I need advice or assistance if the right person reads this... regarding my Mantis Q! Please help!

[Jezzzero]

To start, I'm a pretty experienced pilot. I own the Typhoon H which I love and I can only say perfect things about this drone. My sister crashed it into a tree some time ago when she borrowed it awhile ago. I plan to buy parts and fix in the very near future.

The Mantis Q has an attractive price so I purchased the Mantis Q and received it via FedEx on Friday, the 6th of September, 2018. I've always been a fan of Yuneec drones (never have I thought to obtain any DJI drone with this being the most common amongst my peers). I went to the lake yesterday to attempt to get some video footage of me on my Yamaha Waverunner. Before I attempted this, I was on shore recalibrating the compass as this lake is over 100 miles from my home (where I previously had calibrated the compass). Its seems that this drone is very sensitive with having interference from a magnetic field (or so the app constantly states).

I was able to finally get a successful calibration of the compass. I had everything connected, drone obtained it "Home" location (which I made sure was about 30 feet away from the lake as to be sure no accidents). However, I was unable to successfully move the camera position while the drone is in flight or not in-flight for that matter (the camera just facing forward and straight in front of the drone). The drone was stable and hovering without any issues. The only issue I was having appeared to be with the "Watch Me" mode. The drone would begin the mode and then after a few seconds, it would cancel the "Watch Me" mode and just hover without keeping me in view.

The battery was fully charged on all devices at the start (the iPhone, RC and drone). When I realized that I wasn't going to be able to get the video footage I was anxious to obtain, I decided I would just wait for my next visit to the lake. So, I figured I would try to get some footage of the lake and my sister and I on shore. I switched to Sport mode, flew the drone approximately 20 feet above land...I was going to attempt a flight from over the water coming in to shore towards my sister and I...battery at this point was at least 50% percent. The drone was in position, I looked down at the screen to see that the camera was pointing in my direction where I would be in view as the drone approached shore...my sister says, the drone is dropping and next I know the drone is dropping out of the air, my iPhone says "Connection lost" in the app -with the drone and my drone drops right into the lake! I was unable to get my drone as it sank into the lake.

How is this possible? If the drone loses connection, it is to fly back to the home position and land. The drone's distance was only about 100-150ft from me and about 20-30 feet up.

I'm very upset and I would like to know what I am to do now? I want to find out from Yuneec what their explanation is going to be with this. I hadn't even had a full flight on one whole battery yet. I had only flown short flights for less than 10 minutes at the field across the street from my house.

Please advise or shoot your questions for me to answer. I really appreciate it.

Markus Rupp

 

[NorWiscPilot]

Please advise or shoot your questions for me to answer. I really appreciate it.

Markus Rupp

Markus.,

First, sorry to read of your unfortunate event.

Second, the only advice I can lend is to get in contact with Yuneec. I trust you know to either call or try their chat feature via their web site.

Third, as my Mantis Q arrived just today, I am definitely going to take it slow before sending it out over the water. Tough to do as my backyard is a lake and the cabin is surrounded by trees. Have yet to have a problem with my two H480s and my H520, so I don't expect to have any issues with the Mantis, but will be cautious nonetheless.

From what I can see after a very quick test run, in all of about 15 square feet of the back yard, this will be filling the role as I had planned before purchasing. That is, something to carry along for the fun of it (especially when traveling by air), as well as a craft with a little more pep that my trainer Hubsan 107s. In other words, something to take the load off my Hs when all I want to do is get some stick time.

Please keep us up to date with your experience so we can all learn at the same time.

Good luck!

Jeff

P.S. I do have one question: When you say "my drone just drops right into the lake" - can you remember and describe the drop? Was it any of the following or something different:

• Slow controlled descent - motors on and providing lift
• Fast controlled descent - motors on, just not providing as much lift
• Tumbling or otherwise just another object falling into the water - Motors off
• Tumbling or otherwise just another object falling into the water - Motors on

 

[Jezzzero]

Markus.,

First, sorry to read of your unfortunate event.

Second, the only advice I can lend is to get in contact with Yuneec. I trust you know to either call or try their chat feature via their web site.

Third, as my Mantis Q arrived just today, I am definitely going to take it slow before sending it out over the water. Tough to do as my backyard is a lake and the cabin is surrounded by trees. Have yet to have a problem with my two H480s and my H520, so I don't expect to have any issues with the Mantis, but will be cautious nonetheless.

