My mavic 2 pro needs a compass calibration almost every flight.

[BossBob]

Im talking the initial flight of the day.

No, unnecessary calibrations can corrupt a perfectly valid calibration. If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.

 

[DanMan32]

If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.

I almost included that but then thought it might be misused and no updates made.

 

[Bill combs]

Mavic Pro Gen I, I only had to do a compass calibration once, when I first got it over 2.5 years ago, and have not been prompted to do so again. I always check status of all sensors before flight.

do you fly from the same spot always? i’m in phoenix and will have a compass calibration when i travel over 30 miles or around some mountains that are high in iron and some parking lots that have rebar in them or enough rebar that can effect the compass

 

[Flycaster]

Nope, 3 spots in the SF Bay Area, and up in 2 other counties over 200 miles away. Plumas and Sierra counties.
On my really "old firmware" (.0400 from over 2 and half years ago, NEVER updated, I don't let it "phone home". Ever.
I only did it once, when prompted on my first flight with the Mavic.
Manual (early revision, when I bought my bird) states only do it if prompted to do so.

 

[WithTheBirds]

do you fly from the same spot always? i’m in phoenix and will have a compass calibration when i travel over 30 miles or around some mountains that are high in iron and some parking lots that have rebar in them or enough rebar that can effect the compass

Hopefully you aren’t performing a calibration in the parking lot re-bar or other local ferromagnetic disturbance circumstances. That is a recipe for disaster. If you need to launch from a reinforced concrete structure (or other compromised area) hand launching will be the best approach. You don’t need to be far off the ground for all to to good. Recalibrate before launch and a very good chance things will go pear shaped once you fly out into clean air.

 

[Joe Z]

It may sound funny but whenever i turn the mavic 2 while i m holding it to my hands (in the meantime i toss and turn it untill i put it somewhere level to take off) it asks for calibrating.
When i turn it on while it s parallel to the ground, steady and still, it takes off without asking for calibrating.
Just my thought

I got to test that theory out.....might be something to it

 

[Flycaster]

When you power up the AC, it should be somewhat level and motionless. When powering up, the internal sensors are read (compasses, acceleromters, bmu), and if you are rolling this around while it's booting/starting up, you can mess with the sensor reads, tossing the calibration prompts.
Why?
The sensor(s) readings are not "stable",.....

 

[DanMan32]

I wonder if that's a contributing factor with the Mini, being that the power button is on the bottom.

 

[Chuckinay]

Not true! It is far more likely to corrupt a good calibration!

Couldn't the reverse be just as well true? How do you know you aren't, rather, giving it a better calibration than the last? There's no way to tell, is there?

When I started flying, I got the impression somewhere that it was wise to always calibrate pre-flight, and that's been my practice. I've never had a problem.

 

[sar104]

Couldn't the reverse be just as well true? How do you know you aren't, rather, giving it a better calibration than the last? There's no way to tell, is there?

When I started flying, I got the impression somewhere that it was wise to always calibrate pre-flight, and that's been my practice. I've never had a problem.

Most calibrations succeed. Calibrations attempted in magnetically distorted locations generally fail. Most out-of-calibration compasses that I've seen evidence of in flight logs were almost certainly put out by a change in the magnetic state of the aircraft (due to exposure to a strong magnetic field, for example), rather than a bad calibration.

So calibrating generally won't hurt and might help fix that kind of situation, but a better strategy is just to check that the aircraft orientation arrow points in the right direction, relative to north, after power up.

 

[Sixgun89]

You do have a hardware problem! Not the drone. It’s in your case. You’re likely carrying something with a very strong magnet near your drone when you travel, Tablet case, magnetic wire adapter, speaker, headphones, etc. May just be a keychain. Not normal at all. First move, search case and car, next, degaussing.