Waypoints with the ability to insert a Radius

[Jet]

my mavic2zoom has waypoint, didn't it launch 3 years ago? and still, dji has not removed the feature despite numerous sw updates.

I knew about "virtual sticks" but I was not aware 3rd party sw offering (like litchi) were so limited that the only option available for loss of signal is rth. that would almost defeat half the purpose of waypoints even with the extended range of these latest drones. honestly, I still do not believe dji is fearful of the drones being used for "fire and forget" but again, I think we need to see what comes up on mavic3.

The Mavic 2 Pro (and I'm including Zoom) and Mavic Air 1 were the last drones on which they offered Waypoint functionality and that was in 2018...so 3+ years ago. And DJI isn't going to strip out a feature that is already in the product. (Although they may have done that with the Air 1...I seem to recall them doing that and getting a ton of backlash about it.) Since 2018 there's been NADA, NUNCA, ZIPPO, SQUAT when comes to DJI and Waypoints. They've dropped it completely. Nothing on the Mini 1, Mini 2, Air 2, nor the Air 2S.

Frankly I won't care if they offer it exclusively on the Mavic 3 as I won't be spending $2500+ on a Fly More Combo (by the time you add taxes and DJI Care Refresh, etc) or $4,500 for the Cine version. The only way I would benefit from them adding it to the M3 is if they migrate that down to the Air2/Air2S products very quickly. IMO it should be an offering across the full range of product not some exclusive feature for the "Pro". The key selling point for the vast majority of people in a camera drone is the camera. They likely aren't going to buy it solely because it has Waypoints...but they may not buy it because it doesn't have it. Not adding Waypoints to all of their product offerings becomes a competitive weakness for them and will push some people away from their products. I'm an example of that.

Ok that's my rant on DJI and it's epic failure on Waypoints.

And yes unfortunately the crappy "Virtual Sticks API" forces the mission to terminate and RTH if there is a signal loss and it all but eliminates the ability to get smooth turns at Waypoints...so your video from a Waypoint becomes a series of point to point segments joined together with abrupt turns at each waypoint rather than a smooth cinematic journey, etc. . Not good.

 

[Jet]

2 or 3 years ago i bought Parrot Anafi 4K for some fun inbetween pre planned flights on various brands pro ultra "enterprise" platforms, it was really cheap. It end on that i'm using it for all my linear, monthly repetable filming jobs (progress on roads/highways construction sites, up to 40km of straight lines, circular arcs, spiral curves, with elevation changes, orbits around junctions etc.)
The way that Parrot solve waypoint transitions in their stock FreeFlight app... So simple, so satisfying. And it is supported by UgCS and Pix4dCapture.

...

Autel needs to relase SDK (not this piece of garbage thats aviable now on their site) then we will talk about what can be done with it.
View attachment 11889
Aut

From what I've seen Parrot has THE best Mission Planning capabilities of any Drone Manufacturer (I'm not including ISVs in that statement). In fact I would argue that Parrot's Flight software in general is one of if not the best that I've ever used or seen. SOOOO well designed. I miss Parrot.

 

[Jet]

@Jet
"Looks like I'll be purchasing Autel's drones in the future"
If you will, but I am no longer betting on a lame horse that has such a bad sales policy and kills its drones after a year and leaves its customers behind. He follows the same policy as Yuneec and we have seen how the latter left the American continent. I bet that in a year or more, Autel will be gone as well.
I only bought one Evo, it is already at the end of its life.
I still have an Inspire from 2015, it still flies, I can still find batteries, I also have a three-year-old M2Pro, it flies very well (makes me beautiful turns !!!), I find all the spare parts and has even just bought 2 batteries. (Not bad for a three-year-old device,find out who can do better).
Find the mistake .......................

First, I don't believe Autel will be leaving the US, the largest drone market in the world, unless they fall out of the sky (figuratively and business wise) like Yuneec did. And it doesn't appear that Autel has any plans to exit the market having just announced 4 new drones to the market with a 5th coming soon.

WRT to the M2P, at this point in time the MP2 is still the current top of line Prosumer drone for DJI...so of course it's still flying and you'll be able to find parts for it and batteries. But I bet as soon as DJI replaces it with the M3 (on Nov 5th) they'll quickly retire the M2P and stop selling it and it's batteries and you'll be relegated to the after market to buy it. The EVO shipped in 2018, correct? It just happens Autel has just been on a quicker product turn cycle for their high end drone. If DJI had produced a M3 a year ago the M2P too would have been EOLed and you'd be in the same situation as you are with the Evo 1. Can you still fly the EVO 1? Are batteries not available on the secondary market?

WRT the Inspire 1 DJI discontinued that product in May 2018 and they stopped selling ANYTHING for the Inspire 1 by Dec 2018. So how is that any different then EVO 1? The EVO 1 will be 3.5 years old by Dec 2021 when they officially retire it. It's replacement the Evo II became available in Q2 2020. So Autel continued to selling Evo 1 for ~1.5yr after it was replaced by the Evo II...and you think that is unacceptable??? While it would be nice for companies to be able to support a drone forever that's just not possible in today's high pace world..they'd go out of business if they tried to do that. And that wouldn't be good for any of us now would it.