Question on precision take off option

[gnirtS]

It gives the pilot an excuse to completely avoid learning how to land the A/C manually,

Really do have to laugh at people who refer to this as flying and the skill of manual landing. Its a computer controlled RC drone. You don't "fly" it, you simply move it.
You need no knowledge of aviation, physics or anything of the sort. It requires no aviation related piloting skills what-so-ever.
"Manual landing" a mavic consists of moving a joystick downwards. Nothing else. Its hardly trying to fly a full instrument approach single handedly in foul weather!
It's so easy that (quite literally) even a child can do it.

I struggle to see the issue with the massive "skill" of moving a joystick down vs pressing a "come home" button.

Precision can be very useful for making sure in the event of an RC failure, a lock up rendering the drone uncontrollable and so on actually lands somewhere safe in an area where it isn't. Even fields and car parks can have rocks, dips, weeds big enough to foul the props so you really do want it accurately landing somewhere without those obstructions if you are no longer able to control it.

If im not on a boat i'll do a precision take-off 100% of the time to ensure if the above happens, worse case scenario is it gets itself back safely. 90%+ of the time i'll hand catch to avoid dust and debris into the drone but if i do decide to hit RTH i dont somehow feel like ive "lost" that massively honed skillset to work a down joystick.

I'm wondering if the mavic will now do precision takeoff by default hence the lack of an option - maybe someone can actually test this? Do the usual, take off, climb to 30ft, fly around, hit RTH and see how accurate the landing is. The compare with takeoff, fly to 2m or so then move it and try.

 

[Simmo]

I dont believe there was ever a 'precision take-off' option?? Just the ability for a 'precision landing'.
Which IMO is a cool option in the MP, Utilising the downward sensors to visualise the TO point, and try to replicate that on return.
A cool demonstration of technology.

 

[gnirtS]

I dont believe there was ever a 'precision take-off' option?? Just the ability for a 'precision landing'.
Which IMO is a cool option in the MP, Utilising the downward sensors to visualise the TO point, and try to replicate that on return.
A cool demonstration of technology.

Yep there is/was. Take off automatically via the app not the CSC. When you select "takeoff", theres a tick box for "Use precision landing".
Unticked the drone climbs to about 1.5m and stops, no precision. Ticked it climbs to about 6m and you have a precision landing.

(Or you can manually takeoff and climb slowly to 6m for the same effect although this was never as accurate for me).

 

[Simmo]

OK, you are reading my post as glass half full, not glass half empty.
There is not an option 'precision TAKE OFF'..
Precision LANDING, yes... all over it!

I use a black and white cheque tile as a pad, and the AC nails it every time..

 

[gnirtS]

The mavic 1 manual makes it utterly clear whats needed in *takeoff* to achieve a precision landing. So yes there is an option. There are 2 different automated takeoff options depending if you want to use that precision automatically or not. Has been there since mavic pro day 1.

 

[Bmroche]

Perhaps they perfected the technology and mavic2 always utilizes precision landing.

Yep. I believe as long as you aren't in Sport Mode the downward sensors are marking the spot on every take off, so no need for setting as it's always enabled.

 

[gnirtS]

OK, you are reading my post as glass half full, not glass half empty.
There is not an option 'precision TAKE OFF'..
Precision LANDING, yes... all over it!

I use a black and white cheque tile as a pad, and the AC nails it every time..

Looks like Precision takeoff for me unless ive lost the ability to read.

Latest Go4 for MP so its not a Go4 issue.

 

[Lapeer20m]

I dont believe there was ever a 'precision take-off' option?? Just the ability for a 'precision landing'.
Which IMO is a cool option in the MP, Utilising the downward sensors to visualise the TO point, and try to replicate that on return.
A cool demonstration of technology.

My favorite gimmick to show people who are new to drones.

 

[JeffreyButler]

It gives the pilot an excuse to completely avoid learning how to land the A/C manually, so that when things go wrong, and they have no choice to do otherwise, they can use their DJI Refresh.

First off like the other guy said you don't fly it, there's no "Atti" mode you can turn on. You give it inputs and it decides whether or not it thinks it will execute them. So "Mr. Skilled Pilot", you're not really flying it. I've been building and flying RC planes, helis, and drones for 30 years. I know how to really fly. The precision landing is a cool feature to show friends AND heaven forbid if your controller died it would be nice to auto-land inches from your take-off point instead of feet. Could be the difference between landing on a dock or in the water.

 

[JeffreyButler]

Here's the response I got from DJI over on the FB group:

" Hi Jeff, this is Hunter from DJI. I'm sorry that the Mavic 2 does not have the feature of precision landing for now. If there is an update, we'll release on our website at the first time. Thanks for your attention."

Well in my opinion that wasn't a smart move and DJI may want to reconsider that decision and add it to a firmware update. It was definitely one of the nice features of the Mavic pro that should have been ported over to the Mavic 2 Series. If I had some sort of loss of signal or failure of the remote having precision landing means the difference between landing on a dock in RTH or landing in the water.

 

[gnirtS]

If they missed that out its ludicrous and makes no sense - didnt they say the LED landing light was to help it with landing?

Im still wondering if "precision" is now default on the drone hence no need for the option.

If or when i actually get my order i'll do some tests of takeoff, climb to 1m, fly around and RTH vs take off, climb to 6, fly around and RTH to compare.

On the M1 you could be out by a few feet easily on the non precision but i always found the precision option to within inches.

We have a drone very low to the ground to the extent even small rocks and long grass can foul the prop. A few feet out can damage it even on a relatively "clean" surface yet alone somewhere with trees and water.

 

[mreloc]

So what are people experiencing when the M2P lands itself? Within a few inches or totally off?

My MPP landed within inched of where it took off. The M2P is way off. Unfortunate- that was a cool feature

 

[gnirtS]

As you still taking off and ascending to 30ft or so vertically nice and slowly with no rotation or directional movement first?

 

[JeffreyButler]

Yeah my M2 lands several feet from the take point, it's a shame and a stupid omission. BTW, here's what I was referring to as "Precision Landing". It's the companion to "Precision Take Off".

Jeff

 

[JeffreyButler]

As you still taking off and ascending to 30ft or so vertically nice and slowly with no rotation or directional movement first?

No, if you take off from the screen, there is no option for "Precision Take Off" any more and it only ascends to 4 ft, so I doubt that it's taking a picture for the landing reference any more. Stupid omission!

 

[mreloc]

As you still taking off and ascending to 30ft or so vertically nice and slowly with no rotation or directional movement first?

Yes, same protocol I followed for my MPP. Gave the drone plenty of time to orient itself. It was kind of surprising how off it was. I had to maneuver to avoid some palm fronds on the way down (although obstacle avoidance would have probably stepped in at some point)

 

[gnirtS]

No, if you take off from the screen, there is no option for "Precision Take Off" any more and it only ascends to 4 ft, so it's not taking a picture for the landing reference any more. Stupid omission!

That was normal before though, Even manually if you took off, no lateral movement and climbed slowly to 20-30ft you'd have a precision fix for landing.
And the normal auto takeoff then manually climbed would accomplish the same.
You didn't HAVE to tick the precision takeoff box, it just made it easier.

 

[WilliamG]

This really sucks they removed it. I fail to see how they can add more cameras, more sensors, landing lights etc - and then also REMOVE precision landing. Seems madness.

 

[ErikSwan]

Bummer that this has been removed. Has anyone posted this on the DJI forums so that it gets attention there?

 

[James33]

Bummer that this has been removed. Has anyone posted this on the DJI forums so that it gets attention there?

Good idea. I just did.