My relationship with you is over. We used to have some good times a while back but now we just fight and scream at each other. I dont see any point in continuing when our hate for each other grows on a daily basis.
You used to do as I asked. In return I kept you up to date on a nice clean tablet with plenty of room so that you could move around. I didnt allow any other app to come near you. I protected you.
Today, I used you on my Ipad. This has worked before. You connected beautifully. I had to choke back a tear at how easy it was to get to the fly button. As you took off I felt a swell of pride. And then…you dropped the camera and the picture went almost completely white. It remained like this until I hit the RTH at which point the image came right…but of course the flight was now aborted.
I pushed my frustration aside and changed the camera settings on the plan from manual to automatic. Again the pride I felt as you took off was indescribable. You dropped the camera - and now the images were almost black.
I pushed thru this disappointment and let you continue on your way. And that is when, DD you decided to turn your back on me and shut down. Mid flight is not the time to chuck a tantrum. You weren’t hot - I know this because I was in the shade making sure you were cool.
Yes you let me reconnect to the bird who was still doing what she was doing. But you started dropping the display in and out so I couldnt see anything. The flight completed but I know that the images will be too dark to be of any use. And can I trust an app that will shut down on me - leaving my bird in the air in a location I dont know about.
It is with a heavy heart, DD that I have to end this relationship. The pain and suffering from both parties has gone on long enough.
Ver 2.55.0 - 2.55.1 - and please DD team - dont tell me to upgrade to the latest version which seems to be a stock answer. Develop an app that works without end users having to fight with it.
I leave - broken hearted - in search of Pix4d who might make my flying life a lot happier.
Regards
Sean
Interesting to note previous feedback left on this version.
Hi @syamaphantom Thanks for the detailed note. I’ve spent some time investigating your flights this morning to see if we can figure out what is happening. It appears we do have a bug that happens when you takeoff and then land and then takeoff again that can cause the exposure to mess up. In our logs it looks like you took of for a second, then immediately landed, then took off again.
I know you don’t want to hear it but the upcoming and newer versions are mostly focused on reducing times that the the app can crash mid flight.
I am sorry to hear about your frustrating time with the product - this is clearly not the experience we want our users to have. I hope you do not feel that you were singled out or that your voice was unheard in any part of your decision to not move forward with us. We genuinely care and take into consideration our users’ feedback, no matter how positive or negative it is.
As Chase mentioned, we’re continually working on our product and expect to resolve a couple of the issues you’re experiencing in the near future.
Again, I am sorry to hear your expectations weren’t met. If you have anything else you’d like to share or add, please feel free to do so.
Correct - I took off, noticed the exposure was wrong, so did an RTH at which stage the exposure came right. Figuring it was now right I restarted the flight immediately but the exposure went back to wrong again.
What I dont understand is that I have flown with this version before with NO issues. Nothing has changed on the bird or the tablet so why would I suddenly have an issues ?
Your product when it works is brilliant. But it is becoming too hit and miss to be of use at the moment.
Just remember what you are working with. When you fly, you have more technology and computing power in your hand than the Apollo mission that landed men on the moon. It is not an easy thing to develop the complex software, so we have to expect some glitches. There are a lot of combinations of aircraft, controllers, and mobile devices to coordinate. The measure is not whether the software is perfect every time, but how quickly and how well the problems get resolved. As a user for only a short time, I’m impressed with the quick personal responses by DD staff.
I think your missing my point TheArborist. I raved about the software prior to this thread. Nothing changed between that thread and this one. The software version was the same, the firmware version was the same - and yet I experienced some of the worst flights ever.
I understand glitches happen. I understand that the folks at DD cop a lot of complaints from us and do their best to keep us all happy. What I dont understand is why there is no consistency when I fly using the software. If I get the same results each time I fly I would be happy - but it seems I get inconsistent results with each and every flight regardless of whether I change the software or not.
As stated before I have had some AWESOME results from DD’s software and it is absolutely BRILLIANT when it works well. I’m just tired of constantly hitting a disappointing flight, having to upgrade to the next version and then having to work out what quirks that version brings with it.
