(1) Does anyone know the maximum distance for dronies?  

(2) Almost every time I turn on the Mavic Air I am having to calibrate the compass.  Is this normal?  Also sometimes I will spend minutes spinning the aircraft horizontally and vertically and it will say that calibration failed and then I'll have to repeat the process ... this has happened several times.  Is there anything I can do to calibrate the compass faster/more efficiently.  


Thanks!

Are you in an area that has a lot of magnetic interference, just fired up my MA for the first time this morning, calibrated the VPS, IMU & Gimbal before I left the house, it never asked me to calibrate the compass, flew 2 batteries, 2 different locations about a mile apart, no compass calibration requested and/or required, flew just fine.

1. As a general rule you should fly in VLOS - visual line of sight. This means you are expected to be able to physically see the drone with your naked eye every second it is off the ground. In the UK the CAA cap this to 500m/1,640’
In terms of the Air’s capabilities it can reach 2KM in CE areas and 4KM in FCC areas subject to no interference or obstructions in the flight area.

2) Compass calibrations and failures are caused by magnetic interference around you. Change your take off location if this persists and fly somewhere else.

(1) Well i guess is there a preferred "Dronie" distance that allows for a really nice shot of the surrounding landscape but does not take up like 30 seconds of extra footage?   I know it's a vague question but I feel like the default distance is not far enough and maybe there is a "goldilocks" distance out there.

(2) In terms of interference - could it be my apple watch?  It seems to be happening quite frequently in different settings.  

I've never allowed my quad to fly completely to the end of donie distance, so I too don't know about the distance.  As for the watch, try leaving it in the car - see what happens.  

CHSDrone1 Posted at 2018-2-16 13:08
(1) Well i guess is there a preferred "Dronie" distance that allows for a really nice shot of the surrounding landscape but does not take up like 30 seconds of extra footage?   I know it's a vague question but I feel like the default distance is not far enough and maybe there is a "goldilocks" distance out there.

(2) In terms of interference - could it be my apple watch?  It seems to be happening quite frequently in different settings.

Any large magnetic object will interfere with the compass.  I don't think there is enough metal in an Apple Watch to do this.  I have had trouble calibrating it near my truck and also got compass errors when flying close to the metal roof on my house or with a large metal building on the ground between myself and the drone.  if you are having trouble calibrating move as far away from large metal objects and antennas as possible and try again.

Thanks everyone - I'm going to go out and shoot some photos without my apple watch on today.

Another question - do you all always shoot in HDR mode for photos or is it better to just use HDR for certain situations?   Thanks!

Not sure the max distance, but when you select it it gives you a slider so you can pick your distance, I did one at 40Mtrs, its 40Mtrs from its current position!