Why does everyone use RTH?

[tomsmavic8804]

I love using RTH, it's very cool watching the Mavic fly itself back to it's nest.

Agree, because it is so cool....

 

[Ian in London]

I can respect that and I also agree. The problem is that if you decide to become an Appliance Operator (A Person who has very little flying skill and depends on Automatic flight) you are always going to be very limited in what you can do and where you can go. Also your much more likely to crash your drone as compared to a person who is a real drone pilot.

For example there are no intelligent flight modes that allow you to circle a moving boat going at 30mph. There are none that allow you to zig down through mountain passes, follow a river and fly under a bridge.

My point is that its a lot easier and quicker and better to get great footage if your a real drone pilot and not someone dependening on "intelligent flight modes" and automation.

Rob

You're spot on Rob

I rarely use any of the intelligent modes, other than Tripod Mode, as I will usually get better shots far faster by flying it myself. The Point Of Interest mode is a case in point; I much prefer to fly around and gently turn the Mavic to stay centre focussed rather than setting up the shot via the convoluted POI mode setup process.

I'm absolutely an advocate of learning to fly properly to get the shot; I'm just pointing out the large and growing number of peoiple that are almost accidental fliers becasue they want aerial shots....
Cheers,
Ian

 

[Kestrel]

I like to have control over it at all times. If it RTH then it has to be for a reason and returning home from a normal flight isn't one.

 

[The Camera Guy]

I don’t get why some people need to put down others for using a feature like RTH. It’s not a bad thing. It’s a feature, built in for you to use at will. For fun, in an emergency, for what ever reason, we choose to use it.

Now you guys who need to show off and brag or,boast that your,too good to use this feature, would in a heart break push that magic button if you couldn’t see your quad and the RC signal was in and out, and pushing this button would save your $2,000 quad.

Stop trying to make people feel stupid. Please don’t use RTH. I can’t wait to read your sad story

 

[pixl]

Yes and as well as some known bugs you also might run into heavy wind which will either deplete your battery or send you backwards. There is one well documented crash centered around this. The guy admitted that if he had just cancelled the RTH and gone into sports mode he would have been fine.

We also have crash cases during RTH that involved the Sun and the drone stopping and gaining altitude.

Rob

Yes, I'm not a fan of collision avoidance in general. I don't think it works well enough for the instances that I might find it useful - ie close-flying over treetops. I've also experienced the dead-stop while flying into the sun -- though I haven't experienced the elevation gain bug you cite. Personally, if I could turn the collision avoidance off without going into sport mode I would.

As far as the wind/battery drain bug you cite, is this really a bug? or is it the drone just working extra hard to maintain position in high winds and therefore draining battery at a higher rate?

If I'm flying in what I suspect are high winds (and I generally count on winds at 300' to be 50% higher than at ground), I will gauge the speed by doing a test run at full throttle downwind and another upwind. The differences in speeds will give you the actual wind speed at altitude. And then I govern myself accordingly -- typically not flying downwind flights on windy days.

 

[Dragonfly]

Why does every use RTH? Because they can!!!

 

[tracer bullet]

There should be a poll. Certainly not everyone uses RTH. I don't, it's a backup when all else fails. I'm not against anyone doing it, I just don't feel the need or desire to gamble with letting the thing run itself any more than needed.

Plus, I like flying, even if it's just the return trip.

 

[JMF]

Since day one I never thought of RTH as a backup or safety feature, to me it was just another feature which you can use, but it can save your *** if needed.

