Admittedly, it was my first flight so maybe this is a simple answer.  And, yes, I did read, watch tutorials and am familiar with flying quatcopters.  
While flying in 'beginner' mode, I hit the RTH button on the RC and it successfully climbed, and landed at my feet.  Great.  Next flight, while over the (not so friendly) neighbor's house, I again pressed RTH and after a moment pause, it told me it was comencing with landing and proceeded to decend and try to land where it happened to be flying - no where near the home point.  I saved it by overriding the RTH and flew it back to my yard.  I checked - 14 satellites.  I took off again and it stated that the home point had been recorded, and again, when I hit the RTH button, or the RTH on the screen, it would continually try to land where it was flying but would not return to home.


Am I missing something?

Jeff

The drone needs to me more than 30meters away from the home point before it will return to the home point.  If you're closer than that, it will land where it is.

Well, that answers that. I'm sure that was in the manual I read (by 'read' I meaner skimmed enough not to crash my new toy, but I really just wanted to go fly).  Seriously - thanks for the help.

Waalkman Posted at 2016-4-4 03:51
Well, that answers that. I'm sure that was in the manual I read (by 'read' I meaner skimmed enough n ...

The Phantom is a sophisticated flying machine and there is a lot to learn to fly successfully.
You'll have to do more than just skim the manual if you wnat to keep it.
BTW ... the manual didn't come in the box - you have to download it.

Tomsbird Posted at 2016-4-3 13:16
The drone needs to me more than 30meters away from the home point before it will return to the home  ...

I wonder what the thinking is behind that?  

jstjohnz Posted at 2016-4-4 09:43
I wonder what the thinking is behind that?

It's 20 metres (not 30) but no-one's ever come up with any reason that makes sense.

Just take your time one evening and read the whole manual , it is lengthy but a good read.  Also I am going to give you a link to a valuable site.  It is not on the P4 but will give a lot  of valuable insight none the less.  I know we are all anxious to fly but be knowledgeable as well, it will be to your benefit in the long run. The link I am going to give you gives a lot of data about the go app.  Once again, just review the information or put it in your " favorites " I am always referringto iit and I fly the Inspire 1 and Phantom Pro.  
If you cant fin an answer on the forum, be sure to use the magnifying glass search tool.  If you need help and cant find the answer readily ,  you can e mail me anytime

donaldjames1990@gmail.com  

https://www.dropbox.com/s/10tozj ... ry%20Guide.pdf?dl=0


welcome to the fun - donnie

Correct, it is 20m. And as Donnie stated. There's a ton of useful information in the Academy section of the app.

Hi!

I do not have my P3A yet, but will in a few days, and I agree that this behavior of RTH within 20m of "home" is.. well, asking for an accident!
I did ping DJI on it, to see if they can explain the reason behind it, as well as confirm way around it - sounds like the way to overwrite it to touch throttle if the aircraft reaches 20m altitude or beyond.. so I guess as soon as RTH is pressed, assuming you are above 20ft, touch the throttle again, and the aircraft will actually return and land at your feet, rather than in a tree it was hovering over... Also, I guess never press RTF while you are closely above something, so you have the time to react and abort descent before it contacts whatever may be under it.. Maybe this is meant as "immediate autolanding" rather than truly return home?
I have seen many posts, and I do not feel like any post, not DJI's doc REALLY explain that clearly enough, so I am hunting for confirmation here, from users who experienced the beauty of RTH... with success!  ;)
I did fly Blade drone, the only one that does have GPS based RTH, and that sucker does exactly what I expect - comes home.. .not lands wherever... weird! I'd expect DJI to do the same!

Thx!

gtokarsk Posted at 2016-4-5 15:06
Hi!

I do not have my P3A yet, but will in a few days, and I agree that this behavior of RTH within ...

'so I guess as soon as RTH is pressed, assuming you are above 20ft, touch the throttle again, and the aircraft will actually return and land at your feet, rather than in a tree it was hovering over...'

It is 20 Metres, not feet and it is lateral distance, not altitude. And AFAIK no-one knows why it does this.

Flew my maiden flight last Sunday. Never tried the RTH yet. This toy really easy to fly. I am well aware of the 20M requirement before RTH, so I guess I will pass on this feature unless situation call for.
Why 20M is really get me thinking though.

More to the point, why would you need RTH any closer than 20m?

Rob_stal Posted at 2016-4-5 00:31
More to the point, why would you need RTH any closer than 20m?

Good point... Within 20meter returning home should not be a problem....
I think I am just stuck on understanding all the magic, so I do not encounter any surprises...
And yes, I know it's 20 m lateral (and not ft, even though my brains insists it's ft), but there's also something about 20 meters altitude, that I think may change the behavior.  This is really convoluted set of rules....
GT

Rob_stal Posted at 2016-4-5 07:31
More to the point, why would you need RTH any closer than 20m?

Because...

