Hello all,


My 3 month old Mavic Pro drifts like crazy during hover in GPS and OPTI mode. This is happening both vertically and horizontally, sometimes the aircraft loses / gains altitude of several feet - all while my hands are not on the sticks at all. I'm confident that if I put the controller down and watched it for 5 minutes, it would drift into the ground or trees completely on it's own. This happens on windy days, and completely still days. I'm running firmware version 01.04.0200 on both the controller and the aircraft, and have consistently updated the iOS app. Today, I thought the IMU might be to blame, so I very carefully executed an IMU calibration on level ground - calibrated the gimbal and compass as well. All readings are normal regarding Compass / IMU - no interfernce nearby. Very strong satellite reception. Same problem.


I did have a minor crash two weeks into owning it. I flew upwards into a small tree branch about 50 ft up, cracked 3 of the props, and almost caught it as it spun down out of control trying to maintain altitude - it landed relatively softly into snow. I immedately took it inside, took the battery out, and let all components dry via professional-grade silica in bags. Days later, I replaced all 4 props, and took it for a test flight - it was steady as a rock (like when I first got it) with no issues or warnings. The issue seems more recent. On visual inspection, nothing seems to be loose / out of balance - the aircraft does not wobble or vibrate while hovering (and occasionally seems to hover completely still like when I first got it), but completely randomly slowly flies up, down, away from me, towards me, etc. The props even occasionally sound like they are working too hard to maintain a hover with little to no wind.



Does anyone have any advice? I'm really hoping this is not because of my minor crash, or that I have a dud. If I had to fly nearby anything I'd be screwed, so this is a big issue.

Have you tried another IMU calibration? I know you said you did one but could it be worth doing one more in case the 1st was not quite right?

MavicRich Posted at 2018-3-14 10:36
Have you tried another IMU calibration? I know you said you did one but could it be worth doing one more in case the 1st was not quite right?

I am charging everything up right now and will perform another IMU calibration and test flight. I'll get a stationary video of the drifting should it persist afterwards.

Nice one, yeh may be worth posting the vid.

Did you calibrate your remote controller?

V_kingo Posted at 2018-3-14 12:02
Did you calibrate your remote controller?

Yes, calibrated the remote. Flight logs do not show any stick movement / input during the drift episodes - uploading a video now

I had the same problem, I call DJI support and they told me to reload the frimware and it did fix my problem.....

I agree conduct a firmware refresh and then calibrate imu and compass ,restart and do a test flight

Thanks to everyone who replied. I reset IMU again (very, very carefully!) with no improvements. I will try the firmware refresh and hopefully that will do it, but if I remember correctly - the issue has persisted through the last few updates from DJI.

Here's a video of the drone in flight - every second of this is the drone moving on it's own - I had placed the controller down. There were some light gusts but not a consistent breeze. Half-way through is a closeup of the drone attempting to hover in place.

nautical_operator Posted at 2018-3-14 14:22
Thanks to everyone who replied. I reset IMU again (very, very carefully!) with no improvements. I will try the firmware refresh and hopefully that will do it, but if I remember correctly - the issue has persisted through the last few updates from DJI.

Here's a video of the drone in flight - every second of this is the drone moving on it's own - I had placed the controller down. There were some light gusts but not a consistent breeze. Half-way through is a closeup of the drone attempting to hover in place.

Please try to change an environment to fly your mavic. The white snow may affect VPS of mavic. Please keep us updated, thanks.

Agree with DJI Elektra

Do you also have it higher in the air?

Montfrooij Posted at 2018-3-15 03:51
Do you also have it higher in the air?

I did not film the drone higher up (my zoom lens is quite limited) - but during this same session I did climb to about 100 FT to check how stable it was up there. If I remember correctly the drifting was not as severe but still present

DJI Elektra Posted at 2018-3-15 03:31
Please try to change an environment to fly your mavic. The white snow may affect VPS of mavic. Please keep us updated, thanks.

Didn't think of this, great advice. We keep getting hammered by NorEaster's up in Massachusetts so theres been constant snow making it difficult to test without it (I don't dare try inside). Would it make sense to temporarily turn off VPS to see if it makes a difference?

nautical_operator Posted at 2018-3-15 04:19
I did not film the drone higher up (my zoom lens is quite limited) - but during this same session I did climb to about 100 FT to check how stable it was up there. If I remember correctly the drifting was not as severe but still present

My first impression is that the bottom sensors are fooled.

I would also connect the drone to Assistant 2 and calibrate the VPS. Reflective surfaces, like sun/snow, can affect the VPS and hover stability.

A CW Posted at 2018-3-15 05:37
I would also connect the drone to Assistant 2 and calibrate the VPS. Reflective surfaces, like sun, can affect the VPS and hover stability.

Good point!

Regarding the snowy surface, try to spread out a blanket or the something like that on the snow, allowing the Mavic to monitor his own movements above it. Perhaps a start/landing pad is sufficient for the purpose.

Did you ever try to calibrate the bottom Sensors? It could be one of them could be out of cal.
Might cause the Mavic to try to establish levelness/hover.

B1houdini Posted at 2018-3-15 08:35
Did you ever try to calibrate the bottom Sensors? It could be one of them could be out of cal.
Might cause the Mavic to try to establish levelness/hover.

I did not - would I do this through the computer using the assistant? I'm not familiar with calibrating those sensors

FlyDK Posted at 2018-3-15 07:05
Regarding the snowy surface, try to spread out a blanket or the something like that on the snow, allowing the Mavic to monitor his own movements above it. Perhaps a start/landing pad is sufficient for the purpose.

I'll try this, thanks!

nautical_operator Posted at 2018-3-15 10:40
I did not - would I do this through the computer using the assistant? I'm not familiar with calibrating those sensors

Yes - DJI Assistant 2 - under calibration. There is also a tutorial built into the process to show you how to do it.

