pacific Ocean
and second was when I had a vertical camera error in mid air on another flight that ended up with the drone crashing on a roof top
After the crash, the Anafi would no longer finish its start up sequence. BH Photo replace that one with a new one. The next one seemed to be fine except for the battery – it would charge normally, but when inserted onto the drone, the telemetry read 0% charged and although the Anafi would take off, it would land immediately due to low battery. Back it went to BH Photo who replaced it with my 4th and last new Anafi. After two weeks of successful flying – about 9 flights – I had a flyaway that was a bit frightening
Luckily, the Anafi hit an evergreen tree about 200 feet from where I was standing, but it was traveling at 38 MPH when it hit the evergreen only about 6 or 7 feet above the ground. Fortunately, no one was hurt and no damage was done to any homes or vehicles, but it was a scary moment since I had no control over the drone. I sent this one back and BH Photo refunded me my purchase price for the original Anafi. They were great to work with.

The Anafi was fun to fly and had some features that even the DJI drones did not have. But after so many mishaps, I could not trust it to perform without a malfunction. I currently still own a Mavic Pro and Autel Evo, and both have been very dependable and have had only a few minor glitches.

I used the Anafi mainly as my travel drone (it is light and quiet) and with my refund from BH Photo, I bought a Mavic Mini from BH. I will use it in the same way – as my travel and backpack drone. A lot less features, but it will probably be a whole lot more dependable. I will continue to check in this forum from time to time and I want to thank all of you that contributed to the forum because I really got a lot of great tips/tricks and knowledge from forum members. Best of luck to all of you!
I don't want to hurt you, but if a blind person doesn't work that much then I get the idea that he's not doing something right ...
The first two crashes are clearly propeller errors. In the first video, you see that it immediately twists when taking off (one of the propellers is not working properly). On the second, the shaking of the image reveals that it is very shaky and that the propeller is in trouble again.
Before departure, you should always check (very carefully and closely) for looseness, tightness, cracks, easy rotation of motors, etc.
Once green, both GPS signals should be flown back and forth sideways, down and up after takeoff, and be careful not to vibrate (the new firmware software warns about vibration) to avoid propeller errors.
The last case is very strange, it's like you used touch & fly and sent it to a point just without raising it to the right height ...
I don't think it's all the fault of this type of drone ...
 
Not hurting my feelings, I thought the same thing! What the heck was I doing wrong? Been flying for four years and I always check my drones before take off and I routinely hover/twitch a bit about 15 feet above ground to ensure things are good right after every takeoff. I do believe the props can be a problem on the Anafi and were for me. The first incident, near the Pacific, happened with 109 flights. After that, I put a complete new set of Parrot props on, including new screws. The second crash, where the Anafi ended up on a roof, I originally thought was a prop failure, even though the props had less then 50 flights on them. But Parrot had my Anafi for nearly 5 weeks for analysis, and they said it was a vertical camera error. So I tend to agree with you about the props, even though Parrot said otherwise. The last flyaway crash, I was flying in manual mode and pretty much just hovering when it took off like it did. Still don't know what happen on that, but it was still covered by the warranty. As an update, I had the Mavic Mini for about two weeks and ended up sending it back for a refund. The Anafi is a superior drone and all aspects to the Mavic Mini, but it seems me and the Anafi just do not go well together.
 

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