So I bought a phantom 4 over the holidays. I've been using it almost daily and I love it. My only issue is and it's a huge issue for me is the range. It says it can go avg of 3.1 miles away but I seem to barely go even 1 mile away. I thought at first it was because I live in the city but I even used it a the beach with no trees or buildings around and same issue. This is really killing me. I have been thinking to switching to the new Mavic since it says the range is 4.3 and it's very portable which I like but I don't know if the Mavic is experiencing the same range issues at the Phantom 4.. Can someone tell me if I should or I shouldn't do this and why. Thanks for your help.
Help. Mavic or Phantom
- Thread starter aquilotti1
- Start date
Just reminder it is a phantom 4 and not a phantom 4 pro. I don't know why it wouldn't allow me to post on the regular phantom 4 page instead of the pro section.
Most likely you are not going to see any range increase. Both the Mavic and P4 operate on the 2.4GHz frequency.
Have you reviewed the channels you are using and manually chosen one that has a small bar? Have you tried changing channels a few times in the same area to see if one gives a better signal?
You probably are still getting some type of interference in your area. I find a good range is 8000' - 8500'. If you are getting this, it's probably as good as it will get in that area.
I've flown 15 miles away from any wifi or even cell signal. I could only get 3000'. I then drove out to another areas 200 miles away and about 20 miles from any type of signal. I flew the same P4 out about 2 miles and still have full signal. I felt that was as far as I wanted to go and turned around.
I don't know that it will make any difference but you if you are using a phone for the display you might want to try using it in airplane mode.
Have you reviewed the channels you are using and manually chosen one that has a small bar? Have you tried changing channels a few times in the same area to see if one gives a better signal?
You probably are still getting some type of interference in your area. I find a good range is 8000' - 8500'. If you are getting this, it's probably as good as it will get in that area.
I've flown 15 miles away from any wifi or even cell signal. I could only get 3000'. I then drove out to another areas 200 miles away and about 20 miles from any type of signal. I flew the same P4 out about 2 miles and still have full signal. I felt that was as far as I wanted to go and turned around.
I don't know that it will make any difference but you if you are using a phone for the display you might want to try using it in airplane mode.
I have not tried the manual channel yet. So I always have to pick the channel with the smallest line right? Dependingon the location I am in? Do I also have to lower from 6mb to 4mb? Also I do use my cellphone for my screen and really have never tried it on airplane mode does that make any difference? Thanks again for your help.
Ouch... I just thought of something. The channel is only for video not the control signal. Same with the bit rate you mentioned. So this is not going to help you.
Your phone's wifi may be putting out a 2.4GHz signal. This _might_ cause some interference. I really can't say for sure. Better to just try and see what happens.
In my prior post the point I was making is that interference can come from just about anything. It's hard to say what it is. I was 15 miles from anything and terrible distance. I then went to another location that was 20 miles from anything (really the same thing) and using the same two Phantoms (3 and 4) my distance at quadrupled. I'd say if you are getting 1 mile at a minimum, you should be content. Sometimes that is as good as it gets for a certain area.
Where are you flying? If you're in an area with a lot of interference or where you are losing line of sight, a different drone won't help that.
A P4Pro can go 4 miles without much effort to be honest, again depending on where you are flying, maybe that's a better "fix" if you aren't getting the range you want?
A P4Pro can go 4 miles without much effort to be honest, again depending on where you are flying, maybe that's a better "fix" if you aren't getting the range you want?
Be sure your antennas are oriented the correct way. the flat sides of the antenna should point towards the phantom, not the tips. A common mistake made by newcomers.
ITS not a p4pro its just a p4. like i said up top i tried flying at the beach as well ans same result. no trees or buildings in between.
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