I received my Mavic 3 Pro (M3Pro) Fly More Kit a few days ago and have made a half dozen flights using both the DJI RC that came with the drone kit and with a DJI RC Pro that I already owned. The 3 camera system is amazing and I have found the videos taken at 4K/60 and 4K/30 with all three lenses to be clear, crisp and detailed. Before getting into the few issues I have discovered so far, I must say that the M3Pro firmware is much more mature and fully developed than previous DJI drones I have purchased early in their release cycle and certainly much more complete than the original DJI Mavic 3 when it was released.

Here are a few firmware issues that I have uncovered thus far with v01.01.0100 firmware:

1) Precision Landing is Not Working Well
I did not get Precision Landing to work even once on six flights. After achieving Home Point lock with at least 20 satellites and taking off vertically from a brightly-colored, 18' dia. landing pad to 30 feet altitude (well above the minimum 23 feet required) before flying horizontally and traveling 5000 to 11,000 feet distance from Home Point, upon activating RTH at some point during my return, the P3Pro never achieved a precision landing. On each landing the drone attempted to land 5-8 feet from Home Point before I took control at less than 3 feet altitude and repositioned the drone manually . At no time duirng a final RTH descent from 100-130 feet altitude did the DJI Fly app indicate that a Precision Landing was occurring.  On some landings, the drone did appear to adjust its position by several feet as it was descending, but it was always off by 3-8 feet from Home Point landing pad center. This is not unusual. Every new DJI drone I have purchased over the past 5 years has required 2-3 firmware updates before Precision Landing starts working reliably. Even though the DJI Fly app does not indicate that my P3Pro does requires a Compass Calibration or an IMU Calibration, I may try both these steps to see if Precision Landing functionality is restored.

2) P3Pro Moves Abruptly /Erratically When Manually Adjusting Position with the remote sticks during RTH when drone is a few feet above ground.
Although the P3Pro behaved very stabily and reliably throughout the vast majority of the test flights I have taken thus far, including carefully traversing rocky mountain-side topography from a distance of 2 miles, during final few feet of a RTH landing when manually taking over controls, the drone would sometimes jerk suddenly and excessively sideways in response to stick commands. It was as if the stick gains were suddenly turned to maximum during the final few feet of a RTH landing. This was alarming and needs to be addressed.

3) Not Possible for Pilot to Adjust Drone Altitude During an Advanced RTH
This is not technically a firmware bug as the manual states at top of page 47 that "When the remote control signal is normal during Advanced RTH, the pitch stick can be used to control flight speed, but the orientation and altitude cannot be controlled and the aircraft cannot be flown left or right." This is disappointing as on every other DJI drone I own, I am used to being able to adjust drone altitude during RTH operations. Also on page 47, the manual states: "When the remote controller signal is normal during Straight Line RTH, the flight speed and altitude can be controlled using the remote controller." The problem is that Straight Line RTH is not user selectable and only occurs "when lighting is not sufficient and the environment is not suitable for Advanced RTH." (see top of page 46)

REQUEST: In the Safety Section of the DJI Fly app, allow the pilot to manually select between "Advanced RTH" and "Straight Line RTH". Thus, if the pilot wishes to be able to control altitude during RTH, he can select a traditional Straight Line RTH.

4) M3Pro User Manual V 1.0 2023.04 Omission
The DJI RC Pro Graphic at top right of page 14 is missing descriptor labels for items 14, 15, 18 and 19. These are the two scroll wheels and the video start/stop and photo shutter buttons. The item descriptions are included in the manual, but the graphic is missing these four numbered labels.

5) IMPORTANT DJI RC TIP: The DJI RC Pro is not set to 100% screen brightness by default; as shipped from factory it is set to about 70% brightness. To set screen brightness to 100%, swipe down twice in succession from the top of the screen to access device settings and slide the sceen brightness slider fully to the right. MUCH better!

NOTE: I will list all my P3Pro Firmware / DJI Fly App Enhancement Requests in a separate post.

I am loving the DJI Mavic 3 Pro and all its advanced camera and cinematic video capabilities!

The above represent my experience with the M3Pro release firmware. Your experience may vary.

UPDATE: Today I installed firmware v01.01.0200 dated 2023.05.25 and then carefully performed an IMU calibration and a compass calibration. I then took two flights, increasing altitude to 25 feet, waiting for 10 seconds and then fliying out to 5000 to 7000 feet distance before initiating a RTH. During the first landing, the DJ Mavic 3 Pro did adjust its position during the final 15 feet of landing descent, but it still landed 3 feet from the Home Point. During the RTH landing during the second flight, the drone made no adjustments to its position and attempted to land 7 feet away from Home Point before initiating a hover at 8 feet above our small spa pool.  I had to take over and land the drone manually.

