Crashing My DJI Mini 4 Pro Bicycling and Active Track
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 21 авг 2024
- IDISCLAIMER; Do not operate your drone as I did in this video. I anticipated that the drone would do a better job leading me and I misjudged the capability of the Action track feature. First test the feature in an open field where there are no obstructions or other people to assess the capability of the feature.
I crashed my DJI Mini 4 Pro drone using Active Track while trying to get it to lead me on my ride around the block about 0.75 miles. I think it may work if it followed you but it does not respond quickly enough with your turns to lead you.
That's exactly what I was talking about below other videos. Users are trying active track in areas where there are cars and other people around. You're due for a problem and DJI will have legal suits on their back as those drones are not capable of flying is such conditions. Imagine a Mini 4 Pro flying to someone's face at full speed :/ Guys ... make a simple test. Start walking towards the drone when it's hovering in mid air - it won't move. It's not capable of avoiding moving objects. If you want to turn on Active Track do this in unpopulated areas.
I've had DJI drones for three years now and it was my first time using Active Track. I will not be using it in the future unless I have a lot of clearance such as in my kayak or boat. I may do it on a bicycle in rural areas where there is no chance of envvironment intervention.
the problem are the fisheye lenses they see a bigger angle but have a lower resolution (see object later) 18m instead of 25 of the mini 3 pro.
@@patfish3291 that's exactly why I won't change my m3p. I sometimes track myself from the back while working or biking. I don't want the obstacle avoidance to be worse than on m3p. This is a bummer because there are some other nice features on m4p that I'd like to upgrade to ...
I've not read the manual, but I'd be surprised if it condones people riding/driving and not being able to take over.
I've certainly never tried the 3 by myself whilst driving.. That would be madness😄
@@mjanek20 I upgrade only because I got my m3p back from DJI Refresh and got 810€ for it. I hope DJI can fix the obstical avoidance issues by optimize the code/ai with some updates in the next months. It's better than the mini 3 pro on the sides (sure) but a bit worse from behind I guess. At the moment the upgrade was only worth it because I will get more bucks whan I sell it fora mini 5 pro or another drone in 1,5 - 2 years with really good obstacle avoidance ;-)
i think the weakness sensors is the hollow branches but it will detect any solid surface
I do a lot of active tracking testing with many different DJI Drones. And when riding a bicycle faster than about 8 mph the drone will start to have complications especially when flying in front of you. I find that when riding my bicycle it’s better for the drone to follow me from the back. When you have trees around the drone will detect them to a point however small twigs are more difficult for it to see. If you are trying to get the drone to track you from the front or from either side make sure you have an area large enough that it won’t hit anything. Until DJI starts actually adding sensors on each side then it won’t have complete 360 obstacle avoidance. After doing tests with my mini 3 pro and mini 4 pro I have found that the mini drones can’t track as fast as my air 2s or air 3 larger drones with more power can travel faster easily. But even then they still have issues with keeping up with me going 20 mph when they have to dodge obstacles. But in the open space they don’t have any problems. The mini drones can keep up pretty good when they to are not having to avoid obstacles. Obstacle avoidance is good to have just please don’t rely on it I always fly my drones like they don’t have obstacle avoidance. I hate to see anyone tearing up their drone. Especially so soon. My mini 2 will be 3 years old in December and I have never had any issues with it. These drones are great little tools for filming and can last years to come if they are taking care of.
I will try it again with the GoPro looking toward the rear with the drone following me. I think you are right. It should be able to track better especially if I go slow.
Short story
A valuable video in that it brilliantly demonstrates what the active tracking on this generation of UAVs is and (more importantly) isn't capable of. When it's working well it's downright miraculous, but alas the times it isn't make it something of a liability, and certainly not worth the risk of doing amongst any sort of traffic, even on really quiet roads. One possible exception to that might be if the UAV is kept high enough whilst tracking to not have to worry about roadside trees / cables / power lines / obstacles, and it can be a lot more successful up there. Still wouldn't do it above busy roads though - there's still too much that can go wrong too easily !
Oh my gosh, I think my blood pressure went up like 20 points watching this. Very intense. I never trust any active track features. I call it active crash.
I was a wreck making it and it will be a whlle before I try it again, and when it will it will be under different circumstances.
Great video. Active track needs a Dodge feature to avoid moving objects approaching the craft. It works best when following. Just watch those thin branches and wires.
all crashes are happen at flying backwards/sidewards 😢
Wow. That was scary! I can't believe you flew it again after the crash. lol. Strange noise usually means a prop is jacked up. I've used active track on my mavic 3 classic but not in a leading position. I was in my kayak and it seemed to do ok but I didn't fly it for long since I was over water and I was scared. haha.
