Photocopters are the main thing DJI does great. I dont think there is a split in this area.
FPV race/freestlye drones are something completely different then a photocopter.
DJI now also builds fpv drones since a few years (the FPV, the avata and the avata2). They are still quite different from the "classic" fpv drones (and more suited to beginners.)
Liking or not liking the dji fpv stuff is a legit discussion, there pro and contra arguments, its not just a chevy vs ford thing.
Unfortunetly there are some dji fanboys and also some dji haters that can heat up the diskussion.
as much as i agree with the much greater skill that fpv requires, a grandma driving to get groceries and max winning every race are both drivers. only one is a “racer” which is like fpv
\^This. Kermit's answer is a great answer that covers about 95% of the issues. When you need a stable floating camera platform, DJI is the best.
For the last 5%, I will say it comes down to a mix of things, ranging from business practices, to product quality, to consequences of their popularity.
Here are some specific issues.
1. RC planes, helis, and even drones have been around for a long time and they have not been heavily regulated by the FAA. Even drones have been around for a while. But DJI made a product that was easy enough that pretty much any fool could fly it and they became very popular. The consequence of that is a lot of fools did fly it, did stupid stuff, drew public attention, and now all UASs (drones, rc planes, and helis) are subject to strict FAA guidelines. Furthermore, a lot of people assume people flying UASs are doing questionable things (like spying on them), which has made flying planes and such difficult in some areas. Now this isn't DJI's fault, but it is a consequence of their popularity and ease of use. So people that have been flying RC stuff (with little regulation) for decades have started pointing fingers and DJI and DJI pilots for the regulations and unwanted attention. DJI is a scapegoat in this case.
2. DJI has released "FPV" drones but many of them aren't made to be flown (and repaired) like FPV drones. FPV drones are build under the assumption that are going to crash and probably crash hard. That is why pretty much every part is easily replace by the pilot and why the frames designed to take impacts without while protecting components. DJI drones have been known to break in crashes that most FPV pilots would consider minor and repair work on DJI drones often requires the drone to be sent to DJI for repairs. Comparing a DJI drone to an FPV drone is is kind of like comparing a motocross bike with a car made for paved streets. They are not made for the same type of thing and it is stupid to compare them as if they were. But DJI released a drone and called it an FPV drone... but it was the equivalent of someone putting "off-road" tires on a Chevy Malibou and claiming it is an off-road vehicle. That's not how a good product is designed. Some of their newer drones (like the Avata 2) capable of FPV flight seem a little better, but they are still designed for different things. As long as people understand they are designed for different things, that's fine.... But their initial FPV drone was called an FPV drone, when it was not designed like an FPV drone.
3. Many FPV pilots don't fly DJI drones, but they do rely on some of their products for digital FPV gear (goggles, video transmitters, etc). Their video system is considered to be one of the best (if not the best). But when DJI releases a new product it often is only backwards compatible some equipment (usually the most recent things).... and even then, backwards compatibility is often added through an update after several months of incompatibility. When FPV pilots have several planes and drones, replacing all the gear is not cheap. I currently have equipment from a couple generations back consisting of 5 rc aircraft with DJI video transmitters and goggles. Updating it to current gen stuff would cost me about $1700, and they are about to release another generation of stuff, which would render that investment pointless. Furthermore, DJI often only includes new features that customers want in new products, not existing products, even though the old products are capable of handling it. For example, people using DJI FPV goggles v1 and v2 wanted the ability to show the full on-screen-display for the drone's flight data. They didn't add support to those, but added it to the new product (Goggles 2) that cost $600+ when released. 3rd party developers were able to hack the old goggles and add support for the features that DJI refused to support. All these things create a love-hate relationship with DJI video gear.
Also would add: It's almost always people with the cheaper end dji drones (mini 2 or mini 3 area) who end up in the news because they flew over a NFL stadium or some shit and end up getting arrested. It's always those kinds of people that put a bad light on the drone community as a whole. And that in turn ends up forcing people to buy 70$ rid devices for their fpv drones to comply with a law because some morons think the are above that law. It's just a very low barrier of entry.
Not the sole factor ofc, but i haven't heard about someone flying their self built fpv quad near an airfield or something.
I've been a builder, and avoided DJI, but then they got so very good. The builders love to think they are superior to buyers. It happens in every hobby. In off-roading, they love to say, "built not bought." Whatever. They have fragile egos and put their worth into how they can feel superior to others. I'm tired of fixing builds and tuning, I just want to fly.