You have just taken the crown of all-time best video selfie Nigel. I love it. Oh, and why on earth would you ever use the RTH button within 20m or 65 feet? And why do people use meters when we all use feet for measurement? :-)

nigelw Posted at 2016-4-10 11:05
Because...

https://youtu.be/XsoVOJFaifg

Love that selfie  video of you Nigel !  Reminds me of Sunrise  on Maui  while on top of the Mountain! Love it!

cheers mate- donnie

jstjohnz Posted at 2016-4-4 07:43
I wonder what the thinking is behind that?

Probably because they assume everyone actually flies in open area all the time. Ive been flying for a month now and most of my flights have been in the neighborhood.

I believe the reason for the 20 meter thing on rth is;  That is DJI's tacit acknowledgement that the GPS is really not that accurate.  The margin of error is large enough that even if further away,  you will still be very lucky if it lands within a couple of feet from where the home point is recorded.  At least,  that is my experience with both of my P3's.

Probably you were 20m away from the home point

leorvasquez Posted at 2016-4-11 02:15
You have just taken the crown of all-time best video selfie Nigel. I love it. Oh, and why on earth w ...

"And why do people use meters when we all use feet for measurement?"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Me ... em_adoption_map.svg

Kneepuck Posted at 2016-4-11 05:35
I believe the reason for the 20 meter thing on rth is;  That is DJI's tacit acknowledgement that the ...

It's hard to see how the well known variable level of accuracy of GPS would have any bearing on this.

labroides@yahoo Posted at 2016-4-10 17:39
It's hard to see how the well known variable level of accuracy of GPS would have any bearing on th ...

Because there are so many variables that affect the accuracy of the gps data.  Satellite count is only one variable.  The worst case scenario can actually be up to 50 meters accuracy in some civilian equipment. Even Google Earth,  in my area, shows many of the roads as displayed by gps info shows the road as  being quite a way from the actual road in the image.
So,  Dji plays it safe by having the Drone land within 20 meters of home point.  That is one way of saying the margin of error for the gps in the Phantom is 20 meters,  even though it is less.  Can you imagine if they did not specify any range for automatic landing if within that range?  Everyone would complain that their Phantom did not land exactly where it took off.  So Dji engineers,  recognizing that,  added a little to the actual projected accuracy, which is more like 4 or 5 meters,  usually,  just to play it safe.
For more info on GPS accuracy,  this article sums up the variables nicely.

http://www.trakgps.com/en/index. ... ion/65-gps-accuracy

Kneepuck Posted at 2016-4-11 11:39
Because there are so many variables that affect the accuracy of the gps data.  Satellite count is  ...

My reading of it, for what it is worth, is that the land immediate option was designed to work when the aircraft was flown indoors. In that situation, rising to 30 metres first would most likely take it into the roof.

'Even Google Earth,  in my area, shows many of the roads as displayed by gps info shows the road as  being quite a way from the actual road in the image.'

Interesting aspect. I was wondering why this happens where I live. So I did a little research on it. Not much research, just enough to enable me to jump to Wildly Inaccurate Conclusions. Actually, I also found evidence to support my research in Google Earth. I think the answer is that the roads were plotted using one set of aerial map overlays, then a newer set came along and suddenly the roads and maps do not coincide, due to positional errors in stitching the images together. I found that if you use the Google Earth Wayback tool, the roads change position between some versions of the images.

Kneepuck Posted at 2016-4-11 11:39
Because there are so many variables that affect the accuracy of the gps data.  Satellite count is  ...

But if your Phantom is more than 20 metres away, DJI have programmed it to come right back to home point +/- GPS accuracy (which is usually 1-2 metres).
If it was as you've suggested, DJI wouldn't have it come right back from beyond 20 metres but make it land at 20 metres.
The land in place rather than RTH is unrelated to GPS accuracy.
It's for some unfathomable DJI reason that has never been satisfactorily explained.

labroides@yahoo Posted at 2016-4-10 19:31
But if your Phantom is more than 20 metres away, DJI have programmed it to come right back to home ...

Well,  as I said,  it is just my opinion.  Lacking any information from Dji on the subject,  I suppose all we can do is speculate.

leorvasquez Posted at 2016-4-10 17:15
You have just taken the crown of all-time best video selfie Nigel. I love it. Oh, and why on earth w ...

Or, why would anyone use the RTH button at all?

But, my biggest issue in this position would be RTH on critical battery level, if say, I was trying to land but the wind had picked up making it difficult to hit the spot (there's not much room up there).

nigelw Posted at 2016-4-11 17:37
Or, why would anyone use the RTH button at all?

But, my biggest issue in this position would be R ...

I did not see your car up there, did you park it out of sight?

Geebax Posted at 2016-4-11 11:17
I did not see your car up there, did you park it out of sight?

You have to squint to see it

Very helpful thread, now I know why it didn't work for me as well. I pressed return to home close to where I was just to test the function before I test it in an emergency. Ill test it again a lot further out.
Thanks for the info.