HELP! Totally confused about phone/tablet compass need and purpose.

[alkaye]

OK..I am very confused about the phone/tablet compass-- Can someone clearly explain to this idiot, the real problem with a phone/tablet not haveing a compass? I bought the Lenovo M8 and worka fine with my MA2..and even shows the yellow home point on the screen and my direction of travel, Thus, what am I missing here? THANK YOU!!

 

[Aerial-Pixel]

When your device has a compass your remote location (blue circle on the image below) will also have an arrow on it to show the direction you are looking. This can aid you in locating your drone in the sky if you lose sight of it.

 

[alkaye]

Now that makes sense so the round circle is the controller. I usually stay at / near the home point. Thank you I wonder how many people actually buy a device for that reason as I cannot locate an 8" one.

 

[Meta4]

Now that makes sense so the round circle is the controller. I usually stay at / near the home point. Thank you I wonder how many people actually buy a device for that reason as I cannot locate an 8" one.

Almost all phones and tablets have a compass built-in.
It's just a couple of odd Samsungs and your Lenovo that don't.

 

[alkaye]

My undersanding is that unless tablet has celluar it does not have a compass

 

[Meta4]

My undertsanding is that unless tablet has celluar it does not have a compass

That's incorrect.
You are thinking of Apple devices which don't have in-built GPS unless they are cellular-capable models.
Almost all phones and tablets (except a couple of odd Samsung tablets and the Lenovo tablet mentioned above, have a compass sensor.

 

[Peshoa]

OK..I am very confused about the phone/tablet compass-- Can someone clearly explain to this idiot, the real problem with a phone/tablet not haveing a compass? I bought the Lenovo M8 and worka fine with my MA2..and even shows the yellow home point on the screen and my direction of travel, Thus, what am I missing here? THANK YOU!!

Pay attention to the time 4:51 in this video...if the device does not have compass, the small blue triangle will be not available. This triangle shows you how to point yourself to the aircraft, very important for the signal strenth when the drone is not visible in the air because of big distance...

 

[Smooth Rhythm]

Pay attention to the time 4:51 in this video...if the device does not have compass, the small blue triangle will be not available. This triangle shows you how to point yourself to the aircraft, very important for the signal strenth when the drone is not visible in the air because of big distance...

Thanks for sharing!

 

[Yeunglings]

It's more of an added feature than a true necessity to have a compass. It'll show you if you are pointing in the direction of your drone, which is nice, but since you are supposed to always maintain visual line of sight it's technically a moot point. If you're looking at your tablet/ phone to see if you're facing the drone then you weren't paying attention to what you were doing in the first place.

 

[Peshoa]

It's more of an added feature than a true necessity to have a compass. It'll show you if you are pointing in the direction of your drone, which is nice, but since you are supposed to always maintain visual line of sight it's technically a moot point. If you're looking at your tablet/ phone to see if you're facing the drone then you weren't paying attention to what you were doing in the first place.

You are right, then why you bought DJI drone with 5 and more km distance ability? You can use any China drone...all of them can fly in visual distance...

 

[Yeunglings]

You are right, then why you bought DJI drone with 5 and more km distance ability? You can use any China drone...all of them can fly in visual distance...

I am right. To follow the letter of the law if you need to look at your phone/ tablet compass to see if you're facing you drone you are doing it wrong. And did it occur to you that maybe I like having a quality camera, a 3 axis gimbal to allow for smoother pictures and video, the ability to fly more than 10kph or withstand more than a small gust of wind? How about user replaceable batteries that last more than 7 minutes and can be bought at almost any big box retail store or reputable online commerce site? Have you seen the build quality of pretty much every 'Chinese' drone as you put it? And DJI is a Chinese company for your information. A $50us drone can, and will, just drop out of the sky because it can. It will, more often than not, have less than 10 minutes of flight time but need to charge for over an hour and a half, a crappy zero focus fixed camera, and so on and so on. I had one of those drones and it ran away on its first charge never to be seen again. So $50 got me 2-3 minutes of (almost)fun. A $200 drone offered much better overall performance and longevity but had about 15 minutes flight time from an almost 2 hour charge and still flew away because it lost connection 20m directly overhead and I spent about an hour looking for it. Cracked arm, busted camera, sensors hanging off the bottom. $200 got about 4 hours of flight time. $500 has provided me roughly 60 hours and counting. And 30 minutes of flight time from 90 minutes of charging. Do the math and see which one offered the best value. Just because you CAN fly 5km+ doesn't mean you HAVE to fly that far. Occusync offers far superior connectivity to pretty much every other option out there for consumers so you don't have to worry as much about interference and flyaways under normal circumstances and if the wind catches your bird you are more likely to maintain connectivity and be able to guide her back.

 

[jigsaw]

I honestly can't remember the last time I paid any attention to that blue dot/triangle icon.

