Has DJI changed the calibration practises again?

I was just reading the instructiosn for the mini for someone else and i find this, surely that cant be right, can it?
Nothing about moving away from metal before attempting a calibration, but more importantly, why is it suggesting to people that you should calibrate it under certain scenarios, is the mavic mni using older tech as seen in the earlier phantoms where you needed to calibrate it or what? A Big difference to what it says in the P4P manual for example, see 2nd image

I was wondering the same thing. I almost never had to calibrate the compass on the Spark (for which manual also states to calibrate only if the App asks for it), even when travelling abroad. And now we should calibrate if you fly just 50km away from the last location? Especially for the entry-level Mini I would have expected a set-and-forget approach like on the Spark/P4P!

Could someone from DJI please shed a light on this?

The Mavic 2's can have accessories added to them, i.e loud speaker that probably has a magnet in it so i can see why they may need to be calibrated  but i dont think there is mention of that scenario under the calibration section for the M2's so im even more baffled now....

This is new . I own the mp2 , the zoom , the platinum and now the mini.
The platinum i never or hardly had to callibrate the compass( only when travelling far to another country) .
However the mp2 and zoom i have to callibrate indeed when travelling more than 50 km. Also now the mini i had to callibrate the compass yesterday i moved approximately 70 km further than the place i last took off. So thats new in the dji world of drones and we have to live with this. I guess they do it for safety. The first mavics had 2 compasses and 1 imu, the 2 series have 2 imu’s and 1 compass. I guess the mini has 1 compass therefore to be on safe side have to be callibrated more often

Im not so sure having only 1 compass means that it has to be calibrated more, the distance  travelled shouldnt either.

From what i have learnt on these forums is that you only really ever need to calibrate the compass when accessories are added to the drone, speakers would be a very good time to do a calibration, as you are calibrating the drone to the very near field thats had something added to it, namely the magnet in the speaker, as in my example, unless of course Labroides has been talking drivvel, but i would find that hard to believe.

Are you saying that the app is saying to calibrate the compass?

Are you sure its not saying, "Move the drone to a new location and try again or calibrate the compass" Maybe worded slightly different??

PS, Hallmark says he has travelled many hundreds of miles and not needed to calibrate the compass, i think it was over 1000 miles, cant remember now, ive closed it.

I find it very odd that DJI start off with the earlier drones that needed it all the time, such as the ones where you add a go pro, of which would make a lot of sense, then the
drones of recent years no longer required the calibration, only to go back to needing the calibration pretty much all the time, this makes no sense, its like going back to yesteryear.
Its a decent battery waste if you ask me...

Are you sure its not asking you to "move or calibrate" of which sounds more realistic, or are you 100% positive that there is no interference from any metal whatsoever, rebar, etc?

The policy makes no sense, you would think that once a company improves on something it would stay that way, not go backwards, this would be very confusing for the consumer

Bashy Posted at 11-18 19:30
Im not so sure having only 1 compass means that it has to be calibrated more, the distance  travelled shouldnt either.

From what i have learnt on these forums is that you only really ever need to calibrate the compass when accessories are added to the drone, speakers would be a very good time to do a calibration, as you are calibrating the drone to the very near field thats had something added to it, namely the magnet in the speaker, as in my example, unless of course Labroides has been talking drivvel, but i would find that hard to believe.

Hello bashy,

I am definately 1000 pct sure that each time you travel fairly long distances with the mavic 2 pro and/or the zoom , the app asks you to callibrate the compass( no other text). And definately each time there was no source of interference( no cars, no telephones, no watches etc) i flew around 2000 km with the mavic 2 and the zoom and after travelling more then approx 50-70 km , both i had to callibrate the compass. Last weekend in drove 80 km from my house , i had the mp2, the zoom and the mini and yes i had to callibrate all 3 of them , also when i was back home i had to callibrate again. If i stay in surroundings (within 50 km ) i never have to callibrate. The mini i just received last week and i only travelled once with it , more then 50 km, but as mentionned above i had to callibrate aswell , but I only tested this once , but it looks like it will be the same as the 2 series. Hallmark was referring back then i believe to the mavic 1 series, and he was correct , with the one series you hardly or never had to callibrate the compass. I travelled also many miles from Netherlands with my mp platinum(and the Phantom 4 pro ,which i sold) and i hardly had to callibrate , only when i took an airplane to the end of the world.
At that time in the dji Manual was indeed written , only callibrate when the app is asking , and then the app hardly was asking when travelling a distance.
But then the mavic 2 series appeared and dji changed this. Now the app is asking.
I travelled last year worldwide  and also travelled longer distances in different countries by car and each time travelling more then 50km i had to callibrate compass, so its not Country related but new dji set up related. As i am not a technician i only can pressume that dji changed this due to the 1 compass/ 2 imu's in the 2 series in stead of the 2 compasses in the mavic 1 series, but this i am not sure.

Even my experience is that after approximately 130-150 takeoffs/landings it ask me to callibrate the Vision sensors .
And i brought this Forward and dji stated that this was true. And Indeed each time i reached These amount of takeoffs/landings i had to do this.

Also a friend of mine who ownes the zoom and the mini has exactly the same above compass and sensor  callibration experiences. That cannot be a coincidence , 5 drones . Each drone at the same Location (no interferences) , the app ask to callibrate compass.



thanks dronie 1965

Thanks chap, its good to get some clarification, but as to why theyve done it like this is anyones guess then,  i cannot see it being just because there is one compass, the P3 only had 1 and i am sure even calibrating them is frowned upon, good to know there is no wording regarding "move the drone", at least magnetic interference is ruled out..