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Precision Landing - Mini 2

Might be a strange question, but do people really use precision landing that often? I use RTH sometimes and when it gets close to me I manually take over, move it to where I want to land, and land it myself. Super easy and super quick. Are you guys hitting RTH and really just standing there watching your drone try to position itself and then land itself when it's close to you? Seems like a waste of time.
 
Might be a strange question, but do people really use precision landing that often? I use RTH sometimes and when it gets close to me I manually take over, move it to where I want to land, and land it myself. Super easy and super quick. Are you guys hitting RTH and really just standing there watching your drone try to position itself and then land itself when it's close to you? Seems like a waste of time.
Everyone test there drone in there own way of what they might expect from it.

Some do the long distance.
Some do the Precision landing
Some put weights on the end of it.
and some not mentioning names fly it in the Pouring Rain. ?

Once the Novelty of the Landing wears off , there on to bigger and braver things.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly your Mavic in the Pouring Rain and Land on Water.
 
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Except for M1/M1P where it needs to be checked off on TO, PL is automatic for so equipped Mavics and you take off straight up high enough.
 
as far as the MPP is concerned ,i always like to use the precision landing tick box for take off ,i very rarely use RTH preferring to fly home manually ,but i know that if the precision landing is active, then if i lost signal and a auto RTH was initiated ,then my drone would come back to the mat extremely accurately ,i have tested it, both without ,and with precision landing being set ,and turning off the RC,and although it returns home in both instances ,with the precision landing set it is within a couple of inches of its exact take off point ,the only time i dont set precision landing is if i am flying in woodland with the MPP, i then change the RTH to hover for obvious reasons and also without precision landing set the drone only rises about 4ft above the take off mat as well i must say though that since i have had my MM, i tend to use that more now for up close and personal flying in restricted places,
 
Might be a strange question, but do people really use precision landing that often? I use RTH sometimes and when it gets close to me I manually take over, move it to where I want to land, and land it myself. Super easy and super quick. Are you guys hitting RTH and really just standing there watching your drone try to position itself and then land itself when it's close to you? Seems like a waste of time.
......I use it at least once every time I fly.....I have 4 batteries. For one thing I like to see the reaction of people around me when I pretty much just hold my controller in one hand obviously characterizing that I am doing northing while it comes home from what ever distance, 130 feet up and lands on the “H” of my pad. Secondly it may not tell me much but I use it as a gauge as if it is off even by a foot I will do it again of course but if it continues to be off then I start looking for reasons as something might be wrong. So far after 279 flights, not the case.

WDK
 
I ran a test today with my Mini 2 to verify accuracy of RTH. The reason was due to the fact that on an earlier flight, I gave the RTH command and the drone began to descent more than 20 meters from the recorded home point. I began the RTH well beyond the minimum 20 meter distance needed for the drone to find its homepoint and descent.

I calibrated the compass and the IMU before running the test.

Once calibrated, I initiated takeoff and the Mini 2 ascended to it's 1.2 Meter height.

I hovered for at least 15 minutes and observed the distance from take-off (my homepoint that was declared by the controller before I began. I had at least 16 GPS sats locked.

During this test, I watched the "Distance" move from zero to approx. 7 meters. No input on my part. It's as if the initial take off point was changing.

Can anyone explain why this is happening?

My M2Z would maintain 0.0 Meter reading by the Mini 2 varies so much that I cannot rely on using the RTH to land.
 
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I ran a test today with my Mini 2 to verify accuracy of RTH. The reason was due to the fact that on an earlier flight, I gave the RTH command and the drone began to descent more than 20 meters from the recorded home point. I began the RTH well beyond the minimum 20 meter distance needed for the drone to find its homepoint and descent.

I calibrated the compass and the IMU before running the test.

Once calibrated, I initiated takeoff and the Mini 2 ascended to it's 1.2 Meter height.

I hovered for at least 15 minutes and observed the distance from take-off (my homepoint that was declared by the controller before I began. I had at least 16 GPS sats locked.

During this test, I watched the "Distance" move from zero to approx. 7 meters. No input on my part. It's as if the initial take off point was changing.

Can anyone explain why this is happening?

My M2Z would maintain 0.0 Meter reading by the Mini 2 varies so much that I cannot rely on using the RTH to land.
I would say that GPS is very inaccurate for that area at such a low height, try and test the mini 2 at altitude above tree line or buildings fly up and out a bit and request set for homepoint. then see what it shows...given GPS will vary with satellites in orbit over time it should vary a bit, but adjust back and forth...if not there is something wrong with your unit. It shouldn't be off by more than 1.5 meters horizontal.
 