If you have DJI Care Refresh, make sure you record the video on your phone or controller so you can show DJI that it's in the drink. I am going throw caution to the wind and use in in my kayak. I just bought a drybag for it. I almost lost my phone trying to get it into the controller for my Air2S so I won't have that issue with the DJI controller and the layyard. 🙂
@@MarioNappa Yeah I always buy the DJI Care Refresh for my drones. I didn't realize that DJI would replace it if it went into the lake. I thought you had to recover it and send it in? That's good to know. I usually do screen recording when I fly.
@@OldLadyAngler I think they changed the Care Refresh Program. For the Mini 4 Pro, you get two accidental replacements per year for $65, and one for a fly-away for $235. I assume falling in the water would qualify as a fly-away. I will try to look into it.
If you want to make sure you can use the "fly away" feature, you must bind the drone and the controller to your account. You do this under Profile in the app. "If the product that suffers water damage can be replaced under DJI Care Refresh, while the aircraft must be sent in firstly. If you cannot retrieve it from the ocean/lake/river, it will be considered as a "fly away" case."
@@MarioNappa yes mine is already bound to my account. Thanks for the info
Had the same problem. All the videos show active track working fine, but when you actually try to have it in front of you, the mini 4 pro has the same problem the mini 3 pro had. It is not near as good as they advertised it. Mine crashed and it is now on its way back to DJI to be fixed.
Sorry to hear you had more damage than I did. DJI refresh does work well though. Good luck. Let us know how that works for you.
When I do active track with my mini 4 following me on my bike its I find it best to have the drone at back of me, I never have any problems when riding along the road. And I always have the drone high enough so it clears passing cars and low enough to avoid hitting Telephone cables. I only use the full active track all directions when I'm off the road.
I think this is the protocol I will follow from now on.
I had this same experience with my Mini 4 Pro. I was walking on a wooded path and had the drone track me from the front. It was doing fine until I entered into a congested area with lots of very narrow over hanging twigs and branches. I got the alert "Strong environmental interference ..." This alert seems to indicate that the drone cannot "see" well enough to continue tracking you, so it will - all by itself - try to change to another position where it can "see" you and track you.
This is where I crashed my Mini 4 Pro. It was when the drone tried to change to another position to track me. It ran into some branches. Luckily, it was not very high and fell in tall grass. I damaged one propeller.
I have learned not to fly my drone with active track in low ambient light as the drone could break lock and stop tracking and also in "congested" areas where there are lots of trees, buildings, and other obstacles.
I feel confident in wide open "non-congested" areas.
I suppose that is why we test so that we will know what to expect.
This was a good test. 🙏
Thank you for your comments. I hope others see them. Since I had the controller hanging around my neck I did not see the warning you mentioned. I will not use this mode in congested areas although this route was not very congested. I prerode the route to make sure the overhanging trees where a minimum and they were. Since the drone was in front of me, it wandered off the road because it did not have time to adjust. I've DJI drones for three years and this was the first time I used Active track for the reasons shown in this video. Thanks again.
It performs best when it is very sunny but also seems to have issues with empty branches. I have had this drone perform considerably well otherwise. I’m not sure how it would fair with telephone wires and such. Adjusting minimum and maximum track distances help as well.
Mario I think your video was super.I was thinking about getting a mini 4 pro but may now get the mini 3 pro having watched your video.Stay safe.
Carefully compare the 3 and 4. The four has extended range and is about the same price.
I tried tracking from the back last month with my Mini 3 Pro which was flawless until I entered a DJI NFZ which my dumbass forgot about! My drone stopped and hovered over the street until I turned around and retrieved it! Never again will I track on the street! More especially at a height where a truck could run into it. My friend chastised me, stating that tracking drones in the street is illegal because the drone is behind you and is out of visual line of sight (VLOS)! Hell, at least the drone could see where it was going! LOL! I hope that someone will clarify if tracking from the rear or tracking in the street is illegal. I could not find anything verifying that but the hell with it. I don't like tracking anyway. Thanks for sharing your experience! Sorry you crashed!
Interesting you mention VLOS. Active-track only really works from behind. Exactly why I much prefer GPS follow-me. When it is programmed correctly (what I call 'compass-type") you can put is north south east west of you and it will stay there relative to you. Also with follow-me me you can position it away or high enough from obstacles and the drone won't lose you. So I think it is safer than active-track regardless DJI's obstacle-avoidance.
