Great suggestions!. My drone crashed too but I had still 10% battery, so when I got to the place by following the GPS I still could not find it. I was walking in circles but I had the great idea of putting the drone in flight mode by turning on the propellers and that noise made possible to locate the drone in the middle of the snow pile. Lesson: Land manually when you reach 10% battery and you are far from your start point. That 10% of battery left will help to find the drone faster. Act quickly to recover your drone.
One thing that will help find your drone (especially a Mavic) is to use a Velcro strap to secure the battery. In many crashes the battery comes loose so you can't regain connectivity but if it still has power you can use the transmitter to locate it because when you get closer it will reconnect. In the Mavic or most DJI drones it's also in the log file on your tablet or phone. I also covered my Mavic in a 3rd party orange skin from Amazon to make it more visible because it's hard to spot among pine needles and dead leaves.
Same. This literally just happened to me around half an hour ago. I tried to bring it down but it just kept flying upwards. It went very far in the distance as I lost sight of it and I don't think it was fitted with a tracker. I really need help to know how to find it
Very good & informative video. thank you. You know what should be added to the DJI Go app a 'horn' button that makes the start up noise! Would give you an even better chance of finding it. failing that something high pitched 👍
Thank you I lost mine 2 days ago and I never found yet but I’ll look again today but I’m not hopeful but the next time I buy one I’ll buy a tracker for it. All the best
This is what I have been asking about for years. The DJI drones don't do aerobatics, they are made to fly mostly upright. They have a gyroscope built into them to help them fly. If the quad copter decides to head off it would probably crash somewhere. I would like to see incorporated in the next version of the DJI series a "Help Here I AM" feature. If it were to crash or fly off it would go into a fail-safe mode and broadcast a signal which the receiver would then pickup and display a map of where the drone is!
That is a great idea and I am actually working on a Phantom 5 wishlist clip right now and suggest something similar. These are way too expensive to lose and it seems like a no-brainer that they should come with some type of tracker built in. Thanks for posting and be sure to sub the channel so you don;t miss anything. Rick
Thank you so much for talking about this, I just lost sight of mine one time and was a nervous wreck until I heard it coming back to home point. Keep up all the great info. Fly Safe
This TrackR product is what I use it will work on gps map also it shows you exactly where it last was you only use the phone Bluetooth to ring the device I haven’t lost my device or my drone and tested this by putting in in my friends vehicle. It showed my drone step by step going down the highway. So as far as cheap way to find it works well gps map led me rite to it in the test. Love the videos keep it up. You and Ken Heron are the best
Using The cellular type of tracker assumes that you are in range of a cell tower . When travelling in Australia they can be few and far between. Love your work , please keep it up .
Also a good idea to carry a usb Charger with you to be able to charge up your controller when it starts to get low. plus my drones have my address and contact details written under the battery as well.
Lost my little Hubsan h501s it cought the wind last week and was up up and away, followed the gps co-ordinates on the controller for about half an hour but walked past the drone a few times before I spotted it in the undergrowth just before dark , I have got a bluetooth tag now , should have watched this last week , never considered the difficulty of finding it in the shrubs and trees , another tip is to keep well charged batteries in the controller so you can track it
Hi Rick, great Video! I'm was surprised you did not mention the Trackimo. I do see you listed a link for it below the video, but it's what I use. No sim cards and initial cost about 130 which includes the first year, then only 5.00 month to month. I've never used it to find a lost drone yet but like you said about one of the other I think the tracking was originally developed to put on your kids, as it has all sorts of boundaries you can set up, an SOS alarm, geo-fencing etc. My understanding is it also uses the Cell network and GPS so you've got both options going for you. I do like your idea of the tracker with the open sim and buying a pay only when you use it plan. that could last a long time! I've noticed on youtube hardly any flyaway videos with the Phantom 4, probably because it has dual imus and dual compasses. Finally, you touched on it but in the DJI GO app you showed the recording of the flight which should show right where it is. It's almost like a built in tracker. Anyway great topic and video thanks for posting!
Good to Know! Thank you for putting this together. I'm kind of new to the hobby and started with a Mavic 2 Zoom. The last thing I want is to have my drone fly away and not know what to do. I'm trying to learn as much as I can, and this is great info thanks again.
I lost my jjrc x9pc drone to day in the woods where we doing buchclearing and it took off on it one and i last saw where it was but screen went black so that means my drone lost power or battery got out what can i do to get it back I'm really sad cause it just took of whent sideways and just went on now i don't know where it is i traid the home button but it went on didn't return the controller went off after 20 minutes and i still did not find it its 4 hours and still nothing gone trai tomorrow agen to find it
is it safe to buy a "replacement unit" (aka drone body only) on ebay? (from sellers with good reputation obviously) Like no need to buy the whole package again if you already have the controller and batteries etc.
I lost my little drone the SkyHunter I haven't found it and now it's gone for 2 days including today I had my uncle and cousin to help me find it but now it's just a useless, what do I do?
My drone connects the camera through wifi so when i lost mine i just serached for internet on my phone and the drone connected therefor i knew it was close so then i found it
Thanks for the post and the support. I have heard of this problem with a few of the quads and hope you have it back soon. Summer is fading and I'm sure you want to get back out flying!
Can you do a video on how to find a race quad? Someone powered on theirs on my video channel and I completely lost video, it was a couple seconds before I was able to process thei information and disarm the quad, but they're pretty fast machines, have no idea where it is.
