DJI Mavic, Air and Mini Drones
Friendly, Helpful & Knowledgeable Community
Join Us Now

Mavic 3, GPS reception.

Jorge Vergara Latoja

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 24, 2021
Messages
73
Reactions
29
Age
55
Location
Copiapo, Chile
Greetings.! I want to share with you my experience with the M3. As is well known by many, the M3 presented GPS reception problems after the penultimate firmware update released by DJI and with the last one delivered a few days ago, they would solve this problem and some other details. I have read opinions that for some despite the latest update they have not seen a significant improvement in GPS capture in the M3, the truth is that it is very contradictory for me to analyze these situations after the experience I have had with my M3. I bought it a few days ago and today I configured it and tested it, with the latest update and the truth is, I did not have any major difficulties in obtaining the GPS signal, what's more, being inside my house I already had 10 signals, once I took it outside and at the time of starting the flight, I previously marked the safe return point without problems, it had 20 GPS. The flight was smooth and very stable, I did several tests of distance and height, some flight modes, and the RTH, without any problems. This experience that I have had leads me to think that perhaps the GPS capture problem may be due in part to the geographical location where we are, to the electromagnetic interference that is in the atmosphere and other factors. I know that the topic gives to talk or discuss, I had my apprehensions in buying this Drone and for the same reason I took the necessary time to do it, but not before waiting for the corrections in the Firmwere of the team. Perhaps my experience is not that of many, but I feel that the wait I made was successful. I hope that for those who still have problems with their M3, they will achieve an improvement soon. Greetings.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Skywatcher2001
Thank you Jorge Vergara Latoja for your post and your observations. From what I've read over several posts . . . some have had no GPS delays outside their home. It connected immediately. After the December update . . . they had significant delays in getting GPS lock outside their home.

Unless the earth's surface moved significantly (or the magnetic poles), I'd say location has minimal to no effect in this issue. Sure, SATs are breeching the horizon constantly (moving in and out of position) but once the lock is established, the SAT count should not rise or drop enough to make a huge difference.

Personally, I purchased in February and had connection delays. The March update (initially) helped the connection speed then all other boots went back to 4-5 minute delays. I've traveled over a 100 square mile area of Southern California (mostly desert regions) and have gotten the same results.

It seems that 'cold' boots are the problem. I know of no one having an issue after a warm boot (or a re-boot after a HP has been set) within the 30 minutes before the cache clears out of memory.

You are truly one of the lucky ones . . . Thumbswayup
 
Thank you Jorge Vergara Latoja for your post and your observations. From what I've read over several posts . . . some have had no GPS delays outside their home. It connected immediately. After the December update . . . they had significant delays in getting GPS lock outside their home.

Unless the earth's surface moved significantly (or the magnetic poles), I'd say location has minimal to no effect in this issue. Sure, SATs are breeching the horizon constantly (moving in and out of position) but once the lock is established, the SAT count should not rise or drop enough to make a huge difference.

Personally, I purchased in February and had connection delays. The March update (initially) helped the connection speed then all other boots went back to 4-5 minute delays. I've traveled over a 100 square mile area of Southern California (mostly desert regions) and have gotten the same results.

It seems that 'cold' boots are the problem. I know of no one having an issue after a warm boot (or a re-boot after a HP has been set) within the 30 minutes before the cache clears out of memory.

You are truly one of the lucky ones . . . Thumbswayup
Hello Skywatcher2001.! I appreciate your response to my post, the truth is that GPS reception is totally new for me and I'm not saying this because I'm an amateur pilot, I already have some years of experience with equipment, from Walkera's TALI H500, Phantom 4Pro , Mavic 2, Inspire2 and now Mavic3 from DJI, and with none of the aforementioned except for the M3 I had GPS signal problems and I think nobody really, so it is very confusing what happens today with the M3. I have carefully read your comments and will do more tests, such as a cold start, reboot the drone, and other tests to see if I have any different results than today. The truth is that all this that has happened with this drone bothers me a lot, in the expectations that many of us have made with the launch of this drone, DJI has always been characterized by launching refined equipment, obviously with minor details than in the medium and short time have managed to optimize their equipment. I will be commenting on the results that I obtain accompanied by photos or videos of the tests and their results. Greetings.!
 
Hello Skywatcher2001.! I appreciate your response to my post, the truth is that GPS reception is totally new for me and I'm not saying this because I'm an amateur pilot, I already have some years of experience with equipment, from Walkera's TALI H500, Phantom 4Pro , Mavic 2, Inspire2 and now Mavic3 from DJI, and with none of the aforementioned except for the M3 I had GPS signal problems and I think nobody really, so it is very confusing what happens today with the M3. I have carefully read your comments and will do more tests, such as a cold start, reboot the drone, and other tests to see if I have any different results than today. The truth is that all this that has happened with this drone bothers me a lot, in the expectations that many of us have made with the launch of this drone, DJI has always been characterized by launching refined equipment, obviously with minor details than in the medium and short time have managed to optimize their equipment. I will be commenting on the results that I obtain accompanied by photos or videos of the tests and their results. Greetings.!
I appreciate you and your experience Jorge . . . thank you for the testing. We are eagerly awaiting your results.
 
