Hover drift, how much is normal?

[Thekidd76]

New drone owner, only have about 30 flights or so in the last 2 weeks. I’ve noticed the last few days that when I’m hovering, the drone seems to drift more than I thought it was in the beginning. I tried testing it out today and was hovering at various points between 1-3 meters up and watching the drone and the video feed. I had full GPS bars and was only 30 or so feet from the drone. In some cases it drifted as much as a couple feet in all directions.

This may be completely normal and I just didn’t notice it initially, but I wanted to check with the more experienced users here. Thanks.

 

[swings16]

My MP was hovering in my living room...within a few seconds the Props struck an entertainment unit (radio/tv..) and broke 2 props...i had no idea that it would do that...memo to self..DO NOT fly in an APARTMENT !

 

[DanMan32]

How much drift? Any wind?

 

[Thekidd76]

How much drift? Any wind?

No significant wind, and over the course of 45 seconds or so it had moved roughly in a 2’ diameter circle.

 

[JMF]

Sounds normal to me.

 

[Thekidd76]

Sounds normal to me.

Ok. Thanks.

 

[DanMan32]

Randomly drifting within a 1ft radius would be normal. Check out videos comparing models of DJI products and their flight times. Often they show the comparisons in fast motion. You'll see them shake around.

 

[Dragonfly]

Two things come into play here. First height and second sensors verses GPS.
When your drone is above 30 feet then GPS positioning comes into play as the ultrasonic sensors lose touch with ground service.
GPS positioning due to consumer nature will not be very accurate on hover.
Below the 30 foot mark (range limit of ultrasonic sensors) your drone sends and receives a signal giving an accurate height. This also kicks in the chromo visual camera which monitors ground contrast patterns to stabalize stability and maintain drones position in one place.
Now here lies the problem, for this chromo camera to be effective, it needs different contrasting patterns/shapes to recognize, so one color like grass or concrete etc is difficult to maintain a precise position unless there is somthing to break the pattern for it lock onto.
So in your low (below 30 feet) hovering, choose good ground aera with plenty of different contrast and your drone will be rock solid. Or it will move about slightly acording to GPS signal.

 

[Thekidd76]

Thanks for the explanation Dragonfly. That mimics some of what I saw. If definitely seemed to drift more at a meter or two above a concrete slab than it did at 10 meters above the lawn.