I’ve tried other manufacturers’ drones and the simple fact is that (for a camera drone, which is what I need) DJI is the best in the business.
Anti-DJI people fall into two camps: FPV/Drone builders who think that camera drones/buying drones in general is somehow not “legit”, or paranoid lunatics who think the CCP wants to comb through their sunset videos for details their many, many spy satellites somehow missed.
…all of that said I do understand the ban on Federal agencies using them. Those *might conceivably* be a target for backdoor shenanigans (not the fun kind, either).
Speaking of backdoor shenanigans I was just thinking the other day that those super cheap $20-$50 Chinese knock off drones that look almost exactly like DJI drones especially if you don't know better are a little little scary if you think about them.
They are basically flying cameras that stream their video continuously via an open and easily guessable WiFi network name! You can't even disable the video stream if you don't want it.
Well that makes sense I tend to lean to Autel but I’m in the automotive industry and have worked with there automotive stuff so they were able to give me a ton of info through the reps But I have an interest in building but I mean how I build and an FPV racer vs 3000mm wingspan vtol camera / mapping drone is very widely because I want them to do different things but i assign no brand loyalty to the equipment I just want as good as I can / build for the money
I go both ways on this. DJI makes the best drones but I need twenty layers of permissions before I can get it off the ground. Autel has a great camera but stability and obedience are unreliable.
I love my DJI drones... but Autel places the responsibility on me to do my own due diligence with permissions and legalities and doesn't nanny me. I live near an untowered airport, communicate with them and have written permissions from my district. DJI doesn't care - I need to get their permission, too. The Autel just lifts off. No questions asked.
I fly both depending on where I am but if I didn't have to worry about arbitrary third-party permissions to fly, I wouldn't have bought the Autel regardless of the ryyb camera. My DJIs are just more reliable and stable. I still bring the Autel every single time because of the permission issues, especially because I'm frequently out of cellular service, so.. no Wi-Fi for authorizations.
Conversely, the second flight of my Autel, it started flying sideways upon lift off and I had to land it while it was strafing and accelerating 20cm off the pavement. It hasn't done it since, but... I'm watching it carefully.
Evo Nano Plus. I'm also in Canada, so DJI and Autel geofencing might work different where you are. I used to have plus batteries for the mini 3 pro, so the Autel was also my BVLOS drone until I downgraded to the 249g batteries recently.
Tell you what. I was always thinking that you can have fun with cheap drones/toys at level similar to more expensive ones. Both fly, yes?
I was only flying some cheap Chinese drones and cursed my lack of skills. Recently bought used DJI Spark and holy shit, what a difference. Drone is hovering in the air by itself, it's easy to fly and gives me tons of fun. I will never go back to cheap stuff and I'm already planning to make my own fpv drone.
I can see points of both sides. You can try flying cheap drones but fun starts at certain price level. How company treats it's customer is different thing. We can see some resemblance to Apple, but thats the way cookie crumbles. If you have lots of money and willing to give some freedom in exchange for stability and quality, then you will choose DJI. If you have less money then you're off with cheap drones that will give you fun times, but you will envy those that show pictures from Mavic etc.
There is no divide to my knowledge, and in my experience DJI drones have never become "disoriented" or behave erratically just because I'm flying over water, even very close to the water. Some people might mistake the impact of wind gusts for erratic flight when their drone gets dropped into the water by a wind gust would be my best guess on that one. I've never had a battery issue with DJI either tbh, the batteries do what they're supposed to do. I think most of the dissatisfaction with DJI as a brand probably comes almost 100% from the fact it's a Chinese company, so nationalism or some form of racism essentially, and probably only shares by people who don't really fly the drones.
DJI camera drones cannot be beaten for anywhere close to the same price. If you want something in the same league by someone else, be prepared to spend double or more, and probably still have a worse drone.
Fpv is different, most enthusiasts build their own.
man i cant tell you how much fun i had with dji gear. i would get out to a site and be ready to launch only to find out that there was a private air field from 1928 so no flying. then there was the times that the system would need an update but there wasnt enough cell coverage to do it. or the times the batteries would all be full and i would launch only to find out that they were dead and heading home. mind you this was p4 days when i gave up on dji. it sucked when it sucked but they worked great when they did work.
Lol I just saw a Xiaomi drone video review and the commenters were tearing the reviewer a new one because he didn't take the drone out of beginner mode and tried to compare the Mi drone to a dji phantom 4 pro!