Hi Rick. There is something not related to the topic of your video. The latest DJI Go app version 4.10 if i am right, disconnects and connects, and sometimes there is a 2 minute delay between the Mavic pro and the Samsung S5 phone connected to the RC. What can I do? I had to reinstall the old version but when I installed the new version again I had the same problems again & again. Do you have any suggestions or do you have any information about this? Thank you from Iran!😘
Great video, very helpful. I have a question that you probably could help me with. I bought a mavic pro platinum 3 weeks ago, had about 20 flights out of it, no crashes. Anyway I was flying one day and my Android phone lost connection and remote. After getting it landed. It would not allow me to fly again, when I turned on the controller, only thing that came up was a battery signal, and on my phone nothing would come up. When I tried to take off. It would give me a failure to take off, and a red box warning would appear saying cannot fly more then 10meters Attitude and 50 meters And before when you start up the drone, it would make that Cookie sound doo doo doo doo, and the props would Shami, well it doesn't do that anymore, and I've notice the green light in the rear would glow brighter, with red and yellow led lights in the center, and the front, the red led lights would be on. Sorry about this being so long, I tried DJI support, didn't get no where, only thing I can think of is I downloaded from my drone to my computer , took a very long time, and my drone got so hot, I couldn't even touch the bottom..I know was not thinking, any words of Conclusions that you can help me with would be greatly appreciated Thank you Kindly. Aaron Columbus Michigan
20Mar2019. Thanks for another great video. Can you update this specific subject of tracking drones? I see some are 2 yrs ago, might be better trackers in 2019.
Any suggestion for a GPS tracker the one in your video it pretty big. I was looking into this but the size kind of sucks so i was thinking of using the BT version.
The two I recommend most often are the Trakimo and the Marco Polo. Both of these will find your quad almost anywhere it lands (or crashes). I have links for both on Amazon in the comments of the clip for you to compare them. I am hoping that DJI adds a SIM slot to the Phantom 5 when it arrives to be able to slip a card into the quad and have it provide a tracking beacon natively. Thanks for watching and be sure to sub the channel. Rick
Thanks again for another really helpful video! Went to your link on Trakimo and notice several reviews indicated it wasn't reliable. Any thoughts? Also, how would mounting go with Mavic Pro?
Chuck, thanks for the kind words on the clip and I'm glad that you enjoyed it. The Trakimo version one was on the 2G network, which worked fine initially. In recent years a lot of cell towers were being converted to the faster 3G, which meant there were dead spots for these original models. The newer version uses the 3G network and has a much wider coverage map in the US at this point so if you're thinking of adding one to your drone, make sure it's the 3G version. It's a very small device and comes with a "universal" drone mounting kit that you can use to strap it to the Mavic. There are some 3-d printed brackets you can buy for the Phantom line and I'm sure very soon for the Mavic as well. I hope that helps and thanks again for watching. Rick
i lost my Mini for 10 days but managed to find it using DJI's records with the last known spot in a desolate wooded lake area in Ontario. I managed to capture the last known GPS coordinates and used my phone to find it to within a foot of the drone. However, this has given me extreme "drone anxiety" and my expensive Mavic 2 Zoom is one I simply can't afford to lose. I have started filing a rough flight plan in my head prior to sending it out which allows me to think about possible problems it may encounter. My flying partner with 500 flights on his Zoom totaling over 3000 kms laughs at me since he has had no problems in all these flights all over the world with the professional Zoom drone. But I can't clear this anxiety and as a result only fly for very short distances out of FEAR...... this is not how it's supposed to be.... I like the cellular option; however, I often fly in deserted areas of Ontario where there is no cell connection. But thank you for the excellent video.....
I found another interesting looking option by Drone Mods called UAV Locator. Are a few videos on TH-cam about it that you might find interesting. Thanks again for keeping attention on this important issue!
John, thanks a lot for watching and posting. I do know about that product and thinks it's very effective. I just did a clip on suggestions for the Phantom 5 and think that DJI should add a SIM slot to the bird to allow us to track it. We'll see what happens. Thanks again for the post and support, be sure to sub the channel.
Thanks for the excellent video on this subject. I should point out however that not all of the areas we fly are within cell coverage as we might as we might assume. I live in Canada and apart from the more populated areas cell coverage is nonresistant. Once you live the city, even just a few mile, coverage is lost thus your tracking ability. These devices are great , WHEN THEY WORK, fly smart first. Keep the faith, BIll
Bill, I agree with you and have a few friends that fly in very rural areas where cell coverage is spotty. I use the GPS tracker most of the time but also like the Marco Polo dedicated model since it uses its own radio for tracking and is good for about 2 miles. Thanks for posting and I hope you sub the channel so you don't miss anything.
So.. Mom bought us our first drone and dad wanted to try it and it just flew away(it's probably somewhere in the woods) . He is now pissed at everyone and everything. 😶
Saw drone hit a tree. It dropped down. Using the flight data says at end of track altitude 13feet. DJI How accurate is the altitude? Dark grey in a dark tree hard to see. Thanks
I liked your video. I've already had 2 toy grade ones returned just by having my phone number on them. Strong upper wind gusts are the worst. I just lost my Bug 3. I can't imagine losing an expensive drone.
Rick If you don't mine me asking!! which one do you use all the time. I didn't hear you say. Please would you share it with us? Also I really like your videos so keep up the good work.. I'm a member of the lost DRONE club, so I need to find a good tracker to use. Thanks
I am hoping you are going to do a video on return to home when you have it switched to follow the controller have not been able to find any TH-cam videos like this... All of them are just showing The regular return to home feature and how accurate it is from its take off spot there must be 1000 of those videos... not quite sure why there is no return to home wherever the controller is...I think this video would be very helpful on TH-cam👍 scared to use this feature not real sure how to do it or how accurate it is😳
John, Thanks for the post and for watching. I really enjoy flying and had a few people ask me about fly-aways so I did the clip to help. I appreciate the support on the channel and hope you sub me if you haven't already so you don't miss any updates.
some good suggestions. I lost my Mavic a couple of weeks ago. it wouldn't re-connect and I messed up/got impatient and rebooted the RC. Eventually I was able to reconnect and capture of photo. The camera was pointing up towards the sky so I had no reference point and like an idiot it didn't occur to me to tilt down on the camera to maybe see more identifiable terrain! In any case, I didn't realize, until I got home, that DJI has a "Find My Drone" function. When I located it, there was an arrow showing its last know position. Since then I've meticulously combed the area and have not been able to locate the Mavic. It's very frustrating because according to the "Find my Drone" it should absolutely be at that location. I guess my question would be...is "Find My Drone" really that accurate??
