BroomRider Posted at 7-18 15:35
It has now been ~30 days since I asked, & so far, with no reply or response.

Any updates as to my request re: “Mini 3 Pro & Precision Landing”?

"Features are the “tools” you use within a system to complete a set of tasks or actions. Functionality is how those features actually work to provide you with a desired outcome"

BroomRider Posted at 7-18 15:35
It has now been ~30 days since I asked, & so far, with no reply or response.

Any updates as to my request re: “Mini 3 Pro & Precision Landing”?

Just out of curiosity what does the difference between their definitions of feature and function matter? I'd bet most people would consider them much the same thing and perhaps use the words interchangeably.

Sir Jackington Posted at 5-19 02:07
As Ranjan said, sometimes the RTH will be several metres off, which isn't ideal if the area is quite dusty and you have a landing pad set up. Having an automated landing would be really useful. I feel like getting the drone to recognise the universal H symbol and hitting the centre of a pad shouldn't be so difficult. As it stands I only use RTH to get it back to the viscinity, but not for landing because it's not that accurate simply relying on GPS

Exactly, GPS isn't that accurate and will always be at least a couple of feet out, and as you say when landing in a dusty area, or like I was the other day in long grass you really need to land on the pad.

The downward facing camera is just something you have to play with and get used to, although I'm like you and I tend to do it manually/visually myself.

So, I think that we can all agree, at least those who aren't DJI representatives, that if or where the description of the DJI Mini 3 Pro is concerned, it DOES NOT have an automatic “Precision Landing” function or feature.

THIS DJI representative has it even more wrong:


    According to Hunter Haopeng Chen of DJI the Mini 3 does have precision landing.

    “Hi, Mini 3 Pro supports Precision landing. It needs a GPS signal strong enough to initiate Precision Landing so that the drone can be navigated back to the vicinity of the take-off point. Then, the aircraft needs to be able to visually recognize the pattern of the ground it took off from, for example, cracks or other identifiable patterns. A uniform patch of sand, however, is not suitable for Precision Landing. Finally, the Mini 3 Pro needs to capture footage of the ground during take-off to record its appearance. This means you may wait for the drone to recognize the takeoff point, instead of moving away immediately after take-off.”

According to a very similar question on the topic in question in the Mavic Pilots forum, DJI & their representatives seem to have a significant problem understanding the term, “Precision Landing” & the difference between “feature” & “function”.

That DJI representative that quoted, seems to know little if anything of the Mini 3 Pro product.

As the definition has been & is commonly known, in comparison to other more advanced (& expensive) models, DJI DOES NOT offer what is commonly accepted & known as an automatic “Precision Landing” feature or function.

A “precision landing” for the Mini 3 Pro is not available UNLESS, the pilot takes manual control & flies their Mini 3 Pro to the same launch point.

I strongly suspect that DJI, like many other product manufacturers & vendors, are tossing about yet another term rather loosely, in order to take advantage of the ambiguity of their definitions in order to promote their product sales.

We've seen the same kind of issue with their promise, at some time, of the programmed waypoints function for the Mini 3 Pro, & other than using hyperlapse, that now never has seemed to materialize.

But, I digress.

I personally think that DJI's unscrupulous tactic is at least, shady, if not outright deceptive, & it detracts from & erodes their customer confidence & trust in both their company, & products.

I'm looking forward to those 2 updates, but, I'll not be holding my breath.

Blériot53 Posted at 5-19 00:40
One of those "Useful but not essential" features it would be nice to have. On my Mavic 2Zoom it works great, and it's something I'd like to see on my Mini3Pro as well

Correct me if I'm wrong but the Mavic 2 Zoom had an extra B/W camera on the bottom. On take off the Mavic took a picture he used for precision landing?

TrippleDelta Posted at 7-27 06:01
Correct me if I'm wrong but the Mavic 2 Zoom had an extra B/W camera on the bottom. On take off the Mavic took a picture he used for precision landing?

That's my understanding of how it works, yes.

Frank071 Posted at 5-19 11:49
As others replied: are you sure? When using RTH I have never had the drone returning on the launching pad by itself. The difference has been up to 2 m. I second the motion to have it activated in the mini3pro ;-)

We had the same problem with the Mavic 2 Pro until DJI came out with an upgrade which resulted in spot on landings on the pad!

jlrsn Posted at 7-29 10:28
We had the same problem with the Mavic 2 Pro until DJI came out with an upgrade which resulted in spot on landings on the pad!

Unfortunately the responses by DJI people in this thread do not make me hopeful that will happen here...

TrippleDelta Posted at 7-27 06:01
Correct me if I'm wrong but the Mavic 2 Zoom had an extra B/W camera on the bottom. On take off the Mavic took a picture he used for precision landing?

