Autel Explorer App Gone?

[Ansia]

Explorer app is back in the Play Store

 

[Jagerbomb52]

Ya mine took an update last night. Not sure what that was about but wanted me to update so I did.

 

[macoman]

Strange. I would have to ask other Spark pilots to see if this is normal or just you. It should be plug & play.

@macoman, I remember you saying you own one. Thoughts?

I think his spark have issues... My spark never ask to scan anything. Everytime I use my spark, it's just as easy as power on, connect tablet and ready to fly.

 

[DanielC]

I went with Evo for price, capability, and less hassles. I watched the pilots at the office deal with DJI nonsense and decided to look elsewhere. DJI has great imagery though. Evo is good, but I’m a little jeli for the images from M2P and P4. I love being able to fly hassle free. And the new mission planning feature is a lot of fun. Sit on my couch, plan a mission - go fly it later. Very cool.

 

[Nightbat2]

I went with Evo for price, capability, and less hassles. I watched the pilots at the office deal with DJI nonsense and decided to look elsewhere. DJI has great imagery though. Evo is good, but I’m a little jeli for the images from M2P and P4. I love being able to fly hassle free. And the new mission planning feature is a lot of fun. Sit on my couch, plan a mission - go fly it later. Very cool.

The M2P can’t match the Evo for video, though.

 

[mixchief]

I'm really impressed by Autel as well. I just had 2 batteries indicate damage. Was able to talk to tech(Dave)in minutes. I received replacements within a week. I was required to send back the old batteries for examination but that's ok. I hope they can determine why they failed. Go Autel!

they didn't request mine, in fact they told me to take it to Best Buy or a safe dispose facility.

 

[Tman1265]

I went with Evo for price, capability, and less hassles. I watched the pilots at the office deal with DJI nonsense and decided to look elsewhere. DJI has great imagery though. Evo is good, but I’m a little jeli for the images from M2P and P4. I love being able to fly hassle free. And the new mission planning feature is a lot of fun. Sit on my couch, plan a mission - go fly it later. Very cool.

My drone guys at work all swear by their DJI products, they drink the Kool Aid. They claim they never have any issues flying anywhere, never have any problems with anything, nothing. Of course they say that, it's the kool aid....

 

[DanielC]

It was 17 degrees Fahrenheit the other day when I was out flying. Do I want to wait for DJI to let me fly? No!

 

[macoman]

It was 17 degrees Fahrenheit the other day when I was out flying. Do I want to wait for DJI to let me fly? No!

You have balls of iron... I don't go out when it's below 40F. Too cold for me to stay outside flying a drone.

 

[Ansia]

It was 17 degrees Fahrenheit the other day when I was out flying. Do I want to wait for DJI to let me fly? No!

What relation does Geofencing has with the weather? A DJI drone will fly at 17°, just like your Evo does.

 

[DanielC]

In my experience it can take longer to get the DJI in the air than it does the Evo. The longer it takes to get in the air, the longer I am standing in the air. At 17 digress that's time I don't want to spend waiting. That's all. No disrespect to the quality or capability of the DJI drones.

My observation of the struggles getting ready to fly DJI helped me decide to go with Autel and the simplicity of immediate flight. The DJI drones are superior in many ways to the Autel Evo. But for my personal needs, the price/quality/ease of use made the EVO a best choice for me.

 

[FePhoenix]

In my experience it can take longer to get the DJI in the air than it does the Evo. The longer it takes to get in the air, the longer I am standing in the air. At 17 digress that's time I don't want to spend waiting. That's all. No disrespect to the quality or capability of the DJI drones.

My observation of the struggles getting ready to fly DJI helped me decide to go with Autel and the simplicity of immediate flight. The DJI drones are superior in many ways to the Autel Evo. But for my personal needs, the price/quality/ease of use made the EVO a best choice for me.

My reason for the Evo vs DJI is simple. I, like many others here, am 107, and DJI thinks it has the right to nanny us. Sorry, they don't. I'm an Air Traffic Control Systems Field Engineer. My work email ends in "@faa.gov"... Most of my work flights are ON airfields, inspecting radar/comm antennas/towers, navaids, test targets, etc. DJI won't even start rotors there. Evo? No problem.

I have a Mavic Platinum and a Mavic Mini. Neither has more than 15 minutes of flight time, as DJI nannying is too annoying to bother with. Do private pilots have to ask Cessna to start the engines? Do Delta, Continental, United, etc have to beg permission from Boeing to take off? Of course not. And, yes, it **IS** the same thing, for a 107 Certificate holder...

