Will the mavic be able to follow me on my dirt bike, through the woods & above tree line??

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Hi guys! I just found out about the Mavic the other day, and I gotta say, I'm SUPER excited.... never owned a drone before.

But I have some concerns about tracking and collision avoidance. I really want to capture some 3rd person footage of my riding, but I'm wondering if the Mavic is up to the task.

Here's some first person footage from my chin mounted gopro. You can see my speed (mph) a lot of the time on the display. Most of the time my speed is in the 15-25mph range. I know very little about drone's and their limitations, so I'm wondering if you guys think a mavic could keep up? How long would the battery last going these speeds?

Also, the other issue I have is altitude. I ride from 9-12.5Kft and the thin air is obviously going to mess with the drone. Will high pitch props solve most of these problems? Are they even available for the Mavic yet?

How will the drone handle gusty cross winds?

Here's the video. Above tree line cliff side riding at 2:20, would love to capture that with a drone!

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Most of the Phantom range and the Mavic can follow you, what speed will they keep up at hmmm no idea, seen a few vids where they looked like they couldnt keep up or lost contact and stopped, the speed your riding at i think they would keep up or close to, might be easier someone flying it FPV style and following you.
 
Not sure what the Mavic's "follow me" speed capability is. The P3A/P is limited maybe 20 KPH even.
 
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Well we don't have any yet so it's mostly guesswork; but I'd say you'd need to have it pretty far above you to reduce your translational time (time it takes you to cross the video frame) enough for optical tracking to keep up. The terrain follow mode will correct the altitude of the Mav upward to keep it off the the ground, but not downward.

Looking at about 20 minutes to minimum safe battery levels...cross winds will reduce stability of the footage and make the motors works harder, shortening battery life.

The service ceiling is 16,000 ft so you should be ok; there are no alternate props yet (and won't be for some time).

Looks fun though...and like you're about to eat that mirror a couple times :)
 
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KTM? Nice!

I will say it is unlikely that it will be able to keep up.
 
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The speed could be a problem (I guess you could slow down and let it catch up) but the altitude should not give the Mavic any issues. I specifically purchased the Mavic with use above 14,000 ft msl in mind.
 
I have had the same thoughts, as I got the Mavic to use while riding as well, though I think the speed will be the determining factor. With a top speed in Sport Mode at 40 mph, and no auto tracking in sport mode, you would be hard pressed to keep up with a motorcycle. Trees, coverage, quick movements, none of that is conducive to auto tracking. For me, I would have someone follow me in a car (street bike) and chase me. That way, it could be in Sport mode and I can actually hit some real streets.

However, you can bet your *** I am going to try it out once I get mine. In a controled test, of course. I just want the drone already...
 
Remember that object avoidance for the Mavic is clearly listed as functional at speeds up to 22 MPH. Above that and you may be looking at a grounded Mavic due to collision. I can easily and frequently do ride my 660 cc Quad above 22 MPH. It actually hard to keep it below that speed. LOL

Its going to be "trial and error". Do a run on the bike with the Mavic set in a specific mode and then examine the footage. Rinse, Repeat...
 
The speed could be a problem (I guess you could slow down and let it catch up) but the altitude should not give the Mavic any issues. I specifically purchased the Mavic with use above 14,000 ft msl in mind.

Well you'll be able to tell us for sure, but I wouldn't expect operation that high "without any issues." Thin air and rotorcraft aren't exactly friends...take a look at the running landings helicopter pilots are taught prior to mountain work
 
I've sold my P4 and ordered a Mavic for the extra portability so I can do some filming while riding too.

I'm still a total n00b so I only had 1 shot with the P4 at following me while riding, but the conditions were bad so it didn't work very well even in a fairly large flat area.

The main thing I think will be the right conditions and as others have said maybe having someone else around to get better results. Cool vid though dude. Two thumbs up for the Katoom!
 
