Flathat landing pad at BH photo
I am looking into a low weight, portable landing pad for improved RTH functions with the Mavic.  Think beaches etc. when the video/pic that it takes on take off doesn't help much.  I ran across this one at BH Photo.  They also have a 32" variant.  This will be my first drone.  Am I on the right track?  Are there better ones for this?  Is this overkill?

Bit of wind and it will be gone, and it won't flatten grass.

Try a rubber car mat, it's not going to blow away, flattens the grass to some degree and rolls up just as easy with an elastic band.

My main concern is that it's not heavy enough to stay in place.

A drill and some tent stakes will keep it in place.  

I can make my own for $3-5, I bet that thing sells for $20

Jack57 Posted at 2016-10-11 03:05
I can make my own for $3-5, I bet that thing sells for $20

Anyone can make their own for a dollar or two.

I never really considered a landing pad until the Mavic.   Because of it's ground photo assist landing it could come in real handy.

msduncanrolltid Posted at 2016-10-11 03:43
I never really considered a landing pad until the Mavic.   Because of it's ground photo assist landi ...

Even with the assisted landing, the GPS is still going to be it in pretty close on a RTH.

Why to have a landing pad with you? I think the purpose to have a foldable drone is to take it anywhere with you without carrying having landing pads, big pack bags etc.
But this only my opinion.....

this iPad pro is great to fly with the inspire 1 pro black, but would be the perfect landing pad for a Mavic as long as the image reverts to the same image at take off for recognition. Otherwise I'll just spend hours per trying to put the dam thing in the remote.  Historically avoiding take off from sand conventionally with brushless motors is as good  an idea as keeping an iPad out of the water or beach but they had a lot of dust in the promo videos for mavic so who knows,  jokes aside I usually hand catch the inspire easily with the landing gear turned off if on water or around relentless dogs.  They did that also.

Another issue with that landing pad design is that it may have too much symmetry for the precision landing feature to work properly.  Something with distinctly different shapes at each corner would make it easier for the camera to orient the position of the target pad.  If it looks the same from 2 or more positions how would the system know which way is which?  

I've been thinking about a pad too as the mavic is so close to the ground, long grass will be a motor killer! Was just thinking of a rubber mat to fold up too though, not a dart board lol

I always hand caught my P2 & P3, but with the Mavic I will have to see, doesn't look like there is enough room to get a hold of it without endangering your fingers. I may have to make a landing pad from a rubber door mat. I fly where the grass get a bit high (hence the hand catch) plus some sandy places.

Fulgerite Posted at 2016-10-11 06:15
Another issue with that landing pad design is that it may have too much symmetry for the precision l ...

The Mavic already spins to face the original heading when doing a RTH landing. (see: )

I too would like more information on what (if anything) would help the RTH be more accurate.

There is a great video where a guy did a tear down of the Mavic and found that the air intake and fan assembly to keep the drone cool is right behind the camera (this is why you do not fly with the camera cover installed, it will overheat).  However, there is not really a way for any debris that gets sucked up into the vent to escape.  The conclusion was that if you suck a lot of debris and sand into the cooling vents behind the camera, you will not be able to get it out.  This could cause failure over time.  They were concluding that you should not take off in grass/sand/gravel without a landing pad.

Where can you buy these?