If you’ve just bought yourself a brand new DJI Phantom 3, you probably just want to take it out for a spin, and not bother with technicalities. It’s in human nature to rush things, especially when it comes to trying out something you’ve wanted for a really long time, but that shouldn’t make you completely skip reading the manual.
People usually contact the customer service right after their first flight because it hadn’t gone as they planned. Some call before they’d even had a chance to take the drone outside because the motors weren’t spinning or the drone wasn’t flying high enough. In most cases, these problems are closely connected with DJI GO app's Beginner Mode.
The Beginner Mode is designed to introduce you to a radio controlled flying system. As mentioned, most people start by taking the Phantom out for a spin, and leave the simulator for some other time. This means that they’re usually not even aware that Beginner Mode is on. Leaving it on, however, can lead to some issues.
First of all, your drone is going to lift to a certain height and not go any higher, which may lead you to believe that something is wrong with it. But the problem is in Beginner Mode being turned on. This mode puts a Geofence around the drone’s take off point and thus restricts its flying range to 30 meters. The purpose of this mode is to create an environment with limited options so you can fly safely. So, if you hit an invisible wall during your flying time, don’t go thinking that something is wrong with the drone, and simply check if Beginner Mode is still on.
Second, you could get into trouble even for trying to test your drone indoors. The fact is that you probably won’t get a good satellite reception, which means that your drone won’t be able to fly. So go outside, but make sure to get to know the features of Beginner Mode.