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Beware of Autopilot! I tried that very same thing with my brand new Phantom 4.. Set altitude at 125 ft. When I engaged, it went up maybe 6 ft and then got an error sayign something about auto take off.. So I manual climbed to about 75 ft and hit start again thinking it would climb the rest to 126 ft.. Instead, it started follow mode at 75 ft! Got stuck in a tree.. was just hovering in there, no way I was going to fly it out so had to cut power and hope for the best.. Its in the shop now with $600 in damage.. :(

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Have a look at this video, it's the one I watched where I learned about the Phantom and what ultimately led me to get a Phantom 4. Skip to 4:45 to watch the Phantom chasing him on his dirtbike.

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You can probably get some ideas from this video as well, plus it has KTMs.

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Remember that object avoidance for the Mavic is clearly listed as functional at speeds up to 22 MPH. Above that and you may be looking at a grounded Mavic due to collision.

It's either on, with a max speed of 22mph or it's off .
 
Looking at that other vid you can see the Phantom slow down etc depending on what the rider is doing, i think manually flown would produce better, smoother results unless it was an open track with a constant speed.
 
Hi guys! I just found out about the Mavic the other day, and I gotta say, I'm SUPER excited.... never owned a drone before.

But I have some concerns about tracking and collision avoidance. I really want to capture some 3rd person footage of my riding, but I'm wondering if the Mavic is up to the task.

Here's some first person footage from my chin mounted gopro. You can see my speed (mph) a lot of the time on the display. Most of the time my speed is in the 15-25mph range. I know very little about drone's and their limitations, so I'm wondering if you guys think a mavic could keep up? How long would the battery last going these speeds?

Also, the other issue I have is altitude. I ride from 9-12.5Kft and the thin air is obviously going to mess with the drone. Will high pitch props solve most of these problems? Are they even available for the Mavic yet?

How will the drone handle gusty cross winds?

Here's the video. Above tree line cliff side riding at 2:20, would love to capture that with a drone!

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DJI has supposedly improved the follow me mode for the mavic but we wont know till they ship.From the videos I have seen of the P4 it did not work that well.If you want a drone for action sports to follow you the Airdog looks pretty **** good.

AirDog the Auto-follow drone for actions sports
 
Wow guys, thanks for all the helpful responses. Cool to see other riders on the forum!

Looks like it might just work for some of the slower sections of trail, but I will have to wait and see, once it's hit the streets.

I was hoping it could follow close behind at 7-8ft of elevation, but I see most of the dirt bike footage from the video above is from much higher up...

Having someone else fly a drone while I ride, would be ideal, but I ride solo 99% of the time, so that aint going to happen. :)

The airdog looks good, but no collision avoidance (except with the ground, right?), and it's looks like a little more hassle to setup. Still could be my best option right now, I'll do some more research on it.

Fun times ahead!

..oh yeah, the bike is a KTM300 two stroke. That mirror is a necessary evil, since the bike is plated.
 
Beware of Autopilot! I tried that very same thing with my brand new Phantom 4.. Set altitude at 125 ft. When I engaged, it went up maybe 6 ft and then got an error sayign something about auto take off.. So I manual climbed to about 75 ft and hit start again thinking it would climb the rest to 126 ft.. Instead, it started follow mode at 75 ft! Got stuck in a tree.. was just hovering in there, no way I was going to fly it out so had to cut power and hope for the best.. Its in the shop now with $600 in damage.. :(

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Ouch! That is one expensive tree trimming session. Hope you get it fixed and back up in the air!
 
You likely would get the best shots with someone doing the drone work, but having a dirtbike myself and the Phantom 4, I was searching Youtube for anything drone and bike related and you can find some interesting and creative stuff. If you frequent the same riding routes I'm sure you can set up some autonomous missions using Litchi or even DJI Go Waypoints along your route and have the drone fly them as you're riding. Looking forward to see videos of what you come up with.
 
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Somewhat off topic, but here is a video of the Typhoon H following at 40 mph. It can follow the Wizard wand which has GPS and barometer so the aircraft can do dynamic altitude adjustment. Obviously it is a much bigger drone and not as portable. You can use it with single or dual operators.
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