FMD uses GPS logs. So, it can be accurate to within 15-100 feet. However, if the drone lost GPS before it crashed, and the wind is strong, it could be 1000 feet or more away from the last logged GPS.
that's a very good point and I've been looking 1000' or more outside the arrow indicates its last position. however, when I did manage to reconnect, the drone was on the ground and I have a photo showing the golden colored wheat like grass on the sides of the image. so my point being, if it was down on the ground, wouldn't that be the last GPS coordinate? (where the arrow is on my FMD) I've search extensively in and around the immediate 'arrow' location and nothing. Also, its off the main road so I doubt it was picked up by someone else. I'm not giving up and am starting to search with the new MP-2. Thanks for your reply and I'll keep you posted!
After 2 minutes of flying, got it stuck in a tree.. Was able to get it out using a 13 ft fishing rod.. 2 minutes after that it went over 2 houses and im pretty sure its on the roof of a 3 story apartment complex... It was fun while it lasted..lol
Another great video! Keep 'em coming. This is my biggest fear (I'm sure it is with all UAV owners). If I see any interference warning, I bring it down right away. I do not want a fly away. I also keep it high enough not to hit anything (well, usually). I will probably get a tracker of some sort. However, living in Louisiana, if it goes down, chances are it will be in water anyway. :(
I've lost two quads in flight in the last year and it was a very stressful hunt to find them. I was lucky to recover both but now won't put them up without a tracker attached. Small investment but great peace of mind. You're lucky living in Louisiana, must be a beautiful area to fly.
Drone Valley It's kind of flat, but there are some nice areas, if you can get around all the rules and regulations. Knock on wood, I've been very lucky and very careful, but my hands are shaky every time I fly!
I have the litchi app on the Phantom 4 my phone is the Samsung Note 4 can't seem to get it to work is there any certain thing I need to do please help thank you in advance
I haven't used that phone so I can't really tell you if it's compatible or not but both the DJI Go app and the Litchi app require about the same horsepower so if you can run ghr DJI Go app on the phone you should be OK for Litchi. Give me a few more details about what's not working and maybe I can help. Thanks for the post and be sure to sub the channel so you don't miss my replies. Rick
thanks for your videos..how you don't have more people is beyond me...im no youtube guru either and i haven't posted videos since my eachine drone crashed and burned because it's a racer and they just aren't my thing...once i get my mavic i believe i'll mention you in all my videos and even though i probably won't get any views out of them...at least i'm trying...besides flite test youtube channel i believe yours is the best and actually i like your videos and information more than them...i think eventually your channel will grow hopefully...youve really changed how i think about safety measures and everything else and i'm also gearing up to take that part 107 exam just to have because i think it's eventually going to be a requirement because of some people's reckless flying
Devin, thanks a lot for your kind words and I'm glad you're find value in the content I'm posting. I'm kind of new to TH-cam and it takes time for a channel to pick up subscribers but I'm a patient guy that just loves flying so hopefully I'll grow with time. I think you taking the Part 107 is a smart move and will open doors for you commercially as well as provide expanded privileges in the future. Thanks again for supporting the channel and be sure to stop back soon, I have a few new clips posting this week. Rick
In some fb groups I've joined the ammount of people with kids that have lost these over past few days is crazy !! can't you watch where they're flying via your phones or do they come with a screen thingy to watch them on ? as you can tell I have no drone ( I wish lol ) but surely there's an easier way to keep your eye on them without all this huge expense
The ideal would be to have both a SIM cell tracker and a RF beacon-type tracker (e.g. Loc8tor or Marco Polo). They don't weigh much, so they'd fit. 1) The cell tracker has no range limit, but the drone could be in a no cell coverage area, and once you do get to the GPS-indicated area, actually finding the drone in the brush can get tricky if the tracker itself doesn't beep (Tractive cell pet trackers do beep..) 2) The RF beacon tracker is limited in range (Loc8tor: 20-100m, more if in line of sight) but helps you find the drone in the immediate area. Ultimatley though, DJI should make an optional (or integrated!) tracking system with both a sim slot and a beacon, and DJI GO app interfaceable - given how much the drones cost. Furthermore, DJI would be able to design and test them, so there'd be less risk of radio interference with the drone's controller.
YES!..That is a good idea I've thought about it too , I lost my drone too after a i received it. now i planed to buy tracker for it next to avoid issue
Just thought of adding some reflector tape to my drone for worst case scenario last hail marry option. But makes sense as you have been looking for the drone all day and now its getting dark 🙀 So looking at night with a high powered flood light might be a possibility the reflector should stand out pretty good even just a little bit should do.
The Marco Polo system is great because you don't have to worry about cell service at all. It uses a dedicated network and can find it's beacon a few miles away and will guide you right to the drone. You can also add more tags for dogs and other things you may want to track. Here's a link to Amazon so you can check out the full specs - amzn.to/2eHe1Ol Thanks for posting and be sure to stop back soon. Rick
Thanks for the post and I'm really glad you enjoyed the clip. I'll have a lot more posting this week so be sure to sub the channel so you don't miss anything. Thanks, Rick
With the dji app, go to the maps of last known location. Write down the latitude and longitude coordinates presented on the screen, punch those numbers into Google maps ;)
Put up flyers around where you lost it and hopefully someone honest found it and see's your flyer and they call you ! Wish you the best in finding it my friend and fellow drone fan !
