Hello, is this normal for a Mini 4 Pro to drift like this? I'm not touching the sticks yet it is yawing to the left. It sometime does it to the right as well. Wind speed was around 10Mph and I had calibrated the IMU and Compass just before takeoff.
Let me know your thoughts please. Many thanks everyone

Hi there. Thank you for reaching out and we're sorry for the trouble. Can you please try to fly to a different location to see if the issue persists? Also, before flying, ensure that you calibrate the remote controller and the IMU and check if there are any changes. Please keep us posted. Thank you.

Although it should not drift like that on its own I like the slow cinematic pan at 0.1m/s which is so hard to achieve with the sticks.

Dirty Bird Posted at 10-4 19:02
First try performing an aircraft IMU & compass calibration.  If the problem persists, next calibrate the RC sticks.

Not sure if you read all my post but I did say that I calibrated both the IMU and Compass before flight.

Try hand launching,    my mini 3 does this if I take off from something that contains metal,  like concrete.  

Post the flight log or upload the log to
https://www.phantomhelp.com/logviewer/upload/
download the csv and check if the entries  OSD.yaw, OSD.yaw [360], Gimbal.yaw & Gimbal.yaw [360] are drifting.
It might also be worth calibrating the controller and or checking RC.Rudder in the above csv.

I experienced the same slow drifting, also during a night flight with almost no wind.  I'll start by calibrating IMU, have already done controller calibration even before first flight and magnetic interference at takeoff is eliminated.

Sean-bumble-bee Posted at 10-5 00:32
Post the flight log or upload the log to
https://www.phantomhelp.com/logviewer/upload/
download the csv and check if the entries  OSD.yaw, OSD.yaw [360], Gimbal.yaw & Gimbal.yaw [360] are drifting.

Thank you. I will look at the logs when I get home tonight and calibrate the controller sticks.

The compass on DJI Mini drones may operate differently depending on the location. Even if you recalibrate the compass before each flight you may have slight issues in flight at some locations.
Drone can rotate slightly in forward movement. It can rotate in place without yaw input, or it can stop rotating even if you intended to change the yaw slowly.
Some units may have a better compass. You may like to request a repair or replacement if you are having these issues at the location you are living at.

I have calibrated the RC sticks, RC compass, Drone Compass and IMU. I tried a hand take off and it is still drifting slowly to the left. After about 8 minutes in flight the drifting stopped but would randomly drift to the left or right.

I am just about to test fly my Mini 3 Pro and see if the same problem occurs at this location. Maybe someone else could try a night flight hover for me please and see if you get the same drift

Sean-bumble-bee Posted at 10-5 00:32
Post the flight log or upload the log to
https://www.phantomhelp.com/logviewer/upload/
download the csv and check if the entries  OSD.yaw, OSD.yaw [360], Gimbal.yaw & Gimbal.yaw [360] are drifting.

OSD.yaw  & OSD.yaw [360] do drift. over a 20 second period it goes

FROM
-119.8        240.2
TO
-117.5        242.5

Gimbal.yaw & Gimbal.yaw [360] Do Not change and stay at

-17.9        -134.5

Does this mean the drone has a fault? I have just flown my Mini 3 Pro from the same location and there is no drift what so ever.

Mynah Posted at 10-5 01:26
I experienced the same slow drifting, also during a night flight with almost no wind.  I'll start by calibrating IMU, have already done controller calibration even before first flight and magnetic interference at takeoff is eliminated.

https://youtu.be/Iz2k9AEQCY8

Sorry just seen your video. Yes yours is doing exactly the same. I wonder if this is common or we are just unlucky and ours have a fault. Maybe this is a software issue?

I've got the exact same issue. Slow yaw to the left

Already recalibrated everything but assumed maybe there was wind. Unfortunately it looks like i'm not the only one.
To confirm also doing a night mode flight

Prototype_uk Posted at 10-5 12:55
OSD.yaw  & OSD.yaw [360] do drift. over a 20 second period it goes

FROM

"Does this mean the drone has a fault?"
I don't know, sorry.
Did you check the values of RC.Rudder ? At a guess 1024 = no rudder.

