I had kind of a scare the other day when the drone was connected via wifi direct and was only flying about 10m right above me. Lets just say I will only fly with the remote for now on.

Before liftoff do you set a home point every time you fly just in case the drone loses GPS/connection for what ever reason?

The home point will be automatically set when you start the motors as long as the Mavic has a good GPS connection. Check for the "H" symbol on the map in DJI GO to ensure that both the home point has been set and that it is in the correct location. If you don't see the "H", then you should wait until the home point has been set before taking off.

I always wait for the Home to be recorded before flying away.

Yeah, I do as well.  I actually go into the menu and set it again just to be safe.

msinger Posted at 2018-8-15 18:07
The home point will be automatically set when you start the motors as long as the Mavic has a good GPS connection. Check for the "H" symbol on the map in DJI GO to ensure that both the home point has been set and that it is in the correct location. If you don't see the "H", then you should wait until the home point has been set before taking off.

odd, I thought that too because I wait for the H but for some reason it flew above random houses almost on someone else's roof when trying to land at the home point. I think I'm going to manually set it every time to be safe like previous said.

Same here. Usually I get the "The home point has been set..." announcement within seconds of booting up, but I always wait for it before taking off. One time I didn't get it and I rebooted everything and it came on as usual. I've always wondered if not setting the home point before flying is the reason some pilots have experienced fly aways.

Like mentioned above always wait for the app to say "the homepoint has been updated" before flying

You should wait over 10 satellites locked and set the home point again for better accuracy. Please note the home point can be meters away from where it set. You need to find a large open space for safe RTH landing. RTH should only use when aircraft disconnected. Landing manually is more safety.

Good reason to power up Mavic drone first.  Gives it extra time to find GPS Sats and calculate its position.

I do when I have reason to believe recorded Home Point was done prematurely.  

I have noticed, that if MA has been started from the same place as day before ( +/- some meters) there is no phrase" The Home point has been updated", but i can always see the green "H" letter on the map.
Is such behaviour normal?

You should never rely solely on the drone to RTH, but it is a GREAT practice allow the GPS signal to log your home point. You should have a few zones 20ydx20yd in your flight path to bring down your MAVIC AIR in case of emergency. #mapviewforthewin Also, be prepared to land in "atti-mode" if you have to. Or, kill the motors for a hand catch (have backup props bc they will break if you catch the drone sideways).

Get a flight simulator app to practice.

Once you have good gps homepoint will be locked, you don’t need app to tell you, just keep note of your gps, and your good to go.

nixuspix Posted at 2018-8-15 22:21
I have noticed, that if MA has been started from the same place as day before ( +/- some meters) there is no phrase" The Home point has been updated", but i can always see the green "H" letter on the map.
Is such behaviour normal?

Interesting comment.  I have noticed that as well.   I always set my home point manually anyways.

DerekYoung Posted at 2018-8-15 18:17
odd, I thought that too because I wait for the H but for some reason it flew above random houses almost on someone else's roof when trying to land at the home point. I think I'm going to manually set it every time to be safe like previous said.

Check out your TXT flight log to see if it explains what happened. You can upload and view it online here. If you'd like other people to review and comment on your flight log, then please post a link back here after you upload it.

My Mavic Air updates the home point automatically.

Of course I do

Its more safe and good practise to set home point before each fly
Be careful not to fly without GPS  especially in bad environment such as windy weather because it will not hover in place  , the wind may blow it away

I always manually set a home point then verify the distance on the RC and app reads zero and also check the orientation of the drone on the map corresponds to the real world.
Then take off.

Always. ....

This link may help with preflight.

https://forum.dji.com/thread-104222-1-1.html

I wait to confirm home point has been set before take off. And. When I am in a new area I always fly a couple hundred feet away and run a test to make sure it comes back to the home point that was set where I took off from.

Oracle Miata Posted at 2018-8-15 18:12
Yeah, I do as well.  I actually go into the menu and set it again just to be safe.

I set it manually every time to make sure.  That's the FINAL point on my checklist before flying.  I want to hear those magic words, "The home point has been updated.  Please check it on the map."  

  I always wait for the home. To be set before I take off.

I always wait for the voice announcement home point set.
Then I always do a manual home point set before taking of.
Just incase.

Yes and always.  I won't fly it until the golden voice tells me "Home point is recorded"

Usually the Home Point is automatically recorded but it's wise to manually record the Home Point if you don't hear the woman say that the Home Point has been updated.

wow thanks for all the input. This is a great community!

davidmartingraf Posted at 2018-8-16 16:43
Usually the Home Point is automatically recorded but it's wise to manually record the Home Point if you don't hear the woman say that the Home Point has been updated.

