Best backup drone for I2

djkelly57 said:

Mostly with the camera. It cannot detect the camera lens, so it can't focus and I can't do anything manual with it. The prop problem with the rattle, but that has never stopped me from flying. I just do so with bated breath. Being up on Lake Erie we are blessed with a lot of wind that seems to affect my I2 more than the P4P. Go figure.

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If you continue to experience this camera lens detection error you may want to reach out to your dealer or DJI support. First check firmware but you also could have a faulty X5S (rare but they do exist). You should not have to face this problem.

Very surprised that you are having greater wind issues with the I2 compared to the P4P. They both have always been able to withstand significant wind with the I2 being the heavier unit with a pretty significant dihedral being a workhorse in wind. We were in Las Vegas last week for InterDrone and had plenty of high wind flying in the desert, I2 and M210 were rock solid.

First of all, let me be clear. I have never had the wind take my bird away. I have never lost control of it or thought that I was going to. That being said, every time that I get the high wind warning I bring it down. Only once have I had to bring down the P4P. As far as the camera, although I have always had focus issues I also had a crash with it. I was about thigh hi when it came down, so I was less than 3 feet up. I called B&H where I bought the drone. Before I could actually explain to them that I wanted to send it in so they could take a look at it.....the person informed me that it had been over 30 days and there was nothing they could do and was there anything she could help me with? I just said no and hung up.

djkelly57 said:

First of all, let me be clear. I have never had the wind take my bird away. I have never lost control of it or thought that I was going to. That being said, every time that I get the high wind warning I bring it down. Only once have I had to bring down the P4P. As far as the camera, although I have always had focus issues I also had a crash with it. I was about thigh hi when it came down, so I was less than 3 feet up. I called B&H where I bought the drone. Before I could actually explain to them that I wanted to send it in so they could take a look at it.....the person informed me that it had been over 30 days and there was nothing they could do and was there anything she could help me with? I just said no and hung up.

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Ignore the High Wind warning, it is a nuisance software glitch. I get it in calm air if I go full stick forward, maybe it will be corrected in a new FW update.

djkelly57 said:

First of all, let me be clear. I have never had the wind take my bird away. I have never lost control of it or thought that I was going to. That being said, every time that I get the high wind warning I bring it down. Only once have I had to bring down the P4P. As far as the camera, although I have always had focus issues I also had a crash with it. I was about thigh hi when it came down, so I was less than 3 feet up. I called B&H where I bought the drone. Before I could actually explain to them that I wanted to send it in so they could take a look at it.....the person informed me that it had been over 30 days and there was nothing they could do and was there anything she could help me with? I just said no and hung up.

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I also see the high wind warning at times it really shouldn't be showing. Ignore it.

Call BH back and speak with a manger. They should help or connect you with someone that can. I've seen it discussed on the Mavic pilots site that they use a separate company to outsource all DJI support ... not the regular BH service

Stratospheric said:

Thanks very much for all your opinions and it seems from everybody's look the Phantom for pro is the winner on this board but I'm still leaning towards the I1 even though it is about twice the price of the P4p. This is purely based upon the fact that it can accommodate the thermal cameras and if we wanted to use the X5 we still could as we have all the lenses for the X5S.

I'm sure the Phantom 4 pro is an awesome machine but it can't accommodate dual pilot and you don't have the 360 gimbal as you do with the I1. I'm longing to see an adapter for the thermal camera for the I2 but I really don't think it is on the cards. I was really annoyed when my neighbour bought the I 2 because I want to start small and work up to it. Between us we have spent about 13 K and we are just starting off. If it was down to me I would have bought P4p and migrated onto the I2 but my friend was the one ordering the drone so I didn't have a say in it..

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In regards to dual Pilots with the P4P, you can in fact use dual operator configuration. We do it for flight training purposes and to give the second operator access to Crystalsky. It requires the use of 2 I2 remotes in master / slave config and then activating "Coach Mode". The slave controller can fly, operate the gimbal pitch etc. The master controller inputs immediately override the slave inputs.

Great for flight training and simulating emergencies such as flyaways and lost links. The second use is so the slave controller operator can be heads down in the Crystalsky working on the shot (or the suspect search in our case) and the PIC can have eyes on the aircraft with the ability to immediately control the aircraft in case of conflict / hazard.

Stratospheric said:

Hi all

Do you think I could get some opinions on what is the best backup drone for an I2? We are a general film company and just haveI2. We have got X 4 S as well as the X5 as.

We just use H264 at the moment so don't need to worry about prores or raw footage. At the moment I'm in two minds between the I won so we can use the thermal cameras or the mavick for indoor use And convenience

Thanks

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I would use the GDU Byrd as Backup!
It is a gorgeous machine, can carry a series of camera mounts including a Flir camera as well as your own type of payload such as a life float for water rescue etc.
It folds up to the size of an iPad but it is still about 5 inches thick when folded.
It can do all the things the dji phantom and mavic can do only better!
It can go 7 km and has all the features the Inspire 1 has and more.
It has its own version of lightbridge for transmission.
For $1049.00 it's a steal and could be used as the main drone.
You might also look into the GDU O2 which looks like a Mavic but with more features. It's $732.00.
I would never use a Phantom. Yes, the P4 might be a good machine but it's also a matter of credibility. The Phantons all look like toys.
I would never ever show up for a shoot with one. It would be too embarrassing. I've had a Phantom 1 and 2 back in the day but they were really learning machines only. I remember someone walking up to me while I was flying a Phantom and he said it was a nice toy drone', which they are!
Personal opinion of course but I would look into the GDU "Byrd" and see for yourself!

djkelly57 said:

I have the x5s with the 15mm lens. I was just out with it yesterday and had to bring it down because of high wind warning. Not sure if that is triggered by the bird and mine is just too sensitive or what. I have some video with my P4P just above the water when it was pretty choppy and no problem at all.