I don't have any Mini 4 logs with which to compare your log ....... but I am a bit puzzled about the differences in the values of
a) OSD.yaw          when compared to     Gimbal.yaw
b) OSD.yaw[360] when compared to     Gimbal.yaw[360].
My mini 3 logs are from 'troubled flights' so I don't know how reliable they would be.

I have looked at randomly chosen 'untroubled' logs for my Mavic Mini and Mini 2 and in general OSD.yaw is in reasonable agreement with Gimbal.yaw.
Likewise OSD.yaw[360] is generally in reasonable agreement with Gimbal.yaw[360].
"in reasonable agreement" = 'say' +- 5 deg.
The only time they are out of reasonable agreement seems to be when I was yawing/turning the drone but the disparity was nowhere near 100deg.

Hover the drone in front of you and watch what happens to the gimbal when you give rudder input.
It might also be worth hovering the drone in front of you and watch to see whether or not the drone yaws/turns on its own with no rudder command.
Unfortunately though, the validity of that test may be compromised by the fact that when you are hovering it low enough to be able to see, in detail, the drone turn the drone will probably be low enough to have VPS available to it to aid position holding. For the video's flight the drone almost certainly did not have VPS available to it, too high & too dark.

I suppose you might as well check what happens to the gimbal AFTER you have stopped giving rudder i.e. does the gimbal take a long period of time to 're-center' itself.

Really we need someone with an untroubled Mini 4 Pro to comment.

Shouldn't the M4P drone hold the position stably even in light wind ?

For me, the drifting does not look flawless, should DJI check once

Can someone from DJI comment on this please? Maybe DJI you can perform your own tests at night to compare and work out a fix.

Mynah Posted at 10-5 01:26
I experienced the same slow drifting, also during a night flight with almost no wind.  I'll start by calibrating IMU, have already done controller calibration even before first flight and magnetic interference at takeoff is eliminated.

https://youtu.be/Iz2k9AEQCY8

I am happy to report that my drifting issue is resolved.  I did IMU calibration and the Mini 4 Pro is now stable during night flight and day flight, even with strong wind warnings.

I found this statement online and is the calibration really necessary so often ?

It's important to note that you should calibrate the IMU every time you fly your DJI drone in a new location
or after a firmware update. This ensures that the drone's IMU is correctly calibrated and prevents any
issues that may affect its accuracy and stability during flight.

Mynah Posted at 10-6 13:30
I am happy to report that my drifting issue is resolved.  I did IMU calibration and the Mini 4 Pro is now stable during night flight and day flight, even with strong wind warnings.

I've calibrated my IMU each time before flight and it still drifts

I’ve got the same yaw drift issue

Dirty Bird Posted at 10-14 07:20
It is absolutely NOT necessary to calibrate the IMU or compass when moving to a different location.  Normally the Fly app will advise you a calibration is needed.  If the app is requesting a compass calibration, I recommend first powering down, move the aircraft a few feet away from its current location, then power back up.  This usually eliminates unneeded compass calibrations caused by a magnetic anomaly near the aircraft.

Thanks for the confirmation which also corresponds to my understanding and the manual

Something that all of the pro forgot, (no offense) is that If fly and night, the drone doesn't have enough lighting and will enter ATTI mode, short for attitude mode. the drone will drift and yaw as the vision sensors can't see because of the low light. I will say I had the same issue with my m3p, but it quit having problems once. I landed and then took off.

I am having brand new M4P and it is doing the same. With gust wind it is even doing more aggresively. From log, i noticed, my osd.yaw stay the same (+-1) and then suddenly jumps to new value (while actually drone just continue slowly rotating). Looks like due to wind it accumulate yaw error in imu. And when it is become "obvious", it is jumps to new value (probably derived from compass). I didn't notice anything like this in m3p. Also looks like m4p correct itself more aggresively than m3p (probably wind impact it more).