 

[Ansia]

My reason for the Evo vs DJI is simple. I, like many others here, am 107, and DJI thinks it has the right to nanny us. Sorry, they don't. I'm an Air Traffic Control Systems Field Engineer. My work email ends in "@faa.gov"... Most of my work flights are ON airfields, inspecting radar/comm antennas/towers, navaids, test targets, etc. DJI won't even start rotors there. Evo? No problem.

I have a Mavic Platinum and a Mavic Mini. Neither has more than 15 minutes of flight time, as DJI nannying is too annoying to bother with. Do private pilots have to ask Cessna to start the engines? Do Delta, Continental, United, etc have to beg permission from Boeing to take off? Of course not. And, yes, it **IS** the same thing, for a 107 Certificate holder...

Most members in here do not have Part 107 Certification. They fly for hobby. I do agree that Geofencing 2.0 is annoying, but you can custom unlock for a full year by submitting the FAA's documentation through flysafe.dji.com.
I fly DJI for work and Autel for hobby so I have had to learn to deal with the everyday mishaps that drones bring to the table.

How do you manage with the NFZ pop up you constantly get while flying within the airport?

 

[FePhoenix]

Most members in here do not have Part 107 Certification. They fly for hobby. I do agree that Geofencing 2.0 is annoying, but you can custom unlock for a full year by submitting the FAA's documentation through flysafe.dji.com.
I fly DJI for work and Autel for hobby so I have had to learn to deal with the everyday mishaps that drones bring to the table.

How do you manage with the NFZ pop up you constantly get while flying within the airport?

I refuse to play DJI's paper trail game. They want more paper per location. I've flown on 47 fields so far, and expect at least 30 more this year. No. They can totally unlock for the life of my 107 - and renew as the 107 is renewed - or get ignored as a toy. The Autel ? Just acknowledge when it pops up and keep going. Most of my work flights, I use the Yuneec Typhoon H480 pro ( sent Yuneec a snap of the 107 and they sent me a firmware patch that perm removed all restrictions - the way it SHOULD be!). I also have concerns about DJI - a Communist Chinese company - capturing data from their drones. Work flights are around sensitive infrastructure, so, no.

 

[Nightbat2]

I refuse to play DJI's paper trail game. They want more paper per location. I've flown on 47 fields so far, and expect at least 30 more this year. No. They can totally unlock for the life of my 107 - and renew as the 107 is renewed - or get ignored as a toy. The Autel ? Just acknowledge when it pops up and keep going. Most of my work flights, I use the Yuneec Typhoon H480 pro ( sent Yuneec a snap of the 107 and they sent me a firmware patch that perm removed all restrictions - the way it SHOULD be!). I also have concerns about DJI - a Communist Chinese company - capturing data from their drones. Work flights are around sensitive infrastructure, so, no.

Don’t understand why DJI doesn’t offer a similar ‘patch’ to that Yuneec does. Surely they must be aware that many users are annoyed, to say the least.

 

[DanielC]

I think you have to ask whom they are trying to please. It's not the user, it's the master. Its name is FAA and federal government. When the rules tighten for all of us, DJI will already be ready to release the software and controls that will be required and once again be the leading game in town. When the government picks the winners and losers DJI will be well positioned. They (gubment) don't mean to do it, it's for the people.

 

[Ansia]

You can ask DJI for a permanent unkock of geofencing. I do not know what are the requirements, but as a FAA employee, you have to be a few steps ahead of me in obtaining such thing.

 

[Nightbat2]

I think you have to ask whom they are trying to please. It's not the user, it's the master. Its name is FAA and federal government. When the rules tighten for all of us, DJI will already be ready to release the software and controls that will be required and once again be the leading game in town. When the government picks the winners and losers DJI will be well positioned. They (gubment) don't mean to do it, it's for the people.

As far as I’m aware it’s only DJI and Yuneec that have NFZs. I did read somewhere that Autel has them for China. If so, that means they probably wouldn’t be too far behind if NFZs become mandatory.

 

[FePhoenix]

You can ask DJI for a permanent unkock of geofencing. I do not know what are the requirements, but as a FAA employee, you have to be a few steps ahead of me in obtaining such thing.

Been trying for a couple months. No dice. Not trying anymore. It's a toy, a vacation camera at best.

 

[ryandluke33]

I am brand new to Autel and do not see the explorer app in the Google play store.

When I go to the Autel support tab of their website and click the app link it redirects me to Google play to a screen that says app not available.

I also downloaded the apk file to my android phone, but it won't open or run it to install the app.

Out of ideas here. Suggestions?