Took me this long to get GPS

[Meta4]

Marketing hype and actual performance are quite often at different ends of the spectrum. If I believed every product marketing claim, I would be sorely disappointed.

DJI has used marketing hype but when they officially say that This enables Mavic 3 to lock onto multiple satellite signals faster than previous versions, that is something definite and measurable rather than the usual vague marketing spin.
It makes it clear that the spurious claim of delaying GPS acquisition to improve accuracy is nonsense.
The kind of nonsense that's often made up by DJI's support people when they go off script.

 

[EricJT]

DJI has used marketing hype but when they officially say that This enables Mavic 3 to lock onto multiple satellite signals faster than previous versions, that is something definite and measurable rather than the usual vague marketing spin.
It makes it clear that the spurious claim of delaying GPS acquisition to improve accuracy is nonsense.
The kind of nonsense that's often made up by DJI's support people when they go off script.

Meta4, I cannot disagree with your point....when they blur the line between claims and facts, it confuses the customers and leads to frustration.

I am older than I would like to admit, but I have found that I do have to take a company's claims with a grain of salt. I have found as the years go by I have become more cynical of specs and prefer real users feedback as to the product performance. Hopefully then I will not be disappointed with my purchase decision.

 

[Meta4]

Meta4, I cannot disagree with your point....when they blur the line between claims and facts, it confuses the customers and leads to frustration.

I am older than I would like to admit, but I have found that I do have to take a company's claims with a grain of salt. I have found as the years go by I have become more cynical of specs

I have no problem with the published specs.
They are clear and simple numbers that are easily verified.
Fuzzy marketing spin is something completely different.

 

[GadgetGuy]

In the interim, the problem is easily worked around by using a different battery for GNSS, and swapping out with a 100% battery, as soon as the Home Point is set. If time is of the essence, you can also launch without a HP being set and fly straight up to 96 feet, where it will quickly acquire your location, and set the Home Point, or just fly off without it, until it sets it, which should be within VLOS, so you can still fly it back to yourself. I also recommend a reboot at 8 satellites, as that seems to hasten the Home Point setting on the original battery, in less total time than just waiting. While it is annoying, it has multiple workarounds, until it gets fixed.

 

[akdrone]

Today's flight with my M3 I locked 12 satellites in 5 seconds and that remained so for a few minutes while it then climbed to 18 of the next minute or two to 18 and then over several more minutes to 26 but 5 seconds to a white indicator with 12 satellites is good by me. Sorry to hear so many folks are having issues.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Today's flight with my M3 I locked 12 satellites in 5 seconds and that remained so for a few minutes while it then climbed to 18 of the next minute or two to 18 and then over several more minutes to 26 but 5 seconds to a white indicator with 12 satellites is good by me. Sorry to hear so many folks are having issues.

RC-Pro or RC-N1 controller?

 

[Suren]

Today's flight with my M3 I locked 12 satellites in 5 seconds and that remained so for a few minutes while it then climbed to 18 of the next minute or two to 18 and then over several more minutes to 26 but 5 seconds to a white indicator with 12 satellites is good by me. Sorry to hear so many folks are having issues.

Was that on a completely cold boot? No Dji drone has been able to lock 12 sats on a cold boot in 5 seconds so far

 

[GadgetGuy]

Was that on a completely cold boot? No Dji drone has been able to lock 12 sats on a cold boot in 5 seconds so far

Has to be a warm boot!

 

[Northstar]

DJI has used marketing hype but when they officially say that This enables Mavic 3 to lock onto multiple satellite signals faster than previous versions, that is something definite and measurable rather than the usual vague marketing spin.
It makes it clear that the spurious claim of delaying GPS acquisition to improve accuracy is nonsense.
The kind of nonsense that's often made up by DJI's support people when they go off script.

After a few cordial back-and-forth email exchanges with DJI support on the M3 GPS issue, I received this promising response on March 2:
"We are truly sorry about the received GPS signal issue, our relevant team is working hard to resolve this issue by updating the firmware. unfortunately, we do not have a specific date of the update time. But we believe it won't be long, please don't worry. As soon as we update it, we will publish it on the official website, please pay attention to the Release Notes of the following website.
DJI Mavic 3 - Download Center - DJI

Please accept our sincere apology again. Your understanding and support mean a lot to us. Really appreciate your support to DJI.

Have a good day and night.

 

[WoodstockNick]

After a few cordial back-and-forth email exchanges with DJI support on the M3 GPS issue, I received this promising response on March 2:
"We are truly sorry about the received GPS signal issue, our relevant team is working hard to resolve this issue by updating the firmware. unfortunately, we do not have a specific date of the update time. But we believe it won't be long, please don't worry. As soon as we update it, we will publish it on the official website, please pay attention to the Release Notes of the following website.
DJI Mavic 3 - Download Center - DJI

Please accept our sincere apology again. Your understanding and support mean a lot to us. Really appreciate your support to DJI.

Have a good day and night.

You had more progress than I did. Last week, they asked me to send them log files if it takes more than 3 minutes and they’ll investigate. Mine’s been taking 6-10 minutes on cold boot. I haven’t been out flying due to cold and weather so I haven’t sent my logs yet. Maybe they just needed to collect enough data before they acknowledged the problem.

