Couple of pre-purchase questions

[Plingboot]

Hi all, I'm new here, but not new to flying UAV's or DJI equipment.

I am about to purchase an Inspire 1 and have a few minor pre-purchase questions which are probably better asked here to real users, rather than to a dealer.

Firstly, I'm planning to buy three additional Lipo packs - are there any particular downsides to buying the 5700mAh packs over the standard smaller ones? And what realistic flight times are people getting?

Secondly, iPad mini. I attempted to download the DJI app last night but found that my iPad mini is too old to run it, so a new one is required. I assume I'm going to need one with a cellular slot - for connectivity for maps etc when 'in the field' - or can map info be cached/uploaded at home before heading out?

Thirdly, IOC modes, not clear on what the Inspire can do as far as these are concerned. Looks like there's home and course lock, but is there also POI - to allow point at and fly around?

Finally RTH on low battery. Is the Inspire able to intelligently/continuously calculate how much battery is required to return to it's home point and land, so, should that situation be encountered, it can safely RTH and land without dropping out of the sky?

Thanks

 

[Mazz]

In an effort to "teach a man to fish," I can assure you each of these questions has been answered a multitude of times. It's a great site with a lot of info. Try the search button at the top of the page and you will get more than you bargain for.
Welcome to the forum and you'll love the inspire if you choose to get it.

 

[Tj_]

Hi all, I'm new here, but not new to flying UAV's or DJI equipment.

I am about to purchase an Inspire 1 and have a few minor pre-purchase questions which are probably better asked here to real users, rather than to a dealer.

Firstly, I'm planning to buy three additional Lipo packs - are there any particular downsides to buying the 5700mAh packs over the standard smaller ones? And what realistic flight times are people getting?

Secondly, iPad mini. I attempted to download the DJI app last night but found that my iPad mini is too old to run it, so a new one is required. I assume I'm going to need one with a cellular slot - for connectivity for maps etc when 'in the field' - or can map info be cached/uploaded at home before heading out?

Thirdly, IOC modes, not clear on what the Inspire can do as far as these are concerned. Looks like there's home and course lock, but is there also POI - to allow point at and fly around?

Finally RTH on low battery. Is the Inspire able to intelligently/continuously calculate how much battery is required to return to it's home point and land, so, should that situation be encountered, it can safely RTH and land without dropping out of the sky?

Thanks

As far as batteries go, bigger is better! Unless you're traveling on an airline. You will gain at least 5 min airtime with a bigger battery and it's worth the cost difference. There's a few threads on this if you search battery performance.

The cellular connection is nice and makes life easier. But it's not required. You can cache the map before flight. Simply open the app when connected to Wi-Fi and preview the area to be flown. This will store "cache" the map for use when no internet is found. You have to do this all before reaching flight destination though. A pre-preflight thing!

As far as IOC goes we currently only have 1 feature enabled called course lock. The POI and other things like cable cam are supposedly coming soon.

 

[Plingboot]

Thanks, both of you.

Cable cam… now that would be a useful mode.

 

[tassieflyer]

As far as batteries go, bigger is better! Unless you're traveling on an airline. You will gain at least 5 min airtime with a bigger battery and it's worth the cost difference. There's a few threads on this if you search battery performance.

The cellular connection is nice and makes life easier. But it's not required. You can cache the map before flight. Simply open the app when connected to Wi-Fi and preview the area to be flown. This will store "cache" the map for use when no internet is found. You have to do this all before reaching flight destination though. A pre-preflight thing!

As far as IOC goes we currently only have 1 feature enabled called course lock. The POI and other things like cable cam are supposedly coming soon.

Or you can cache the map on site by connecting to your iPhone's hot spot.

 

[msinger]

To answer some of your other questions...

And what realistic flight times are people getting?