I'm not sure Maven or Litchi already work with the Mini 3. If so you will be surprised how user-friendly GPS follow-me is. I'm curious if the obstacle avoidance still works in follow-me mode? But like I said, if it flies in view you can steer it around hazards yourself. The best sensors are still those in your head.
I wish it was more capable regarding the omnidirectional detection system. Seems all it serves is to warn you :/
Your video is one of the few that demonstrates the actual noise level when the Drone is within 15 ft of the ground so there's that. Otherwise thank you for making this video
Probably should of changed the props right after the first crash. Active track is cool but not 100%. Thanks for doing the test!!!
You're right, but they didn't look bad on a cursory inspection. I had to run my fingers along them to feel the imperfections.
Hello Chas. My friend Fcprovc said it was illegal to fly with the drone behind you because you are out of VLOS. I tried to find verification about that but could not. Still, many people do these trackings all the time. I thought he might be correct because I was in the street. Either way, I think I am done with tracking unless I am in a large park away from everyone and everything!
You should have set mini and max distances to start. I am not sure that you shouldn’t have set it to vehicle as well.
Just my 2 cents. The Obstacle avoidance will not see thin branches or wires. Also it will only avoid stationary objects i.e. Trees, Houses, walls. Moving vehicles, people, bicycles it will not avoid.
That is correct. You have to be very careful.
I’m curious if it can handle turns better when it’s following you rather than in front of you. Glad you just had to replace the props though
Follow from behind. It works well if it knows where you have been. It can’t predict where you’re going from in front, that’s more meant for walking n
I found it interesting it kept your Home point back at your house. I'm curious what would happen if it lost signal, or some other form of freaking out, and it told itself to go home. Would it go all the back to the home point? It definitely did pretty good in sections. Still a tech in it's infancy.
I made that mistake and forgot to set the Home Point to me. It would not have made it back to the park where I started and... it would not have come to me because my stupid ass entered a DJI NFZ and the drone hovered dangerously low over the street. I'm done with tracking!
Yeah it's another potential trap of Active tracking - you have to keep updating the home point (or change the mode altogether) if you are going any real distance, although the controller will report when battery life isn't enough to achieve the home distance. In OPs case though, where he was probably on a short circular route it might be quite comforting to know your little flyer has gone to your actual home and landed itself when it all went wrong !
Dude you launched after a crash and before closely inspecting it. Wow!
wasn’t a hard crash it will be fine
A quick inspection did not show any damage; it was only after I ran my fingers along it and could feel the rough spots.
@@MarioNappa not to argue with you but ….. a “quick” inspection is wholly insufficient after a crash - especially if you’re also going to risk flying in populated areas (which you shouldn’t have been doing anyway). Using your own logic, “running your finger along the blades” IS A QUICK inspection. Anyway, enough scolding, you either get the message or you don’t. I’ll give you credit for at least showing us what happened so we can avoid a similar situation. Fly safe brother.
Are you aware that your car reg appears in your video.. Just thought I'd let you know. Also I'm hearing a lot of people complaining about this part drones obstacle avoidance.. I'm perfectly happy with my mini 3pro and Mavic 3 CLASSIC and never fly with obstacle avoidance on.. I prefer the photography aspect of flying and you get a wee bit more flying time (less battery consumption) for that perfect shot.. Looks like a really nice neighbourhood you live in there, plenty of space but those pesky little tree branches.. I also rarely use the built in tracking functions etc.. Flying by sticks alone is more of a thrill.. Especially with my bigger Mavic 3 CLASSIC.. Sensors off and hugging the ground in sport mode and then back home for a change of underwear😅
Thanks. That's fine. My address is public knowledge through my LLC.
Great.. I also added more to my post.
Top video❤❤❤❤
This clearly shows how inadequate and lacking in capability, active track really is and I think too many owners put some really unrealistic expectations into how it will perform in an environment filled with obstacles such as buildings, cars, people, trees, animals etc some moving some not!⚠️😲😳
It's probably more than capable of following you across a field or around a few trees etc
But in that situation, especially where you're cyclibg as well, your attention was too much on the drone and not on your safety or the things it might collide with.
The technology on these things is just not there yet to do what you were expecting of it.😲😳😁👍
Good lesson though.👍
Seems like you are following the drone 🙂
Yes. It is supposed to lead me but didn't do a great job.
Great video
I played with ACTIVE TRACK while walking, it does a good job.
Well done buddy. New sub from Philly...lol
Mikey
replace damaged props, sounf fixed
I have said it a million times and I will say it once more: This is the problem with people who only know DJI drones. They are completely oblivious about follow-me. All they know is active-track. As we can see in the video active-track regardless the obstacle avoidance is completely useless in real life situations. If you want to use a drone on your bike tours then either you fly it manually, or you use follow-me. That means if you want a DJI a DJI Mini 2 with Maven or Litchi is a much better drone in that case than a Mini 3 or Mini 4 until those apps are compatible.
