Landing issue M2EA night flying?

[Badgersurfer]

Several times I have had a problem where my M2EA doesn't want to land the last 4-5ft when flying at night. The landing light comes on and sometimes it is fine. But on some occasions it just hovers above the ground and I am holding down the Left stick but it has no effect. I have to walk up and pluck it out of the sky and flip it. Does anyone know a way of preventing this? I am wondering if switching to Sport mode will fix it as it turns off the sensors. It's a bit disconcerting if you are trying to land and cannot, then it goes into critical battery mode and tries to land itself but wanders away again without you having any control. I have read on some mini's you can turn off landing protection but I cannot see this on the M2EA...

 

[Meta4]

Does anyone know a way of preventing this?

If the drone is rejecting the landing spot you could try moving to somewhere different.
Or hand catch.

I am wondering if switching to Sport mode will fix it as it turns off the sensors.

No .. Sport Mode won't disable the downward facing sensors, but you should be able to do that in your app settings.

 

[Cafguy]

Are you using a landing pad? A pattern such as a simple grid or wavy lines etc.. made with tape will help the drone find its correct landing spot easier(this is still not like dead on landing accurate tho), but darn close. the drone can't see where to land safely at night so it hesitates to do it.

 

[Badgersurfer]

If the drone is rejecting the landing spot you could try moving to somewhere different.
Or hand catch.

No .. Sport Mode won't disable the downward facing sensors, but you should be able to do that in your app settings.

Yes that is a bit awkward as I do DSAR and I am some pretty tight places sometimes. I will give you example my TOLP was in a field full of teasels about 3ft high. I trampled flat an area for my pad and took of from there. Landing was fine the first time it came in but for some weird reason it didn't want to land the second time and although it was right over the pad I couldn't down-stick land it. So I had to grab and flip it like you suggest. I land the mini drone into my hand all the time with no probs but I am a little uncomfortable with the M2EA in the dark. I have landing light on and reg/green strobes for orientation but still not totally comfortable. I have two possible settings "Enable Downward Vision Positioning" and the other is "Precision Landing". As optical sensors don't work at night I am assuming that if the landing light was turned off you could land. But again I would prefer landing light on. So would I be correct by thinking that if I turn off Downward Vision Positioning" I will still have the light but overcome my landing issue?

 

[PHZ]

One idea to test is to bring with you a flashlight (torch), and shine it on the landing spot to augment the landing lights. Also, since you are landing on the ground, check your bottom sensors to make sure they are clean.
I use a $40 folding card table (it folds in half), which is mostly not metal, and take off and land on that. It weighs 10 lbs at the most and has cloth handles. I have not had a problem with compass calibration. Not sure how far you are hiking in. You may want to take 2” reflective duct tape and run stripes from corner to corner for precision landing.
Folding Card Table