Mav 3 Advanced RTH vs Straight Ln

[Sky Hustle]

Just wondering if anyone finds switching back and forth ( between Advanced & Straight line ) depending on the environment necessary to make sure the drone will get back to the home point without a crash ?

 

[brett8883]

Just wondering if anyone finds switching back and forth ( between Advanced & Straight line ) depending on the environment necessary to make sure the drone will get back to the home point without a crash ?

Well as someone who does not have a Mavic 3 but has other DJI drones that only have straight line RTH, my perspective is that I’ve never found myself in a situation where straight line RTH wasn’t enough to ensure the drone gets home without crashing.

If I owned a Mavic 3 I would turn advanced rth off permanently and the fact that it even exists makes me nervous. I’m sure someone can think of a situation where advanced RTH is desirable over straight line RTH but I bet they are extremely few and far between in the real world. Just my 2 cents

 

[Faster]

Well as someone who does not have a Mavic 3 but has other DJI drones that only have straight line RTH, my perspective is that I’ve never found myself in a situation where straight line RTH wasn’t enough to ensure the drone gets home without crashing.

If I owned a Mavic 3 I would turn advanced rth off permanently and the fact that it even exists makes me nervous. I’m sure someone can think of a situation where advanced RTH is desirable over straight line RTH but I bet they are extremely few and far between in the real world. Just my 2 cents

Come back home safely as soon as possible (counting that I set a reasonable altitude). That's what straight RTH means, and that's what I want, nothing else

 

[brett8883]

Come back home safely as soon as possible (counting that I set a reasonable altitude). That's what straight RTH means, and that's what I want, nothing else

Yep, I don’t want the drone to do much thinking on it’s own, that’s where it gets in trouble. If failsafe RTH has been activated that means there’s a problem where I’m no longer in control so I want it to do the simplest safest maneuver possible which is climb real high and come straight back to me. It’s a “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” kind of thing.

 

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

This hasn't happened to me, but I've read of numerous occasions where pilots flew behind an object that blocked the RC signal, such as a building; and when the AC couldn't re-acquire signal, it performed a straight-line RTH right into the blocking obstacle.

To me, this doesn't seem like a set-and-forget setting like so many, but an item on your checklist:

• "Potentially flying behind obstacles? Change default RTH behavior"

I don't have the M3, so my setting would be to change RTH to "hover" in such a condition. But if I had Advanced, I might use it.

"Don't fly behind buildings, ya numbskull!" Yeah, well, it can happen with a land mass, like if you dip around the crest of a hill or around a ridge.

Chris

EDIT: I'm not positive, but I think the following happened with a straight-line RTH. I think the pilot was on the ground and flew the AC around to the other side of the saucer, so it RTH flew to "above HP" before descending, which was on the other side.

This is cued to just before the RTH swing and crash moment, but you can play the earlier parts.

 

[brett8883]

This hasn't happened to me, but I've read of numerous occasions where pilots flew behind an object that blocked the RC signal, such as a building; and when the AC couldn't re-acquire signal, it performed a straight-line RTH right into the blocking obstacle.

To me, this doesn't seem like a set-and-forget setting like so many, but an item on your checklist:

• "Potentially flying behind obstacles? Change default RTH behavior"

I don't have the M3, so my setting would be to change RTH to "hover" in such a condition. But if I had Advanced, I might use it.

"Don't fly behind buildings, ya numbskull!" Yeah, well, it can happen with a land mass, like if you dip around the crest of a hill or around a ridge.

Chris

EDIT: I'm not positive, but I think the following happened with a straight-line RTH. I think the pilot was on the ground and flew the AC around to the other side of the saucer, so it RTH flew to "above HP" before descending, which was on the other side.

This is cued to just before the RTH swing and crash moment, but you can play the earlier parts.

The main problem here is if that was the case the RTH height wasn’t set high enough. If you are going around to the back side of a building that tall you’d need to set your RTH height appropriately. This was easily avoidable. Also, it must not have been a DJI drone with OA sensors or it would have climbed above the obstacle during RTH. I’ve had this exact thing happen in the mountains and the Mavic Pro just flew over.

 

[Saladshooter]

I have watched my friend's M3 come dangerously close to small branches using Advanced RTH. For my own Mavic 3 I am using the old and reliable Straight line RTH. I set the height above all objects at the beginning of my flight.

 

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

The main problem here is if that [...[ This was easily avoidable.

Almost ALL crashes are easily avoidable. Not counting ones that fall out of sky from manufacturing defect, like the battery popping out or a bad ESC controller.

People do stuff wrong. I can tell you that ALL of my crashes have been my fault.

This is one of the main reasons I upgraded from a Phantom to an AC with obstacle avoidance, another feature added to these ACs because people crash their drones a lot.

Chris'

 

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

I have watched my friend's M3 come dangerously close to small branches using Advanced RTH. For my own Mavic 3 I am using the old and reliable Straight line RTH. I set the height above all objects at the beginning of my flight.

The thing about RTH (of any type) if it's triggered because you lost signal, is that you can cancel RTH as soon as you get signal back. That's always what I've done.

Chris

 

[brett8883]

Almost ALL crashes are easily avoidable. Not counting ones that fall out of sky from manufacturing defect, like the battery popping out or a bad ESC controller.

People do stuff wrong. I can tell you that ALL of my crashes have been my fault.

This is one of the main reasons I upgraded from a Phantom to an AC with obstacle avoidance, another feature added to these ACs because people crash their drones a lot.