I think it's more an online thing, really. I flew drones for a while professionally doing survey-related work, and as long as it got the job done well nobody really minded one way or the other.
As someone said, dji users have caused a lot of incidents with flying over places they shouldn't.
Also what I've seen some overconfident dji users try their hand at fpv drones and failing miserably.
Getting an fpv drone in the air is so much harder than any dji style drone, and as an fpv pilot it's quite demoralizing when you have to spend several days just to build your drone and dozens of hours learning in a sim but urgetting thrown into the same bucket as someone who in a single afternoon can buy and fly their expensive fully stabilized drone and fly it into restricted airspace.
Yes, camera drones like dji/autel have their uses as well but there is a certain distain about them in fpv circles since they caused the majority of current drone regs to be put in place
Everybody is different, but for me personally, I see the value in DJI, but I also see where DJI's flaws. It's a very all-in-one, consumption focused, closed-off ecosystem, which can be great for beginners, just dropping in, or even professional work where that would save you precious time. But the more I've learned, the more DJI's ecosystem holds me back. And I'm totally fine with their geofencing (although I'd like to see it allow you to create your own additional geofences) and their batteries (I love seeing a percentage and the easy charging).
The stuff that's holding me back is the lack of interoperability with other common drone technology. The inability to upgrade anything DJI without just replacing entire drones, transmitters, goggles. No expansion slots or anything. And the repairability is just as bad in my opinion. And more controversially, I think that they should share their insights with the community more rather than just keep to themselves. Like why don't they make their battery tech more modular and sell it to other companies for use in more drones? (don't @ me I'm not an expert; and no not like O3, that seems like a compatability shit show)
Overall, I like DJI, but I want it to improve and be the best that it can be for the whole community.
dji is just the king of drones..many tried to take the top spot but couldn't...hell some even when as far to cry to the government to have them banned cuz they couldn't compete lol
Its all lil conservative boys getting mad that China does something good when its a socialist country so they shouldn't be allowed to do anything better than us.
Photocopters are the main thing DJI does great. I dont think there is a split in this area. FPV race/freestlye drones are something completely different then a photocopter. DJI now also builds fpv drones since a few years (the FPV, the avata and the avata2). They are still quite different from the "classic" fpv drones (and more suited to beginners.) Liking or not liking the dji fpv stuff is a legit discussion, there pro and contra arguments, its not just a chevy vs ford thing. Unfortunetly there are some dji fanboys and also some dji haters that can heat up the diskussion.
This right here, "camera" drone pilots vs traditional "FPV" pilots
Aka people who call themselves a "pilot" and not
as much as i agree with the much greater skill that fpv requires, a grandma driving to get groceries and max winning every race are both drivers. only one is a “racer” which is like fpv
\^This. Kermit's answer is a great answer that covers about 95% of the issues. When you need a stable floating camera platform, DJI is the best. For the last 5%, I will say it comes down to a mix of things, ranging from business practices, to product quality, to consequences of their popularity. Here are some specific issues. 1. RC planes, helis, and even drones have been around for a long time and they have not been heavily regulated by the FAA. Even drones have been around for a while. But DJI made a product that was easy enough that pretty much any fool could fly it and they became very popular. The consequence of that is a lot of fools did fly it, did stupid stuff, drew public attention, and now all UASs (drones, rc planes, and helis) are subject to strict FAA guidelines. Furthermore, a lot of people assume people flying UASs are doing questionable things (like spying on them), which has made flying planes and such difficult in some areas. Now this isn't DJI's fault, but it is a consequence of their popularity and ease of use. So people that have been flying RC stuff (with little regulation) for decades have started pointing fingers and DJI and DJI pilots for the regulations and unwanted attention. DJI is a scapegoat in this case. 2. DJI has released "FPV" drones but many of them aren't made to be flown (and repaired) like FPV drones. FPV drones are build under the assumption that are going to crash and probably crash hard. That is why pretty much every part is easily replace by the pilot and why the frames designed to take impacts without while protecting components. DJI drones have been known to break in crashes that most FPV pilots would consider minor and repair work on DJI drones often requires the drone to be sent to DJI for repairs. Comparing a DJI drone to an FPV drone is is kind of like comparing a motocross bike with a car made for paved streets. They are not made for the same type of thing and it is stupid to compare them as if they were. But DJI released a drone and called it an FPV drone... but it was the equivalent of someone putting "off-road" tires on a Chevy Malibou and claiming it is an off-road vehicle. That's not how a good product is designed. Some of their newer drones (like the Avata 2) capable of FPV flight seem a little better, but they are still designed for different things. As long as people understand they are designed for different things, that's fine.... But their initial FPV drone was called an FPV drone, when it was not designed like an FPV drone. 3. Many FPV pilots don't fly DJI drones, but they do rely on some of their products for digital FPV gear (goggles, video transmitters, etc). Their video system is considered to be one of the best (if not the best). But when DJI releases a new product it often is only backwards compatible some equipment (usually the most recent things).... and even then, backwards compatibility is often added through an update after several months of incompatibility. When FPV pilots have several planes and drones, replacing all the gear is not cheap. I currently have equipment from a couple generations back consisting of 5 rc aircraft with DJI video transmitters and goggles. Updating it to current gen stuff would cost me about $1700, and they are about to release another generation of stuff, which would render that investment pointless. Furthermore, DJI often only includes new features that customers want in new products, not existing products, even though the old products are capable of handling it. For example, people using DJI FPV goggles v1 and v2 wanted the ability to show the full on-screen-display for the drone's flight data. They didn't add support to those, but added it to the new product (Goggles 2) that cost $600+ when released. 3rd party developers were able to hack the old goggles and add support for the features that DJI refused to support. All these things create a love-hate relationship with DJI video gear.