The battery in my 3DR IRIS+ would get disconnected as it was flung from my drone on violent crashes so even if I got close to it on my search, my monitor wouldn't change from static to video from my GoPro. My GoPro would also get disconnected and flung because I secured it with rubber bands rather than screwing it in to lock it down. I accidentally flew my drone behind a house. It was supposed to return to home but it kept going. I was able to get many eye witnesses who told me which way the drone was going but on a full battery flying in a straight line, I think it could go 10 miles before the battery died. I searched off and on for weeks but never found it. That would have made an incredible fail video for TH-cam. Another tip is put your contact info on the drone. If someone finds it, they might contact you.
Patrick, sorry to hear about your runaway 3DR. As I said in the clip, you feel violated when your drone abandons you and the search can be stressful. I've had two incidents this year and was lucky enough to find both quads but it was a harrowing search. I won't takeoff now without the tracker attached in case it ever happens again. Thanks for posting and be sure to sub the channel so you don't miss any updates.
Just came back from finding my drone 1 hour after lost,no signal found from my drone and the last FPS is just a picture of a white wall,after checking the wind velocity is 20km/h I regretted not checking it in the first place before it fly
thank you since the drones are using up to 20 GPS SATELITES why can't their exact location be extracted after an "incodent" if the emergency landing has kicked in it still should have enough power to send out signal with exact GPS COORDINATES AGAIN THANK YOU YOUR VIDEOS ARE AWESOME
I agree completely and am suggesting just that in a clip I'm working on for the Phantom 5. The drone uses such high-tech features as GPS to navigate and it should be an easy thing to lock its last know position in the controller so you could at least start your search there when it's lost. I appreciate the support and hope you sub the channel so you don't miss any new clips. Rick
Darryl, great idea and I had a friend of mine recover a quad he lost by just putting a label like that on his drone. It shows that people still want to do the right thing sometimes. Thanks for the post and be sure to sub the channel so you don't miss anything. Rick
Super great info again Rick. Like the idea the one guy said to put something on the drone that says if found reward will be given. Keep up the great videos. Fly Safe
Here’s a really stupid one that I did. I had just built a new micro so I didn’t have much money or time in it but still that’s not the point. It was the first time in the air and I was trimming it out. It had been a while since flying so I used the throttle trim instead of the elevator trim like an idiot. I don’t know what I was thinking. The throttle went up and wouldn’t go down. When it got so high and wouldn’t come down i flipped the disarm switch.I kept wondering why until I realized what I had done. I have no buzzer or anything so wish me luck.
Thanks for the post and I hope everything worked out OK. I've lost a few quads over the years and it sometimes took a day or two of searching to find them. I hope you enjoyed the clip and will consider subbing the channel. Rick
Drone Valley I did and I forgot to sub but did just now so thanks for reminding me. Day two and still haven’t found it. I have a buzzer on order but i wanted to fly before getting it, now I wish I would have.
Great suggestions!. My drone crashed too but I had still 10% battery, so when I got to the place by following the GPS I still could not find it. I was walking in circles but I had the great idea of putting the drone in flight mode by turning on the propellers and that noise made possible to locate the drone in the middle of the snow pile. Lesson: Land manually when you reach 10% battery and you are far from your start point. That 10% of battery left will help to find the drone faster. Act quickly to recover your drone.
I lost my drone on the first 5 minutes of receiving it.
LegionFilms same... hope you found it since then...
Dude same
Me too
Mine was a birthday present
#feelsbadman
One thing that will help find your drone (especially a Mavic) is to use a Velcro strap to secure the battery. In many crashes the battery comes loose so you can't regain connectivity but if it still has power you can use the transmitter to locate it because when you get closer it will reconnect. In the Mavic or most DJI drones it's also in the log file on your tablet or phone.
I also covered my Mavic in a 3rd party orange skin from Amazon to make it more visible because it's hard to spot among pine needles and dead leaves.
I flew my drone upwards and it suddenly moved in one direction, this didn't have anything to do with wind, it was a technical issue
Yep, happened to me once too.
Was it the DX-5?
And then we were both done with cheap drones
I had a dji p2 lock up fc accellerometer and do that havent found it tho
Same. This literally just happened to me around half an hour ago. I tried to bring it down but it just kept flying upwards. It went very far in the distance as I lost sight of it and I don't think it was fitted with a tracker. I really need help to know how to find it
Very good & informative video. thank you. You know what should be added to the DJI Go app a 'horn' button that makes the start up noise! Would give you an even better chance of finding it. failing that something high pitched 👍
I totally agree and it's on my list for the "must-have" features for the upcoming Phantom 5. Thanks for watching and be sure to sub the channel,
Thank you I lost mine 2 days ago and I never found yet but I’ll look again today but I’m not hopeful but the next time I buy one I’ll buy a tracker for it. All the best
What's "Bettery Accuracy" @ 2:36?
This is what I have been asking about for years. The DJI drones don't do aerobatics, they are made to fly mostly upright.
They have a gyroscope built into them to help them fly. If the quad copter decides to head off it would probably crash somewhere. I would like to see incorporated in the next version of the DJI series a "Help Here I AM" feature. If it were to crash or fly off it would go into a fail-safe mode and broadcast a signal which the receiver would then pickup and display a map of where the drone is!
That is a great idea and I am actually working on a Phantom 5 wishlist clip right now and suggest something similar. These are way too expensive to lose and it seems like a no-brainer that they should come with some type of tracker built in. Thanks for posting and be sure to sub the channel so you don;t miss anything. Rick
Do you have a video on your drone falling down in a meadow of tall grass (that’s what happened yesterday my new Christmas drone )
I got a drone for Christmas as well, and I took it out and within 7 minutes I lost it in the forest. I’m really disappointed we can’t find it
you also have the basic find my drone in the dji go4 app which seems good plus you can play sound and flash lights
Ceeps cp Question. Would if the battery is dead. Would the sound and flash lights still work?
