Signal Strength Suggestions? I bought 2 Evo 2 drones both have very short range.

[krdronepilot]

I started by buying an Evo 2 8k a little more than two weeks ago.

When I power up the controller literally 2 feet from the drone it immediately began repeatedly complaining video signal is weak. (I live in central florida) I went outside, calibrate and fly and the entire time the alarm is going off about signal. At about 900ft it disconnects entirely and returns home. Tried multiple flights antennas pointed in different directions - no luck.

I started trying to contact Autel (usa) - tried the online form, the live chat (sat there for hours with no response), left phone messages - took 1 week to get any response from a person. He said go at least 30 miles from your home and try again and point the antennas directly at the drone. I also disabled my wifi and BT on my phone. No luck.

So I went 40 miles away to a giant open field with no buildings, power lines, really no civilization at all within at least 10 miles. Same issue, I got it out to about 2,000 feet before it forced a return to home. Moved another 20 miles to another location and tried the same thing - max distance was roughly 2,800 ft. Tried different altitudes as well. Scratching my head I returned the drone for a refund thinking it had to be defective.

I then bought an Evo 2 Pro which arrived today. Went out to fly. Exactly the same issues. At home ~900ft forces return to home, in two different open fields far from civilization and achieved a range of 1/2 mile at best. BTW I also bought the live deck to see if it was the controller - it disconnects from the video as well. I can so far only achieve only 1/15th the advertised distance.

Please Help!! I really, really want this to work.

This doesn't seem to be defective - Is there anything else to try??? Can you manually change channels, frequencies or any other secret that might improve this?

 

[Braz skies]

Same issue I just sent Tech support an email explaining the same thing. I have an Evo pro 2 and my maiden flight was today. so I'm also researching how got make this work.

 

[krdronepilot]

I'm starting to think it's range of the Evo 2 is just extremely limited, as in a typical realistic range of like 1/4 - 1/2 mile from the controller. I guess anything more than that you might need to be in an empty desert or grand canyon type area.

I saw a review tonight of a gadget for the Evo that extends the range for a big price but it looked like you have to disassemble the controller and install it. Even with a very fancy expensive 3rd party antenna he only got to 12,000 feet in a open field away from buildings - even that is less than half the advertised range.

 

[krdronepilot]

So now I have the Evo 2 Pro and flew it today. It's a replacement unit, upgraded from an Evo 2 8K. The maximum range I could achieve before automatic drone return to home in a wide open field not near anything was a pitiful 1,500 feet. So I tried the 8k in 4 different places and the Pro in 4 different places.

I'm going to just return the Evo 2 Pro for a refund along with the Live Deck. The features are not useful if you have to fly so close to the controller.

Shame on Autel for claiming 9km range even in ideal circumstances. Typical range seems to be a tiny fraction of that. It seems you must travel to a desert somewhere to achieve even half of that.

 

[Waldo Pepper]

So now I have the Evo 2 Pro and flew it today. It's a replacement unit, upgraded from an Evo 2 8K. The maximum range I could achieve before automatic drone return to home in a wide open field not near anything was a pitiful 1,500 feet. So I tried the 8k in 4 different places and the Pro in 4 different places.

I'm going to just return the Evo 2 Pro for a refund along with the Live Deck. The features are not useful if you have to fly so close to the controller.

Shame on Autel for claiming 9km range even in ideal circumstances. Typical range seems to be a tiny fraction of that. It seems you must travel to a desert somewhere to achieve even half of that.

I’m sorry to hear of the range issues, both your Evo 8k and Evo 6k went the same distance. This is odd, where the antennas pointed towards the direction of drone?

Before modifying my Evo 2 controller, Evo 2 Pro had no problem going the advertised distance. Some areas were weak, yes and less range but that was due to interference. Out in open areas, no problem going the distance. Fortunately, Have permission to fly on both cattle range and farm land. Some mountain terrain, yet no inference great areas to fly.

Try again if possible, with both antennas pointed towards the drone.