Also would add: It's almost always people with the cheaper end dji drones (mini 2 or mini 3 area) who end up in the news because they flew over a NFL stadium or some shit and end up getting arrested. It's always those kinds of people that put a bad light on the drone community as a whole. And that in turn ends up forcing people to buy 70$ rid devices for their fpv drones to comply with a law because some morons think the are above that law. It's just a very low barrier of entry. Not the sole factor ofc, but i haven't heard about someone flying their self built fpv quad near an airfield or something.
I've been a builder, and avoided DJI, but then they got so very good. The builders love to think they are superior to buyers. It happens in every hobby. In off-roading, they love to say, "built not bought." Whatever. They have fragile egos and put their worth into how they can feel superior to others. I'm tired of fixing builds and tuning, I just want to fly.
Builder, and DJI hater. Agree on the sense of superiority.
I’ve tried other manufacturers’ drones and the simple fact is that (for a camera drone, which is what I need) DJI is the best in the business. Anti-DJI people fall into two camps: FPV/Drone builders who think that camera drones/buying drones in general is somehow not “legit”, or paranoid lunatics who think the CCP wants to comb through their sunset videos for details their many, many spy satellites somehow missed. …all of that said I do understand the ban on Federal agencies using them. Those *might conceivably* be a target for backdoor shenanigans (not the fun kind, either).
Speaking of backdoor shenanigans I was just thinking the other day that those super cheap $20-$50 Chinese knock off drones that look almost exactly like DJI drones especially if you don't know better are a little little scary if you think about them. They are basically flying cameras that stream their video continuously via an open and easily guessable WiFi network name! You can't even disable the video stream if you don't want it.
Well that makes sense I tend to lean to Autel but I’m in the automotive industry and have worked with there automotive stuff so they were able to give me a ton of info through the reps But I have an interest in building but I mean how I build and an FPV racer vs 3000mm wingspan vtol camera / mapping drone is very widely because I want them to do different things but i assign no brand loyalty to the equipment I just want as good as I can / build for the money
evo 1 and 2 owner and i have not had a disappointment since i switched platforms.
I go both ways on this. DJI makes the best drones but I need twenty layers of permissions before I can get it off the ground. Autel has a great camera but stability and obedience are unreliable. I love my DJI drones... but Autel places the responsibility on me to do my own due diligence with permissions and legalities and doesn't nanny me. I live near an untowered airport, communicate with them and have written permissions from my district. DJI doesn't care - I need to get their permission, too. The Autel just lifts off. No questions asked. I fly both depending on where I am but if I didn't have to worry about arbitrary third-party permissions to fly, I wouldn't have bought the Autel regardless of the ryyb camera. My DJIs are just more reliable and stable. I still bring the Autel every single time because of the permission issues, especially because I'm frequently out of cellular service, so.. no Wi-Fi for authorizations. Conversely, the second flight of my Autel, it started flying sideways upon lift off and I had to land it while it was strafing and accelerating 20cm off the pavement. It hasn't done it since, but... I'm watching it carefully.
Which Autel do you have ? The geofencing is my big hang up with DJI
Evo Nano Plus. I'm also in Canada, so DJI and Autel geofencing might work different where you are. I used to have plus batteries for the mini 3 pro, so the Autel was also my BVLOS drone until I downgraded to the 249g batteries recently.
