I am giving up unless ..

[Deleted member 319]

Can anyone tell me of a drone that works, and you can get spares for. The Anafi was nice but I exchanged it once and now it lost control and was damaged. A common problem with most drones apparently. I am currently getting a full refund from the card company. Is DJI Air any good, I see many complaints about frequent firmware updates. So I love to fly an advanced drone like the Anafi, but I need something that works and will last many years, accepting a little flight damage which I can get spares for ?

Alan

 

[Dirk_ANAFI]

I'm sorry that this happened to you.
Do you have a question?

 

[d95gas]

Sorry to hear of your troubles. Unfortunately most of the higher end drones: DJI Air, Mavic, Phantom, etc, etc always end up with some sort of issue or other, and never that cheap to repair unless you can do it yourself.

Most of the parts that break, are readily available from one source or another.

If you want a drone where you can fly and crash at will without concerns of how much its going to cost, then you really need to be looking at the cheaper end of the market, something like the "EACHINE" range, which are ideal for learning on and are very cheap, these can be had for as little as £12 or even less in some areas.

With all drones there is a learning curve to go through, and some users can be frustrated by this. I believe if you continue with the Anafi, you will get into a comfortable position.

Either that or, get the Anafi repaired, buy a cheap learner, and once you are happy then progress back to the Anafi.

Nothing is going to be bullet proof, and even the most experienced still have mishaps.

Good luck going forward with what route you chose.

 

[Deleted member 319]

Thanks for reply. I do have a fair experience with drones, having used £50 ones for years. I like the Anafi, the problem is it loses control and drops out of the sky, a not uncommon problem according to this forum. Therefore if they repair it I shall continue and hope that updates will fix the problems. I have the protection of the credit card refund with 120 days, and then I could just get another one. One main issue is that all case/arm spares do not seem to be available, and that a more established drones like DJI are better for that.

Alan

 

[Landbo]

Can anyone tell me of a drone that works, and you can get spares for. The Anafi was nice but I exchanged it once and now it lost control and was damaged. A common problem with most drones apparently. I am currently getting a full refund from the card company. Is DJI Air any good, I see many complaints about frequent firmware updates. So I love to fly an advanced drone like the Anafi, but I need something that works and will last many years, accepting a little flight damage which I can get spares for ?

Alan

In fact, Parrot has promised two months ago that spare parts will be available for Anafi. They have even released a technical manual for Anafi showing how it should be separated and reassembled. No other manufacturers of camera quad's have done that in the same way.
But they are still missing those spare parts for sale !!!

Regards, Leif.

 

[d95gas]

Thanks for reply. I do have a fair experience with drones, having used £50 ones for years. I like the Anafi, the problem is it loses control and drops out of the sky, a not uncommon problem according to this forum. Therefore if they repair it I shall continue and hope that updates will fix the problems. I have the protection of the credit card refund with 120 days, and then I could just get another one. One main issue is that all case/arm spares do not seem to be available, and that a more established drones like DJI are better for that.

Alan

Alan,

Yes there are messages about drones dropping out the sky on this forum, referencing the Anafi. But if you take a look through the forum, I am fairly certain you will find more that are having great success, rather than those who drones are dropping out the sky.

Generally you see more on the forum having issues, than those not on the forum having great success ..... If you know what I mean.

Make sure your firmware is current on both the Anafi and Controller, make sure you are using the latest FF6 on your device. I use both Apple iPhone 7 plus and Nexus 7 (2013) Android, both perform brilliantly..... that said as the Nexus is getting old, I am just about to upgrade to the Huawei Mediapad M5 (8.4") so will see how that goes.

 

[Deleted member 319]

OK thankyou. But the problems are also with the online suppliers and communication.
Therefore i expect to get a credit card refund and will go to a shop like Jessops to rebuy. Then no postage problems and I can talk to someone.
I really liked the Anafi, smooth and it will take me some time to learn all the photo modes.
I am an IT person and do understand about updates etc, I always used the latest available. I am sure it will get better.


Alan

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Can anyone tell me of a drone that works, and you can get spares for. The Anafi was nice but I exchanged it once and now it lost control and was damaged. A common problem with most drones apparently. I am currently getting a full refund from the card company. Is DJI Air any good, I see many complaints about frequent firmware updates. So I love to fly an advanced drone like the Anafi, but I need something that works and will last many years, accepting a little flight damage which I can get spares for ?

Alan

There are loads of spare parts for DJI drones on eBay. Since DJI is so common you will also be able to find cheap Chinese spare parts.

You will also be able to find lots of teardown guides for DJI showing you how to disassemble them.

Go check out some DJI drones in the stores if you can. The build quality, especially of the arms, is much thicker and more robust than the Anafi.

 

[Deleted member 319]

Yes, I am thinking once Anafi refund of going for the Mavic Pro Platinum at Jessops, with the care pack which covers most things, including damage. My house insurance covers loss.
Pity, the Anafi is a slick product, good for todays price.

 

[mike_kelly]

I don't think you will be happy going DJI either.

All multirotors barely fly. The energy density of Li-po batteries does not allow heavy duty armored multirotors. They all have to be as light as possible. Which makes them all relatively fragile.

