We are very happy with DJI Inspire 2 and Zenmuse X7. I already wrote a couple of articles about the qualities of this amazing drone and I didn't mention any lack. But, to be honest, there is a weakness which need to be mentioned. The video signal is not as solid as the Mavic one.
How can it be possible? We are comparing two very different drones: Mavic is supposed to be just a little bit more than a toy, while Inspire 2 is a professional platform!! But Inspire 2 is two years older than Mavic, and two years is quite a bit in the world of drones!
How can we improve the Inspire 2 performance? I made some research and after some thoughts I decided to give 4Hawks Raptor XR a try. We are talking about a directional antenna that promises to quadruple the distance you can reach with your Inspire 2. Actually we don't want to extend the flight range, this is not our goal; we just want a more reliable signal in the 500m range allowed by Italian laws.
Installing the antenna is not so easy - even though dismounting the Inspire 2 Radio Controller is way easier than dismounting the Inspire 1 RC one (here is a video). You have to remove the stock antenna and install the cable provided with the 4Hawks Raptor XR, which allows you to install the antenna. The antenna is pretty big (19 cm high and 29 cm large) but not very heavy. The mounting system of the antenna doesn't look super solid but it's adjustable and this is very important with a directional antenna.
So is the whole thing working or not??? This is probably the question you are trying to answer since you started reading this article! And the answer is yes! I made a long range test in a very isolated location. With the standard antenna, video signal set to custom 10 mb/s, I could barely reach 400m before having the first glitch and loosing signal. With 4Hawks Raptor XR I stopped at 1 km but I am pretty sure I could keep going for a while!
Always remember that a directional antenna works great if you are pointing at the drone, otherwise it works worse than the stock antenna. Worth noting is the fact that improving the signal of the main controller on Inspire 2 improves also the second operator signal. This happens because the second remote controller receives the signal from the main controller and not directly from the drone.
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