How long does Return to Home take? It's been a week.

[jackdakota]

Lost my P2V+ last week. Read through the forums for tips and watched many videos on how to fly the thing before I got the unit. First flight went well. Second flight later in the day at a park was a disaster. The thing was roughly 150ft high and 500ft away. It lost connection momentarily and when the FPV came back on, it was showing RTH icon briefly then connection was lost permanently. I left the controller alone and it just kept going the opposite direction until LOS was lost. Drove around the area and wasn't able to find it. Told my work about it the next day when they saw my reward flyer for it. An hour later they told me someone found it and it's in my office. Came in the office and this was sitting on the floor:

I'm doubtful that I will recover the first V+ so I'm taking precautions. Got another unit this week and purchased a GSM/GPS tracker (TK102) for it. It's been pretty reliable and doesn't seem to interfere with the signal to/from the V+. I have it on tracking mode so it will only text you the location when you call it. It's been pretty dead on when I have it in my car. Down to the exact parking space in a parking lot.

Just want to share the hilarious paper replica of the Phantom. :lol:

 

[Damon]

Sorry for your loss. Make sure you use the battery cover that has no magnets in it. Mine came with both covers, and I do not want you to crash your second, since it messes with the onboard compass.

 

[MapMaker53]

Sounds like you may have taken off without enough satellites or without the home point being established. Probably thought its home point was the DJI factory in China.

 

[rrmccabe]

Sorry for the loss.

Obviously Damon has one of these trackers and must like it but curious if everyone else in other locations like it was well?

I looked at them on Amazon and the reviews were really bad. Might be partly because of ticked off customers trying to read what apparantly is a bad manual.

What type of service do they run on?

 

[jackdakota]

Sorry for your loss. Make sure you use the battery cover that has no magnets in it. Mine came with both covers, and I do not want you to crash your second, since it messes with the onboard compass.

I'm using the cover without magnets. I put the tracker inside the provided pouch, loop a piece of narrow velcro behind the pouch and secure it to the leg without the compass.

Sorry for the loss.

Obviously Damon has one of these trackers and must like it but curious if everyone else in other locations like it was well?

I looked at them on Amazon and the reviews were really bad. Might be partly because of ticked off customers trying to read what apparantly is a bad manual.

What type of service do they run on?

I got this http://www.amazon.com/SainSpeed-Rechargeable-Real-Time-Anti-theft-Capabilty/dp/B00CXMRGN2/ one from Amazon. You have to provide your own SIM card and service. I just added another line to my T-Mobile account. At $10/month, I think it's worth not having to deal with refilling a prepaid account if you choose to go with the prepaid SIM. Instruction on it is not very difficult to follow. It consists of sending texts follow by your security code. The actual manual can be found here http://solidgoldsecurity.com.au/gps-tracker-tk102-manual/ It uses GSM triangulation and GPS coordinates. The text has a google map link along with the coordinates. If it can't get a good GPS lock, it will use GSM and send you a text with the tower information. It's been getting consistent GPS coordinates outdoor for me. It's when you have it indoor or tall buildings, that's when it switches to GSM triangulation mode. For $25 it's definitely worth having in case of another fly away.

 

[Damon]

They are quite difficult to set up initially, but if you search the internet there are some good resources.

I bought T-Mobile sim card and called the company to activate. Its cellular based so it would not work if in an area where cell coverage is lacking.

There are some free apps in android market that assist in sending configuration commands to the tracker via text message.

I think I have the walk through directions I downloaded. If anyone needs them. Edit: http://visionflyer.com/adding-a-gps-tra ... -2-vision/

Cost is roughly $10 a month prepaying for three months. Texts are 10 cents a text if you use it a lot you might need to load more money into it. A lot of people buy a prepaid phone, activate and then pull the sim to place in tracker.

 

[rrmccabe]

OK sounds like it runs off the old T-mobile 2G service. I bought a SIM card last month from Tmobile and had to cancel as the coverage around here is too sketchy.

Thanks Damon for the update.

 

[BennyGca]

That's brutal! Biggest fear is watching my Vision+ take off out of sight..

..but are you sure your office recovered a P2V+.?. That looks more like a Phantom1.

 

[Clipper707]

The picture was almost as funny as your headline. Great post.

Glad you're getting back in the air. Happy flying!