Is everyone else experiencing substantial delays in the mavic 3 establishing satellites?

There are a number of posts on the forum with this issue.

yes it takes for ever.

It takes forever on a cold start but at the next battery change it is very quick, like 5 seconds and its ready.

Yep. Still takes 5 minutes or longer, taking off from the same exact spot whereas my other DJI drones takes less than a minute. Awaiting firmware update to resolve this issue

The "full" number of satellites (14 or more) also takes about 4 - 5 minutes ...

"Hover possible" is displayed after 1 - 2 minutes, and additionally "max. 30 m" ...

A little strange, of course ...

Interesting you say that.  

I do experience that, on a cold start at least. That said, seems to be highly location-specific. When I'm on a mountain top with a 360-degree view and totally unobstructed clear skies, even a cold start is very fast, 5-10 seconds till I get 12-15 sats.
However, on my driveway, with a tree and a house blocking about 30..40% of the sky, it can take several minutes UNLESS I just go up (with a weak GPS notice) and hover about 30 ft, then it gets to the acceptable number in another 15..20 sec.
As I have expressed before, I have never had to wait that long with my Mavic 2 Pro, at least it feels that way.
I need to find time and do the actual side-by-side. Just lazy, I guess

flew today, GPS lock took 31 seconds lock on, and it was immediate when changing battery.

Same here, painfully slow.  In addition to the M3 and RC Pro, I also have the M2P and smart controller.  I took both on my deck (open sky) my wife and I booted each drone and controller at the same time.  The M2P and smart controller connected within 15 seconds from boot completion, the smart controller had 17 satellites within 20 seconds.  The M3 and RC pro connected 70 seconds are boot completion, it took 90 seconds to obtain 17 satellites.  

M2P and smart controller - boot/connect 15 seconds, establish satellite lock in 20 seconds
M3 and RC Pro - boot/connect 70 seconds, establish satellite lock in 90 seconds

Can’t say that I am, 60 seconds for a cold start and 15 seconds for a warm start. In the UK.

The M3 is now using GPS (USA) & BeiDou (china) instead of GPS & GLONASS (Russia)

Are the delays specific to a specific region for example?

yes was wondering what is going on the Air2s has 2x the satellites in 1/10th the time in the same spot???

just received my M3, it is taking 10-15 minutes.

hallmark007 Posted at 2021-12-17 10:29
flew today, GPS lock took 31 seconds lock on, and it was immediate when changing battery.

so erlebe ich das mit meiner M3 auch...

fansaf28829f Posted at 1-21 14:25
so erlebe ich das mit meiner M3 auch...

Lots of people are not having this problem. Some say they’ve had it since November some say it came with FW in December and some say refreshing FW not on device but on Dji assistant  helps. I’m sure dji are aware of it and if FW update caused it then it can’t be difficult to fix it.

hallmark007 Posted at 1-21 15:08
Lots of people are not having this problem. Some say they’ve had it since November some say it came with FW in December and some say refreshing FW not on device but on Dji assistant  helps. I’m sure dji are aware of it and if FW update caused it then it can’t be difficult to fix it.

I don't remember when it started happening (pre FW or post FW), but I do have this issue, it does take longer (initially) than any other DJI drone I've owned.

Makes little sense to me, but it seems to be based on ground clutter obscuring the sky.  Maybe the comm frequency is more impacted by wood and stone and metal.

I hope it can be addressed, but for me it's not the end of the world should the problem persist and it will not change my fondness for this drone.  I really am growing quite fond of this drone.

Charles Adams Posted at 1-21 15:22
I don't remember when it started happening (pre FW or post FW), but I do have this issue, it does take longer (initially) than any other DJI drone I've owned.

Makes little sense to me, but it seems to be based on ground clutter obscuring the sky.  Maybe the comm frequency is more impacted by wood and stone and metal.

Unless you’re in a very congested area 4/5 minutes is too long, under a minute is fine 30 seconds is good. I think if it came with FW it will be sorted. One thing I can confirm is the signal is a lot stronger when obtained than other drones I have using Glonass. Today I flew both M3 and Air2s same area same time M3 is picking up 24/25 sats, Air2s 19/20 sats now can’t be certain this is because new servers or better receiver.

hallmark007 Posted at 1-21 15:32
Unless you’re in a very congested area 4/5 minutes is too long, under a minute is fine 30 seconds is good. I think if it came with FW it will be sorted. One thing I can confirm is the signal is a lot stronger when obtained than other drones I have using Glonass. Today I flew both M3 and Air2s same area same time M3 is picking up 24/25 sats, Air2s 19/20 sats now can’t be certain this is because new servers or better receiver.

My times are 60-90 seconds, and if I had to wait 4-5 minutes I'd be <alternative word for really upset>.

Were you flying for personal or job/inspection, or both?  Your job seems like a dream job.  I'm very happy with my work, but I envy your opportunities to fly for $$$.

Charles Adams Posted at 1-21 15:46
My times are 60-90 seconds, and if I had to wait 4-5 minutes I'd be .

Were you flying for personal or job/inspection, or both?  Your job seems like a dream job.  I'm very happy with my work, but I envy your opportunities to fly for $$$.

No I was flying purely for fun . Ill post a couple of photos and video over the weekend.

Its strange I haven’t seen anyone posting a video of the time its taken. I’m thinking 5 minutes may just be a  figure born out of frustration.

hallmark007 Posted at 1-21 15:54
No I was flying purely for fun . Ill post a couple of photos and video over the weekend.

Its strange I haven’t seen anyone posting a video of the time its taken. I’m thinking 5 minutes may just be a  figure born out of frustration.