Chris'

Very true and point taken

 

[GadgetGuy]

Almost ALL crashes are easily avoidable. Not counting ones that fall out of sky from manufacturing defect, like the battery popping out or a bad ESC controller.

People do stuff wrong. I can tell you that ALL of my crashes have been my fault.

This is one of the main reasons I upgraded from a Phantom to an AC with obstacle avoidance, another feature added to these ACs because people crash their drones a lot.

Chris'

Obstacle avoidance is a feature and not a guarantee. It is completely unavailable at night and in low light, and often falsely interprets the sun as an obstacle, and can't detect wires and small branches. It also causes the drone to hesitate when flying in tight quarters, and can cause more problems than it solves for a good pilot. I turn it off every time I fly! Depending upon it gives newbies a false sense of confidence. It is more of a marketing gimmick than a useful safety feature, much like AirSense!

 

[alex_markov]

Well as someone who does not have a Mavic 3 but has other DJI drones that only have straight line RTH, my perspective is that I’ve never found myself in a situation where straight line RTH wasn’t enough to ensure the drone gets home without crashing.

If I owned a Mavic 3 I would turn advanced rth off permanently and the fact that it even exists makes me nervous. I’m sure someone can think of a situation where advanced RTH is desirable over straight line RTH but I bet they are extremely few and far between in the real world. Just my 2 cents

I have been waiting for this feature forever as very often I fly in environments where climbing and going straight is deadly for the drone (see below example) - but as RTH is failsafe - i did not test it yet hoping never to have to but will never switch back to old method

 

[Suren]

I have been waiting for this feature forever as very often I fly in environments where climbing and going straight is deadly for the drone (see below example) - but as RTH is failsafe - i did not test it yet hoping never to have to but will never switch back to old method

nice video, I was wondering if you were flying in FPV mode till the end when I saw the googles on.

 

[alex_markov]

nice video, I was wondering if you were flying in FPV mode till the end when I saw the googles on.

I gave this example as I did not reach the end of the canyon fearing losing connection and drone respectively - if it was today with M3 I'll go further a bit at ease that it might come back... eventually

 

[Suren]

I gave this example as I did not reach the end of the canyon fearing losing connection and drone respectively - if it was today with M3 I'll go further a bit at ease that it might come back... eventually

eventually lol . But that was a really nice spot. I need to try and find some cool places like that here.

 

[Yaros]

I don't own Mavic 3 but I fly the Air 2 and if I had the Mavic 3 I would 100% use Straight Line RTH. Advanced RTH makes me nervous, the reason I don't think it's a good idea is that the obstacle avoidance isn't as advanced yet on the Mavic 3 to trust it completely to go between buildings as shown in the videos. Also, I like Straight Line RTH because I set the RTH height to something like 100 meters, and when it loses signal far away, it starts gaining altitude and I get the signal back before it moves anywhere.
Now imagine Advanced RTH in some city, it would be a nightmare, I would be nervous because the sensors can't detect glass buildings.
If you're flying lower than the buildings, or between them, you lose signal far away, then the drone will go around the buildings dangerously, probably above roads and people uncontrollably, and you will not have a signal during most of the RTH because it would go between buildings and the signal would be awful. Now, in that case, Straight Line RTH would just make the drone go up, and regain signal.

After that, I thought: Maybe it is useful in a less busy environment, as some fields with trees or something, but still, not reliable enough for me! Mavic 3 doesn't detect branches without leaves, and glass windows. So still there is a risk!

 

[GadgetGuy]

I have been waiting for this feature forever as very often I fly in environments where climbing and going straight is deadly for the drone (see below example) - but as RTH is failsafe - i did not test it yet hoping never to have to but will never switch back to old method

Seems like loss of signal response in your case should only be set to Hover, and never to RTH by any means! Then, you can move to safely restore signal, without the drone doing anything in the way of autonomous movement that might cause its demise!

 

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

Obstacle avoidance is a feature and not a guarantee. It is completely unavailable at night and in low light, and often falsely interprets the sun as an obstacle, and can't detect wires and small branches. It also causes the drone to hesitate when flying in tight quarters, and can cause more problems than it solves for a good pilot. I turn it off every time I fly! Depending upon it gives newbies a false sense of confidence. It is more of a marketing gimmick than a useful safety feature, much like AirSense!

Huh. I'm not a newbie and it's saved me from hitting obstacles on numerous occasions.

True that it only works in daylight, though to be fair, all safety features have their limitations.

Airbags in cars are no guarantee, but they've saved a lot of lives.

Chris

 

[alex_markov]

Seems like loss of signal response in your case should only be set to Hover, and never to RTH by any means! Then, you can move to safely restore signal, without the drone doing anything in the way of autonomous movement that might cause its demise!

In many cases, I am not able to reach places where it might lose the connection, so I'll take my chances, thank You.

 

[Sky Hustle]

Obstacle avoidance is a feature and not a guarantee. It is completely unavailable at night and in low light, and often falsely interprets the sun as an obstacle, and can't detect wires and small branches. It also causes the drone to hesitate when flying in tight quarters, and can cause more problems than it solves for a good pilot. I turn it off every time I fly! Depending upon it gives newbies a false sense of confidence. It is more of a marketing gimmick than a useful safety feature, much like AirSense! You said it well , Never depend on it void a crash and it may or may not help in the event your drone gets confused .