From what I can see after a very quick test run, in all of about 15 square feet of the back yard, this will be filling the role as I had planned before purchasing. That is, something to carry along for the fun of it (especially when traveling by air), as well as a craft with a little more pep that my trainer Hubsan 107s. In other words, something to take the load off my Hs when all I want to do is get some stick time.

Please keep us up to date with your experience so we can all learn at the same time.

Good luck!

Jeff

P.S. I do have one question: When you say "my drone just drops right into the lake" - can you remember and describe the drop? Was it any of the following or something different:

• Slow controlled descent - motors on and providing lift
• Fast controlled descent - motors on, just not providing as much lift
• Tumbling or otherwise just another object falling into the water - Motors off
• Tumbling or otherwise just another object falling into the water - Motors on

I will and I'm gonna have to say

• Tumbling or otherwise just another object falling into the water - Motors on

I'm gonna choose this one because it didn't just drop...it did a couple of like flips around as it was coming down.. .but then again, maybe from the blades it wasn't going to just drop straight down like a something dead...it was kinda doing turns as it went straight down. I'm so angry at this. Ugh! I will request live chat with Yuneec right now. Thank you!

Markus

 

[NorWiscPilot]

I will and I'm gonna have to say

• Tumbling or otherwise just another object falling into the water - Motors on

I'm gonna choose this one because it didn't just drop...it did a couple of like flips around as it was coming down.. .but then again, maybe from the blades it wasn't going to just drop straight down like a something dead...it was kinda doing turns as it went straight down. I'm so angry at this. Ugh! I will request live chat with Yuneec right now. Thank you!

Markus

Markus,

Thought of something while I out with my MQ on her maiden flight...

I’m so used to seeing six rotors, this didn’t dawn on me until I saw my four rotor machine in the air; wonder if your Mantis experienced a motor or prop failure? Would explain the tumbling along with the sense the motors, at least a couple, were still turning.

No safety net of six that I’ve grown conditioned to expect!

Will definitely be watching this unfold.

Jeff

 

[Jezzzero]

Markus,

Thought of something while I out with my MQ on her maiden flight...

I’m so used to seeing six rotors, this didn’t dawn on me until I saw my four rotor machine in the air; wonder if your Mantis experienced a motor or prop failure? Would explain the tumbling along with the sense the motors, at least a couple, were still turning.

No safety net of six that I’ve grown conditioned to expect!

Will definitely be watching this unfold.

Jeff

Okay and I will be on the phone with Yuneec tomorrow. I wait almost 2 hours for customer service yesterday and as soon as 5pm (no wait, 4:58p) the call was picked up and recording came on that stated that no agents were available to take my call and for me to try again later and then releaased the line... what a waste of my time!! Anyway, I will call again tomorrow and be sure to get some kind of resolution or at least an answer for what's gonna happen with this situation.

Thx,
Markus

 

[MaxBtmTime]

.I've always been a fan of Yuneec drones (never have I thought to obtain any DJI drone with this being the most common amongst my peers).

Maybe don't choose an untested, new product just to stand out amongst your friends?

On point, is there a way to disable visual tracking? Over water it causes all sorts of issues. I'd agree to contact yuneec. They replaced my breeze under similar circumstances.

 

[Jezzzero]

Maybe don't choose an untested, new product just to stand out amongst your friends?

On point, is there a way to disable visual tracking? Over water it causes all sorts of issues. I'd agree to contact yuneec. They replaced my breeze under similar circumstances.

I apologize if this is the way I sounded. In this case, I did not do it for this reason. I will admit that I love purchasing my cars sometimes with this in mind. :-\

Not sure about the visual tracking thingy. I called Yuneec on Monday and waited for 2 hours on the phone only to be told to call again later because they had no agents available as the clock struck 5p. I had no time to call them today.

Markus

 

[DroneCalzone]

MaxBtmTime, aren't you confusing visual tracking with visual stabilisation (VPS visual positioning system, or whatever Yuneec calls it). That would be the camera on the bottom of the copter, that is supposed to identify the drone is drifting based of the movement of the ground under it. This doesn't work good over water - true, but in this case I thnk the copter was using GPS for stabilisation - as it usually would in an open space with plenty of visible satellites. Jezzzero didn't say anything about not having GPS signal.

 

[Jezzzero]

MaxBtmTime, aren't you confusing visual tracking with visual stabilisation (VPS visual positioning system, or whatever Yuneec calls it). That would be the camera on the bottom of the copter, that is supposed to identify the drone is drifting based of the movement of the ground under it. This doesn't work good over water - true, but in this case I thnk the copter was using GPS for stabilisation - as it usually would in an open space with plenty of visible satellites. Jezzzero didn't say anything about not having GPS signal.