Good luck, please keep us posted.
Paul

 

[scoutie]

I received my EVO 2 a few weeks ago and only did a short test flight which it did fine. After reading these posts about the short range I took it out and tried a couple more flights. I also got out to like 1600ft and the signal was gone and got a RTH which I cancelled once it got closer. I sent it out in another direction over some wooded areas where I always fly and it barely made it there . I got the Aircraft and Controller disconnected message and had another RTH. I mean these distance were what I was getting with my DJI Spark which is terrible. I also got the weak signal message right after it connected on start up sitting 5ft from me.
Afterwards I brought out my Evo1 and flew in the exact same directions so I could compare the two. Well the EVO1 beat the pants off the EVO 2 on my regular flight paths and it never disconnected. This is extremely troubling and Im feeling it was a big waste of money. I will be heading to the Texas Hill country next week where there is no interference so I will try the EVO2 there and see what happens. Maybe it is more prone to the interference in the suburbs than the EVO 1 is. I will give an update end of next week to see what happens. Either way I expected that the signal strength would give it a bit more range in the suburbs but that hasnt been the case.

 

[Madhungarian]

Look how this person has their antennas positioned(4:50) and also try changing your video transmission to smooth and set the bandwidth to either 10mhz and then try 5.

 

[Waldo Pepper]

Look how this person has their antennas positioned(4:50) and also try changing your video transmission to smooth and set the bandwidth to either 10mhz and then try 5.

Thanks for sharing the Evo 2 range video Madhungarian, and mentioning the video transmission to smooth changes.

This video is about the same experience I achieved when my controller was stock, that’s about the maximum it’ll go to safely return to launch area in fact this was pushing it a little. I don’t recommend going further, Evo 2 will not return safely, it’ll definitely land short 1-2 miles from launch pad.

When I added the Alientech Pro booster to my Evo 2 Pro controller, it took away the poor video feed and most weak transmission alerts. Video feed is clear, solid now. Plus, with a booster Evo 2 can fly at half the elevation instead of these insane elevation flights we are seeing with range videos. Adding a booster is for up close flights as well, we all deal with some type of inference from WiFi to obstacles.

Autel advertises Evo 2 has 35 minute flight time, I haven’t achieved this yet. More like 26 to 30 minutes, my type of flying consists of long missions for research, From my experience it’s between 10 to 10.5 miles round trip to safely bring it back before battery is exhausted. That’s close to Autels claim of 5.5 miles x 2 = 11 miles round trip. Still terrific in my book.

Anyway, hope my experience with Evo 2 helps others. Yes, it has its short comings. For me, the strengths outweigh the negative. I enjoy and fly other drones, mostly for research. Evo 2 Pro is my grab and go drone, over the Mavic 2 Pro which is now my backup.

Good luck, and hope you all find what works for you.

Paul

 

[krdronepilot]

Look how this person has their antennas positioned(4:50) and also try changing your video transmission to smooth and set the bandwidth to either 10mhz and then try 5.

Autel's own engineers stated the "bandwidth" setting in the app is nothing of the sort - it merely defines the scale of the graph shown above it. That setting has nothing whatsoever to do with transmission rate to the drone.

I spent lots of time attempting to point the antennas directly at the Evo 2. It's just silly to go to such lengths to achieve even a fraction of the advertised specs from the manufacturer.

The guy in the 9km video must be 100 miles from even a building. I've never had to grapple with concerns like that with my previous drones.

Think about it - step 1) find a location 100 miles from the nearest conflicting signal and step 2) carefully point your antenna exactly towards the drone at all times. Seriously?

The previous message has an Alientech pro booster attached - that thing is yet another $500+ dollars to achieve a range STILL lower than the advertised specs.

I'm just disgusted with this.

 

[Jagerbomb52]

Autel's own engineers stated the "bandwidth" setting in the app is nothing of the sort - it merely defines the scale of the graph shown above it. That setting has nothing whatsoever to do with transmission rate to the drone.

I spent lots of time attempting to point the antennas directly at the Evo 2. It's just silly to go to such lengths to achieve even a fraction of the advertised specs from the manufacturer.

The guy in the 9km video must be 100 miles from even a building. I've never had to grapple with concerns like that with my previous drones.

Think about it - step 1) find a location 100 miles from the nearest conflicting signal and step 2) carefully point your antenna exactly towards the drone at all times. Seriously?

The previous message has an Alientech pro booster attached - that thing is yet another $500+ dollars to achieve a range STILL lower than the advertised specs.

I'm just disgusted with this.