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The high wind warning on the I2 is set pretty low in my experience. It will spin around if it really gets into some HIGH wind but won't blow away. I have a Q500 that I pushed to the max in wind which gives me more confidence w the I2. I've never had my I2 spin yet but I've had the warning.

I'll make it simple! I have I2 and had P4P as a backup. Decided to sell P4P to get another I2 as a backup. reason? Same batteries, chargers, parts, cameras can be switched and 2 battery redundancy. You mentioned you have X4S and X5S already, therefore you can mount them both and have backup ready. The size of the I2 is not that huge to prefer P4P for size, but agility, wind durability and 2 batteries redundancy of I2 does. At least for me. Best of luck!

+1 here for I2 as backup. Yes the wind advisory is set way too conservatively. I still take note and monitor my speeds to better guesstimate directions and relevance to the mission. I'd never get things done if I landed every wind warning.

Just looking at Yuneec, their H520 looks like an interesting choice for us as a backup as it offers 20mp sensor with mapping facility and ability to add thermal for £1600. It looks like DJI is concentrating on retail and not professional as others are now catching up - and dare I say - overtaking!

boefinator said:

In regards to dual Pilots with the P4P, you can in fact use dual operator configuration. We do it for flight training purposes and to give the second operator access to Crystalsky. It requires the use of 2 I2 remotes in master / slave config and then activating "Coach Mode". The slave controller can fly, operate the gimbal pitch etc. The master controller inputs immediately override the slave inputs.

Great for flight training and simulating emergencies such as flyaways and lost links. The second use is so the slave controller operator can be heads down in the Crystalsky working on the shot (or the suspect search in our case) and the PIC can have eyes on the aircraft with the ability to immediately control the aircraft in case of conflict / hazard.

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This is such a great use application with Inspire 2 Remotes on the P4P. Thank you for sharing, sounds like it works great for your case.

White Airwolf said:

I would use the GDU Byrd as Backup!...Personal opinion of course but I would look into the GDU "Byrd" and see for yourself!

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The Byrd from GDU is definitely a solid machine and it's flexibility for payload is what most Byrd users really love it about it. For those of you who are not familiar with GDU, they are a Chinese based manufacturer that just opened Service Operations here in the US. They were the makers of THE FIRST foldable drone (well before the Mavic) and that was the original Byrd.

We work with them very closely and they're definitely gaining more and more traction here in the US, and most importantly they are committed to a high level of after-sales support.

O2 is there new smaller aircraft which aligns with the capabilities of the DJI Mavic. They held their launch for this aircraft last week Wednesday at InterDrone in Las Vegas where GDU was also one of the larger marquee exhibitors.

You can check out the Byrd Premium 2.0 here: GDU Byrd Premium 2.0 Quadcopter Drone | Advexure. We also carry all primary accessories (batteries, props, guards, etc) for the Byrd 2.0. We are happy to answer any specific questions containing to the Byrd 2.0.

AVImagingllc said:

I'll make it simple! I have I2 and had P4P as a backup. Decided to sell P4P to get another I2 as a backup. reason? Same batteries, chargers, parts, cameras can be switched and 2 battery redundancy. You mentioned you have X4S and X5S already, therefore you can mount them both and have backup ready. The size of the I2 is not that huge to prefer P4P for size, but agility, wind durability and 2 batteries redundancy of I2 does. At least for me. Best of luck!

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All depends on budget at hand but without a doubt, a second I2 is the way to go and what we see very close to 100% of the time for our professional film users. Needless to say, some of these users also have have authorizations and waivers for specific applications that revolve around the I2's redundancy, failsafes, and safety characteristics that are written right into their waiver application.

djkelly57 said:

I have the x5s with the 15mm lens. I was just out with it yesterday and had to bring it down because of high wind warning. Not sure if that is triggered by the bird and mine is just too sensitive or what. I have some video with my P4P just above the water when it was pretty choppy and no problem at all.

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Ignore the high wind warning. It triggers at the drop of a hat. The I2 is far more capable wind-wise than that stupid alarm would have you believe. I was on a shoot just two days ago with crazy winds. The DIT reviewing the footage noted the crazy return speed vs. being able to barely keep 30 mph on the way out and in addition to complimenting the camera system (we delivered 5.2k RAW) he said a heavy lift wouldn't have been able to fly at all in those conditions. So... don't let that pesky message fool you.

WRT a backup bird... we have a full I2 as backup, with licenses. There's just no way we could complete the job with anything less if something happened to the primary bird. If we were left with a P4P we may as well just pack up and go home. So... it all depends on your mission.