Hello, TheMann58. Thank you for reaching out. The home point is mainly positioned based on the GPS of the mobile device. If the GPS signal at the current location is not good, or the environmental wireless interference is relatively strong, the positioning accuracy may be poor. Please ensure that the GPS signal and light in the flying environment are good, and pay attention to the following points:
A. When the plane takes off, make sure the App prompts to refresh the home point location;
B. When taking off, ensure that the vertical ascending position is at least 7 meters;
C. The ground texture at the home point is clear.

To know more about the RTH of Mavic 3 Pro, please go to this link. (Start at Page 44). Also, please refer to the image below of the precision landing and the accuracy, and it is considered to be normal.

We will take the following information below as suggestions:
• In the Safety Section of the DJI Fly app, allow the pilot to manually select between "Advanced RTH" and "Straight Line RTH".
• When the remote control signal is normal during Advanced RTH, the pitch stick can be used to control flight speed, but the orientation and altitude cannot be controlled and the aircraft cannot be flown left or right.

For the P3Pro, please provide us with a video of the operation showing the issue and the firmware versions. Thank you for your kind understanding and support.

DJI Gamora Posted at 5-30 00:48
Hello, TheMann58. Thank you for reaching out. The home point is mainly positioned based on the GPS of the mobile device. If the GPS signal at the current location is not good, or the environmental wireless interference is relatively strong, the positioning accuracy may be poor. Please ensure that the GPS signal and light in the flying environment are good, and pay attention to the following points:
A. When the plane takes off, make sure the App prompts to refresh the home point location;
B. When taking off, ensure that the vertical ascending position is at least 7 meters;

DJI Gamora,

I own 7 DJI drones dating back 8 years. I know what is required to establish an accurate Home Point and not to be subject to interference. I also know the requirements during takeoff to ensure a Precision Landing is achieved, including rising vertically to >7 meters and hovering above the Home Point for a few seconds before flying off horizontally. All the flight testing that I did was done on absolutely clear, bright sunny days in Mesa, AZ in my backyard, which is immediately adjacent to a large, open desert area called Usery Mountain Park. According to the DJI Fly app, the Mavic 3 Pro was seeing at least 20 GPS satellites prior to takeoff, and in each test of RTH Precision Landing the DJI Fly app announced that Home Point was set immediately after takeoff.

The problem with Precision Landing appears to be related to how far out the aircraft is flown prior to initiating RTH.  If you fly the P3Pro out only a few hundred feet, Precision Landing is reliably achieved during RTH. However, if you fly the aircraft out several thousand feet the drone does not return precisely to the Home Point - it's typically 8-15 feet away from Home Point horizontally before beginning its RTH descent. This appears to be too great a distance for the aircraft to be able to correct during landing and achieve a Precision Landing within inches of Home Point.

Here are my detailed comments from this post where I have listed 14 requested firmware enhancements: Mavic 3 Pro New Feature Firmware Enhancement Requests

1. Improve Precision Landing performance to the same exceptional level as on previous DJI drones.
NOTE: currently, Precision Landing works well only if the P3Pro is raised vertically to 7M height, hovered for 5 seconds and then flown only a few hundred feet away from Home Point before initiating a RTH in optimal lighting. However, when initiating a RTH from 4000+ feet from Home Point, the aircraft rarely returns precisely to the Home Point and, instead, the aircraft typically starts its descent and attempts to land 3-8 feet, or more, away from the recorded Home Point. The P3Pro sometimes attempts to correct its horizontal position during such a RTH descent following a long distance flight, but the aircraft still attempts to land 3-8 feet away from the original Home Point.

TheMann58 Posted at 5-31 15:10
DJI Gamora,

I own 7 DJI drones dating back 8 years. I know what is required to establish an accurate Home Point and not to be subject to interference. I also know the requirements during takeoff to ensure a Precision Landing is achieved, including rising vertically to >7 meters and hovering above the Home Point for a few seconds before flying off horizontally. All the flight testing that I did was done on absolutely clear, bright sunny days in Mesa, AZ in my backyard, which is immediately adjacent to a large, open desert area called Usery Mountain Park. According to the DJI Fly app, the Mavic 3 Pro was seeing at least 20 GPS satellites prior to takeoff, and in each test of RTH Precision Landing the DJI Fly app announced that Home Point was set immediately after takeoff.

Hi, TheMann58. The 8-15 feet (4.57200 meters) are considered to be normal within the margin of error as the GPS coordinates will have the error-tolerant range with meter level. As the below factors will affect the accuracy:
1. The barometer drifts.
2. There is an observation error in the vision system while at a high altitude.
3. There is an integral error with the IMU.

Besides the above, we'll keep on improving from the technical aspect as well. Thank you for your understanding and support.

DJI Gamora Posted at 6-5 07:01
Hi, TheMann58. The 8-15 feet (4.57200 meters) are considered to be normal within the margin of error as the GPS coordinates will have the error-tolerant range with meter level. As the below factors will affect the accuracy:
1. The barometer drifts.
2. There is an observation error in the vision system while at a high altitude.