Yep, this I very true, but I can't see why the main camera couldn't be used for this purpose, It doesn't have to impede creating footage as one would just need to wait for the take-off to complete (6m hover), i.e. the camera to return to horizontal, then just lower the drone to near ground level and start your footage and flight. Obviously, that's if Precision Landing is important to you. The techs have misunderstood what we have been talking about in this thread, I reckon they have gotten confused with precision hold. Suffice it to say, I highly doubt PL will ever come to this drone.

Bashy Posted at 8-2 18:05
Yep, this I very true, but I can't see why the main camera couldn't be used for this purpose, It doesn't have to impede creating footage as one would just need to wait for the take-off to complete (6m hover), i.e. the camera to return to horizontal, then just lower the drone to near ground level and start your footage and flight. Obviously, that's if Precision Landing is important to you. The techs have misunderstood what we have been talking about in this thread, I reckon they have gotten confused with precision hold. Suffice it to say, I highly doubt PL will ever come to this drone.

One reason comes to my mind, lens protection.
At a guess precision land controls the drone all the way down to 0 height. Lens protection tilts the camera up at 'x' ft so, with the mini 3 pro,  you'd lose your 'main' source of visual reference once that happens.
Plus, as it is with those drones that do have precision landing, quite a few people fail to trigger the setup of precision landing and complain, in that they do not command their drone to climb, vertically, to 7m+ before moving the drone horizontally. Add in the complication of having to tilt the main camera downwards and ........ lol

In addition, and this is speculation, aren't the downwards looking cameras stereoscopic? If so, if the mini 3 pro were relying on the main camera you don't really have a stereoscopic view.

Sean-bumble-bee Posted at 8-2 23:41
One reason comes to my mind, lens protection.
At a guess precision land controls the drone all the way down to 0 height. Lens protection tilts the camera up at 'x' ft so, with the mini 3 pro,  you'd lose your 'main' source of visual reference once that happens.
Plus, as it is with those drones that do have precision landing, quite a few people fail to trigger the setup of precision landing and complain, in that they do not command their drone to climb, vertically, to 7m+ before moving the drone horizontally. Add in the complication of having to tilt the main camera downwards and ........ lol

I dont know about stereoscopic, its possible, but i see your point re camera tilt, thats what ya get for no legs lol

I really did expect the Mini 3 Pro to come with PL, it looks like they are keeping that for the more expensive drones, much like the Waypoints, i cant see that ever coming now, especially when the Air 3 has it, they have to dangle something for you to bite...

Bashy Posted at 8-3 03:30
I dont know about stereoscopic, its possible, but i see your point re camera tilt, thats what ya get for no legs lol

I really did expect the Mini 3 Pro to come with PL, it looks like they are keeping that for the more expensive drones, much like the Waypoints, i cant see that ever coming now, especially when the Air 3 has it, they have to dangle something for you to bite...

The larger circular parts of the downward vision sensor always looked to me as downward facing cameras, given that the two obvious IR sensors are also present on the Mini 2...

Dirty Bird Posted at 8-3 05:18
For the Mavic Pro, before lift off you need to tick a check box to request a Precision Landing flight.  For the Mavic 2 the checkbox is ommitted.  Just take off straight up & hover for a few seconds & all flights can perform a Precision Landing, assuming the lift off spot offers suitable distinct features to zero back in.

Like the Mavic Pro, the Mini 3 Pro has dual bottom-facing cameras.

Thanks but I know how to set PL in the Mavic 2. I don't think the hover is necessary but the vertical only climb to more than 7 m is a prerequisite .

"Precision Landing performance is subject to the following conditions:
a. The Home Point must be recorded upon takeoff and must not be changed during flight,
otherwise the aircraft will have no record of the Home Point’s terrain features.
b. During takeoff the aircraft must ascend vertically 7 m before moving horizontally."

Page 19 of the 2020-07 v2.2 manual

Sean-bumble-bee Posted at 8-3 05:34
Thanks but I know how to set PL in the Mavic 2. I don't think the hover is necessary but the vertical only climb to more than 7 m is a prerequisite .

"Precision Landing performance is subject to the following conditions:

He said that its no longer an option (for the M2 anyway) as its automatic as long as allowed to do the auto take off to the set height (7m), once it stops, then good to go.

Dirty Bird Posted at 8-3 05:20
They are cameras, identical to the forward facing ones.

Yes, which means that precision landing would be feasible without tilting the main camera. It looks as a sales decision not to use the full potential of the downward vision system. At least for now.

Dji doesn't integrate it because it's a selling point for the bigger drones.  All Sensors/Cameras are there, software and processor capabilities are available, they just hope to make extra money that's how easy it is...

How are you guys liking the much better landing placement of the Mini 4 Pro? I noticed it directly when I first flew the M4P. Love it. Not that I don't love my M3P I do but I'm really loving the M4P currently. I still use my Integra Goggles for the M3P until something changes for the M4P along the way. Happy and better landings gentlemen.