I was wondering if there is a list of drones that are capable of being “fully autonomous” like some of the higher end drones. By fully autonomous, I mean able to complete waypoint missions even after the signal disconnects. I was possibly looking for one that I could buy later on to run fully autonomous missions, because I know my current Mavic Mini can’t run fully autonomous.
Thanks! A Mavic Pro looks like a good option. I still wish we could hack the Mini series into running autonomously though. The Mini 3 would be a great option because of it’s flight time.
I share your sentiments because today I take delivery of my Mini 3 with two of those Plus batteries that give up to 47 minutes of flight time, all of which I paid for under the false premise that the release of an SDK for the Mini 3 implied that fully autonomous missions would be possible.
I already own two Mavic 1 Pros, a Mavic 2 Pro, a Phantom 3 Standard, and a Phantom 3 Pro, all of which are capable of flying fully autonomous missions, BUT without that phenomenal flight time offered by the Mini 3. So yeah, I would like to see a hack that truly liberates the Mini 3, now that I own one that will get very little use otherwise.
That used to be true. That is, until DJI added on-board waypoint support to the Mavic 3 series. Now, if they would only provide SDK support for the Mavic 3 (non-enterprise models). Don’t hold your breath…
On the subject of hacking the Mini series: If you could inject a hacked firmware, it may be possible to have a waypoint mission loaded to the SD card and read from there. I know drone-hacks.com has software that lets you flash firmware but they don’t offer any hacked firmware.
David if you ever stumble on any such onboard GPS data storage hack I would be enormously grateful. to hear about it in this forum. I just launched my newly acquired Mini 3 on a short test flight and was underwhelmed by the range at which the signal began to break up and RTH kicked in. This occurred within one mile, due to the flat forested terrain where I live.
In comparison, my Mavic 1 Pro and Mavic 2 Pro routinely fly Litchi waypoint missions that are 7 miles long round trip, most of which are covered far beyond the signal range of its RC controller. The whole reason I bought this Mini 3 was due to the phenomenal flight time of 45 minutes that is attainable with the Plus batteries, of which I bought two in the hopes that Litchi would be allowed to work its magic with the new Mini 3 SDK just released.
If that capability to store GPS data onboard never materializes for the Mini 3 either via Litchi or with DJI Fly as is the case with the Mavic 3, it is not likely that this new toy will get much use in the long run, which would be a shame, considering how much I spent on the drone and those two Plus batteries priced at nearly $100 a pop. I’ll stay tuned to see how things pan out over the next few months while keeping my fingers crossed.
Thanks for the reply. I knew they added Waypoints to the Mavic 3, but didn’t know that they would continue to run if they lost connectivity with the RC…meaning fully autonomous. Good to know and thanks again for taking me to school.
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