That’s all understood. Technology is great–when it works. the thrust of my previous post though is that we are now dealing with systems that are highly complex. You have a complex software package that serves to connect a complex computer device to a complex flying machine, both of which are driven by their own software packages. Is DD the only place where those glitches might be occurring? Could there not be issues introduced by
ipad hardware,
ipad software,
drone hardware,
drone software,
outside influences (EM interference, etc),
connection interface,
other sources not imagined in this list?
My point is that there are many places where the problem can arise. I do not have the expertise in all these areas to say which might be causing the problems i may encounter. I just prefer to ask for help rather than pointing fingers at the first thing that comes to mind. You said all other things remain the same, but do they really? DD stayed the same yet you still encountered problems. Why assume the software package is the only possible source of the problem?
I"m not trying to get on your case about this, just pointing out that there can be other explanations. You started out in your first post saying you would end your relationship with DD over this. Unless you know of a better option, one that NEVER has any problems, it’s my opinion that this is a harsh and over-reactive statement. I hope i don’t experience the problems you related, and i hope your experience going forward is less frustrating to you. Sticking with it, and dropping the mutual “hate” will get you there quicker and with less stress. As my Dad used to say, 150 years from now no one will care about this. Happy flying!
The tone and intent was not clear: I couldn’t discern whether you were talking to the app or the team. Doesn’t matter, it worked out the same either way. You are dissatisfied. In your (deleted) response you said “hate is a strong word,” but you used it there. OK, I get it. Your prerogative to be upset about something so frustrating.
You continued to berate me for my comments on the various aspects that might also have a part, indicating that you are professionally involved with IT and and telling not to question your expertise in that area. I did not question anything. I merely pointed out some of the alternative possibilities. If you have checked that all out and reassured yourself that the only possibility that remains for the problems is DD, that’s fine. But don’t jump all over me for not knowing your expertise or knowledge. I did not question that, and nowhere in the thread was that mentioned. I do not know you, don’t know your level of involvement or expertise, or even your history with DD and its developers. Yet you were quick to hammer me for comments that might be of use to other forum users.
I’m not defending DD and I’m certainly not trying to belittle you in any way. If this forum is supposed to help all of us users, it should reach out and explore other options than those that first spring to mind. So, please, just take my comments in the spirit they were intended—to try to understand the issues by exploring alternatives. The next reader might just benefit from that.
To the forum: sorry for the interruption. I can’t find any way to respond to an individual offline.
Just wanted to chime in again and add that misunderstandings happen from time to time but this community does not tolerate any sort of “calling out” and negative behavior towards any other member. Criticism for our product is welcome - it provides us valuable feedback as to what’s important to our users. Criticizing other people is not. We’re all here to help, learn, and grow so let’s work together.
Following this thread with some interest…
We are all continually learning.
Similarly I will be need to make a decision whether to go with Pix4d or DD…
I’m still on a demo period (extended by DD) after having to purchase my second drone.
First drone disappeared on it first real DD mapping mission.
Some blamed DJI hardware, some DJI software most blamed me…
It’s interesting that DD now has a obstacle avoidance button on the DD flight app…
What would be more helpful if forum bloggers such as Chase and Christina clearly identified themselves as DD employees.
Christine obviously is and is very helpful.
Chase on the other hand comes across as …(deleted)… and his posts are rarely of much help.
I’ve come across Chase’s posts in other threads and until I read this thread I had no idea that Chase was a DD employee…
I’d like to chime in here and add a couple things.
If you click on any user’s avatar, you will be able to see any badges they have. All DroneDeploy employees have a DroneDeploy Employee badge to let other members of the community know we are affiliated. Though, I agree that it is not as visible as it should be and I hope we can make some changes about this in the near future.
As a member of this community, you must be respectful of others, whether or not they are an employee. Sharing feedback is helpful, but not if it’s attacking others or their opinions. We welcome discourse as long as it is constructive but we will not tolerate any comments that are disrespectful to other folks in this space.
Sorry you felt the posts weren’t helpful Daniel. I try to help on the forum since I was the original developer of the DD mobile app and have been working with resolving customer issues for the past 3 years. The original reason this forum came about was for me to get beta feedback on our first app that supported the inspire 1.
Obstacle avoidance was enabled previously on the DD flight app. Now we are just trying to make sure that users are 100% aware that it is enabled by putting it front and center.