Drones generally don't lose control, pilots lose control.

Most retailers have no clue what they are selling. Regardless of brand. They are a commodity.

It is still not a realm for total appliance operators. That is why there are so many DJI fly-aways.

When using the Skycontroller turn off the wifi on your phone so it does not interfere. Don't fly in heavily wifi congested areas.

In the beginning you must fly in open areas without trees or power lines. Don't fly in any kind of wind. Make sure all your batteries are fully charged. Don't fly high and too far away. Don't fly around people, period.
Get comfortable with the multirotor before going beyond those limits.

 

[Liger 1956]

My house insurance covers loss.

If I were you I would check your house insurance policy wording very carefully and even ring them up as some insurers are now excluding drones from their policy cover.

 

[Jagerbomb52]

In the USA and in most states but not all, Farmers insurance has a add on you can buy for 60 bucks or so. Lots of people have bought it and if needed got a check with in 3 days. Check them out if you are in the USA.

 

[Deleted member 319]

I don't think you will be happy going DJI either.

All multirotors barely fly. The energy density of Li-po batteries does not allow heavy duty armored multirotors. They all have to be as light as possible. Which makes them all relatively fragile.

Drones generally don't lose control, pilots lose control.

Most retailers have no clue what they are selling. Regardless of brand. They are a commodity.

It is still not a realm for total appliance operators. That is why there are so many DJI fly-aways.

When using the Skycontroller turn off the wifi on your phone so it does not interfere. Don't fly in heavily wifi congested areas.

In the beginning you must fly in open areas without trees or power lines. Don't fly in any kind of wind. Make sure all your batteries are fully charged. Don't fly high and too far away. Don't fly around people, period.
Get comfortable with the multirotor before going beyond those limits.

 

[Deleted member 319]

Mike

Perhaps I did not make myself clear. I have been flying cheepy drones for several years and have been amazed by what modern GPS drones can do.
I consider myself fairly experienced and have studied many you tube videos as to best flying techniques.
The problem I have found is with these advanced, heavily computer based devices is that they hang up and it is simply luck whether you get them back or not.
This is largely due to the manufacturers who do not actively test them enough before issueing a new update. I hope it will get better. If they utiliised the care that the Linux OS gets with updates there would be far less trouble.
So to overcome this problem at the moment, it is a question of luck and insurance, which I will look further to. I did put it on the house insurance which cost £12, but I will have to pay £100 up front which is of course worth it for a total loss. I may take out the £5 a month insurance for damage.
The other problem is online type dealers which I find it is difficult to get a response from, and you have to pay postage etc. So I may go to a shop like Jessops so you can get it face to face, and the prices are good anyway.

Alan

 

[Dirk_ANAFI]

Reading here for the last months I cannot say, that a "hang up" (of the "computer" drone?) is a main cause of the problems described here.
But of course there is no simple way to identify such "hang ups".

 

[mike_kelly]

When you look at Youtube as a data point and search for Parrot Anafi then ignore the reviews. There are a lot of successful flights with people enjoying their Anafi. You don't see a lot of failure videos. With a computerized drone having a 10 satellite, or more, GPS lock is critical. Getting a home point established is critical. It means we all need to be patient and let things lock before we fly.
I am not saying manufacturers don't have bugs. But my observation is that a lot of so-called fly-aways are operator error.

 

[d95gas]

As an owner of one of the first Mavic Pro's and the Parrot Anafi, I think I have spent enough time flying and online reading posts, to say that I have seen more Fly-away's/fails with the Mavic than I have with the Anafi, based on a similar time span of both of them being available to users.

You generally see many posts about people posting the failings of a particular craft, but I am guessing there are for more success that people dont report on the forum.

Generally people are going to the forum for help for a reason.

IMHO

 

[Dirk_ANAFI]

I have my Anafi since July with over 120 flights.
Statistics (suburban area, CE, 2.4GHz):
- no fly-aways within VLOS,
- 1 crash caused by pilot (me ?),
- about 10 messages with red (weak) Wifi (no loss of connection) within VLOS,
- 1 or 2 "strong interference" messages within VLOS (no loss of connection),

All ok for me ?

 

[Deleted member 319]

This is from 'Wave Motion' a popular youtube presenter.

Hey Alan, I'm sorry to hear that. I hope Parrot will send you a new one asap, and one that doesn't drop from the sky . There are quite a lot of Anafi's that have crashed in a similar way. Pretty alarming i.m.o.

Anyway, I look forward to getting it back or whatever. My problems have never been caused by operator error, there was nothing I could do. I never said I did not like it, I do and hopefully the new updates that have occurred since will fix it.

 

[Dirk_ANAFI]

This is from 'Wave Motion' a popular youtube presenter.

Hey Alan, I'm sorry to hear that. I hope Parrot will send you a new one asap, and one that doesn't drop from the sky . There are quite a lot of Anafi's that have crashed in a similar way. Pretty alarming i.m.o.

Anyway, I look forward to getting it back or whatever. My problems have never been caused by operator error, there was nothing I could do. I never said I did not like it, I do and hopefully the new updates that have occurred since will fix it.

Most interesting would be the relation between the Anafis "falling out of the sky" and those "always staying in the sky".
?