Mavic Mini connected to iPad mini

Benno · Mar 12, 2020

Will normal iPad mini 4 work with Mavic Mini or do I need iPad mini 4 cellular??

Meta4 · Mar 12, 2020

Benno said:
Will normal iPad mini 4 work with Mavic Mini or do I need iPad mini 4 cellular??

You don't need cellular capable iPad.
A wifi only iPad will work just fine.

Moixixon · Mar 12, 2020

iPad WiFi will work fine, but it doesn’t have gps based positioning, only cell models do. It means that it’s position in maps is based in wifi connection, so it isn’t accurate at all.
During flying there’s not much problem, but find my drone function becomes really difficult if you need to.

Benno · Mar 12, 2020

Moixixon said:
iPad WiFi will work fine, but it doesn’t have gps based positioning, only cell models do. It means that it’s position in maps is based in wifi connection, so it isn’t accurate at all.
During flying there’s not much problem, but find my drone function becomes really difficult if you need to.

Perhaps would the build in gps of the magic mini solve the problem of the "find my drone" it. Thanks for the reply, Benno

Moixixon · Mar 12, 2020

Benno said:
Perhaps would the build in gps of the magic mini solve the problem of the "find my drone" it. Thanks for the reply, Benno

Of course, it will show your MM position on the map, but not your position. This makes really difficult to find it, because of the wrong indications based on a false positioning of the RC

old man mavic · Mar 12, 2020

that's very strange a few weeks ago while i was at my local flying spot, i thought i would try out the find my drone feature so i flew up over a line of trees that was about 500ft from me then landed the drone which was now out of my sight,i then initiated find my drone and a line from my home point to the drones position came up on the screen
i then followed the line and found the drone i also tried the bleep and flash which worked as well ,the thing is i use a gen 6 9.7 ipad with WIFI only and i always have a basic map on my screen, showing my home point and the drones direction of travel ,which i use to get back home by flying back along the line between the home point and the drone,i have flown in some pretty remote areas of the countryside without issue

DanMan32 · Mar 12, 2020

The home point is indeed set using the AC GPS. However when you used Find My Drone, I bet it could not dynamically show you how you were progressing going towards your AC, or at least not very accurately. To accurately show where you are as you walked towards the AC would require GPS on the mobile device.
Not really a huge deal.

Moixixon · Mar 12, 2020

DanMan32 said:
The home point is indeed set using the AC GPS. However when you used Find My Drone, I bet it could not dynamically show you how you were progressing going towards your AC, or at least not very accurately. To accurately show where you are as you walked towards the AC would require GPS on the mobile device.
Not really a huge deal.

That’s exactly what I meant. I had to use the find my drone once, with my iPhone attached: it was easy to get as it showed my position exactly. When using an iPad WiFi the RC position isn’t accurate at all, so finding my MM would get really difficult.
I’ve purchased a cell iPad mini version because I’m really confortable with its big screen, but I don’t want to have that problem if I have to search my drone.

AE1M · Mar 12, 2020

Benno said:
Will normal iPad mini 4 work with Mavic Mini or do I need iPad mini 4 cellular??

I use an ipad mini 4. I turn off WIFI but I do tether it to my iphone by bluetooth so the Google Map window will work.

wjkrysak · Mar 12, 2020

old man mavic said:
that's very strange a few weeks ago while i was at my local flying spot, i thought i would try out the find my drone feature so i flew up over a line of trees that was about 500ft from me then landed the drone which was now out of my sight,i then initiated find my drone and a line from my home point to the drones position came up on the screen
i then followed the line and found the drone i also tried the bleep and flash which worked as well ,the thing is i use a gen 6 9.7 ipad with WIFI only and i always have a basic map on my screen, showing my home point and the drones direction of travel ,which i use to get back home by flying back along the line between the home point and the drone,i have flown in some pretty remote areas of the countryside without issue

I will give this a try. I've used the find my drone (FMD) with my Samsung Note 8 (wifi/cell) and it worked like you said, follow the line to my drone and viola, found it. I have 10.2 Ipad with wifi only. I will try the FMD and see what, if any, difficulty I have. As long as the drones GPS location is evident on the screen, I can't imagine it would be too difficult to track it down. This comes from Geocaching experience

raymacke · Mar 12, 2020

wjkrysak said:
I can't imagine it would be too difficult to track it down.

