Phone or tablet?

[Ansia]

Shouldn't take you more than 30 seconds to attach your phone and connect it.

 

[Nightbat2]

I only fly with the controller screen. It's very fast to just power on the controller and aircraft, wait until GPS is locked and fly out. Take less than 2 minutes. When I use a tablet or phone, it take at least five to seven minutes to set everything.

Up to now I’ve used the controller only. It’s generally fine. But for videography, I need a larger screen to check what the drone is actually seeing.

 

[Tufargon]

I feel sorry for people who are not using a phone or tablet on the RC. If something happens during flight and you lose the drone there is no way for Autel to see if it will be under warranty. You'll probably be SOL.

 

[Ansia]

I feel sorry for people who are not using a phone or tablet on the RC. If something happens during flight and you lose the drone there is no way for Autel to see if it will be under warranty. You'll probably be SOL.

Actually @macoman lost his drone while flying with the controller and Autel gave him a Refurbished drone for free.

 

[Tufargon]

Actually @macoman lost his drone while flying with the controller and Autel gave him a Refurbished drone for free.

That's pretty fortunate. I can't see them doing that in every case. Too easy to cheat the system and i'm sure a lot of people would. That could cost Autel a fortune.

 

[macoman]

That's pretty fortunate. I can't see them doing that in every case. Too easy to cheat the system and i'm sure a lot of people would. That could cost Autel a fortune.

You have to explain to Autel how you lost the drone and because I was flying over a river and the controller lost communication with the drone. RTH didn't work, it appear that the drone lost power immediately. Perhaps a battery failure, don't know.

 

[Tufargon]

You have to explain to Autel how you lost the drone and because I was flying over a river and the controller lost communication with the drone. RTH didn't work, it appear that the drone lost power immediately. Perhaps a battery failure, don't know.

Right. I'm not saying you cheated the system. I'm just saying it would be very easily done without needing to have some actual proof that you can see like flight records from the device attached.
I'm happy they did the right thing for you

 

[Jagerbomb52]

With macomans case I had some questions I thought only Autel could answer. I posted part of theis email on another post but here is the full email from Autel. Mainly I wanted to know if the RC had flight records which it does not. And I also wanted to know how they decide if a customer is trying to pull a fast one one them.

Thank you for reaching out to us at Autel Robotics Support. I am not sure of the member of your forum that you are referring to, but you are correct. The Evo's remote controller holds no flight records, no recorded telemetry, and/or any recorded stick movements. We will always ask for a customer's leftover components (RC, charging cables, OTG cables, etc.) when going about a replacement. Sometimes customers like to return their remote controllers ahead of time for us to check and see if the remote itself was faulty and had a malfunction in general that could have contributed to the flyaway. From my knowledge of these cases, the remote controller has not been found to be the source of any flyaway.

Again, I am not sure what this specific customer mentioned about his replacement, as I am sure you know, people can openly choose to include or omit anything that they post in a forum so I always like to tell forum users to take any information posted with a grain of salt.

Here at Autel Robotics we always strive to come up with what we believe to be the best possible outcome for our customers, some times that does involve an outright replacement of a unit. In cases where we cannot definitively verify that a lost unit was a legitimate "flyaway", we may or may not offer customers what we like to call a "one time courtesy" replacement. This means that we cannot confirm that an Evo legitimately had a malfunction but we err on the side of the customer to get them back in the air as soon as possible enjoying an Evo again. Please keep in mind that with every reported issue on Evo we do a very thorough investigation, so we do not come about making these decisions lightly and this is not going to happen to every customer that reports a lost Evo.

While I completely understand that you may question this "policy", what that forum member stated is not entirely accurate. We will not only replace one Evo. As you mentioned, there are plenty of other issues that may occur on an Evo, not just a "flyaway" or lost drone. If we can definitively prove that your replacement Evo has a malfunction of some sort, then of course we will take care of you as best as we can. But again, we take any allegation of a malfunction on our product very seriously so we will always heavily investigate these cases.

I hope that this email has shed some light in regards to the questions you asked, and please feel free to approach us with any more questions or concerns if you have any. In the mean time, please enjoy the rest of your Sunday and happy flying!

