An interesting mistake, and you should know when flying in a cool weather!

[hchen]

It was a cool day. I wore a pair of gloves that special designed for photographers. It has pull-back the thumb and forefinger tips to reveal your fingers. The tips are secured in place by magnets. When my drone was in the place to take off, I saw a warning of "calibration needed", I immediately followed the instruction to do the calibration. Unlike I experienced before, the calibration failed a few times before I got "Successful" indication. The situation was extremely unusual. I kept to get "calibration needed" and "calibration failed" so many times that it made me start to investigate what was going on. I did not see any big metal around the take off area. Suddenly, I realized there was two small magnets right in my gloves! And further more, I always use my hand take off and landing! I had joyful fly in the rest of day after I removed the pair of gloves.
If you are curious what the gloves look like, here it is: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...Men_s_Stretch_Thinsulate_Gloves.html/overview

 

[THE CYBORG]

My son who is a photographer uses those gloves, I almost got some but opted for fingerless, pleased I did after reading your post.

 

[old man mavic]

thanks for the share, it indeed does not take much to give a compass error calibrate message especially if the are magnets very close to the drone

 

[Vic Moss]

Yep. I use those to shoot and to fly. But if I need to do a compass calibration, I have to take them off. But normally it's my VO doing the compass dance instead of me.

 

[elborak]

It's a more common mistake than you might think; you're the 2nd person to post about this in just the past week: Not my proudest moment

 

[John235]

Take the magnets off and replace them with stick-on-fabric velcro patches. I have a pair of hunting gloves like that.

 

[Mike Mas]

Good Stuff thanks for sharing- Mike

 

[AVLJMA]

Thanks! Great tip. I would have never thought of that.

 

[jarnie]

Looking at that website for the gloves it does state "Magnetic Finger Tips". Surely this is the reason? Try gloves without Magnetic Finger Tips.

 

[cxwing]

I noticed similar problems when I wore an Apple Watch with a powerful magnet on the band. I think it even got too close to the sensors on the copter (when carrying it), and messed them up. I now use the velcro band, an make sure the watch is in “Airplane Mode”.

 

[Mr. Noob]

I picture me doing that but taking MUCH longer (days, maybe weeks?) to figure out the issue! HAHA!

 

[hchen]

I noticed similar problems when I wore an Apple Watch with a powerful magnet on the band. I think it even got too close to the sensors on the copter (when carrying it), and messed them up. I now use the velcro band, an make sure the watch is in “Airplane Mode”.

There is no magnet on my Apple watch band. Therefore, no issue for me.

 

[danny_2020]

Thank you for sharing this, it was very helpful

 

[Zonian]

...it indeed does not take much to give a compass error calibrate message...

This is so true. If I take off from my wooden deck, I need to place the drone "between" the rows of deck screws...otherwise I get an interference message.

 

[pelagic_one]

If I take off from my wooden deck, I need to place the drone "between" the rows of deck screws...otherwise I get an interference message.

Taking off from sidewalks (and closed tarmacs) can cause a similar interference due to the amount of rebar reinforcement.

 

[JoostGT3]

I had the same happening with me a couple of months ago. All of a sudden I needed to calibrate the drone constantly and it wouldn't succeed for times after another... then I realized the bracelet I am wearing has a magnetic clasp... Doh!