 

[Meta4]

You had more progress than I did.

Hopeful responses from DJI support people aren't necessarily an indication of progress.

Maybe they just needed to collect enough data before they acknowledged the problem.

It's over two months now, so appropriate data shouldn't be a problem.
DJI haven't acknowledged problems in the past, they probably won't now.

 

[WoodstockNick]

Hopeful responses from DJI support people aren't necessarily an indication of progress.

It's over two months now, so appropriate data shouldn't be a problem.
DJI haven't acknowledged problems in the past, they probably won't now.

Yes but I’m seeing several people repost responses from DJI referencing an upcoming firmware update. All I could get until about a week ago was that it will take awhile to acquire satellites on cold start and to go pound sand if I don’t like it.

 

[Meta4]

Yes but I’m seeing several people repost responses from DJI referencing an upcoming firmware update. All I could get until about a week ago was that it will take awhile to acquire satellites on cold start and to go pound sand if I don’t like it.

Sorry for attempting to add a little reality to your unfounded optimism.
Whatever you might hear from DJI support people cannot be relied on.
They don't know anything about the problem and what DJI might (or might not) be doing about it.

 

[WoodstockNick]

Sorry for attempting to add a little reality to your unfounded optimism.
Whatever you might hear from DJI support people cannot be relied on.
They don't know anything about the problem and what DJI might (or might not) be doing about it.

Ok, Mr. Sky is Falling. Someone is telling them to say there’s a firmware update coming soon. Since we have no other information, we’ll have to rely on the premise it is coming at some point, unless you have evidence to the contrary. Up until a week ago, there was no reference to firmware.

 

[Meta4]

Ok, Mr. Sky is Falling.

No .. I'm Mr I've been hearing comments from DJI support people for years and know from experience that their comments cannot be relied on for accuracy.

Someone is telling them to say there’s a firmware update coming soon. Since we have no other information, we’ll have to rely on the premise it is coming at some point, unless you have evidence to the contrary. Up until a week ago, there was no reference to firmware.

You are far too gullible and easily fobbed off.
You are imagining someone is telling them ...
They are low level people with little to no knowledge of what's going on and just work from scripts.
If you push them beyond what they have pre-written scripts for, their ad-lib answers usually are worthless.

Of course they would suggest that a firmware update would be coming.
Anyone could have worked that out , because that's what's needed to fix the problem.
But they haven't given you any indication of when it's coming or that they are anywhere near solving the issue that's gone on for >2 months already.

You are easily satisfied with vague and nonspecific comments.
Which is exactly what they want.

 

[WoodstockNick]

Sorry for attempting to add a little reality to your unfounded optimism.
Whatever you might hear from DJI support people cannot be relied on.
They don't know anything about the problem and what DJI might (or might not) be doing about it.

No .. I'm Mr I've been hearing comments from DJI support people for years and know from experience that their comments cannot be relied on for accuracy.

You are far too gullible and easily fobbed off.
You are imagining someone is telling them ...
They are low level people with little to no knowledge of what's going on and just work from scripts.
If you push them beyond what they have pre-written scripts for, their ad-lib answers usually are worthless.

Of course they would suggest that a firmware update would be coming.
Anyone could have worked that out , because that's what's needed to fix the problem.
But they haven't given you any indication of when it's coming or that they are anywhere near solving the issue that's gone on for >2 months already.

You are easily satisfied with vague and nonspecific comments.
Which is exactly what they want.

Complaining about it clearly hasn’t done any good either. All we can do is see if they do anything about it or not. I am not easily fobbed off. All we can do is report the issue. Aside from flying to China and demanding answers, what else do have have to go on?
They requested some data from me and I will send it to them when I can and follow up with them.
You must be really fun at parties.

 

[akdrone]

Was that on a completely cold boot? No Dji drone has been able to lock 12 sats on a cold boot in 5 seconds so far

Yes it was a cold boot but I'll admit that I wasn't watching and timing it carefully. It would have been more accurate to say "very quickly". I'll pay closer attention. Things get quite dicey if you travel a significant distance from your last lock and the GPS has to acquire an entirely new set of satellites or download new data. If I travel a hundred miles from my last GPS lock I expect the lock to take several minutes. If I travel a very short distance I don't expect that long of a time.

 

[TonyPHX]

My Air 2s locks in under 60 seconds so my experience is the same. I am confident that it will be fixed soon..... but perplexed that it isn't fixed already. As noted lots of times.... the original firmware that shipped in November did not have this issue. Our own member @TonyPHX posted a video yesterday, demonstrating that Sat lock can be achieved in less than 60 seconds using the initial firmware.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

Hey! I know that guy! : )

 

[Saladshooter]

My Hero.

 

[polywogfpv]

GPS is completely different and separate from the IMU.
Cooling the drone won't make any difference to GPS acquisition times.

After the first battery, gps locks on very quickly because the system has warmed up. Cooling the system would make absolutely no sense. It would be like starting with the first battery all over again!