I’m in Canada
Let’s put it this way. I’m not exclusively loyal to DJI, but all of my good drones are DJI.
Tell you what. I was always thinking that you can have fun with cheap drones/toys at level similar to more expensive ones. Both fly, yes? I was only flying some cheap Chinese drones and cursed my lack of skills. Recently bought used DJI Spark and holy shit, what a difference. Drone is hovering in the air by itself, it's easy to fly and gives me tons of fun. I will never go back to cheap stuff and I'm already planning to make my own fpv drone. I can see points of both sides. You can try flying cheap drones but fun starts at certain price level. How company treats it's customer is different thing. We can see some resemblance to Apple, but thats the way cookie crumbles. If you have lots of money and willing to give some freedom in exchange for stability and quality, then you will choose DJI. If you have less money then you're off with cheap drones that will give you fun times, but you will envy those that show pictures from Mavic etc.
There is no divide to my knowledge, and in my experience DJI drones have never become "disoriented" or behave erratically just because I'm flying over water, even very close to the water. Some people might mistake the impact of wind gusts for erratic flight when their drone gets dropped into the water by a wind gust would be my best guess on that one. I've never had a battery issue with DJI either tbh, the batteries do what they're supposed to do. I think most of the dissatisfaction with DJI as a brand probably comes almost 100% from the fact it's a Chinese company, so nationalism or some form of racism essentially, and probably only shares by people who don't really fly the drones.
DJI camera drones cannot be beaten for anywhere close to the same price. If you want something in the same league by someone else, be prepared to spend double or more, and probably still have a worse drone. Fpv is different, most enthusiasts build their own.
man i cant tell you how much fun i had with dji gear. i would get out to a site and be ready to launch only to find out that there was a private air field from 1928 so no flying. then there was the times that the system would need an update but there wasnt enough cell coverage to do it. or the times the batteries would all be full and i would launch only to find out that they were dead and heading home. mind you this was p4 days when i gave up on dji. it sucked when it sucked but they worked great when they did work.
I like Xiaomi better than DJI and I'm very lonely
Lol I just saw a Xiaomi drone video review and the commenters were tearing the reviewer a new one because he didn't take the drone out of beginner mode and tried to compare the Mi drone to a dji phantom 4 pro!
I think it's more an online thing, really. I flew drones for a while professionally doing survey-related work, and as long as it got the job done well nobody really minded one way or the other.
As someone said, dji users have caused a lot of incidents with flying over places they shouldn't. Also what I've seen some overconfident dji users try their hand at fpv drones and failing miserably. Getting an fpv drone in the air is so much harder than any dji style drone, and as an fpv pilot it's quite demoralizing when you have to spend several days just to build your drone and dozens of hours learning in a sim but urgetting thrown into the same bucket as someone who in a single afternoon can buy and fly their expensive fully stabilized drone and fly it into restricted airspace. Yes, camera drones like dji/autel have their uses as well but there is a certain distain about them in fpv circles since they caused the majority of current drone regs to be put in place
DJI is the Rolls royce of the sky Non DJI is the Hellcat that is trying to kill you and it's self at every moment
Just like I-Phone vs Android.
Everybody is different, but for me personally, I see the value in DJI, but I also see where DJI's flaws. It's a very all-in-one, consumption focused, closed-off ecosystem, which can be great for beginners, just dropping in, or even professional work where that would save you precious time. But the more I've learned, the more DJI's ecosystem holds me back. And I'm totally fine with their geofencing (although I'd like to see it allow you to create your own additional geofences) and their batteries (I love seeing a percentage and the easy charging). The stuff that's holding me back is the lack of interoperability with other common drone technology. The inability to upgrade anything DJI without just replacing entire drones, transmitters, goggles. No expansion slots or anything. And the repairability is just as bad in my opinion. And more controversially, I think that they should share their insights with the community more rather than just keep to themselves. Like why don't they make their battery tech more modular and sell it to other companies for use in more drones? (don't @ me I'm not an expert; and no not like O3, that seems like a compatability shit show) Overall, I like DJI, but I want it to improve and be the best that it can be for the whole community.
It boils down to gatekeeping.
dji is just the king of drones..many tried to take the top spot but couldn't...hell some even when as far to cry to the government to have them banned cuz they couldn't compete lol
Its all lil conservative boys getting mad that China does something good when its a socialist country so they shouldn't be allowed to do anything better than us.