And everything is calibrated.

fansa908b380 Posted at 10-16 10:39
I am having brand new M4P and it is doing the same. With gust wind it is even doing more aggresively. From log, i noticed, my osd.yaw stay the same (+-1) and then suddenly jumps to new value (while actually drone just continue slowly rotating). Looks like due to wind it accumulate yaw error in imu. And when it is become "obvious", it is jumps to new value (probably derived from compass). I didn't notice anything like this in m3p. Also looks like m4p correct itself more aggresively than m3p (probably wind impact it more).

And everything is calibrated.

I just tired a hyperlapse at night and it was useless drifting all over the place. Dji say that this is because the vision sensors are disabled in the dark but my Mini 3 Pro doesn't and has never done this drifting and I've done some great night hyperlapse's shot on it. I don't accept the it's night and that's the reason DJI are telling me when like I say a M3P doesn't do it.

Prototype_uk Posted at 10-16 14:14
I just tired a hyperlapse at night and it was useless drifting all over the place. Dji say that this is because the vision sensors are disabled in the dark but my Mini 3 Pro doesn't and has never done this drifting and I've done some great night hyperlapse's shot on it. I don't accept the it's night and that's the reason DJI are telling me when like I say a M3P doesn't do it.

Oh, man, i see. I still own my m3p and you are right - it is locked on target even durong strong wind and m4p in the same location and the same time drifts and looks like around 40deg. Insane. I am thinking of returning it, but already bought care package and dont know how to handle it.

fansa908b380 Posted at 10-16 16:36
Oh, man, i see. I still own my m3p and you are right - it is locked on target even durong strong wind and m4p in the same location and the same time drifts and looks like around 40deg. Insane. I am thinking of returning it, but already bought care package and dont know how to handle it.

Yes I know. Rubbish isn't it. Come on DJI please admit this is an issue and stop keep saying it's because the vision sensors are not active. If the older Mini 3 Pro model can hold at night without drifting then there is no reason why you can't get the Mini 4 Pro to do the same. They are essentially the same drone

I submitted video of problem and fly log to them, let's see what they be able to find, if decided to take a look at all.

My feeling IMU sensors are not that good, cause error to accumulate. During the day probably it get corrected via visual sensors, but at night is no way.

Without raw data from imu and compass difficult to say where problem is. Gps probably is useless for direction anyway if drone is not moving. So either compass or imu giving false data to solution.

fansa908b380 Posted at 10-17 07:31
I submitted video of problem and fly log to them, let's see what they be able to find, if decided to take a look at all.

My feeling IMU sensors are not that good, cause error to accumulate. During the day probably it get corrected via visual sensors, but at night is no way.

I think you are right there. This seems to be affecting quite a few of us so I wonder if this is more a software issue than hardware. When I contacted support they just said it's because it's dark and vision sensors are not active. Shame because as we know the M3P doesn't suffer from this issue and the M4P is supposed to be a newer updated drone.

I got the same reply Looks like they are not interested into taking this issue seriously, consider if it is ok during the day, most of the customers will be satisfied. Ok, I am still within return windows, so looks like I have to stick with M3P for now.

fansa908b380 Posted at 10-19 11:43
I got the same reply  Looks like they are not interested into taking this issue seriously, consider if it is ok during the day, most of the customers will be satisfied. Ok, I am still within return windows, so looks like I have to stick with M3P for now.

Did you buy directly from DJI? What is the time you have to return it? I will consider returning mine because like you say they are not interested in fixing it.

Prototype_uk Posted at 10-17 06:29
Yes I know. Rubbish isn't it. Come on DJI please admit this is an issue and stop keep saying it's because the vision sensors are not active. If the older Mini 3 Pro model can hold at night without drifting then there is no reason why you can't get the Mini 4 Pro to do the same. They are essentially the same drone

If the older Mini 3 Pro model can hold at night without drifting then

there is no reason why you can't get the Mini 4 Pro to do the same ?