Right! I had several GPS satellites at the time. I believe about 17.

 

[MaxBtmTime]

MaxBtmTime, aren't you confusing visual tracking with visual stabilisation (VPS visual positioning system, or whatever Yuneec calls it). That would be the camera on the bottom of the copter, that is supposed to identify the drone is drifting based of the movement of the ground under it. This doesn't work good over water - true, but in this case I thnk the copter was using GPS for stabilisation - as it usually would in an open space with plenty of visible satellites. Jezzzero didn't say anything about not having GPS signal.

Even with GPS on, those sensors are still used. If they were only used in altitude hold, why include them on drones like the breeze which effectively lack this mode.

The downward cameras can still cause issues with this, and even DJI suggest disabling when over water.

 

[goldswim2004]

I got mine today, did some test flights. I also was not able to successfully calibrate the compass. But I was in a backyard in the suburbs. Will try soon in an open soccer field.

 

[Steve Carr]

I called Yuneec on Monday and waited for 2 hours on the phone only to be told to call again later because they had no agents available as the clock struck 5p. I had no time to call them today.

The Live Chat is usually faster than waiting on the phone, especially if you use it in the morning just after they open.

 

[Jezzzero]

The Live Chat is usually faster than waiting on the phone, especially if you use it in the morning just after they open.

Oh boy, I've tried to use this everyday and it always that there is no agents available no matter what time I try it.

 

[Jezzzero]

I got mine today, did some test flights. I also was not able to successfully calibrate the compass. But I was in a backyard in the suburbs. Will try soon in an open soccer field.

Yeah, magnetic field interference or something like this, right? Ridiculous!

 

[DroneCalzone]

Even with GPS on, those sensors are still used. If they were only used in altitude hold, why include them on drones like the breeze which effectively lack this mode.

The downward cameras can still cause issues with this, and even DJI suggest disabling when over water.

Both in Breeze and Mantis the IPS is for indoor flight (hence the name indoor positioning system). I'm still not convinced that the IPS is used by the copter even when it has a good GPS signal. Do you have a source for this information?


As for the calibration:
Calibration is indeed a bit troublesome, the procedure is different than in other yuneec products, but it's not described in the manual.

First of all it's important to place the copter in the position showed on the app (this needs to be done exactly like the app shows). Copter should beep and only then you can start doing the turns. I noticed that I get the interference message during the calibration, but when I moved the copter away from the smartphone and controller it worked better. It took 3 tries last time, and on the 3rd I left the controller and phone about 2-3 meters away from the copter and it calibrated OK.

Flight was uneventful. after that.

 

[Jezzzero]

Both in Breeze and Mantis the IPS is for indoor flight (hence the name indoor positioning system). I'm still not convinced that the IPS is used by the copter even when it has a good GPS signal. Do you have a source for this information?


As for the calibration:
Calibration is indeed a bit troublesome, the procedure is different than in other yuneec products, but it's not described in the manual.

First of all it's important to place the copter in the position showed on the app (this needs to be done exactly like the app shows). Copter should beep and only then you can start doing the turns. I noticed that I get the interference message during the calibration, but when I moved the copter away from the smartphone and controller it worked better. It took 3 tries last time, and on the 3rd I left the controller and phone about 2-3 meters away from the copter and it calibrated OK.

Flight was uneventful. after that.

Exactly! The calibration is not easy you're exactly right..if you don't do it exactly as the app, it won't complete. That goes for the direction of spin as well. If you don't do the same exact turn, it gives the error "wrong operation". Very frustrating!

 

[DoomMeister]

Did the Mantis come with a full user guide or just the quick start guide? There should at least be one to fully describe all the functions in the app.

It is very difficult to give any kind of advise/direction to owners unless you spend $500 to $600 dollars to have one in hand.

Come on Yuneec, how about properly documenting your products!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Jezzzero]

Did the Mantis come with a full user guide or just the quick start guide? There should at least be one to fully describe all the functions in the app.

It is very difficult to give any kind of advise/direction to owners unless you spend $500 to $600 dollars to have one in hand.

Come on Yuneec, how about properly documenting your products!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nope... it only came with the quick start guide!

 

[BobW55]

The manual SHOULD have come with it.
Mantis Q - Downloads

 

[Jezzzero]

The manual SHOULD have come with it.
Mantis Q - Downloads

Should have... BUT DID NOT!