Lost my Evo II

davshev · Jan 29, 2021

A few weeks ago I had the misfortune of losing my Evo II 6k. Fortunately, I had it covered through State Farm and they paid for a replacement. I was traveling in AZ and flying around some mountains. I lost the connection to the drone and couldn't seem to get it to connect again. I'm new to the Evo, so I wasn't clear as to what happens when the signal is lost. I assumed it landed. I tried tracking the last location of the drone on the app, but since I was in the mountains, it seemed to be in an area which was inaccessible. I'm still not entirely clear as to what, if anything, I could have done after I lost the signal.

Waldo Pepper · Jan 30, 2021

I’m sorry to hear you lost an Evo 2, and glad to hear insurance covered your loss.

I've lost several in my career, now I use a tracker haven’t lost another drone since purchasing a tracker.

What probably happened, lost connection and started to RTH and struck a tree or other obstacle while disconnected.

What I used to do when loosing a drone, would walk a straight path from last known location before disconnect to home launch area. Once, it flew into a 60-70 foot tree about 50-60 feet up during disconnect. Luckily, it fell to the ground after a strong wind.

Glad everything worked out for you,
Paul

davshev · Jan 30, 2021

Waldo Pepper said:
I’m sorry to hear you lost an Evo 2, and glad to hear insurance covered your loss.

I've lost several in my career, now I use a tracker haven’t lost another drone since purchasing a tracker.

What probably happened, lost connection and started to RTH and struck a tree or other obstacle while disconnected.

What I used to do when loosing a drone, would walk a straight path from last known location before disconnect to home launch area. Once, it flew into a 60-70 foot tree about 50-60 feet up during disconnect. Luckily, it fell to the ground after a strong wind.

Glad everything worked out for you,
Paul

I was thinking of a gps tracker. I have one on my car. I was looking for a very small one for the drone. Which one do you use?

awisepilot · Jan 30, 2021

davshev said:
A few weeks ago I had the misfortune of losing my Evo II 6k. Fortunately, I had it covered through State Farm and they paid for a replacement. I was traveling in AZ and flying around some mountains. I lost the connection to the drone and couldn't seem to get it to connect again. I'm new to the Evo, so I wasn't clear as to what happens when the signal is lost. I assumed it landed. I tried tracking the last location of the drone on the app, but since I was in the mountains, it seemed to be in an area which was inaccessible. I'm still not entirely clear as to what, if anything, I could have done after I lost the signal.

What is the approximate GPS location in Arizona of your lost Drone? I would like to go search for it.

davshev · Jan 30, 2021

awisepilot said:
What is the approximate GPS location in Arizona of your lost Drone? I would like to go search for it.

davshev · Jan 30, 2021

34.8200° N, 111.7932° W. Let me know if you find it! ?

Waldo Pepper · Jan 30, 2021

davshev said:
I was thinking of a gps tracker. I have one on my car. I was looking for a very small one for the drone. Which one do you use?

I use the Guardian model from Trackimo, very small worldwide coverage.

Use it with all my drones, including my RC airplanes. With the large RC aircraft, I mount Trackimo Guardian tracker inside the battery compartment. In my RC Career, lost one RC plane and luckily a farm worker found it days after it was lost.

It’s a great tool not just for drones, RC aircraft can easily loose slight and it’ll fly away.

Happy flying,
Paul

Alaska · Jan 30, 2021

davshev said:
I was thinking of a gps tracker. I have one on my car. I was looking for a very small one for the drone. Which one do you use?

MarcoPolo is great. Long range and does not need cell signal or gps or any outside help. It can walk you right to it from up to 3 miles away depending on the terrain.

davshev · Jan 30, 2021

Waldo Pepper said:
I use the Guardian model from Trackimo, very small worldwide coverage.

Use it with all my drones, including my RC airplanes. With the large RC aircraft, I mount Trackimo Guardian tracker inside the battery compartment. In my RC Career, lost one RC plane and luckily a farm worker found it days after it was lost.

It’s a great tool not just for drones, RC aircraft can easily loose slight and it’ll fly away.

