Hello all,

Having now completed my first flight and what a fantastic experience it was too I now have a couple of questions that I've not exactly been able to uncover in the manual etc.
1. with the grid lines in the viewing window (if they are turned on) and of course respecting the VLOS, does the central grid box sync with the actual centred view of the drone itself? I mean, assuming a forward facing drone and then say, on RTH if one switches to down gimbal view, is that central grid box going to more or less accurately describe where the drone is heading to touchdown? I hope this question is clear?
2. Does the recording contain the grid lines or are they not visible on any saved footage?

Any comments would be great to receive.

Hi,

2. not visual.
1. do not really understand your text.

In general, In RTH drone will yaw to the heading towards HomePoint. So front of drone (plus camera ofcourse) is facing HP.

Just try out yourself, find a nice open spot and check all the variations on the RTH.

cheers
JJB

1. The grid will generally point in the direction of travel if pointed exactly level or downwards and the respective directional input is given. There is a thread where someone thinks their drone is flying diagonally, it was just a minor misalignment of the gimbal and actual forward direction. It's still a good indicator. When descending, the grid will not be exact when you are <50cm from the ground due to the offset of the gimbal from the centre of the drone.

2. No, the lines will not be in the video. They are actually used to correctly frame photographs/video.

Might I suggest that unless you are going to try a remote landing you should be watching the drone as it comes in for a landing with your own eyes.
That said, since when looking seemingly straight up I have found that I am sometimes not in fact looking straight up, I have used the view you mention to check whether the drone appears to be overhead. I then bring the drone down 'eyes on' the drone.

CloudVisual Posted at 1-5 04:57
1. The grid will generally point in the direction of travel if pointed exactly level or downwards and the respective directional input is given. There is a thread where someone thinks their drone is flying diagonally, it was just a minor misalignment of the gimbal and actual forward direction. It's still a good indicator. When descending, the grid will not be exact when you are

Thanks JJB. CloudVisual, your explanation neatly enough satifies my enquiry in regards to point 1. A few Youtube vids I watched seem to imply the centre of the grid was usually (not always it would seem) to be the nearly approximate area where the unit would ultimately land. See also my reply below to SeanBB.

Sean-bumble-bee Posted at 1-5 07:43
Might I suggest that unless you are going to try a remote landing you should be watching the drone as it comes in for a landing with your own eyes.
That said, since when looking seemingly straight up I have found that I am sometimes not in fact looking straight up, I have used the view you mention to check whether the drone appears to be overhead. I then bring the drone down 'eyes on' the drone.

Yes Sean, I would indeed be watching the drone land at all times all being equal. It's just that I wanted to gauge the most likely trajectory as the unit descends from its RTH preset height. This I intend would serve as a secondary (not primary) confirmation that my drone was indeed overhead and on track to the correct Home landing. I suppose what moved me into these thoughts is my rather surprise of when I set the RTH height at around 196 feet the drone from a VLOS point of view looks pretty darn small

I think we are doing the same thing, checking our perception of what is vertically above us with the drone's  perception of what is vertically below it.
With regards to the RTH height, might I suggest unnecessary height is somewhat risky, it may put the drone up into wind.
Obviously you need to set it high enough to clear any obstacles by a safe margin but if the drone has to climb to excess RTH height the climb wastes energy, as does the descent.
BEEN THERE done that with an accidentally set really high RTH and triggered the RTH through an unrelated loss of connection. It took a long time to get it down.
You can reduce the drone's height as it flies home during an RTH but DON'T touch the throttle during the climb to RTH height , check the 'small print' on pages 15 & 16 of the manual.

Sean-bumble-bee Posted at 1-5 13:58
I think we are doing the same thing, checking our perception of what is vertically above us with the drone's  perception of what is vertically below it.
With regards to the RTH height, might I suggest unnecessary height is somewhat risky, it may put the drone up into wind.
Obviously you need to set it high enough to clear any obstacles by a safe margin but if the drone has to climb to excess RTH height the climb wastes energy, as does the descent.

Thank you v m Sean. Yes, agreed we are more or less after the same thing here. I think I've set my RTH too high thinking more is better but I will now adjust given what you've explained. When you say not to touch the throttle during the climb the following section of the manual is a little confusing and to me doesn't quite reconcile with your suggestion of not touching the throttle does it?
..."DJI Mini 2 User Manual If the aircraft is at an altitude of 65 ft (20 m) or higher and has not yet reached the RTH altitude, the throttle stick can be moved to stop the aircraft from ascending and the aircraft will fly to the Home Point at its current altitude (only available with firmware v1.0.0.0. This function is not available when the firmware is updated to v1.1.0.0 or later). During RTH, the speed, altitude, and orientation of the aircraft can be controlled using the remote controller if the remote controller signal is normal. However, the remote controller cannot be used to pan left or right. When the aircraft is ascending or flying forward, the user can push the control stick completely in the opposite direction to make the aircraft exit RTH and hover in place. GEO zones will affect RTH. If the aircraft flies into a GEO zone during RTH it will hover in place. The aircraft may not be able to return to a Home Point when the wind speed is too high. Fly with caution. ..."

I mean, yes it agrees with your wind at higher altitudes and that's fine but the confusion arises when the manual speaks about earlier than latest versions of the firmware and I suppose the manual could stand some editing here as in some other sections I've noted previously.

Agreed I think the wording is not the best.
My translation is.
With v1.0.0.0 firmware (and before, if that is possible) touching the throttle during the climb to RTH height will, if the drone is above 20m but still below the RTH height, stop the climb to RTH height and start the horizontal flight home.

In later firmware versions 'messing' with the throttle during the climb to RTH height will cancel the RTH. "messing" might mean fully closing the throttle. I am not certain if this applies to the entire climb to RTH height or ONLY the portion of the climb above 20m. Personally I think this was a big backwards step.