 

[tlswift58]

You are right, then why you bought DJI drone with 5 and more km distance ability? You can use any China drone...all of them can fly in visual distance...

Because in America and I'm sure elsewhere - nobody can fly 5km's away and remain in VLOS. You do understand VLOS - correct? Maybe Bulgaria has not such rule, so there is that.

My Air2 barely makes it 1/2 mile before signals start getting real iffy, so whatever DJI and other drone makers say is MAX DISTANCE - well, that is probably under perfect conditions and again - nobody can fly 1-5 miles out and have visual contact with that tiny gray drone.

I don't have a the compass and as best as I know - never had it even on my phone when I was using it. IF I lose sight out my drone and it happens a fair amount with all the trees and such in NC - then I pop out the map in the left hand corner and VIOLA - I know where the drone is and can fly it to a point where I do reconnect eyesight with it. Still flying same drone a year later - knock on wood.

 

[Drone752H]

I am right. To follow the letter of the law if you need to look at your phone/ tablet compass to see if you're facing you drone you are doing it wrong. And did it occur to you that maybe I like having a quality camera, a 3 axis gimbal to allow for smoother pictures and video, the ability to fly more than 10kph or withstand more than a small gust of wind? How about user replaceable batteries that last more than 7 minutes and can be bought at almost any big box retail store or reputable online commerce site? Have you seen the build quality of pretty much every 'Chinese' drone as you put it? And DJI is a Chinese company for your information. A $50us drone can, and will, just drop out of the sky because it can. It will, more often than not, have less than 10 minutes of flight time but need to charge for over an hour and a half, a crappy zero focus fixed camera, and so on and so on. I had one of those drones and it ran away on its first charge never to be seen again. So $50 got me 2-3 minutes of (almost)fun. A $200 drone offered much better overall performance and longevity but had about 15 minutes flight time from an almost 2 hour charge and still flew away because it lost connection 20m directly overhead and I spent about an hour looking for it. Cracked arm, busted camera, sensors hanging off the bottom. $200 got about 4 hours of flight time. $500 has provided me roughly 60 hours and counting. And 30 minutes of flight time from 90 minutes of charging. Do the math and see which one offered the best value. Just because you CAN fly 5km+ doesn't mean you HAVE to fly that far. Occusync offers far superior connectivity to pretty much every other option out there for consumers so you don't have to worry as much about interference and flyaways under normal circumstances and if the wind catches your bird you are more likely to maintain connectivity and be able to guide her back.

So what it all boils down to is “Ya get what ya pay for!” I’d pay even a little more for a users/owners manual that was useable. There’s so much here that i have no idea what’s going on. Someone that was really knowledgeable could really pick up some $$$ if they’d put on a face-to-face class in the “How To” of drone operation. Love my Air 2 but really lacking in most of its capabilities!

 

[tlswift58]

So what it all boils down to is “Ya get what ya pay for!” I’d pay even a little more for a users/owners manual that was useable. There’s so much here that i have no idea what’s going on. Someone that was really knowledgeable could really pick up some $$$ if they’d put on a face-to-face class in the “How To” of drone operation. Love my Air 2 but really lacking in most of its capabilities!

YOUTUBE! Plain and simple. Hundreds if not thousands of DJI Air2 Drone videos - from basic beginner to advanced.

Most of the features are not intuitive - just like on most DSLR cameras. Many bells and whistles which most may never use, but worth checking out a video if you don't know what it does / capabilities. Think this forum even has some videos for all as well. I've watched some videos on mode like boomerang and others that do not interest me at all - so probably will never use those. Most of the video's are like 10-30 minutes to cover them well. Some cover just the minimum you need to see and if you want to know more - find another video specific to that function.

 

[Drone752H]

YOUTUBE! Plain and simple. Hundreds if not thousands of DJI Air2 Drone videos - from basic beginner to advanced.

Most of the features are not intuitive - just like on most DSLR cameras. Many bells and whistles which most may never use, but worth checking out a video if you don't know what it does / capabilities. Think this forum even has some videos for all as well. I've watched some videos on mode like boomerang and others that do not interest me at all - so probably will never use those. Most of the video's are like 10-30 minutes to cover them well. Some cover just the minimum you need to see and if you want to know more - find another video specific to that function.

Ah Yes..... YouTube! Where “wanna be experts” can post videos of their face and attempt to present technical information. Unfortunately, it looks like most of these folks have no real idea of how to present information in a logical, understandable progressive sequence. To be effective there needs to be less face, an outline, real knowledge of the subject matter, bullet points and explanation. In reality, when done properly there doesn’t even hardly need to be an audio track! The Air Force put me in the business of “training” in 1960 (much against my will) and I’ve been at it for most of the past 60 years. The idea of “Tell ‘em what you’re gonna tell ‘em, Tell ‘em and then Tell ‘em what you told ’em!” is as valid today as it was 100 years ago.