DJI Gamora,

Thanks for responding.

I am aware of what typical GPS accuracy is for DJI drones relying solely on the saved GPS fix on the Home Point. I am NOT talking about GPS accuracy. Instead, I am commenting on the current accuracy of a DJI software/firmware feature that greatly enhances this GPS fix of Home Point during RTH.

I respectfully request that you acquaint yourself with a software/firmware feature called "Precision Landing" that has been available on DJI drones since the release of the Phantom 4 Pro over six years ago. As incorporated into all DJI prosumer drones, this Precision Landing feature works by capturing one or more black and white images of the Home Point using the bottom vision sensors after the aircraft is flown to a height of at least 7 meters directly above the takeoff point and allowed to hover there for a few seconds before flying off horizontally. Then, during the final descent phase of a RTH, the aircraft software uses these stored images to compare with what the lower vision cameras are currently viewing (in addition to the GPS location of the Home Point) to adjust the aircraft's position during descent so that it lands typically within inches of the original Home Point.

The intention of the first point of my original post was to notify DJI software engineers that, as of the 5/25/2023 DJI Mavic 3 Pro firmware release, this Precision Landing software feature is NOT working as well as it does on previous model DJI drones specifically for the case in which the aircraft has been flown several thousand feet away from Home Point before the pilot initiates a RTH.

I hope this clarifies things.

TheMann58 Posted at 6-5 14:17
DJI Gamora,

Thanks for responding.

However, when initiating a RTH from 4000+ feet from Home Point, the aircraft rarely returns precisely to the Home Point and, instead, the aircraft typically starts its descent and attempts to land 3-8 feet, or more, away from the recorded Home Point.

If your drone on RTH autolanding is 3-8 feet of the launch point, that's not because Precision Landing isn't working properly at all.
It's because the drone is not using Precision Landing and has had to use GPS for positioning.
There are a number of possible reasons that Precision Landing isn't working when you've observed this, but if Precision Landing is working for you some of the time, that confirms that Precision Landing does work properly in your drone.
The distance that you fly away has nothing to do with landing point accuracy.
What you've observed is a simple coincidence.

But Precision Landing is just a gimmick anyway.
If you really need the drone to land exactly where you want it to, you can easily cancel RTH and land it yourself wherever you choose.

Labroides Posted at 6-5 14:42
However, when initiating a RTH from 4000+ feet from Home Point, the aircraft rarely returns precisely to the Home Point and, instead, the aircraft typically starts its descent and attempts to land 3-8 feet, or more, away from the recorded Home Point.

If your drone on RTH autolanding is 3-8 feet of the launch point, that's not because Precision Landing isn't working properly at all.

Wrong.
Precision Landing is even in the small Autel Nano+, a drone for a few hundred bucks.
It prevents unwanted scenarios, like a full error of RC....what you will do if decides to get the Landing point in a lake or a pool? Throw stones in it?

Precision landing using the cameras down is not a gimmick, but a Must Have at such expensive drone, as is keeping you safe from undesired scenarios.

I do not use RTH, but in last 5 years I got a lot of scenarios when the drone lost signal (I even experienced full crash of app and also a complete dead RC because of battery issues), the Precision Landing from Autel kept me out of trouble, as drone landed in same spot with a few centimeters error.

Is not hard to make it, as is just a photo using down cameras and use it when landing, correcting GPS common errors.
Cheers.

Geo_Drone Posted at 6-6 00:17
Wrong.
Precision Landing is even in the small Autel Nano+, a drone for a few hundred bucks.
It prevents unwanted scenarios, like a full error of RC....what you will do if decides to get the Landing point in a lake or a pool? Throw stones in it?

Wrong
What's wrong?
You said plenty but nothing you wrote explains what you think I got wrong.
ps ... I didn't get anything wrong.

Labroides Posted at 6-6 01:56
Wrong
What's wrong?
You said plenty but nothing you wrote explains what you think I got wrong.

"But Precision Landing is just a gimmick anyway.".

Not agree.

TheMann58 Posted at 6-5 14:17
DJI Gamora,

Thanks for responding.

Hi, TheMann58. Precision Landing is an upgraded version of GPS RTH. It needs a GPS signal strong enough to initiate a Precision Landing so that the aircraft 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 aircraft needs to capture footage of the ground during take-off to record its appearance. This means that you should give the aircraft sufficient time during its ascent and fly up to around 10m above your takeoff point, instead of flying away immediately after take-off.

If the conditions meet the requirement and if you think that the drone still can't achieve a precision landing, please provide us with the following information for further checking.:
1. App version
2. Firmware version.
3. Sync the flight records and provide us with your DJI Account.
4. App log.
5. Flight controller log.