There have been two videos over the last 48 hours on youtube where individuals are timing the duration to acquisition.  I think 90 seconds is what they show.

Charles Adams Posted at 1-21 16:26
There have been two videos over the last 48 hours on youtube where individuals are timing the duration to acquisition.  I think 90 seconds is what they show.

90 seconds is not a disaster and not going to stop anyone flying. But I’m certain if this was caused by an update its simple to change back and will.

Here’s a really good video that explains how GPS works in drones.

I generally let the M3 sit there and acquire and I am not in a big hurry.  I will watching the clock now a little closer.  

TonyPHX Posted at 1-21 18:14
I generally let the M3 sit there and acquire and I am not in a big hurry.  I will watching the clock now a little closer.

Most drone pilots should use something similar to this before taking off to the skys. And by the time its done you should be good to fly.

Tip To Help Avoid compass interference and crash.


1/ Never calibrate Compass unless prompted to. Your compass will always prompt to calibrate if it needs it .

2/ start AC leave until you receive enough gps lock ,

3/ if you get Compass interference turn off AC and move to another location,
without interference.

4/ In bottom left hand corner on your map you will see small red/blue triangle, check to make sure that this triangle is pointing in the same direction (heading) as your AC, this will show good compass on the ground.

Raise AC to height of 8ft
Hover for 20 seconds
Fly forward 2ft
Backward 2ft
Left 2ft
Right 2ft
Up 2ft
Down 2ft
Yaw left
Yaw right
Each time returning to hover position
If you have a good horizontal each time, you will then know you have good  (GPS) good IMU and good Compass, and your ready to fly.

This exercise takes less than 2 minutes and is worthwhile doing before every flight,

Similar exercises are recommended by most flying schools or learning flying centres.

hallmark007 Posted at 1-22 03:14
Most drone pilots should use something similar to this before taking off to the skys. And by the time its done you should be good to fly.

Tip To Help Avoid compass interference and crash.

hallmark007, thanks for the summary!

hallmark007 Posted at 1-22 03:14
Most drone pilots should use something similar to this before taking off to the skys. And by the time its done you should be good to fly.

Tip To Help Avoid compass interference and crash.

I like this list and am going to adopt it.  Makes sense.  Gives everything time to "warm up" and proves positve control before venturing off.

hallmark007 Posted at 1-22 03:14
Most drone pilots should use something similar to this before taking off to the skys. And by the time its done you should be good to fly.

Tip To Help Avoid compass interference and crash.

Excellent hallmark. This is the way to go. I do not know what is displayed on the Mavic 3, but Mavic 2 pro has GPS signal strength bars displayed next to the GPS counts, which shows how good the signal is. So far I have always seen all 5 bars for any flight I have done and check this every time before flying. If it would not show all 5 bars, I would check it again when up about 8ft where I do the test you mentioned.

My Mavic 3 use to take 1min 33sec to lock on to 12 satellites before update .500 now it taking 6min to lock on to 12 satellites after the new firmware .500 update so something is wrong here. and this is in the location I fly in most of the time. a lot of people are having this same results after the new firmware update. checkout 51 drones channel on YouTube and read the comments a lot of people are having this problem DJI needs to do something about this 5 to 7min is way to long to lock on to enough satellites before the home point can be updated, my mavic 2 zoom never had this problem almost instant satellite lock to update home point.

Hi Everyone,

I haven't had an opportunity to do this myself yet, but you better believe I'm going to try:



NET:    1) Downgrade your firmware using DJI Assistant 2
            2) Boot to get quicker satellite lock
            3) Upgrade back to the latest firmware using DJI Assistant 2

He actually refreshed the latest firmware as a first step and sate for 12 mins until he got a satellite lock, but I suspect is was more the downgrade, lock, and then update to firmware that may have helped.

One thing he doesn't give much more info on was if he changed batteries when trying this or tried cold booting on a different day to see if he still got fast sat lock.

After doing a lot of reading on these forums, I decided to check mine out.  Took it out for a test flight yesterday, and was able to fully lock in about 80 seconds.  Did another flight today, and it only took 53 seconds.  Yes my M3 is fully up to date with firmware and fly app.

Mavic 3 Raptor Posted at 2-1 16:26
Hi Everyone,

I haven't had an opportunity to do this myself yet, but you better believe I'm going to try:

Does not work, I just tried this. Don't waste your time and effort doing it.

After all the latest updates, my Air 2S was also taking a long TTFF. I haven't flown in several days. Took it out today, first battery it took me going up to about thirty feet and about two minutes TTFF. The second battery, it had complete fix before it finished connecting to the RC Pro.

Suren Posted at 2-1 18:08
Does not work, I just tried this. Don't waste your time and effort doing it.

Well that sure is a bummer

djiuser_1ci8qhmJKFw3 Posted at 2-1 17:52
After doing a lot of reading on these forums, I decided to check mine out.  Took it out for a test flight yesterday, and was able to fully lock in about 80 seconds.  Did another flight today, and it only took 53 seconds.  Yes my M3 is fully up to date with firmware and fly app.

Man you are really really lucky.   Very odd so many are having the problem and a number of others do not....something amiss here.

djiuser_1ci8qhmJKFw3 Posted at 2-1 17:52
After doing a lot of reading on these forums, I decided to check mine out.  Took it out for a test flight yesterday, and was able to fully lock in about 80 seconds.  Did another flight today, and it only took 53 seconds.  Yes my M3 is fully up to date with firmware and fly app.

You are one of the lucky few or maybe the only lucky one.

If you really want to know where your Sats are the Android/Apple App GNSS View will show you where the Sats are and your HDOP and VDOP. Would be interesting to see readings from that when the M3 is slow to pick up Sats.