@@CelesteSolorio7
In that case, no.
Good video thank you vary match pat I have camera sensor error if you can help me with this.what I shed to do
What if it is a barebone kind of drone where there is no camera, tracking system
I lost my drone when it got it on Christmas please put signs up on it it has a flashlight which is blue and its small with black
Thank you so much for talking about this, I just lost sight of mine one time and was a nervous wreck until I heard it coming back to home point. Keep up all the great info. Fly Safe
Is there a tracker system that will work with a protocol director
This TrackR product is what I use it will work on gps map also it shows you exactly where it last was you only use the phone Bluetooth to ring the device I haven’t lost my device or my drone and tested this by putting in in my friends vehicle. It showed my drone step by step going down the highway. So as far as cheap way to find it works well gps map led me rite to it in the test. Love the videos keep it up. You and Ken Heron are the best
Using The cellular type of tracker assumes that you are in range of a cell tower . When travelling in Australia they can be few and far between. Love your work , please keep it up .
Also a good idea to carry a usb Charger with you to be able to charge up your controller when it starts to get low. plus my drones have my address and contact details written under the battery as well.
Lost my little Hubsan h501s it cought the wind last week and was up up and away, followed the gps co-ordinates on the controller for about half an hour but walked past the drone a few times before I spotted it in the undergrowth just before dark , I have got a bluetooth tag now , should have watched this last week , never considered the difficulty of finding it in the shrubs and trees , another tip is to keep well charged batteries in the controller so you can track it
I have a Loc8tor on my H501s Hubsan - haven't lost it yet!
Hi Rick, great Video! I'm was surprised you did not mention the Trackimo. I do see you listed a link for it below the video, but it's what I use. No sim cards and initial cost about 130 which includes the first year, then only 5.00 month to month. I've never used it to find a lost drone yet but like you said about one of the other I think the tracking was originally developed to put on your kids, as it has all sorts of boundaries you can set up, an SOS alarm, geo-fencing etc. My understanding is it also uses the Cell network and GPS so you've got both options going for you. I do like your idea of the tracker with the open sim and buying a pay only when you use it plan. that could last a long time! I've noticed on youtube hardly any flyaway videos with the Phantom 4, probably because it has dual imus and dual compasses. Finally,
you touched on it but in the DJI GO app you showed the recording of the flight which should show right where it is. It's almost like a built in tracker. Anyway great topic and video thanks for posting!
Nice vid - still relevant three years later!
Good to Know! Thank you for putting this together. I'm kind of new to the hobby and started with a Mavic 2 Zoom. The last thing I want is to have my drone fly away and not know what to do. I'm trying to learn as much as I can, and this is great info thanks again.
If you believe the battery in your drone is dead. Is there any other way
On Instagram
How would you attach one of those marco polo transmitters to a tiny drone like the Spark?
I lost my jjrc x9pc drone to day in the woods where we doing buchclearing and it took off on it one and i last saw where it was but screen went black so that means my drone lost power or battery got out what can i do to get it back I'm really sad cause it just took of whent sideways and just went on now i don't know where it is i traid the home button but it went on didn't return the controller went off after 20 minutes and i still did not find it its 4 hours and still nothing gone trai tomorrow agen to find it
I lost my drone a day after getting it
Haha me too!!
So did I
what did you do no refund replacment?
I lost it withing 2hrs after i got it
Same
is it safe to buy a "replacement unit" (aka drone body only) on ebay? (from sellers with good reputation obviously) Like no need to buy the whole package again if you already have the controller and batteries etc.
I lost my little drone the SkyHunter I haven't found it and now it's gone for 2 days including today I had my uncle and cousin to help me find it but now it's just a useless, what do I do?
How would you attach this to a Mavic Pro 2?
Mine I hit the start button and it didnt respond to anything. It just took off and gone.
My drone connects the camera through wifi so when i lost mine i just serached for internet on my phone and the drone connected therefor i knew it was close so then i found it
i just lost mine and i also need to look through wifi
In the UK, via ebay, a simm tracker can be bought for $40:00?
Nice green screen backdrop👍👍
good tips, thanks. I had to send back my Phantom 4 because the gimbal would never find horizontal plane. I can't wait for the unit to come back
Thanks for the post and the support. I have heard of this problem with a few of the quads and hope you have it back soon. Summer is fading and I'm sure you want to get back out flying!
Can you do a video on how to find a race quad? Someone powered on theirs on my video channel and I completely lost video, it was a couple seconds before I was able to process thei information and disarm the quad, but they're pretty fast machines, have no idea where it is.
Very good information! Thank you for the tips.
Thanks for stopping by and I'm glad you enjoyed the clip. I'll have more content posting this week so be sure an stay tuned to the channel. Rick
Hi Rick. There is something not related to the topic of your video. The latest DJI Go app version 4.10 if i am right, disconnects and connects, and sometimes there is a 2 minute delay between the Mavic pro and the Samsung S5 phone connected to the RC. What can I do? I had to reinstall the old version but when I installed the new version again I had the same problems again & again. Do you have any suggestions or do you have any information about this? Thank you from Iran!😘
Great video, very helpful. I have a question that you probably could help me with. I bought a mavic pro platinum 3 weeks ago, had about 20 flights out of it, no crashes. Anyway I was flying one day and my Android phone lost connection and remote. After getting it landed. It would not allow me to fly again, when I turned on the controller, only thing that came up was a battery signal, and on my phone nothing would come up. When I tried to take off. It would give me a failure to take off, and a red box warning would appear saying cannot fly more then 10meters Attitude and 50 meters
And before when you start up the drone, it would make that Cookie sound doo doo doo doo, and the props would Shami, well it doesn't do that anymore, and I've notice the green light in the rear would glow brighter, with red and yellow led lights in the center, and the front, the red led lights would be on. Sorry about this being so long, I tried DJI support, didn't get no where, only thing I can think of is I downloaded from my drone to my computer , took a very long time, and my drone got so hot, I couldn't even touch the bottom..I know was not thinking, any words of Conclusions that you can help me with would be greatly appreciated
Thank you Kindly. Aaron Columbus Michigan
20Mar2019. Thanks for another great video. Can you update this specific subject of tracking drones? I see some are 2 yrs ago, might be better trackers in 2019.
