Auto return home

dragos28 · Sep 22, 2017

Alright, so i have this idea. My wife and I and a few of our neighbors like to horse ride in the evening around the neighborhood.
I'd like to have the drone auto follow us, but cannot be bothered to lug around the controller or bag. I just want to enjoy my ride.

Can I set up the Autofollow at my ranch and have it follow us up until the battery reaches its critical level, then have it return home.

Our rides are about two hours long, the battery lasts around 25 min.

I'm still very new to using my drone, and am not familiar with all of its advanced functions.

But i think that would be cool if it were possible, have it follow us for about 15 or so min, then when it reaches 30% battery it would return back home, i'd have the RTH set on top of something so it doesnt get damaged, until i get back.

is this possible? and how would i set it up if it is.

CamoGreg · Sep 22, 2017

Hello, you can do the Follow Me mode but you need to have your RC with you. Then the mavic will come back to home by his own. But ensure that your home point is well setup.
Are you in a safe place ? Because I didn’t want to have my Mavic stays for 2 hours alone at the home point.

If you don’t want to have the RC with you I would use Active Track but if he lost the subject then he will hover. And then go back to the home point when low battery. The issue is if he lost subject after 5 minutes which can be the case.

tracer bullet · Sep 22, 2017

All I can suggest is to be totally sure this will work, including all settings like RTH altitude, before you try it. Even then I'd consider having it follow your wife or friends while you walk near them (so as not to need to also deal with a horse) or stay home at the home point, or have a person doing each thing to be sure it works. I can picture the first time trying this out ending up in a crashed or lost drone even after you have reasoned it out and set it up as thoroughly as you could.

Seems totally do-able, I just want to say to monitor it a few times before you really trust it.

Also be sure about the height you set and relation to any trees and so on. Don't necessarily expect it to navigate between trees 100% successfully. You may have to position yourself well above them for the duration of the flight.

dragos28 · Sep 22, 2017

Thanks, I guess I can toss the drone and remote in the small bag, get out to a big open field, have it auto follow us there and then put it away.
I've got the Thor bracket and iPad mini so it's a bit cumbersome, but if I just use my cell and keep the whole setup light it may not be that big of a hassle.