With regards to 'horizontal' portion of the RTH, I think it means that if you give full reverse stick during that 'horizontal' flight that too will cancel the RTH. BUT you can yaw the drne, spin it, and reduce its height during the flight home.

,

Yes the crosshair does generally point to where the drone is heading.  The gridlines are not recorded on the drone video but they are if you are screen recording.  If you have the camera panned straight down while landing it points towards where the drone will touch down.  An interesting phenomenon you will discover when landing current models with the camera pointed straight down is, just before landing, the camera will automatically pan up to level to prevent the lens from potentially touching the ground.  

GT2022 Posted at 1-5 14:51
Thank you v m Sean. Yes, agreed we are more or less after the same thing here. I think I've set my RTH too high thinking more is better but I will now adjust given what you've explained. When you say not to touch the throttle during the climb the following section of the manual is a little confusing and to me doesn't quite reconcile with your suggestion of not touching the throttle does it?
..."DJI Mini 2 User Manual If the aircraft is at an altitude of 65 ft (20 m) or higher and has not yet reached the RTH altitude, the throttle stick can be moved to stop the aircraft from ascending and the aircraft will fly to the Home Point at its current altitude (only available with firmware v1.0.0.0. This function is not available when the firmware is updated to v1.1.0.0 or later). During RTH, the speed, altitude, and orientation of the aircraft can be controlled using the remote controller if the remote controller signal is normal. However, the remote controller cannot be used to pan left or right. When the aircraft is ascending or flying forward, the user can push the control stick completely in the opposite direction to make the aircraft exit RTH and hover in place. GEO zones will affect RTH. If the aircraft flies into a GEO zone during RTH it will hover in place. The aircraft may not be able to return to a Home Point when the wind speed is too high. Fly with caution. ..."

Sean is correct in his explanation of current RTH behavior.  It used to be when RTH was engaged, during the ascent to RTH altitude, you could momentarily bump the throttle down to abort continued ascent.  At this point the bird would continue RTH at its current altitude.  For some inexplicable reason, DJI decided to alter the RTH behavior, so that now bumping the throttle aborts the RTH completely.

I do not like this change as it makes no sense to me.  There are already two methods to abort RTH should one so desire.  You can simply short press the RTH button on the controller, or press the soft on-screen abort button.  The old method is preferable in situations like flying near tall buildings where a high RTH altitude setting is necessary to prevent a potential building collision, but the RTH ascent can  be easily aborted when desired by simply bumping the throttle.  Older birds still function this way, which makes things confusing for those of us who fly a variety of birds.  

Dirty Bird Posted at 1-6 03:42
Yes the crosshair does generally point to where the drone is heading.  The gridlines are not recorded on the drone video but they are if you are screen recording.  If you have the camera panned straight down while landing it points towards where the drone will touch down.  An interesting phenomenon you will discover when landing current models with the camera pointed straight down is, just before landing, the camera will automatically pan up to level to prevent the lens from potentially touching the ground.

Thanks DB. Yes, I was aware of the gimbal raising just prior to touchdown and I think that is a good feature to protect the gimbal.

Dirty Bird Posted at 1-6 04:07
Sean is correct in his explanation of current RTH behavior.  It used to be when RTH was engaged, during the ascent to RTH altitude, you could momentarily bump the throttle down to abort continued ascent.  At this point the bird would continue RTH at its current altitude.  For some inexplicable reason, DJI decided to alter the RTH behavior, so that now bumping the throttle aborts the RTH completely.

I do not like this change as it makes no sense to me.  There are already two methods to abort RTH should one so desire.  You can simply short press the RTH button on the controller, or press the soft on-screen abort button.  The old method is preferable in situations like flying near tall buildings where a high RTH altitude setting is necessary to prevent a potential building collision, but the RTH ascent can  be easily aborted when desired by simply bumping the throttle.  Older birds still function this way, which makes things confusing for those of us who fly a variety of birds.

Agreed DB. As Sean and I discussed, the manual could stand some editing given the various iterations of firmware. At the very least, a more readable/understandable thing to do in that section, is to speak to the latest firmware or that which is now that the earlier functions are superseded. Then, with just an asterix, a footnote could be placed to make the explanation of the latest functions not applying to earlier versions. Hopefully, this kind of feedback will be read by the DJI Moderator(s).

I suggest things for all the pilots to do:  Upon getting your first drone:   If you can afford it, get an eye examination to see what your vision really is.  If possible find a very large open area to test the features of your drone,
a a place where if it goes down you can easily recover it.  Best of luck and enjoy.

Bob-Mini-2 Posted at 1-6 18:29
I suggest things for all the pilots to do:  Upon getting your first drone:   If you can afford it, get an eye examination to see what your vision really is.  If possible find a very large open area to test the features of your drone,
a a place where if it goes down you can easily recover it.  Best of luck and enjoy.

Aye aye Captain (or should I say eye eye)
Don't need the eye test but certainly on my first flight I did go to a large playing field and had no issues at all with this intelligent little drone. Weather is the only thing stopping me getting out again. I've found the drone incredibly easy to fly and my newbie questions have probably been similar to what many newbies have thought of in their own first flight(s).

GT2022 Posted at 1-6 19:26
Aye aye Captain (or should I say eye eye)
Don't need the eye test but certainly on my first flight I did go to a large playing field and had no issues at all with this intelligent little drone. Weather is the only thing stopping me getting out again. I've found the drone incredibly easy to fly and my newbie questions have probably been similar to what many newbies have thought of in their own first flight(s).

Have at it - ENJOY.

Bob-Mini-2 Posted at 1-8 19:48
Have at it - ENJOY.

Roger wilco Bob