Any suggestion for a GPS tracker the one in your video it pretty big. I was looking into this but the size kind of sucks so i was thinking of using the BT version.
The two I recommend most often are the Trakimo and the Marco Polo. Both of these will find your quad almost anywhere it lands (or crashes). I have links for both on Amazon in the comments of the clip for you to compare them. I am hoping that DJI adds a SIM slot to the Phantom 5 when it arrives to be able to slip a card into the quad and have it provide a tracking beacon natively. Thanks for watching and be sure to sub the channel. Rick
Hi Rick, great channel. I am learning a lot from you. Any suggestions on how to attach one of those trackers to a mavic pro?
Put it on a propeller.
Jesus!
Great pointers. Thanks.
You have put out some really great, really useful information in your videos. Keep up the good work.
Art, thanks for the kind words and the support. I enjoy making these and hope you subscribe so you don't miss any. Rick
Thanks again for another really helpful video! Went to your link on Trakimo and notice several reviews indicated it wasn't reliable. Any thoughts? Also, how would mounting go with Mavic Pro?
Chuck, thanks for the kind words on the clip and I'm glad that you enjoyed it. The Trakimo version one was on the 2G network, which worked fine initially. In recent years a lot of cell towers were being converted to the faster 3G, which meant there were dead spots for these original models. The newer version uses the 3G network and has a much wider coverage map in the US at this point so if you're thinking of adding one to your drone, make sure it's the 3G version. It's a very small device and comes with a "universal" drone mounting kit that you can use to strap it to the Mavic. There are some 3-d printed brackets you can buy for the Phantom line and I'm sure very soon for the Mavic as well. I hope that helps and thanks again for watching. Rick
i lost my Mini for 10 days but managed to find it using DJI's records with the last known spot in a desolate wooded lake area in Ontario. I managed to capture the last known GPS coordinates and used my phone to find it to within a foot of the drone. However, this has given me extreme "drone anxiety" and my expensive Mavic 2 Zoom is one I simply can't afford to lose. I have started filing a rough flight plan in my head prior to sending it out which allows me to think about possible problems it may encounter. My flying partner with 500 flights on his Zoom totaling over 3000 kms laughs at me since he has had no problems in all these flights all over the world with the professional Zoom drone. But I can't clear this anxiety and as a result only fly for very short distances out of FEAR...... this is not how it's supposed to be....
I like the cellular option; however, I often fly in deserted areas of Ontario where there is no cell connection. But thank you for the excellent video.....
I found another interesting looking option by Drone Mods called UAV Locator. Are a few videos on TH-cam about it that you might find interesting. Thanks again for keeping attention on this important issue!
John, thanks a lot for watching and posting. I do know about that product and thinks it's very effective. I just did a clip on suggestions for the Phantom 5 and think that DJI should add a SIM slot to the bird to allow us to track it. We'll see what happens. Thanks again for the post and support, be sure to sub the channel.
Rick on the Cellular tracker is their one for 4G?
I'm pretty sure it only uses the 3G band but I sent a note along to the manufacturer to see if it can also use 4G. I'll let you know what I hear back.
Sounds good thank you.
get loc*tor tracker. awesome little unit. extremely accurate
Loc8tor tracker
I lost my drone in the woods near my house. 😭
My drone is still missing, the SkyHunter one. I'm still finding it. And I lost it in the woods too.
Me too
@@crisppbacon8360 its not even water proof and its been there for a year😬
I was flying my drone then it just flew away to the forest
inneh i lost my drone yesterday and it was expensive it was high in the sky and the wind took it wthhh so sad now
Thanks for the excellent video on this subject. I should point out however that not all of the areas we fly are within cell coverage as we might as we might assume. I live in Canada and apart from the more populated areas cell coverage is nonresistant. Once you live the city, even just a few mile, coverage is lost thus your tracking ability. These devices are great , WHEN THEY WORK, fly smart first. Keep the faith, BIll
Bill, I agree with you and have a few friends that fly in very rural areas where cell coverage is spotty. I use the GPS tracker most of the time but also like the Marco Polo dedicated model since it uses its own radio for tracking and is good for about 2 miles. Thanks for posting and I hope you sub the channel so you don't miss anything.
😭😭😭I lost my hc drone it has gone higher than me I lost control help me plzzzzzz😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
i dont have a smart drone its a quadrone scarab any help??
So.. Mom bought us our first drone and dad wanted to try it and it just flew away(it's probably somewhere in the woods) . He is now pissed at everyone and everything. 😶
Saw drone hit a tree. It dropped down. Using the flight data says at end of track altitude 13feet. DJI
How accurate is the altitude? Dark grey in a dark tree hard to see.
Thanks
I liked your video. I've already had 2 toy grade ones returned just by having my phone number on them. Strong upper wind gusts are the worst. I just lost my Bug 3. I can't imagine losing an expensive drone.
Great video. Thanks for the info.
