Mavic mini - RTH function inoperative?

[RSDonovan]

Hi

Just made my first ever drone flight with my new Mini and I am mightily impressed!

One thing I couldn’t work out was the RTH function. I set a RTH location and the app told me that the location had been set OK. But when I tried it the app said the drone would land at current location which it did (straight down from where it currently was!).

I tried this several times with the same result. Has anyone got any idea why this might be happening?

Thanks in advance

 

[Ben B]

Hi

Just made my first ever drone flight with my new Mini and I am mightily impressed!

One thing I couldn’t work out was the RTH function. I set a RTH location and the app told me that the location had been set OK. But when I tried it the app said the drone would land at current location which it did (straight down from where it currently was!).

I tried this several times with the same result. Has anyone got any idea why this might be happening?

Thanks in advance

It will do this if the drone is within 20m of the home point.

 

[RSDonovan]

It will do this if the drone is within 20m of the home point.

Well Ben that might very well be it! I will wait till the batteries are recharged and then try again tomorrow as it is getting dark here now. I was worried to let the drone go too far if RTH wasn’t working. Is this a documented feature or do you know by trial and error? Thanks!

 

[The Editor]

Hi

Just made my first ever drone flight with my new Mini and I am mightily impressed!

One thing I couldn’t work out was the RTH function. I set a RTH location and the app told me that the location had been set OK. But when I tried it the app said the drone would land at current location which it did (straight down from where it currently was!).

I tried this several times with the same result. Has anyone got any idea why this might be happening?

Thanks in advance

Page 13 of the manual !

Anyone flying a Drone within the National Airspace should read and familiarize themself fully with the user manual and aircraft operation before even attempting to go airborne.

 

[John MacAulay]

Perhaps this user manual might be of some help to you.

https://dl.djicdn.com/downloads/Mavic_Mini/Mavic_Mini_User_Manual_v1.0_en.pdf

 

[slup]

Hi

Just made my first ever drone flight with my new Mini and I am mightily impressed!

One thing I couldn’t work out was the RTH function. I set a RTH location and the app told me that the location had been set OK. But when I tried it the app said the drone would land at current location which it did (straight down from where it currently was!).

I tried this several times with the same result. Has anyone got any idea why this might be happening?

Thanks in advance

Congrats to your new drone ... but do yourself a VERY big favour & put the drone down and read the manual, check out youtube & read forums before you attempt a take off. Once educated take the drone to a soccer field & with the manual beside you slowly test out one function at a time.

Minis are crashing everywhere right now, just look at this forum. The majorities of crashes so far have been clear pilot errors coming from not understanding how their new tech wonder works, what's the limitations, flying to far, to high, flying at night, underestimate the wind, having a belief that it's totally fail safe (as it's branded as a beginner drone), flying indoors & consider the RTH button as a panic button that will save them what ever happens.

The Mini as ever so small isn't a toy ... and absolutely not fail safe! Mess up the compass & you have a uncontrollable flyaway in seconds, go to high & you are blown away, not having a full understanding of the RTH function & fly into a building or up under obstacles ... with knowledge you can handle all this, mitigate the risks and have fun with your Mini for a long time.

Your joy can otherwise abruptly end in your next flight ... & if you are lucky it's only material things that gets hurt.

End ranting (with the best intention)

 

[RSDonovan]

Thanks Slup! I have already downloaded and printed the entire manual ready for a bedtime read!

 

[TDZHDTV]

Congrats to your new drone ... but do yourself a VERY big favour & put the drone down and read the manual, check out youtube & read forums before you attempt a take off. Once educated take the drone to a soccer field & with the manual beside you slowly test out one function at a time.

Minis are crashing everywhere right now, just look at this forum. The majorities of crashes so far have been clear pilot errors coming from not understanding how their new tech wonder works, what's the limitations, flying to far, to high, flying at night, underestimate the wind, having a belief that it's totally fail safe (as it's branded as a beginner drone), flying indoors & consider the RTH button as a panic button that will save them what ever happens.

The Mini as ever so small isn't a toy ... and absolutely not fail safe! Mess up the compass & you have a uncontrollable flyaway in seconds, go to high & you are blown away, not having a full understanding of the RTH function & fly into a building or up under obstacles ... with knowledge you can handle all this, mitigate the risks and have fun with your Mini for a long time.

Your joy can otherwise abruptly end in your next flight ... & if you are lucky it's only material things that gets hurt.

End ranting (with the best intention)

I guess you don’t work in the DJI Marketing Team! All true and good advice ?

 

[slup]

I guess you don’t work in the DJI Marketing Team! All true and good advice ?

No ... far from that, actually supporting products in the opposite direction ... in the mining sector.

 

[Ben B]

Congrats to your new drone ... but do yourself a VERY big favour & put the drone down and read the manual, check out youtube & read forums before you attempt a take off. Once educated take the drone to a soccer field & with the manual beside you slowly test out one function at a time.

Minis are crashing everywhere right now, just look at this forum. The majorities of crashes so far have been clear pilot errors coming from not understanding how their new tech wonder works, what's the limitations, flying to far, to high, flying at night, underestimate the wind, having a belief that it's totally fail safe (as it's branded as a beginner drone), flying indoors & consider the RTH button as a panic button that will save them what ever happens.

The Mini as ever so small isn't a toy ... and absolutely not fail safe! Mess up the compass & you have a uncontrollable flyaway in seconds, go to high & you are blown away, not having a full understanding of the RTH function & fly into a building or up under obstacles ... with knowledge you can handle all this, mitigate the risks and have fun with your Mini for a long time.

Your joy can otherwise abruptly end in your next flight ... & if you are lucky it's only material things that gets hurt.

End ranting (with the best intention)

100% this.
It's just a slice of luck that I haven't damaged my drone, or worse: Check and double check your home point

 

[msinger]

 

[hiflyer201]

It's easy to forget all the parameters of the RTH on a DJI drone. RS did the right thing when he decided to check things out. You know what they say..people with mechanical ability never look at the manual. Sometimes until it's a little too late perhaps..

 

[BradinLae]

Reading and trying to ingest the manual can be a huge task without first hand experience. That is why I have not taken full advantage of Linux, ask for simple help and you get RTFM.

Reading the get started guide then in an open area (not a small back yard) do some small test flights. Have the manual available and go through section by section ingesting the information as you test in beginner mode and see how to use each feature, until confidence is built and you can more understand what is actually in the manual. Test smart modes one at a time and work out what features you can use to obtain desired results. Those that have been flying for years forget the steep learning curve just to get the hand eye co-ordination needed to fly and remember to reverse direction inputs when flying towards you etc... DJI in a way have made the situation worse by selling a UAV that can be taken out of the box, charged and immediately flown to 100m (500m with a few clicks) altitude and off into the wild blue yonder by a 10yo. Kudos to them for implementing NFZs and the warnings that are in place.

Knowing all the regulations and having an encyclopedic knowledge of the full manual, before ever charging the battery, should be mandatory for a toy that can cause so much damage and chaos. In the real world it will not happen.

Remember when a new flyer asks a question to be above all polite and try and answer their question, before gently reminding them that refreshing them selves with the online manual as they gain experience will reveal more than when they first skimmed get started guide as they pulled it out of the box. Having people read more from the forum and gaining more knowledge from those here that have experience rather than being put of by the RTFM brigade should be a goal.
I find that it is being nervous when learning to fly this expensive piece of equipment that causes most of what you read in the manual to be forgotten on the first flight. Going back to review what was read but not understood the first time is helpful.

 

[Deleted member 109934]

RTH button, it's a trap...