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Thanks, I will run the test again but at a height of at least 50 meters, and I will reset homepoint and see how much deviation from homepoint occurs (will test on a calm day).
 
as far as the MPP is concerned ,i always like to use the precision landing tick box for take off ,i very rarely use RTH preferring to fly home manually ,but i know that if the precision landing is active, then if i lost signal and a auto RTH was initiated ,then my drone would come back to the mat extremely accurately ,i have tested it, both without ,and with precision landing being set ,and turning off the RC,and although it returns home in both instances ,with the precision landing set it is within a couple of inches of its exact take off point ,the only time i dont set precision landing is if i am flying in woodland with the MPP, i then change the RTH to hover for obvious reasons and also without precision landing set the drone only rises about 4ft above the take off mat as well i must say though that since i have had my MM, i tend to use that more now for up close and personal flying in restricted places,
You can't change RTH to hover. RTH is RTH (Return To Home), Hover is hover, landing is landing.

You can change the failsafe (signal loss) setting from the default of RTH to hover or land however.
 
I don’t have a mini 2 drone, but on my mini 1 drones I get about a good landing near or at the take off point. lol me if I get with in a couple of feet or closer from where I took off at. Then I am happy [emoji2]
 
I'm a big fan of SpaceX and even their Falcon 9 first stage boosters don't always land exactly dead centre on a drone ship. Perhaps it's because I'm in my 60s, but the fact that our DJI drones or SpaceX's bigger rockets come back to land reasonably accurately is absolutely amazing to me. It's something I never take for granted.

Practically, I'm also someone who always lands a drone manually. For myself, it's just part of being responsible for a work tool. I'm acutely aware of the danger of "easy".

We've only had a P4P+ before recently, when we also got a Mini 2, but DJI must be admired for bringing to the market such great technology. New products often have bugs that need fixing. Software is complicated, which is why the KISS (Keep It Super Simple) approach is so helpful in that profession, as well as in aeronautics, where young men in particular over-compete to show off their intelligence.
 
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You can't change RTH to hover. RTH is RTH (Return To Home), Hover is hover, landing is landing.

You can change the failsafe (signal loss) setting from the default of RTH to hover or land however.
thats what i meant upon signal loss in woodland ,i would not use RTH in woodland anyway ,will try to be clearer in future
 
Might be a strange question, but do people really use precision landing that often? I use RTH sometimes and when it gets close to me I manually take over, move it to where I want to land, and land it myself. Super easy and super quick. Are you guys hitting RTH and really just standing there watching your drone try to position itself and then land itself when it's close to you? Seems like a waste of time.
After your post, I was curious on my own experience for FTH accuracy on my Mini 2, so I have been using it in various locations.

For procedure, I power on and connect all three drone, controller and phone (iPhone 12 Pro) for a couple minutes side by side, start up the props on the pad for say 30 seconds and have the home position updated before leaving the take off hover, which is within seconds. GPS has always been 12+ locked. Locations are suburban rolling hills with trees without dense foliage this time of year, open spaces and residential neighborhoods with 2 story homes on hilly areas. The drone is never crashed and without hard landings to date and travels in a case.

I am getting landing pad accuracy each time on 75 cm landing pad on 11 tests, with landing in residential between houses being just off the pad on one test. Yesterday, with that confidence/experience, I used RTH on a 12 to 20 km wind day for a lake and river flight to land back on a pedestrian bridge with 2 meter sides and 2 meter width, which was dead centre. Second one, it lost ground sight on final hover (grey) but was spot on again for location between the sides of the bridge.

This may not be typical but out of 14 RTH tests, I’m getting very close RTH for any drone. Maybe try recalibrating your drone and try this start up to see if your results improve too?
 
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I ran a test today with my Mini 2 to verify accuracy of RTH. The reason was due to the fact that on an earlier flight, I gave the RTH command and the drone began to descent more than 20 meters from the recorded home point. I began the RTH well beyond the minimum 20 meter distance needed for the drone to find its homepoint and descent.

I calibrated the compass and the IMU before running the test.

Once calibrated, I initiated takeoff and the Mini 2 ascended to it's 1.2 Meter height.

I hovered for at least 15 minutes and observed the distance from take-off (my homepoint that was declared by the controller before I began. I had at least 16 GPS sats locked.

During this test, I watched the "Distance" move from zero to approx. 7 meters. No input on my part. It's as if the initial take off point was changing.

Can anyone explain why this is happening?

My M2Z would maintain 0.0 Meter reading by the Mini 2 varies so much that I cannot rely on using the RTH to land.
It sounds like GPS drift. I get this sometimes on my Garmin Edge or watch when cycling in downtown locations, crayons or heavy tree cover where it’s “off course” from the map and it essentially loses sight of the sky for degraded GPS signals to the receiver.

I use “GPS soaking” for both my sports and flying, which does very much help. I learned this through years of experience but found out last summer this is the name for it and it’s a real thing! I power everything on and connect for 4-5 minutes. You tend to get ‘lock’ notices on enough satellites shortly after powering on but I leave them sit to allow better communication links and tracking locks. I also start the props on the pad for 30 seconds and then hover after take off until RTH notification comes in. Same thing, I get notice that I’m good to go but let it soak a bit more before starting the flight route.

Love to know if this helps others too!
 
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