Inspire 1 (original) distance??

[Donnie Frank]

Yes that legacy firmware is the key. Every firmware up date after that would dummy up the drone. It also became so much slower I went out and bought new motors and installed them with little or no change.

The v2 motors are beefy...dare I say "over-spec'd." I spoke with a DJI lemming who said that, according to their documentation, the motors were rated for 10,000 hours. THATSALOTTAFLYING! So far my Inspire 1 has been rock solid. With dual-operator abilities and a built-in HDMI port, it's a great bird that will always have a place in my arsenal.

D

 

[Flying Monkey]

The v2 motors are beefy...dare I say "over-spec'd." I spoke with a DJI lemming who said that, according to their documentation, the motors were rated for 10,000 hours. THATSALOTTAFLYING! So far my Inspire 1 has been rock solid. With dual-operator abilities and a built-in HDMI port, it's a great bird that will always have a place in my arsenal.

D

My only gripe about my I1(the drone its self was great) is that when they first introduced it their claims about flight time, capabilities and distance were greatly exaggerated. In one of their "commercials" they showed it performing the "Follow me" mode while the pilot (who did not appear to have a controller on him) was giving a tour inside a crowded ware house. That capability never came to fruition as well as several other modes. I picked up the dual opper model as well. I didn't like how I would be flying along and my camera man would suddenly turn the camera and I would think the bird was heading off on its own for the first few times. Also had problems with losing vidio (on both controllers) when the slave controller would be out of line of sight of the drone. As the pilot I had the range extenders on my controller and the camera controller was supposed to slave off it. We never got that to work. The camera controller always had to have a clear line of sight and it was limited. So I never used it again and ran every thing from the pilot controller. Got my second I1 so now I have 3 controllers, one still has the plastic on the antenna, never got used but the drone did! Will the I1 v2 motors work on the first edition?

 

[Donnie Frank]

My only gripe about my I1(the drone its self was great) is that when they first introduced it their claims about flight time, capabilities and distance were greatly exaggerated.

I find DJI does that with all their drones. Keep in mind that China is @ Sea Level, so guys like me, who live a mile high, see greatly diminished flight times.

In one of their "commercials" they showed it performing the "Follow me" mode while the pilot (who did not appear to have a controller on him) was giving a tour inside a crowded ware house. That capability never came to fruition as well as several other modes.

Yep. That said, I WAS able to set up the beta "Lead Me Mode." It seemed to work pretty good, but DJI had to scrap it in the U.S. due to liability issues. It never caught on in China. I hear one can still find black market copies of the firmware, but I haven't been able to find any.

I picked up the dual opper model as well. I didn't like how I would be flying along and my camera man would suddenly turn the camera and I would think the bird was heading off on its own for the first few times.

Dual Operator is a real team effort. Communication and practice are paramount to smooth operations. The trick is for the PIC to fly strictly VLOS. My PIC never even looks at the iPad unless we're doing really distant flights, which does happen sometimes. But in those cases, he looks at the telemetry (map), NOT the video feed.

Also had problems with losing vidio (on both controllers) when the slave controller would be out of line of sight of the drone.

Firmware v1.10.xx.xx throttled back the video feed. All 3 of our Inspires run FW v1.08.xx. Plus I have installed Go app v3.1.1 and the 32 channel hack on all 5 of our iPads. So, with the correct channel selected, we get incredible video feed.

As the pilot I had the range extenders on my controller and the camera controller was supposed to slave off it.

Not exactly. The controllers connect to one another for the purpose of sharing information like channel selection, but the video feed is fed directly to both controllers from the Inspire. Therefore, you should have range extenders on BOTH controllers.

We never got that to work. The camera controller always had to have a clear line of sight and it was limited. So I never used it again and ran every thing from the pilot controller.

Hmmmm...I bet some tweaks would breathe new life into your Inspire and make both controllers work perfectly.

Got my second I1 so now I have 3 controllers, one still has the plastic on the antenna, never got used but the drone did! Will the I1 v2 motors work on the first edition?

I believe so, but don't quote me on that.

D

 

[gregg Kielma]

Thank you for all the reply's. Some great information here. Just purchased my third Inspire and forgot how to change the distance. Someone sent me back this link and I was able to change the distance. Again thank you all.