I wonder if there are any other EVO II owners in your area? I know living in the state your from it is very populated and probably has a lot of Wi-FI interference but you should not be having the problems that you have posted about. It would be good to get with a another EVO II owner to see if the problem is the UAV or just maybe your setup. Not saying you are doing anything wrong but sometimes the simplest things can make a difference. So if your willing to reach out to fellow members in your area it might be very helpful to resolve your problems.
This is why we have the members map, to help others in your area and get to know flying buddies.

 

[Madhungarian]

Autel's own engineers stated the "bandwidth" setting in the app is nothing of the sort - it merely defines the scale of the graph shown above it. That setting has nothing whatsoever to do with transmission rate to the drone.

I spent lots of time attempting to point the antennas directly at the Evo 2. It's just silly to go to such lengths to achieve even a fraction of the advertised specs from the manufacturer.

The guy in the 9km video must be 100 miles from even a building. I've never had to grapple with concerns like that with my previous drones.

Think about it - step 1) find a location 100 miles from the nearest conflicting signal and step 2) carefully point your antenna exactly towards the drone at all times. Seriously?

The previous message has an Alientech pro booster attached - that thing is yet another $500+ dollars to achieve a range STILL lower than the advertised specs.

I'm just disgusted with this.

I do not have an Evo II, just the first version and I have gone out close to 8 thousand feet with heavy interference and I am pretty sure both Evos use the same transmission system for video. I have seen Originaldobo(on youtube) have his Evo 1 transmitter bind to an Evo 2 with video working. I really do not know what engineer you talked to but the bandwidth does make a difference at least from my experience. That graph shows what frequencies the transmitter is using when you switch bandwidths lengths(and it keeps switching to the strongest signal and to the frequency length you set it to if its 5, 10, or 20mhz). I can understand this can be frustrating however Augustine has a point, if you can find someone else in your area with a Evo II you will have something to compare it to. Good luck.

 

[krdronepilot]

I ended up refunding the Evo 2 8k and the Evo 2 Pro (and the live deck). The low signal strength in even mildly populated areas is just a deal breaker.

To those who responded THANK YOU very much for your attempts to help. Very appreciated. Had Autel been more responsive and helpful I might have given it another week or two but 8 days between responses is just ridiculous.

 

[Icewing]

That is strange, I have flown both in major cities and in rural areas to distances of about 2km (6000ft) and have always had a solid connection. The only thing i can think of is som kind of local interference or a defect.

 

[scoutie]

I just returned off vacation and had great results in the texas hill country with the range. I went out as far as I dared and had no issues and never lost connection. Overall was really impressed but of course back at home still not so good. Just way to much interferance I guess.

 

[krdronepilot]

I returned the drone and Autel hit me with a nearly $400 restocking fee. Someone here suggested I post it on their facebook and they deleted it immediately. Very scary.

 

[krdronepilot]

That is strange, I have flown both in major cities and in rural areas to distances of about 2km (6000ft) and have always had a solid connection. The only thing i can think of is som kind of local interference or a defect.

Thing is even 6000ft is not that far. I tried it with TWO Evo 2 Autel drones in multiple locations.

 

[Bstrong]

I got the EVO 2 Pro about a month or so ago for my drone business here in Las Vegas. I have been using a Phantom 4 Pro V 2.0 that works very well with no issues other than the GEO fencing nightmare. The Evo Pro comes in very handy as a backup for any potential GEO fencing issues that might pop up. I have been having connection issues with the Evo 2 Pro since day 1. I use an Ipad Mini 4 that works great with the Phantom 4 Pro, no issues. I try the same Ipad Mini 4 with the Evo 2 Pro and it loses connection only a couple of hundred feet away, I replug in the cord and it reconnects. Seems to work better with the iPhone 11, but still loses connection every now and then. Very frustrating. I have been emailing Autel support back and forth. Double checked all the settings, reinstalled the firmware. Will do a drone project tomorrow and see how it works out. Skyviewlv.com

Bstrong

 

[Jagerbomb52]

I don't see how a phone or tablet will make a difference in how well the range on EVO II is? The RC is what connects to the bird and the antenna's play a big part in this. If your getting interruptions in video feed then that's a separate issue. Has nothing to with how well the EVO II' range is.

 

[Bstrong]

I was not getting interruptions in the video feed, drone was disconnecting from the device. The RC and device disconnected. Autel suggested that I try different devices.
Tried everything.

 

[Jagerbomb52]

So you lost telemetry? If you did I would have thought it would go into RTH? Seems your problem is confusing and different then the OP's problem at least to me.