Question on precision take off option

[mfc]

Good idea. I just did.

Do post here if any useful reply ...

I was unlikely to upgrade to an MP2 anyway, but the removal of precision landing would be a showstopper. I carry a folding landing pad that's not much bigger than the drone (30cm/12" square) and rely on the drone being able to land safely on that without my intervention while I'm finishing up documenting the last flight, setting up for the next, etc.

 

[Glenn Goodlett]

I expect precision landing will return with future firmware updates. It's a popular feature with no known downsides.

 

[S. Lee]

I checked the manual for the Mavic 2 and there is no mention of precision take off or landing anywhere. The older Mavic Pro manual has mentions of precision landing and take off.

I’m pretty disappointed they decided to remove this, consumer GPS is inherently inaccurate and can be up to 3M off. By taking the picture, they were able to land extremely accurately.

I have flown the new Zoom for 4-5 days and used the "Return to Home" function almost every time, but the landing location (Home) is way off compared to my Pro. I agree, the precision landing has been off by an average of 3 meters.

If DJI has taken precision landing out of Mavic 2 and intentionally did not inform the consumers, I believe that's real sneaky of them. Maybe it's just me, but when I buy the latest product, I assume that the will have all the key features from its previous model. Another example and not the biggest function to be missing is the ability to clear "Flight Routes" and "Warnings" from the DJI GO4 app's main menu.

I hope that DJI can fix all these things with a simple firmware update.

 

[Kingram]

I agree and I'm shocked the M2 doesn't have the precision landing , but I read somewhere is was due to the new Gimbal design and they rushed them out before they could add it back in but don't ask me where I saw that because I have read so many forums and watched a lot of YouTube to remember but If I come across it again I will post it.

 

[gnirtS]

Gimbal has nothing to do with precision landing. It wasnt ever used.

 

[RealMagic]

I guess precision landing may have caused a lot of crashes when people are trusting it more than they should. Especially when precision landing actually does not work while pilots assume it does. For example, the inaccurately recorded take-off point caused by signal blocking by buildings, trees, etc. Personally I always manually land the M1P when flying in risky situations like that, but I bet many don't. And DJI could remove precision landing to force pilots to pay more attention in the landing stage.

 

[sar104]

I guess precision landing may have caused a lot of crashes when people are trusting it more than they should. Especially when precision landing actually does not work while pilots assume it does. For example, the inaccurately recorded take-off point caused by signal blocking by buildings, trees, etc. Personally I always manually land the M1P when flying in risky situations like that, but I bet many don't. And DJI could remove precision landing to force pilots to pay more attention in the landing stage.

That's possible, but on this forum I have not seen a single report of a crash or other issue caused by precision landing. I think it's more likely that they did not have the programming complete and tested in time for launch.

 

[DanMan32]

It doesn't seem to have precision landing (might be added sometime soon) but it does detect if landing site is unsuitable. If the landing is unsuitable, it will hover a couple feet and ask you if you want to complete landing. Might not be useful if you lost control.

 

[gnirtS]

I guess precision landing may have caused a lot of crashes when people are trusting it more than they should. Especially when precision landing actually does not work while pilots assume it does. For example, the inaccurately recorded take-off point caused by signal blocking by buildings, trees, etc. Personally I always manually land the M1P when flying in risky situations like that, but I bet many don't. And DJI could remove precision landing to force pilots to pay more attention in the landing stage.

Not seen any precision landing crash incidents. An inaccurate takeoff point is GPS not optical so that'd be exactly the same issue under the new system.
All precision landing did was refined the GPS with optical sensors during the last 30ft or so.

I'd also wager more people crash it manually landing than a proper precision autopilot landing did. The computer is just more accurate.

The main thing precision landing gives you is a safety blanket. In the event the RC dies (battery, hardware fault, dropped etc) or is unable to communicate with the drone (heavy interference, software lockup) it means the drone will come home and land safely. Under the new scheme, it'll come home and landing within 3-5m which might be on an obstacle, water, rock, long grass etc.

If the landing is unsuitable, it will hover a couple feet and ask you if you want to complete landing.

Unless its smooth water, in which case it'll just land in it. Or long grass to snag the props and motors - it doesn't see that either.

Might not be useful if you lost control.

Thats the main thing - its an "all else failed" method of keeping the drone safe. That simply isn't possible with GPS level accuracy.

 

[Synephrine]

Dumb move for sure. Wondering if they removed this to free up headspace for autonomous flight functions, or just didn't think it was worth including? Hopefully there will be enough noise for them to put this feature back in place.

 

[gnirtS]

Its number 2 on my "critical to fix" list. (The first being image distortion in DLOG)