Per DJI's specs, the TB47 has a flight time of 18 minutes -- and, the TB48 has a flight time of 22 minutes. As a general rule of thumb, I normally subtract 3-4 minutes from DJI's calculated flight times. They are no doubt flying in the most ideal conditions when calculating those flight times. When you're outside flying, the flight time will be affected by the wind, temperature, your flying style, etc. So, it'll be a bit different for everyone.

I attempted to download the DJI app last night but found that my iPad mini is too old to run it, so a new one is required.

If using an Apple device, you'll need a device that has an A7 or A8 processor. That currently limits you to an iPad Air, Air 2, Mini 2, or Mini 3. While Apple devices work better right out of the box, Android devices are less expensive. If you'd like to explore that route, you can find devices that DJI recommends and/or that people normally use at the following link:

Tablets and phones that work well with DJI Go & DJI Pilot | DJI Phantom Forum

No matter which device you choose, there are some helpful tweaks that will help ensure the DJI GO apps runs well with your device. Check out the following links:

For Apple devices: HOW TO: Optimize Apple device for the best DJI Pilot app performance | DJI Phantom Forum
For Android devices: DJI Forum|Phantom 3 Lag / Pause Android in FPV

It would be a good idea to get a device that has GPS. That'll allow you to reset your home point to your current position (if you move around when flying), and will make your device more future-proof when DJI releases new features that require the device to have GPS (e.g. follow me). There are also some 3rd party apps available (most seem to be beta only right now) that have features that require GPS. If you go with an Apple device, that means you'll need a cellular model. You don't need to activate the cell service in order to use the GPS.

Is the Inspire able to intelligently/continuously calculate how much battery is required to return to it's home point and land, so, should that situation be encountered, it can safely RTH and land without dropping out of the sky?

The DJI GO app does a good job of showing you when you need to turn back and head home via the bar at the top of the app. While that's usually accurate, it's possible for batteries to fail. So, you'll want to monitor your battery voltage as you're flying too.

The batteries have a low and critical low stage. At the low stage, your Inspire will automatically try to return home. That action can be cancelled from within the DJI GO home (it prompts you before returning home). If your battery reaches the critical low stage, your Inspire will auto land at its current location. That built-in fail-safe will help prevent your Inspire from dropping like a rock from the sky. The downside is that your Inspire might auto land into a tree, pond, or other undesired location.

In short, it's better to always monitor your battery level and manually return home (or be close to the home point) before the battery reaches 30%.

Make sure you download the Inspire 1 manual, read it in entirety, and understand everything in it before flying. It contains a lot of good information -- some of which might be confusing if you've never owned a DJI quadcopter. There are a lot of smart people here though, so feel free to ask for help if needed.

 

[JohnHan]

Hi all, I'm new here, but not new to flying UAV's or DJI equipment.
Firstly, I'm planning to buy three additional Lipo packs - are there any particular downsides to buying the 5700mAh packs over the standard smaller ones? And what realistic flight times are people getting?

As for the batteries my recommendation is, if you're not in a hurry, buy one TB48 and compare its behavior with the included TB47. This will give you a real world comparison in actual flying conditions.

The larger capacity battery weighs more so there is no free ride. All else being equal a couple of minutes of flying time give you an extra margin of safety. Run a few cycles on both to see what happens. That's better for you than getting random and/or stale advice, given that there have been recent firmware updates.

Enjoy!

 

[Plingboot]

Thanks both for your detailed replies, very helpful.

I've had a couple of WKMs, Nazas and a Phantoms 1 and 2. So pretty familiar with DJI… good and bad.

I'm coming to the Inspire with a view to having a platform which is more turnkey, more compact (ie less additional equipment to carry around) and requires less ongoing tinkering. I've done more than enough tinkering and fettling for the moment and just want to concentrate on flying and filming.

Was initially sceptical about the Inspire, but I think it's probably just the platform I need.

Only thing I'd like to add is an fpv camera in/under the nose, but not sure how well another 5.8ghz VTx (specifically a 5band TBS Unify) is going to play with the Inspire.