Lenora, thanks for the post and I'm glad that you enjoyed the clip. I'll have a lot more content posting this week so be sure and stop back soon. Rick
Rick If you don't mine me asking!! which one do you use all the time. I didn't hear you
say. Please would you share it with us? Also I really like your videos so keep up the good
work.. I'm a member of the lost DRONE club, so I need to find a good tracker to use. Thanks
I am hoping you are going to do a video on return to home when you have it switched to follow the controller have not been able to find any TH-cam videos like this... All of them are just showing The regular return to home feature and how accurate it is from its take off spot there must be 1000 of those videos... not quite sure why there is no return to home wherever the controller is...I think this video would be very helpful on TH-cam👍 scared to use this feature not real sure how to do it or how accurate it is😳
Any idea what the battery life is on one of those trackers ?
Look it up.
the 3rd option you mentioned sounds great! What unit do you recommend? Im here in the USA
Very helpful video. Many thanks!
John, Thanks for the post and for watching. I really enjoy flying and had a few people ask me about fly-aways so I did the clip to help. I appreciate the support on the channel and hope you sub me if you haven't already so you don't miss any updates.
some good suggestions. I lost my Mavic a couple of weeks ago. it wouldn't re-connect and I messed up/got impatient and rebooted the RC. Eventually I was able to reconnect and capture of photo. The camera was pointing up towards the sky so I had no reference point and like an idiot it didn't occur to me to tilt down on the camera to maybe see more identifiable terrain! In any case, I didn't realize, until I got home, that DJI has a "Find My Drone" function. When I located it, there was an arrow showing its last know position. Since then I've meticulously combed the area and have not been able to locate the Mavic. It's very frustrating because according to the "Find my Drone" it should absolutely be at that location. I guess my question would be...is "Find My Drone" really that accurate??
FMD uses GPS logs.
So, it can be accurate to within 15-100 feet.
However, if the drone lost GPS before it crashed, and the wind is strong, it could be 1000 feet or more away from the last logged GPS.
that's a very good point and I've been looking 1000' or more outside the arrow indicates its last position. however, when I did manage to reconnect, the drone was on the ground and I have a photo showing the golden colored wheat like grass on the sides of the image. so my point being, if it was down on the ground, wouldn't that be the last GPS coordinate? (where the arrow is on my FMD) I've search extensively in and around the immediate 'arrow' location and nothing. Also, its off the main road so I doubt it was picked up by someone else. I'm not giving up and am starting to search with the new MP-2. Thanks for your reply and I'll keep you posted!
After 2 minutes of flying, got it stuck in a tree.. Was able to get it out using a 13 ft fishing rod.. 2 minutes after that it went over 2 houses and im pretty sure its on the roof of a 3 story apartment complex... It was fun while it lasted..lol
How get route from the cloud?
Another great video Rick! Thank you!
Thanks for stopping by and for your support on the channel!
Great video. Please keep them coming!
Another great video! Keep 'em coming. This is my biggest fear (I'm sure it is with all UAV owners). If I see any interference warning, I bring it down right away. I do not want a fly away. I also keep it high enough not to hit anything (well, usually). I will probably get a tracker of some sort. However, living in Louisiana, if it goes down, chances are it will be in water anyway. :(
I've lost two quads in flight in the last year and it was a very stressful hunt to find them. I was lucky to recover both but now won't put them up without a tracker attached. Small investment but great peace of mind. You're lucky living in Louisiana, must be a beautiful area to fly.
Drone Valley It's kind of flat, but there are some nice areas, if you can get around all the rules and regulations. Knock on wood, I've been very lucky and very careful, but my hands are shaky every time I fly!
Thank you for another good and useful information!
Peter, thanks for the post and stay tuned, I have more content posting soon. Rick
I don't have video on my drone so how can i find it
I have the litchi app on the Phantom 4 my phone is the Samsung Note 4 can't seem to get it to work is there any certain thing I need to do please help thank you in advance
I haven't used that phone so I can't really tell you if it's compatible or not but both the DJI Go app and the Litchi app require about the same horsepower so if you can run ghr DJI Go app on the phone you should be OK for Litchi. Give me a few more details about what's not working and maybe I can help. Thanks for the post and be sure to sub the channel so you don't miss my replies. Rick
Drone Valley yes and i thank you for your time, it works with dji go, dose nothing with litchi like it is frozen im going to get an IPHONE
thanks for your videos..how you don't have more people is beyond me...im no youtube guru either and i haven't posted videos since my eachine drone crashed and burned because it's a racer and they just aren't my thing...once i get my mavic i believe i'll mention you in all my videos and even though i probably won't get any views out of them...at least i'm trying...besides flite test youtube channel i believe yours is the best and actually i like your videos and information more than them...i think eventually your channel will grow hopefully...youve really changed how i think about safety measures and everything else and i'm also gearing up to take that part 107 exam just to have because i think it's eventually going to be a requirement because of some people's reckless flying
Devin, thanks a lot for your kind words and I'm glad you're find value in the content I'm posting. I'm kind of new to TH-cam and it takes time for a channel to pick up subscribers but I'm a patient guy that just loves flying so hopefully I'll grow with time. I think you taking the Part 107 is a smart move and will open doors for you commercially as well as provide expanded privileges in the future. Thanks again for supporting the channel and be sure to stop back soon, I have a few new clips posting this week. Rick
How to search drone x52 please say near us only please say how ??
In some fb groups I've joined the ammount of people with kids that have lost these over past few days is crazy !! can't you watch where they're flying via your phones or do they come with a screen thingy to watch them on ? as you can tell I have no drone ( I wish lol ) but surely there's an easier way to keep your eye on them without all this huge expense
Thanks Rick as always great info and explanations.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting. I really appreciate the support.
The ideal would be to have both a SIM cell tracker and a RF beacon-type tracker (e.g. Loc8tor or Marco Polo). They don't weigh much, so they'd fit.
1) The cell tracker has no range limit, but the drone could be in a no cell coverage area, and once you do get to the GPS-indicated area, actually finding the drone in the brush can get tricky if the tracker itself doesn't beep (Tractive cell pet trackers do beep..)
