How Accurate is your minis RTH

[Motorcycle Rider]

I'm just curious, if you have been flying around some with your mini, and ask it to RTH Return To Home on its own, how accurately does it land. Mine has not once shown it landed at 0' altitude, or where it took off from. In the maybe six times I have let it return to land automatically, its actually fairly good, but never hits the mark. I did it yesterday again just to see how well it would do, and it showed the landing altitude as -2', and I'll estimate the distance to be off about 7 or 8'. That is the most error yet in a RTH landing. Once it only missed the take off spot by about 3' which really impressed me.

 

[Deleted member 103366]

I'd same mine was similar to yours but I've never let it actually land on automatic, it's too dicey at my locked down landing site. Position wise I do think it's more accurate than my P3 adv but I haven't taken notice of the indicated height

 

[old man mavic]

what you need to remember,the MM takes a while sometimes to get a good GPS lock compared to the larger mavics,at least mine does at the same location,and also it does not have the prescission RTH function that My MPP has, i would put it on a par with my Phantom 3 as far as RTH accuracy is concerned,considering its size and ease with which it is blown about by the wind i think it does a pretty good job, it does not really matter, because you can always cancel RTH when its close and land it yourself ,personally i very rarely use RTH on any of my drones

 

[Rchawks]

Spot on every time it's been used, maybe 4 times

 

[Motorcycle Rider]

what you need to remember,the MM takes a while sometimes to get a good GPS lock compared to the larger mavics,at least mine does at the same location,and also it does not have the prescission RTH function that My MPP has, i would put it on a par with my Phantom 3 as far as RTH accuracy is concerned,considering its size and ease with which it is blown about by the wind i think it does a pretty good job, it does not really matter, because you can always cancel RTH when its close and land it yourself ,personally i very rarely use RTH on any of my drones

Maybe 1 in 10 times I use it, and let it land, watching it closely in case i need to take over.
I must say, it really impresses me with its accuracy. The first time my thoughts were it may get somewhere in the vicinity of the take off place, but that it would be much worse than it truly is. Reading a foot or two off on altitude, after a 20 minute flight, covering a long distance, to return within feet, is absolutely mind blowing for a $600 drone. While I admit to being a total drone newbie, the mini has surpassed my expectations for a relatively inexpensive drone. Also I take joy in occasionally hitting the RTH button, and seeing just how accurate it will be this time. The area I use most often, is my fairly large front lawn, so even if it missed by 15 feet, it would land safely.

 

[Hydrostan]

Used RTH twice and it came back within 3 feet..

 

[Meta4]

I'm just curious, if you have been flying around some with your mini, and ask it to RTH Return To Home on its own, how accurately does it land.

You don't realise it, but what you are asking really is ...
How accurate is consumer GPS.
The reason you could run 10 tests and get different results each time is that consumer GPS is not pinpoint accurate.
Your Mini's GPS is giving different slightly off position information all the time.
You might be surprised to learn about the variable inaccuracy of GPS:

GPS.gov: GPS Accuracy

Information about GPS accuracy

www.gps.gov

 

[Ajkari]

My MM descends within a 1-2 meter radius so Im fairly impressed but like @PhiliusFoggg wrote, I also seldom let it land by itself.

 

[Bussty]

You don't realise it, but what you are asking really is ...
How accurate is consumer GPS.
The reason you could run 10 tests and get different results each time is that consumer GPS is not pinpoint accurate.
Your Mini's GPS is giving different slightly off position information all the time.

I'm pretty sure the Air 2 and Mavic Pro 2 have the same GPS but what they have which the Mini doesn't is optical downward positioning which lines up the drone precisely where it took off. Watching some of those Air 2 Youtube Videos it is amazing how accurate the RTH is on the Air 2 provided it's not too windy I believe...

 

[RogerDH]

You don't realise it, but what you are asking really is ...
How accurate is consumer GPS.
The reason you could run 10 tests and get different results each time is that consumer GPS is not pinpoint accurate.
Your Mini's GPS is giving different slightly off position information all the time.
You might be surprised to learn about the variable inaccuracy of GPS:

GPS.gov: GPS Accuracy

Information about GPS accuracy

www.gps.gov

That's what I've always believed, anyway -- that testing RTH accuracy and comparing between drones was a bit silly, since they all use the same GPS. Higher quality receivers should be more sensitive and therefore faster at acquiring and holding more satellites, but once they are locked, the position calculation is a deterministic mathematical operation subject to the same errors.

 

[Lee.m]

My mm has been virtually spot on every time I think it’s only missed the pad about once so I’m prett made up with it.

 

[RogerDH]

My mm has been virtually spot on every time I think it’s only missed the pad about once so I’m prett made up with it.

I've only tested it maybe three times, but I haven't gotten closer than about a foot off the pad. But that's about what I expected, so even if I use RTH, I want to take over for the landing. Within a few yards is good enough: close only counts in horseshoes, hand grenades, and RTH.

 

[Arnu69]

Sometimes spot on , most of the time within 2 ft worst was 3ft out. It's GPS so give it a break. You can always take over for the landing if you're particularly bothered. Or get a 6 ft diameter landing pad.

 

[hdjones]

You don't realise it, but what you are asking really is ...
How accurate is consumer GPS.
The reason you could run 10 tests and get different results each time is that consumer GPS is not pinpoint accurate.
Your Mini's GPS is giving different slightly off position information all the time.
You might be surprised to learn about the variable inaccuracy of GPS:

GPS.gov: GPS Accuracy

Information about GPS accuracy

www.gps.gov

EXACTLY! Come on guys... anything within 6 feet is truly all that is expected at the consumer level such as this hobby actually requires. These are not military grade hardware! ???

 

[Motorcycle Rider]

EXACTLY! Come on guys... anything within 6 feet is truly all that is expected at the consumer level such as this hobby actually requires. These are not military grade hardware! ???

I think only 6' of error is amazingly accurate.

 

[Capt KO]

P4P within inches. MavMini 3 ft. Good nuff for a blind bird. Sometimes even finds the pad. ?
If you've only landed a Mini, watching precision landing on the big birds is a hoot. At about 3ft height it will slide into correct position to land spot-on. Neat tech. Never needed but good to know it works.

 

[SW_Drone_Guy]

I used RTH twice today and the first was within 3 feet, the second landing was within 1 foot of the takeoff spot. It was fairly windy, but that shouldn't effect RTH accuracy, right? I may use RTH more often now, thanks... I can still make a hand landing by taking over at the end.

 

[Motorcycle Rider]

I do find it interesting sometimes to just hit the RTH button, and see how well it does.

 

[sethjamto]

Mine will usually land within 2ft of the take off point, although a few days ago I was out about 4000ft away at about 400agl and decided to try the RTH to check the accuracy. It came back at 400ft and then started to descend. When it got to 2ft above the ground it came to a hover and just stayed there and would not land. I checked the controller and it was giving me some landing error (I forget how it worded it). I landed it manually and later saw that it was -8ft below the takeoff point per the gps. Is that maybe why it wouldn't auto land?

 

[Motorcycle Rider]

Mine will usually land within 2ft of the take off point, although a few days ago I was out about 4000ft away at about 400agl and decided to try the RTH to check the accuracy. It came back at 400ft and then started to descend. When it got to 2ft above the ground it came to a hover and just stayed there and would not land. I checked the controller and it was giving me some landing error (I forget how it worded it). I landed it manually and later saw that it was -8ft below the takeoff point per the gps. Is that maybe why it wouldn't auto land?

Mine did that once as well, it hovered at 2 or 3 feet, down on the left stick made it land. It read -3' when it was on the ground.