Homepoint issue again!

[Jussaguy]

Apparently I set more dynamic (moving RC) home points than most.

Here is my situation.

I just had a P4 that I thought had a bad transmitter for gps to the RC (I know the bird has its own GPS!) but it's important for me (and frankly should be for everyone) to be able to set their own home points from the RC.

Above mentioned P4 would set the homepoint from take off but would not let me set it again from that point and if I accidentally or if it glitches and set a homepoint at the bird or another location it could be what the uninitiated would think is a fly away.

I troubleshot with my iPhone 6+, 7+, 5s, iPad Pro 9.7 and my wife's regular 6 and they all did the same. Initial point and no dynamic point, it would say "GPS signal too weak" and then not set it which really sucked the one time it set it far away on a glitch and the intelligent battery thought it had to go home and I put it in sport atti and returned it to me. I figured the transmitter from the bird to the RC was bad as it was happening with all my phones and tabs.

I sent that P4 back and am still waiting for it. Mind you this is all on the new GO4.

Enter my new Mavic today and it is doing the exact same thing. I used that Enjoy service and the first thing I tried was setting a homepoint and it said "too weak, no point" but it would also do that with the other phone and tabs.

I often fly on boats and dynamic homepoint are important to me, plus I like follow me, and finally and most importantly, I feel unsafe sending a bird up that I can't homepoint back to me should something go wrong.

So it's doing the EXACT same thing with the same devices that the P4 was doing. I'm thinking that this must be a massive issue and there are just a lot of people blissfully unaware of it as they use their new macics and whatever on the Go4. But what about the power Inspire users? Surely they would know.

I'm so perplexed. I found a thread on dji forums with the issue. What say you guys? Have you tried it before you say it works fine for you and if it does, what is your set up? Is it just iOS, is it just a couple carriers? Is it random?

I think it's only on the GO4.

That it did it on the P4 and the Mavic has me believing and thankful that it can't be a hardware issue as that would be devastating to DJI. **(unless they use the same transmitter and changed it and I have it on that P4 and my new Mavic?)

So what gives here? Why on my two latest birds, P4 and new Mavic am I not able to set points at my RC? Anyone?

Some DJI forum users with same problem.

My one reasonable thought is that it is constantly doing a dynamic homepoint and then you can just switch from bird to station but that isn't right because it won't let me switch back to RC if I do the bird. It's bizzare. Thoughts please?

Follow Me Mode DOES NOT WORK (GPS Weak)

 

[halley]

As you may understand, but just reinforcing: setting the homepoint depends on the GPS in your phone or tablet. Usually these units are nowhere near as sensitive and accurate as the drone's onboard system, because they just expect to get you to the nearest intersection on your way to the shopping mall. They drop out a lot, they jitter, they can be blocked with your hands or your other equipment easily. It isn't the RC-to-drone signal that is weak, it isn't the GPS lock on the drone that is weak, it is the GPS lock on the phone or tablet.

 

[Jussaguy]

As you may understand, but just reinforcing: setting the homepoint depends on the GPS in your phone or tablet. Usually these units are nowhere near as sensitive and accurate as the drone's onboard system, because they just expect to get you to the nearest intersection on your way to the shopping mall. They drop out a lot, they jitter, they can be blocked with your hands or your other equipment easily. It isn't the RC-to-drone signal that is weak, it isn't the GPS lock on the drone that is weak, it is the GPS lock on the phone or tablet.

I've been flying DJI birds for years and never had this problem until the GO4 app so that answer sounds nice and snugly but doesn't jive. The GPS In the iphones and iPad Pro are top notch GPS receivers. This is a GO4 app issue. It works fine in the Go App.

 

[HFMan]

I agree... the GPS in my both Galaxy S5 and iPad are top notch. It takes a LOT of blocking for them to lose signal, they are way way better than "nearest intersection." I'm with Jussa... I think it's something in the app.

 

[dmitriy]

Reposted here as a placeholder:

My Verizon iPhone 7+ has the same problem with setting a new home point at the controller. However an android (yotaphone 2) device doesn't have any issues with the same Mavic/Controller combo.

Interestingly the Remote controller will display correct flight distance (lower right on the LCD screen) between it and the mavic even when its on the ground with props off and if you walk around with the controller in your hand without moving the Mavic at all. (though there is about 10-20seconds of lag on that). So the GPS seems to be working there somehow...?

 

[Jussaguy]

Reposted here as a placeholder:

My Verizon iPhone 7+ has the same problem with setting a new home point at the controller. However an android (yotaphone 2) device doesn't have any issues with the same Mavic/Controller combo.

Interestingly the Remote controller will display correct flight distance (lower right on the LCD screen) between it and the mavic even when its on the ground with props off and if you walk around with the controller in your hand without moving the Mavic at all. (though there is about 10-20seconds of lag on that). So the GPS seems to be working there somehow...?

That's because that GPS comes from the bird reciever. Yeh telemetry doesn't come from the RC. It can get a little confusion I agree with the poster above agreeing with me . At least I hope so.

What is sven stranger is that I got it to work with a Galaxy S6 @HFMan