 

[Vilco]

I use it only for showing off, otherwise I'm always landing it manually: every minute of flight is a sixtieth of an hour of flight on my shoulders

 

[tcope]

So the thread is about Smart RTH, which is initiated by the flier. Personally, I've only used it twice and only when I lost the connection (video/control) with the Mavic (actually I don't know that it's ever happened with the Mavic but I've used it on my Phantoms). My view is that I don't recommend using it when you still have control of the Mavic. Once you press the RTH button, you are giving up control and hoping that everything for RTH works correctly. I'm not saying that RTH does not work well, it does a very good job, but you are still relying on a lot of electronics/settings all working perfectly. You are opening that door. I could give you a long list of things that could go wrong (sun in the collision sensors, a tree branch in the way, home point not set correctly, etc.). RTH is no more efficient that pointing the drone icon toward that line on the map that leads to the home point and flying at 25mph back home.

This is just my opinion and why I make this recommendation. RTH is very good. However, there are many posts about people using RTH and something going wrong. I just don't think giving up good control of the Mavic is the best idea.

 

[pelermon]

Having had a X380 I regard "RTH" mode as "CRASH MODE"
I will only use it as a LAST RESORT.

 

[mav09]

i don't use it, I don't like how it flies so high up to RTH (i know you can custom set it), i'm always nervous about birds attacking my drone so I like to be able to watch and control.

Make your drone walk then? Possible solution to bird attacks haha!

 

[Rbruz]

I've never had a commercially sold drone before. I've always built my own. The Mavic Pro Plat. is shipping soon and after a lot of reading, I'm surprised to see so many people using RTH daily.
I have to say after about 10 years of flying and building quadcopters, I've only used RTH maybe 3 times when I had video failures.
Why does everyone use RTH for simple things like low battery or just too lazy to fly back themselves? Seems that I'd rather keep control the whole way when possible.
How many people routinely use RTH when not in trouble?

Agreed !!!

 

[rydfree]

Why use any of the automated features ? RTH is no different than Waypoint mode , POI , Active Track etc . Why buy an automated drone if you had rather fly it manually ?

 

[Rbruz]

Why use any of the automated features ? RTH is no different than Waypoint mode , POI , Active Track etc . Why buy an automated drone if you had rather fly it manually ?

I don’t use any of them, reason I bought the mavic was, small platform with good media abilities and decent flight time. Have zero use for tracking, etc I shoot nice panos manually as well as track just fine surfing horse running etc dig the fact my entire drone media capturing rig fits in its own backpack for travel, that is why.

Felipe de Sayulita ! | SkyPixel.com

 

[jazar]

I've never had a commercially sold drone before. I've always built my own. The Mavic Pro Plat. is shipping soon and after a lot of reading, I'm surprised to see so many people using RTH daily.
I have to say after about 10 years of flying and building quadcopters, I've only used RTH maybe 3 times when I had video failures.
Why does everyone use RTH for simple things like low battery or just too lazy to fly back themselves? Seems that I'd rather keep control the whole way when possible.
How many people routinely use RTH when not in trouble?

I use RTH, but don't completely trust it. I always, watch to make sure the drone is coming back to the right place. RTH with visual is usually very accurate, however, I have seen get off by as much as 15 meters.

 

[victor_lim]

if nearby got observer , im surely do it manually return home, the BEEP is so loud to attract others...

else lazy and alone will press RTH button, and enjoy the view from my iphone

 

[dannyw777]

Great Topic, I'm using RTH all the time when battery is low just for the confidence I need that it works!

BUT , with your thoughts (that really made me aware) I was just forming a bad habit by pushing the RTH < NO MORE! I'll enjoy and fly more on the way home. One problem I was being careful with was with all the trees where I live and I love to fly low through my neighbors acres and to enjoy the Goggles.

Fear factor when Mavic takes over and goes up and hits trees and hangs up 130ft! really trying to find confidence in the wonderful Drone! But often times when I'm in the woods I'm afraid it'll just take over control and go up into TROUBLE!

 

[Adhi]

Makes me feel like a Jedi. I pretend I'm using "the force" and people who happen to be around are amazed. Lol

[emoji1]

 

[mfc]

I use RTH almost every time I'm flying .. means I can write down the notes about the flight while it's on the way back, rather than having to waste time doing that while it's on the ground.