Hi Jorge, I support what you are saying. I'm over in Medan, Indo, similar geo position to you. Never had a problem with drone lock.
I have been using GPS for geodetic survey purposes, with Sat mission planning for 20+ years. I have used sat mission planning software to see when sats are coming in out of play so I could measure. The sat positions certainly affect the quality of data received as they are constantly moving. My current GPS takes up to 10+mins to have enough data to achieve cm point accuracy at start up. If there are not enough, or the positions are not good, the gps will not measure. It may be interesting to look at the computed PDOP value of a location at a point in time, with a cold start time for lock of the drone, to see if it has any relationship.
 
Hi Jorge, I support what you are saying. I'm over in Medan, Indo, similar geo position to you. Never had a problem with drone lock.
I have been using GPS for geodetic survey purposes, with Sat mission planning for 20+ years. I have used sat mission planning software to see when sats are coming in out of play so I could measure. The sat positions certainly affect the quality of data received as they are constantly moving. My current GPS takes up to 10+mins to have enough data to achieve cm point accuracy at start up. If there are not enough, or the positions are not good, the gps will not measure. It may be interesting to look at the computed PDOP value of a location at a point in time, with a cold start time for lock of the drone, to see if it has any relationship.
Hello millbah.! Thanks for your answer. I believe that even when we are not affected by some condition or situation we do not analyze the problem that affects us. In my naivety or ignorance, I did not know and took for granted that the satellites that orbit the earth manage to completely cover the Earth and at all times we had a signal for our GPS, but reading a little and now with what you comment, it is not so thus, there are geographical areas that at certain times of the day, have a low GPS signal and at other times it is good or very good and that will depend on the time and the area that the satellite in question covers with its signal. In this particular case that we analyze the M3, for many the problem of GPS reception was presented and although a factor may be the Geoposition of the drone with respect to the satellite or satellites that are covering that particular area, it can also and I say There "may" be an issue of lower sensitivity of part of the hardware associated with the GPS module mounted on the drone added to the Firmwere not fully debugged, "could" be the factors that cause this slowness in obtaining a GPS signal in the M3. I also read a section that mentions that with the problem of the shortage of CHIPS, DJI has received GPS modules from different suppliers or manufacturers, which may also be another factor to consider, but the latter, according to the source, is not verifiable. And maybe it's just speculation. Hopefully the correct explanation will come to light soon, although if it is a problem attributable only to DJI, we may never know the real reason for this problem.
 
but reading a little and now with what you comment, it is not so thus, there are geographical areas that at certain times of the day, have a low GPS signal and at other times it is good or very good and that will depend on the time and the area that the satellite in question covers with its signal.
He was talking about centimetre-accurate survey GPS, which is quite different from what the drone uses.
You will always have plenty of sats in your sky and should have no problem with GPS.
I also read a section that mentions that with the problem of the shortage of CHIPS, DJI has received GPS modules from different suppliers or manufacturers, which may also be another factor to consider
The GPS chip DJI is using is from the same manufacturer and is identical to what they've used for many years, except that it is a higher spec model.
 
I appreciate you and your experience Jorge . . . thank you for the testing. We are eagerly awaiting your results.
Hello Skywatcher2001..! I greet you cordially. I did two tests, with the M3, a cold game and a hot game and the results were just as you had predicted. In the cold start the M3 took almost 4 minutes to mark the safe point of return with the signal from 12 satellites. In the hot game, the capture of satellites with a number of 15 satellites was practically instantaneous. What must be considered is that the test was carried out on the front of my house, which I consider may have had an influence, but I do not rule out the fact that in a cold game, the M3 has a hard time capturing satellites and is delayed. Being with the drone near a building affects the GPS signal a bit. I will do one more test of n these days to see how it behaves in a totally open space. Greetings.!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Skywatcher2001
".. I bought it a few days ago and today I configured it and tested it, with the latest update and the truth is, I did not have any major difficulties in obtaining the GPS signal, what's more, being inside my house I already had 10 signals, once I took it outside and at the time of starting the flight, I previously marked the safe return point without problems, it had 20 GPS..."

It would be interesting to know the serial number of this "good/perfect GPS" M3. If it has been manufactured very recently... who knows there may be a different GPS module in it --- DJI being DJI sneaking in a fix!
 
  • Like
Reactions: ExtremeElementz
I really do hope they find a fix, all of this drama around this drone initially kept me from getting one right away and now that gps, according to many users isn’t fixed I’m glad I waited.

With rumors that a M3S could come out and the Inspire 3 potentially coming this year I’ll just keep waiting since I’ve waited this long already.

But DJI really needs to resolve this issue for the current customers.
 
I've had my M3 since mid-February or so, and I haven't felt the need to conduct testing of the GPS acquisition characteristics. It's not instantaneous but it doesn't feel like an onerous burden to wait for the home point update message. Maybe I'm lucky? I will say that I also got an Air2s so I could get the RC Pro controller(and have a second drone), and the Air2s acquires satellites in a virtual flash comparatively. Either way, I'm never in that much of a hurry to launch so it's not an imposition.

-Marty
 
Lycus Tech Mavic Air 3 Case

DJI Drone Deals

New Threads

Forum statistics

Threads
130,599
Messages
1,554,251
Members
159,603
Latest member
refrigasketscanada