Drones

Me gain with more questions. :huh: BTW, I have searched for drone discussion groups without success. Anyhow, I really am going to get a drone. (probably the DJI mini 2) At my age and having had to give up most of my previous avocations I think I'm entitled to a toy if I want it. OK, two questions: how do you get pics/vid from the drone or controller into your computer? SD card? The product description only mentions videos. Can stills be captured?
 
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Sadly, my life with a drone comes to an end before ever really getting started. My DJI mini arrived yesterday. My excitement started to fizzle when I picked up the owners/users manual. It is written in Japanese (where is Stu when we need him?). I don't read Japanese. But, from a diagram I deduced an app had to be installed. OK, I anticipated that. The DJI app site gave several choices of which the differences were not made clear. I picked the one that I surmised was the one I might need. Luck guess, it is the right one. However, and this a really big HOWEVER, the process following, for me, was unsurmountable. I had to register. OK, normal for a new tech product. But, the site said my e-mail address was invalid. No, it ain't. Three tries later it took the e-address. Then I found to use the drone I had to subscribe and pay. The subscription options on my cell phone were in fonts way too tiny to read. What I 'kinda' figured out was there are several options with one providing music (music? I don't need no frigging music with my drone), one that is $39.95 a month and one that is $79.95 lifetime. Not happy with any of that. I buy a product then have to pay the company more just to use it. Tiny upside, there is a free trial period. I chose that but had to give my bank card number. No objection to that. Entered it and immediately got a fraud alert on my phone from the bank. Tried a second and third time. Fraud alerts each time. Then got a call from the fraud center saying my card had been blocked. I live off that card, this was really bad news. Tried calling the fraud center to talk to a live person. After an hour on hold I gave up drank a bottle of whiskey (not really but felt like it) and went to bed. This morning I toughed out the hour plus hold and finally got through to the fraud center and my card was unblocked. But, by this time steam was coming out my ears and fire out my eyes and nose. :pullhair: I ain't a happy camper. 🤬 Without a users manual the drone is useless. More time on hold I contacted Amazon customer service and they are sending a return label. I'm very disappointed with this experience. Having been a photographer since childhood I had hoped to add a new aspect to my picture taking avocation. Instructions that can't be read, the bank not liking doing business with a Japanese entity adds up to the end of an experience that never really got started. Color me blue. 😢
 
Frank, I don't know where you went and what app you loaded BUT somehow you go steered WRONG. once you buy the drone you should be able to fly it and take pictures without paying a monthly fee.
Here is a You tube to get you started. BTW I didn't bother reading the instructions, my man card says I don't have to.


 
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Yeah something is wrong here Frank because it was very easy to get my Mini 3 pro up and going. NO fees or any such thing. I bought mine off of Amazon too I did have to download the manual but went to YouTube to learn how to do it and how to fly it. There are a LOT of good YT videos that will walk you though about anything you need to know
 
I agree with Jay and Don. Somewhere along the way you installed the wrong app. I suspect the brief bit if documentation that come with the drone was written in a dozen or so different languages. Chinese might have been the first one, but there were likely a lot of others, including English. Perhaps you downloaded the app intended for a different (Asian) country? What was the URL you used when you were looking for the app?

Also, these days one can never rely on printed User Manuals, especially for tech-related products. Printed manuals have gone the way of the buggy whip. By the end of the '90s, the software company I was writing manuals for had stopped sending customers anything more than a very brief Quick Start Guide and a link to download the PDF manual. With the pace of development, by the time a manual was written, printed, and bound, the product had changed. Going to electronic manuals allowed us to give our customers the most up-to-date documentation possible.
 
Same opinion here. My Mini-2 also asked for registration, but I could fly it anyway regardless.

I assume you bought it on Amazon? Any chance it came from a third party vendor other than DJI and they're dinking you around?
 
It seems a shame that you have the bird in your hand and you're not gonna at least try it out. It' not hard Frank. You have 30 day to use the return label.
As I said, there was no English anywhere. I don't want to risk damaging it then not being eligible to return. When I cool down I'll check out Youtube and maybe order another one. Don't like doing that but right now it is totally useless to me.
 
...Any chance it came from a third party vendor other than DJI and they're dinking you around?
I was wondering the same thing. :huh: Frank, if you do order another one in the future, make sure the seller is DJI (even if you're purchasing it through Amazon) and not one of the many resellers who use Amazon to peddle their cheap/counterfeit stuff.
 
I was wondering the same thing. :huh: Frank, if you do order another one in the future, make sure the seller is DJI (even if you're purchasing it through Amazon) and not one of the many resellers who use Amazon to peddle their cheap/counterfeit stuff.
Yeah, I've gotten burned by not buy from an authorized reseller once on one of those robotic vacuums. I had an issue with it and the company couldn't help me with it. Fortunately, Amazon took care of things and I was able to return it and get one from a real authorized dealer.

Doubling down on what John and Vaughn said. I'd probably even skip going through amazon and would just order directly from DJI
 
Let me just drop this here for those in the drone buying mood. As I understand it, the ban passed the house a bit ago.
If it does go through Ted those that are here will be OK. Can see this going through anyway their are to many people using them including Police departments. Also DJI shut down the system the the bill was worried about so no more reporting to DJI in china
 
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