As has been said, with wifi only you can see where your drone is located but as you walk towards it, it will show NO progress so you won't know how close or far away you are. The image on the screen never changes because it doesn't know you have moved. In fact, if I remember correctly if you walk away from it or 90 degrees from it, it makes no difference. So if it goes down in a field with foot tall grass and 1500ft away what are the odds you can walk a perfectly straight line to it based only on the initial directional sighting off the display?

When you are Geocaching you have a GPS receiver in your hand so it knows where you are. The wifi only device does not have that information. Try entering the cache coordinates in a wifi only tablet and see if you can find it.

wjkrysak · Mar 13, 2020

raymacke said:
When you are Geocaching you have a GPS receiver in your hand so it knows where you are. The wifi only device does not have that information. Try entering the cache coordinates in a wifi only tablet and see if you can find it.

Correct. I'll try that. Not sure if I can walk a straight line, but I have some ideas of how to get close enough to spot it.
My phone has a GPS. One technique is to take a (last) photo from the lost drone, upload the photo and get coordinates. Cut/past these into google maps on my phone and walk directly to it. Here are some utube videos explaining how to find GPS coords from photo: GPS from photo , GPS coord with dji go app.
Another option for me, I change my map view on my tablet to terrain, when in the proximity I can activate the drone beacon, I am pretty keen on being able to find an item. So I have both options and will give these a try, once the weather clears here. Wish you well on your flying.

Capt KO · Mar 13, 2020

I use a standard wifi-only iPad Mini 4. I've recently had to add a Bluetooth GPS receiver to it. Mostly for my Phantoms so that I can get it to return to my remote rather than the original home point. The mavic mini does not have that feature but GPS will come in handy if I lose it.

wjkrysak · Mar 13, 2020

Capt KO said:
I use a standard wifi-only iPad Mini 4. I've recently had to add a Bluetooth GPS receiver to it. Mostly for my Phantoms so that I can get it to return to my remote rather than the original home point. The mavic mini does not have that feature but GPS will come in handy if I lose it.

I have been curious about a Bluetooth GPS receiver. Any additional thoughts or experience you can share? Thank you in advance.

Capt KO · Mar 13, 2020

wjkrysak said:
I have been curious about a Bluetooth GPS receiver. Any additional thoughts or experience you can share? Thank you in advance.

Still waiting for my Garmin Bluetooth GPS module. I was hoping to have it to use tomorrow on the boat but have to wait couple more days. Will let you know. Excited

wjkrysak · Mar 13, 2020

Oh, good deal. Thank you. I have looked at the Garmins and trusted my old handhelds for years. Look forward to your perspective.

Capt KO · Mar 13, 2020

wjkrysak said:
Oh, good deal. Thank you. I have looked at the Garmins and trusted my old handhelds for years. Look forward to your perspective.

A few of the old handhelds did have Bluetooth you might want to check and see if you have it already.

Capt KO · Mar 13, 2020

Capt KO said:
A few of the old handhelds did have Bluetooth you might want to check and see if you have it already.

The cell option for iPads or a phone GPS Bluetooth, are not accurate enough for my needs. Need tru GPS down to a couple meter at most. Tricky hand catching on moving vessel. (And RTH) ??

Shawn Paul · Mar 13, 2020

So if I were to disconnect the ipad wifi only and plug in my cell phone into the controller would the gps kick in where the wifi only left off when trying to locate drone?
?
Shawn Paul

Capt KO · Mar 13, 2020

Shawn Paul said:
So if I were to disconnect the ipad wifi only and plug in my cell phone into the controller would the gps kick in where the wifi only left off when trying to locate drone?
?
Shawn Paul

Nope. Your phone won't know anything about the last flight. It's in the iPad