2) The RF beacon tracker is limited in range (Loc8tor: 20-100m, more if in line of sight) but helps you find the drone in the immediate area.
Ultimatley though, DJI should make an optional (or integrated!) tracking system with both a sim slot and a beacon, and DJI GO app interfaceable - given how much the drones cost. Furthermore, DJI would be able to design and test them, so there'd be less risk of radio interference with the drone's controller.
My is a hjhrc and a lose it and i dont know were is it i lose in in june 6 2020.😭😭😭
Great video. Good stuff to know no matter how experienced. What screen capture do you use?
Great Information Can you provide Links Thanks
YES!..That is a good idea I've thought about it too , I lost my drone too after a i received it. now i planed to buy tracker for it next to avoid issue
Just thought of adding some reflector tape to my drone for worst case scenario last hail marry option. But makes sense as you have been looking for the drone all day and now its getting dark 🙀 So looking at night with a high powered flood light might be a possibility the reflector should stand out pretty good even just a little bit should do.
Great info once again! Great channel!!
Thanks for the post and for supporting my efforts. I'm glad you're enjoying the clips, look for more of them soon. Rick
Thanks for the info, much appreciated!
Jaco, thanks for the post and I'm glad you enjoyed the clip. Be sure to sub the channel so you don't miss anything. Rick
I'm looking at the Marco Polo because where I live cell service is very spotty, and where I do most my flying there is no cell service.
The Marco Polo system is great because you don't have to worry about cell service at all. It uses a dedicated network and can find it's beacon a few miles away and will guide you right to the drone. You can also add more tags for dogs and other things you may want to track. Here's a link to Amazon so you can check out the full specs - amzn.to/2eHe1Ol
Thanks for posting and be sure to stop back soon. Rick
I lost my Xiaomi Mi 4K drone 2 days after owning it and I'm still looking for it. If you live in Houston, look in your trees!
Really nice job. Thank you.
excellent video
Thanks for the post and I'm really glad you enjoyed the clip. I'll have a lot more posting this week so be sure to sub the channel so you don't miss anything. Thanks, Rick
We already lost it not trying to prevent it god damn it i don't want to hear about trackers ffs
Thank you for your tips from your tips I found my drone back
With the dji app, go to the maps of last known location. Write down the latitude and longitude coordinates presented on the screen, punch those numbers into Google maps ;)
Great video!
Thanks for stopping by and all of your support with the channel!
Very well done! Thank you for sharing. 👍 ✌
Good to see you again, thanks for posting!
anything to do after battery has died?
Put up flyers around where you lost it and hopefully someone honest found it and see's your flyer and they call you ! Wish you the best in finding it my friend and fellow drone fan !
The battery in my 3DR IRIS+ would get disconnected as it was flung from my drone on violent crashes so even if I got close to it on my search, my monitor wouldn't change from static to video from my GoPro. My GoPro would also get disconnected and flung because I secured it with rubber bands rather than screwing it in to lock it down. I accidentally flew my drone behind a house. It was supposed to return to home but it kept going. I was able to get many eye witnesses who told me which way the drone was going but on a full battery flying in a straight line, I think it could go 10 miles before the battery died. I searched off and on for weeks but never found it. That would have made an incredible fail video for TH-cam. Another tip is put your contact info on the drone. If someone finds it, they might contact you.
Patrick, sorry to hear about your runaway 3DR. As I said in the clip, you feel violated when your drone abandons you and the search can be stressful. I've had two incidents this year and was lucky enough to find both quads but it was a harrowing search. I won't takeoff now without the tracker attached in case it ever happens again. Thanks for posting and be sure to sub the channel so you don't miss any updates.
Great info.
Just came back from finding my drone 1 hour after lost,no signal found from my drone and the last FPS is just a picture of a white wall,after checking the wind velocity is 20km/h I regretted not checking it in the first place before it fly
thank you
since the drones are using up to 20 GPS SATELITES
why can't their exact location be extracted after an "incodent"
if the emergency landing has kicked in it still should have enough power to send out signal with exact GPS COORDINATES
AGAIN THANK YOU
YOUR VIDEOS ARE AWESOME
I agree completely and am suggesting just that in a clip I'm working on for the Phantom 5. The drone uses such high-tech features as GPS to navigate and it should be an easy thing to lock its last know position in the controller so you could at least start your search there when it's lost. I appreciate the support and hope you sub the channel so you don't miss any new clips. Rick
awesome info thanks again!
Well done! Yes i want to know everything, keep it up!....Cheers
Another idea is to have a label saying if found ring 000000 a reward will be paid
Darryl, great idea and I had a friend of mine recover a quad he lost by just putting a label like that on his drone. It shows that people still want to do the right thing sometimes. Thanks for the post and be sure to sub the channel so you don't miss anything. Rick
Super great info again Rick. Like the idea the one guy said to put something on the drone that says if found reward will be given. Keep up the great videos. Fly Safe
Good tips. Tks.
Here’s a really stupid one that I did. I had just built a new micro so I didn’t have much money or time in it but still that’s not the point. It was the first time in the air and I was trimming it out. It had been a while since flying so I used the throttle trim instead of the elevator trim like an idiot. I don’t know what I was thinking. The throttle went up and wouldn’t go down. When it got so high and wouldn’t come down i flipped the disarm switch.I kept wondering why until I realized what I had done. I have no buzzer or anything so wish me luck.
Thanks for the post and I hope everything worked out OK. I've lost a few quads over the years and it sometimes took a day or two of searching to find them. I hope you enjoyed the clip and will consider subbing the channel. Rick
Drone Valley I did and I forgot to sub but did just now so thanks for reminding me. Day two and still haven’t found it. I have a buzzer on order but i wanted to fly before getting it, now I wish I would have.
Thank you