Happy flying,
Paul

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Thanks!

kenautelevo2pro · Jan 30, 2021

regarding your State Farm, let us know what happens next. I lost my dji on mavic and they cut me a check for the price I paid (receipt submitted), they refunded my annual $60 premium, and they didn't ask for any damaged equipment or accessories; only photos of the total drone which was beyond repair. so when I got the evo 2 next, I applied for the same coverage from State Farm and they approved and I paid but 3 month into the policy, they cancelled me (with a refund) citing prior claim. if you don't mind letting us know how this goes please.

davshev · Jan 31, 2021

kenautelevo2pro said:
regarding your State Farm, let us know what happens next. I lost my dji on mavic and they cut me a check for the price I paid (receipt submitted), they refunded my annual $60 premium, and they didn't ask for any damaged equipment or accessories; only photos of the total drone which was beyond repair. so when I got the evo 2 next, I applied for the same coverage from State Farm and they approved and I paid but 3 month into the policy, they cancelled me (with a refund) citing prior claim. if you don't mind letting us know how this goes please.

Yes, I've been concerned they would cancel me, but I haven't heard anything yet. So far I've made two claims on the policy which were close to one another. I was amazed that they paid the second claim, thinking they would just cancel me. However, I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop. I'll keep you posted.

davshev · Feb 1, 2021

davshev said:
Thanks!

A GPS tracker is a very good idea. I spoke with Autel about this. They told me that, unlike my Mavic Pro 2, the Evo II does not have any live GPS capability once a connection is lost between drone and controller. The best case scenario for finding a lost Evo II is from the last location in the flight log.

awisepilot · Feb 1, 2021

davshev said:
34.8200° N, 111.7932° W. Let me know if you find it! ?

If I do you’ll get it back.

davshev · Feb 16, 2021

kenautelevo2pro said:
regarding your State Farm, let us know what happens next. I lost my dji on mavic and they cut me a check for the price I paid (receipt submitted), they refunded my annual $60 premium, and they didn't ask for any damaged equipment or accessories; only photos of the total drone which was beyond repair. so when I got the evo 2 next, I applied for the same coverage from State Farm and they approved and I paid but 3 month into the policy, they cancelled me (with a refund) citing prior claim. if you don't mind letting us know how this goes please.

Sure enough, State Farm has cancelled my policy.

Eagle928 · Feb 16, 2021

davshev said:
Sure enough, State Farm has cancelled my policy.

That appears to be what they always do. I'd be curious to know if your other insurance (house, car, etc) goes up due to this cancellation.

davshev · Feb 16, 2021

Eagle928 said:
That appears to be what they always do. I'd be curious to know if your other insurance (house, car, etc) goes up due to this cancellation.

I sure hope not. Home and car are with a different company.

Eagle928 · Feb 16, 2021

davshev said:
I sure hope not. Home and car are with a different company.

I'm not sure that matters. They all communicate with each other and probably use a common database for marks against someone. I hope it doesn't affect your rates or anyone's. That would be cheesy and wrong in my humble opinion.

Herdfan · Feb 16, 2021

Waldo Pepper said:
It’s a great tool not just for drones, RC aircraft can easily loose slight and it’ll fly away.

When I was a kid, my dad and I flew RC planes. And I ran RC cars. To save a bit of money, we bought one really nice controller and used it for both my cars and the plane (this was way back before they had the nice ones with steering wheels

).

So one day we went out to fly the plane and I thought the controller was charged. It wasn't and after about 20 minutes of flying, the plane just kept going away from us. The controller battery was NOT fully charged. My punishment was to find the plane. Took me and some friends a week, but we finally found it about 3 miles away from the field.

It flew into a huge pine tree and was mostly undamaged.

Dad bough his own controller for the plane after that.

Eagle928 · Feb 16, 2021

Herdfan said:
When I was a kid, my dad and I flew RC planes. And I ran RC cars. To save a bit of money, we bought one really nice controller and used it for both my cars and the plane (this was way back before they had the nice ones with steering wheels ).

So one day we went out to fly the plane and I thought the controller was charged. It wasn't and after about 20 minutes of flying, the plane just kept going away from us. The controller battery was NOT fully charged. My punishment was to find the plane. Took me and some friends a week, but we finally found it about 3 miles away from the field. It flew into a huge pine tree and was mostly undamaged.

Dad bough his own controller for the plane after that.

Good story with a happy ending.

kenautelevo2pro · Feb 16, 2021

davshev said:
Sure enough, State Farm has cancelled my policy.

yeah that's unfortunate. the good news is none of my other insurance policies have gone up even the other one I have with State Farm but it's only been 6 months so we'll see, I guess. just about every insurer gave a 15% discount this year because of covid so I'll check again this summer but at this point I'm not too worried. my next autel will come with autel care.