Opinions for choosing DJI Air 3S controller

[Hannu]

I have 7 years old DJI Phantom 4 Pro and I am planning to buy a new drone now. I am new on this site, but I would like to get your opinions on the following. Thank you in advance.

I am planning to buy DJI Air 3S and I would like to be able to create a few waypoint missions to video an area of forest about 50 hectares ( ~110 acres I guess).
My aim is to video the condition of the trees a few times a year for several years. I would like to be able to fly the same routes every time.

I have used Phantom to do these videos, but I have never done the waypoint mission with that. Mostly because it has felt a little clumsy in it. Flying by hand is hard to cover the area because to get enough details means low altitude and large are of trees pointing the camera down does not show well where the drone is. The map I have in the controller is very limited.

I have thought to buy Air 3S. I have iPhone so both RC2 and RC-N3 controllers are possible.

How would you solve the case?

1. Use what comes with the drone and not buy Litchi.
2. Buy the drone with RC2 controller and Litchi.
3. Buy the drone with RC-N3 controller and Litchi.

[wesbarris]

Welcome to the forum.

First, I’ll answer your questions. The I’ll make some comments on what you wrote.

@Hannu

Use what comes with the drone and not buy Litchi.

The Air 3S does have native waypoints. So, you do not need Litchi to fly waypoint missions. However, DJI’s native waypoint implementation is inferior to Litchi’s implementation. After using both you would learn to appreciate Litchi much more. Another option, if you already have a Litchi account, is to use my utility to convert a Litchi waypoint mission into a DJI Fly mission. That way, you can still use Litchi’s Mission Hub to design your missions.

Litchi Mission Utilities

@Hannu

Buy the drone with RC2 controller and Litchi.

The RC2 controller does not allow 3rd party apps to be installed. So, you would not be able to put the Litchi app on it.

@Hannu

Buy the drone with RC-N3 controller and Litchi.

That is a possibility. The Air 3S requires the new Litchi Pilot app which is Android-only. You would also need an Android flying device.

@Hannu

I have used Phantom to do these videos, but I have never done the waypoint mission with that. Mostly because it has felt a little clumsy in it.

The DJI waypoint implement is a bit clumsy. However, if you were using Litchi, the Phantom 4 Pro plus Litchi is a very powerful combination.

@Hannu

Flying by hand is hard to cover the area because to get enough details means low altitude and large are of trees pointing the camera down does not show well where the drone is. The map I have in the controller is very limited.

Depending on the terrain, Litchi’s “Above Ground” option may come in handy. If the area is not flat, Litchi will allow you to specify a height to maintain above ground instead of the usual height above take-off.

@Hannu

I have thought to buy Air 3S. I have iPhone so both RC2 and RC-N3 controllers are possible.

While you can install DJI Fly on an iPhone, the DJI MSDK (and therefore, Litchi) supports Android only.

You may want to look at the newer RC-N3 controller. Here is a chart showing drone/controller compatibility:

DJI Drone / Controller Compatibility

[Mad_Pup]

Posted in error and now deleted.

[Hannu]

Thank you very much for the welcome and your thorough reply!

This becomes more complicated. I didn’t know that about RC2, my bad.

I try to understand what you said.

**** That I would be able to create the missions by using this Mission Hub and load them to RC2?

If that is possible then I could go with RC2 and try at first do the mission(s) with it. I know the maps in that are very bad because I asked DJI about them. I estimated I would like to have 6-8 missions.

If I go with RC-N3 I have to buy an Android device. Not very pleasant idea.

**** Is it possible to mark an area and Litchi creates the waypoints like in some mapping applications? I mean creates the flight route.

——

Other things I have been thinking and history:

With Phantom I have used Samsung tablet, as old as the drone. It has been a stand alone tablet and I have not updated it or the DJI app for years. That is too large for RC-N3.

Phantom is a good drone, but somewhat large and now I have only one battery left. Two died (didn’t charge). One battery has too short flight time. I estimated it needs over two Air 3S batteries to cover the whole property if I create proper waypoint missions.

I also would like to carry the drone when we travel here. BTW I live in Finland.

The altitude is not a huge problem though the difference is 40-50 meters.

The problem is if I try to fly low the maximum distance isn’t enough with Phantom. I have understood in Youtube videos and from DJI data the Air 3S has better transmission, even with CE version. So Phantom does not work very well if the system makes RTH if it loses connection to controller.

I know I have to fly it it longer (1 km away) and behind the trees, but that property is ours so the aren’t any people there.

I saw a quite old video of someone using Google Earth on PC to create a route and defining the route to be ”relatively 40 meters above the ground”. Then the person converted that to a file and loaded it to some Litchi app and created a waypoint mission.

If that or in Litchi directly would be able to handle the ground height it would make it easier and safer for the drone.

Long reply, but I have lots of things still to ponder because the new drone isn’t cheap. 1450 or 1650€ in fly more package, depends on the controller.

Thank you and have a nice Easter.

[wesbarris]

@Hannu

I didn’t know that about RC2, my bad.

Yes. People have tried to install 3rd party apps on the DJI RC and the DJI RC2 but to the best of my knowledge, no one has succeeded.

@Hannu

I try to understand what you said.

**** That I would be able to create the missions by using this Mission Hub and load them to RC2?

If that is possible then I could go with RC2 and try at first do the mission(s) with it. I know the maps in that are very bad because I asked DJI about them. I estimated I would like to have 6-8 missions.

You can try working directly with the RC2. While you can create missions on it, many complain that the map does not provide enough detail to do a good job. If you have a Litchi account, you can design a mission in Litchi’s Mission Hub, use my converter to convert that Litchi mission into a DJI mission, then upload the DJI mission into the RC2.

@Hannu

**** Is it possible to mark an area and Litchi creates the waypoints like in some mapping applications? I mean creates the flight route.

Litchi is a general-purpose waypoint mission designer. It does not include a mapping mission creation utility. However, you have many free choices to choose from. Here are just a few:

• ancient.land is a grid mission designer that outputs a Litchi CSV file. That CSV file can be converted to a DJI mission using my utilities.
• waypointmap.com is a grid mission designer that outputs DJI missions directly.
• “Virtual Litchi Mission” is a Windows application that includes a very rudimentary grid mission designer.

There are others. You should try both ancient.land and waypointmap.com to see how they work.

@Hannu

With Phantom I have used Samsung tablet, as old as the drone. It has been a stand alone tablet and I have not updated it or the DJI app for years. That is too large for RC-N3.

You can buy mounting hardware that lets you use a larger tablet with the RC-N[1,2,3]. I use a mount to hold an iPad Mini.

@Hannu

The altitude is not a huge problem though the difference is 40-50 meters.

Litchi’s “Above Ground” option would come in very handy in this case.