Best,

Alejandro R.
Customer Support
AUTEL ROBOTICS

 

[Ansia]

With macomans case I had some questions I thought only Autel could answer. I posted part of theis email on another post but here is the full email from Autel. Mainly I wanted to know if the RC had flight records which it does not. And I also wanted to know how they decide if a customer is trying to pull a fast one one them.

Thank you for reaching out to us at Autel Robotics Support. I am not sure of the member of your forum that you are referring to, but you are correct. The Evo's remote controller holds no flight records, no recorded telemetry, and/or any recorded stick movements. We will always ask for a customer's leftover components (RC, charging cables, OTG cables, etc.) when going about a replacement. Sometimes customers like to return their remote controllers ahead of time for us to check and see if the remote itself was faulty and had a malfunction in general that could have contributed to the flyaway. From my knowledge of these cases, the remote controller has not been found to be the source of any flyaway.

Again, I am not sure what this specific customer mentioned about his replacement, as I am sure you know, people can openly choose to include or omit anything that they post in a forum so I always like to tell forum users to take any information posted with a grain of salt.

Here at Autel Robotics we always strive to come up with what we believe to be the best possible outcome for our customers, some times that does involve an outright replacement of a unit. In cases where we cannot definitively verify that a lost unit was a legitimate "flyaway", we may or may not offer customers what we like to call a "one time courtesy" replacement. This means that we cannot confirm that an Evo legitimately had a malfunction but we err on the side of the customer to get them back in the air as soon as possible enjoying an Evo again. Please keep in mind that with every reported issue on Evo we do a very thorough investigation, so we do not come about making these decisions lightly and this is not going to happen to every customer that reports a lost Evo.

While I completely understand that you may question this "policy", what that forum member stated is not entirely accurate. We will not only replace one Evo. As you mentioned, there are plenty of other issues that may occur on an Evo, not just a "flyaway" or lost drone. If we can definitively prove that your replacement Evo has a malfunction of some sort, then of course we will take care of you as best as we can. But again, we take any allegation of a malfunction on our product very seriously so we will always heavily investigate these cases.

I hope that this email has shed some light in regards to the questions you asked, and please feel free to approach us with any more questions or concerns if you have any. In the mean time, please enjoy the rest of your Sunday and happy flying!

Best,

Alejandro R.
Customer Support
AUTEL ROBOTICS

Tomorrow I'm going to call Autel and tell them my Evo flew away and in the process of finding it, a dog stole my controller. I have the rest to send.

 

[Jagerbomb52]

Sounds like your telling your school teacher the dog ate your homework ?

 

[G_G]

I only fly with the controller screen. It's very fast to just power on the controller and aircraft, wait until GPS is locked and fly out. Take less than 2 minutes. When I use a tablet or phone, it take at least five to seven minutes to set everything.

Definitely the fastest deployment! Somewhat limited in capabilities, as no digital zoom yet without a phone/tablet, and no flight logs either.

 

[Nightbat2]

So far, I’ve had nothing but good vibes from Autel support—not that I’ve lost mine yet and hope I never do. But I did have a gimbal issue and a couple of other reasons to contact them. They always come back quickly with good advice. And I don’t live in the Americas, so I realise that time zone differences need to be taken into account.

 

[Nightbat2]

Someone in a similar thread—can’t find it now—said they had asked Autel and had been assured by them that the iPad Mini would fit into the Evo controller’s mount. I tried it at the local Apple store today and it won’t fit. Maybe it was true of the older Minis, but the 4 and 5 have the same dimensions according to references I’ve found on the net.

 

[Ansia]

Someone in a similar thread—can’t find it now—said they had asked Autel and had been assured by them that the iPad Mini would fit into the Evo controller’s mount. I tried it at the local Apple store today and it won’t fit. Maybe it was true of the older Minis, but the 4 and 5 have the same dimensions according to references I’ve found on the net.

The iPhone 6+ almost wont fit. I imagine that any ipad mini model is just a dream.

 

[G_G]

The iPhone 6+ almost wont fit. I imagine that any ipad mini model is just a dream.

Mini and full size iPads fit with different sized extender hooks that can be bought on eBay. However, you can't sync your flight logs from any iPad, and many screens do not scale properly.