You still need to check it.  Automatically recorded isnt the same as correctly recorded.

gnirtS Posted at 2018-8-17 03:32
You still need to check it.  Automatically recorded isnt the same as correctly recorded.

I never had an issue with any of my flights whenever it says the Home Point has been updated, albeit I've never had an issue with any of my flights.

I always hover for a minute or two.

davidmartingraf Posted at 2018-8-17 16:26
I never had an issue with any of my flights whenever it says the Home Point has been updated, albeit I've never had an issue with any of my flights.

I've had it a few times and seen others where occasionally if the GPS wasn't reliable enough or the RC is getting its GPS from a mobile device thats inaccurate or using phone mast localisation before it had a good GPS lock.

The worst i've seen is a HP being 98 *miles* out.  More often its about by 300ft or so which is still bad enough.  Like i said rare and if you always fly in clear sky areas might never happen buy if like me you're prone to using the shade from buildings to see the screen it can happen.

Its happened to a few others i know as well so its worth checking.  The other vital check is the drone is actually pointed in the right direction on the map. This checks the compass is good and true.

gnirtS Posted at 2018-8-18 02:33
I've had it a few times and seen others where occasionally if the GPS wasn't reliable enough or the RC is getting its GPS from a mobile device thats inaccurate or using phone mast localisation before it had a good GPS lock.

The worst i've seen is a HP being 98 *miles* out.  More often its about by 300ft or so which is still bad enough.  Like i said rare and if you always fly in clear sky areas might never happen buy if like me you're prone to using the shade from buildings to see the screen it can happen.

I fly in the southwestern part of the U;S; where everything is wide open and there's not much interference, but I'm assuming the status quo for flying in other areas.

The drone doesn't obtain GPS from your phone, it has its own GPS module in the bottom rear portion of the Mavic Pro, so I'm confused by people stating the drone obtains GPS from your phone?

davidmartingraf Posted at 2018-8-18 14:53
I fly in the southwestern part of the U;S; where everything is wide open and there's not much interference, but I'm assuming the status quo for flying in other areas.

The drone doesn't obtain GPS from your phone, it has its own GPS module in the bottom rear portion of the Mavic Pro, so I'm confused by people stating the drone obtains GPS from your phone?

The drone doesn't but the RC does.

So the telemetry distance to RC can be drastically off (and also screw up the radar display etc).

gnirtS Posted at 2018-8-18 14:58
The drone doesn't but the RC does.

So the telemetry distance to RC can be drastically off (and also screw up the radar display etc).

I've seen repair videos of the Mavic Pro and there is a GPS module right inside behind the DJI logo. Think about it: how would the Mavic Pro return to home if there was no GPS module? Remember the RC can become completely disconnected to the craft and the drone is required to find and return to its home point and it does.

davidmartingraf Posted at 2018-8-18 16:06
I've seen repair videos of the Mavic Pro and there is a GPS module right inside behind the DJI logo. Think about it: how would the Mavic Pro return to home if there was no GPS module? Remember the RC can become completely disconnected to the craft and the drone is required to find and return to its home point and it does.

Im talking about the RC not the drone.  As i said:

"The RC does".

The RC gets its location feed from the device its plugged into.  And that can sometimes be wildly inaccurate.

gnirtS Posted at 2018-8-19 02:36
Im talking about the RC not the drone.  As i said:

"The RC does".

"The RC gets its location feed from the device its plugged into.  And that can sometimes be wildly inaccurate."

Would the simplest solution not be to disable GPS/GLONASS on your display device if it's unreliable, unless you want to set home point to RC location or use 'Follow Me' then it is not required at all.

Start up drone leave motors running to warm up then wait for enough satelites and wait for the homepoint has been updated please check the location on the map. Then go fly

Aardvark Posted at 2018-8-19 02:45
"The RC gets its location feed from the device its plugged into.  And that can sometimes be wildly inaccurate."

Would the simplest solution not be to disable GPS/GLONASS on your display device if it's unreliable, unless you want to set home point to RC location or use 'Follow Me' then it is not required at all.

The simplest solution is prior to take off that everything is OK - the home point is correct, the RC distance is correct, distance from HP is correct and orientation regards to the map is correct surely?
I've seen the drone GPS set itself with a fairly inaccurate HDOP on the GPS meaning 30m+ or so error before now.  I've also seen magnetic interference that wasn't warned about causing the drone to think it was pointed 45 degrees from where it actually was.
Checks need to pick this up before launching.

Distance to  RC comes in useful if you aren't standing in one place and want the drone to land near to where you end up not where it left (especially if the RC is moving at speed like on a boat).