Here is a list of problems with active-track.
1. In order to track you it has to fly close and low, exactly where all the hazards are. As soon you increase height and distance to a safe zone it constantly loses you.
2. If you can't trust the obstacle avoidance 100% you can't trust it at all. Nobody is going to risk a $800 drone if that's the one you carry for weeks. You fly it in the open field. And that is where follow-me without obstacle avoidance works just as well, or in fact better.
3. Speed. You have to go slow. The reason is the processor has to see obstacles in time. but since follow-me is only a couple of lines code it can fly much faster.
4. You don't have control. It goes left right up down. Imagine a bus coming round a corner while the drone goes under a branch. I've seen that happen. It's risky!
5. Watching the damn screen while riding a bike. Active-track won't keep the drone in front of you. Follow-me will, if it is the right type. It is much easier to operate your bike having the drone in view.
6. Time. In order to setup active-track you have to go into the menu etc. Try using a touch screen while riding. Impossible. So you stop again and again and again. Follow-me is just one button and use the sticks if you want to change height and distance.
7. Homepoint update. Yes DJI has it. Actually return-to-home should be disabled altogether when you use active-track or follow-me. It should be a return-to-controller, hoover for couple minutes giving all the time to take over control before it comes down. Having to ride back up a steep hill to where it took off is not an option.
Now don't get me wrong. I love active-track and the obstacle avoidance! Wouldn't mind owning a Mini 4 Pro. But in real life on a real bike trip it is not about pure video quality and auto-shots. What you want is a drone you will use 20 times a day whenever you ride through an interesting place. DJI drones are not made for that purpose. They are video drones to get the best quality. A true hiker/biker drone would look very different.
And BTW. It also helps when people learn to fly with a drone without GPS, optical flow, or even altitude hold. So called 'experts' here in RUclips who recommend a DJI as your first drone are idiots. Sooner or later you will lack skills. Learn to properly fly. Practice!
Wow that was disappointing. You were not going fast and its suppose to have side sensors so it wouldn't crash. The branches were small but it was a bunch of them, so it should picked them up it looked like it did but kept going anyway.
Yes. Very disappointing.
The problem is that thin branches are hard to detect spatially until there are enough of them and by then the drone is already in the thick of it, pun intended. :D You can see the drone detect the tree but unfortunately too late as it was already amongst the leafless branches. You can also see that it has issues with sloping roofs. This is likely a limitation of the vision-based system DJI is using.
Personally, I have to wonder if a LiDAR+optical collision avoidance solution would be the best of both worlds. I'm not sure adding LiDAR option is feasible given the weight class of the Mini-series.
@@Digitalfiendscom that's a lot of information for the drone to process while moving
you should have had the drone up about 60 or so feet to clear the trees and houses.
I don't know if it will track from that high up but I will try it.
I'm sorry Sir, this is the first that I have given a thumbs down for any RUclips video.
The flying is quite reckless and unless you are authorised to fly your DJI Mini 4 Pro in a built up area close to uninvolved people, this is also illegal - I would recommend that you take this video down otherwise you may find yourself in trouble with your local authorities.
You admit that you nearly hit a truck and nearly landed on someone's roof!
You even flew it after a crash and knew that something was wrong! It is an AIRCRAFT - would an airline pilot fly an aeroplane after a crash?!
Please take this video off RUclips otherwise people watching this may deem that all drone pilots are as irresponsible as yourself.
Mario - this is not a dig at you at all - I can see you love your tech, but please fly responsibly :)
I guess GrumpyClark is appropriate. I definitely made mistakes and would never repeat them. I don't know if you know the rules or not but you are allowed to fly over inhabited areas. I was flying too low because the drone does not track if it is too high and I won't use this feature if there are people around since it is not reliable enough. The video shows the shortcomings of this drone and feature so it is important to leave it up.
China laughs all the way to the Bank.
For sure.
One thing that might have helped is to configure the minimum and maximum follow distance which would keep the drone closer to you and potentially not let it swing wide when you're turning.
Yes maybe it will work when you put the drone on a GoPro mount?
Great video and great test - we have all learned from it...similar experience to my own with a Mavic 3...agree with @mjanek20 - not for use in populus areas, or areas with too many variables. If you went higher (above the trees) you might get a better result? Of course the higher you go, you will risk the possibility of losing the track if obscured by trees or buildings...but the drone should hover, or RTH