@ DJI Team - Please share a detailed explanation for this problem

having the same issue when doing a night hyperlapse using waypoints… works fine during the day but when i went back to to it at night my Mini 4 Pro was yawing left and right non stop.

djiuser_HQjBLv4gZD7Z Posted at 10-20 22:46
having the same issue when doing a night hyperlapse using waypoints… works fine during the day but when i went back to to it at night my Mini 4 Pro was yawing left and right non stop.

This seems to be quite common. I had an official response from DJI regarding this issue and it doesn't sound like something they intend on fixing. Please see below.

Good day! Thank you for contacting DJI Technical support.

Thank you for getting back to us. I hope you are doing great.

We have verified further with the engineers and as mentioned before this, the vision sensors of DJI Mini 4 Pro is not available at night which may cause the drifting issues. Apart from that, in a low-light environment, the vision system may not achieve optimal positioning performance. You may refer to the User Manual for more information regarding this. I have attached it in the e-mail.

Furthermore, I understand that the DJI Mini 3 Pro can hover without drifting but I would like to humbly set your expectation that different models have different designs and they are not comparable. I am deeply sorry for this.

In both the videos posted here the artifiial horizons are tilted to starboard and a bit jittery, as if it is compensating for something. Oddly though they both tilt the same way, but the yaw drifts are opposite directions.

Prototype_uk Posted at 10-20 00:52
Did you buy directly from DJI? What is the time you have to return it? I will consider returning mine because like you say they are not interested in fixing it.

No, I purchased via local retailer. Decided to return it, I spend more time trying to figure out this problem rather then flying. I am back to my M3P. I did few flights yesterday in strong gust wind with my M3P and this toy drone works great. It may get pushed sometimes, but almost immediately correct itself. And just one or too hand catching landings from dozen, that was not quite easy to perform.

Sam654 Posted at 10-22 02:18
In both the videos posted here the artifiial horizons are tilted to starboard and a bit jittery, as if it is compensating for something. Oddly though they both tilt the same way, but the yaw drifts are opposite directions.

There was just light wind in my video and I did try flying in the other direction so that the wind made it tilt the other way but it made no difference. DJI have admitted this is how the Mini 4 Pro's fly and there is nothing they can do about it so I will be returning mine as it's pointless having a new drone that is worse than my old M3P

I'm having the same issue, I tried both at night and during the day, it severely drifts left and right. I need to double check if it happens only as it takes the hyperlapse or even just while hovering.
I did calibrate the RC controllers but not the IMU.
I will do that and check.

It seems absurd to me that a drone cannot stay in position. I saw other people time lapses done with the M4P and they have no issues. It may be a defective batch?.

DJI should look into this seriously

djiuser_QLsoQlTK05TK Posted at 10-31 05:23
I'm having the same issue, I tried both at night and during the day, it severely drifts left and right. I need to double check if it happens only as it takes the hyperlapse or even just while hovering.
I did calibrate the RC controllers but not the IMU.
I will do that and check.

I've returned mine for refund as my Mini 3 Pro does not do this so I am keeping it. I would suggest you return yours for a refund and purchase another from a different supplier and see if you get a better one.

Prototype_uk Posted at 10-31 06:13
I've returned mine for refund as my Mini 3 Pro does not do this so I am keeping it. I would suggest you return yours for a refund and purchase another from a different supplier and see if you get a better one.

It's too late, I'm past the 30 days. I'm recalibrating everything, we'll see if it fixes it

Dirty Bird Posted at 10-31 10:02
Just wanted to correct this.  The drone enters ATTI mode when it loses GPS reception, or it can only secure a low-precision GPS connection.  This prevents the drone from determining its precise location or holding position.  This scenario is what causes the drone to enter ATTI (Altitude Lock Only) mode.  It uses the internal barometer to hold altitude, but the drone will drift with the wind unless in a situation where the Vision System comes into play.

When close to the ground, with sufficient lighting & ground patterning, the downward-facing Vision system steps into action.  It attempts to hold aircraft position via cameras on the bottom of the aircraft.  This is how the bird holds station when flying indoors without GPS.

Thanks for the more detailed response