A CW Posted at 2018-3-15 11:07
Yes - DJI Assistant 2 - under calibration. There is also a tutorial built into the process to show you how to do it.

Great, thanks!

nautical_operator Posted at 2018-3-15 11:33
Great, thanks!

No probs - let us know if that works - fingers crossed

A CW Posted at 2018-3-15 11:07
Yes - DJI Assistant 2 - under calibration. There is also a tutorial built into the process to show you how to do it.

Yes .

Thanks A CW for answering .

nautical_operator Posted at 2018-3-14 14:22
Thanks to everyone who replied. I reset IMU again (very, very carefully!) with no improvements. I will try the firmware refresh and hopefully that will do it, but if I remember correctly - the issue has persisted through the last few updates from DJI.

Here's a video of the drone in flight - every second of this is the drone moving on it's own - I had placed the controller down. There were some light gusts but not a consistent breeze. Half-way through is a closeup of the drone attempting to hover in place.

You're flying with the globe on and the airflow may be causing the Mavic Pro to drift. Try taking the globe cover off and re-calibrate the IMU and compass and remote again to see if that problem still persists?

davidmartingraf Posted at 2018-3-15 12:10
You're flying with the globe on and the airflow may be causing the Mavic Pro to drift. Try taking the globe cover off and re-calibrate the IMU and compass and remote again to see if that problem still persists?

Thanks for the suggestion - I actually only had the globe on during this one flight because I was nervous about the drone drifting into something and damaging the gimbal. I never fly with it on normally, but may have done the IMU calibration with it on. I'll try another with it off

Montfrooij Posted at 2018-3-15 06:28
Good point!

Why would the sonic sensors and bottom vision sensor avoidance system be tricked with snow?

As for the snow and the sonic... snow usually absorbs sound.  

nautical_operator Posted at 2018-3-15 12:17
Thanks for the suggestion - I actually only had the globe on during this one flight because I was nervous about the drone drifting into something and damaging the gimbal. I never fly with it on normally, but may have done the IMU calibration with it on. I'll try another with it off

That's a good idea and also try to do a reflash of the versions of the App and the controller you are using or revert back to the factory settings to do a hard reset then re-calibrate and after that maybe you will notice a difference?

davidmartingraf Posted at 2018-3-15 12:24
Why would the sonic sensors and bottom vision sensor avoidance system be tricked with snow?

See the post below.

Thanks all for the responses. I just had a 15 minute flight in light wind after: 1. IMU calibration 2. Firmware refresh 3. Compass, gimbal, and sensor calibrations via Assistant. Similar results - not as much horizontal drifting but a scary amount of up / down drifting, not at all reliable. I followed advice on this thread and laid a blanket out on the snow, then flew above it and watched the hover, perhaps a bit better but not normal still.

What are the chances this could be caused by uneven props? I bought 4 official DJI props after I broke the original 3 and replaced them all. It just sounds (props / motors) like it's working way too hard to keep a consistent height at times, but not sure how much of that is wind. I also do not understand why, even if the downward sensors were confused by snow or whatever, it would send the drone down towards the ground. In fact the drone randomly losing altitude seems more common than randomly gaining.

nautical_operator Posted at 2018-3-15 13:25
Thanks all for the responses. I just had a 15 minute flight in light wind after: 1. IMU calibration 2. Firmware refresh 3. Compass, gimbal, and sensor calibrations via Assistant. Similar results - not as much horizontal drifting but a scary amount of up / down drifting, not at all reliable. I followed advice on this thread and laid a blanket out on the snow, then flew above it and watched the hover, perhaps a bit better but not normal still.

What are the chances this could be caused by uneven props? I bought 4 official DJI props after I broke the original 3 and replaced them all. It just sounds (props / motors) like it's working way too hard to keep a consistent height at times, but not sure how much of that is wind. I also do not understand why, even if the downward sensors were confused by snow or whatever, it would send the drone down towards the ground. In fact the drone randomly losing altitude seems more common than randomly gaining.

Well that pretty much covers everything that I could think about that could be causing these issues. I'm concerned that this could be caused by overall general wear and tear, but the outlier is the crash you had in snow that likely is responsible for these problems?

All things considered, the likely increasing damage caused from that crash cannot be ruled out. I would exercise your options to have DJI take a look at it as you could have more increasing problems, not to mention a possible worst case scenario of a fly away?

davidmartingraf Posted at 2018-3-15 14:34
Well that pretty much covers everything that I could think about that could be causing these issues. I'm concerned that this could be caused by overall general wear and tear, but the outlier is the crash you had in snow that likely is responsible for these problems?

All things considered, the likely increasing damage caused from that crash cannot be ruled out. I would exercise your options to have DJI take a look at it as you could have more increasing problems, not to mention a possible worst case scenario of a fly away?

That might be a cause indeed.

davidmartingraf Posted at 2018-3-15 14:34
Well that pretty much covers everything that I could think about that could be causing these issues. I'm concerned that this could be caused by overall general wear and tear, but the outlier is the crash you had in snow that likely is responsible for these problems?

All things considered, the likely increasing damage caused from that crash cannot be ruled out. I would exercise your options to have DJI take a look at it as you could have more increasing problems, not to mention a possible worst case scenario of a fly away?

Did you try shutting down the VPS/Precision landing pretty much everything but the Fail safe RTH & Lost signal RTH? Once they are off and if the MP stays stationary (or has much less movement) then it is probably the VPS and less to do with IMU/Compass. Just a thought.

DJI Elektra Posted at 2018-3-15 03:31
Please try to change an environment to fly your mavic. The white snow may affect VPS of mavic. Please keep us updated, thanks.

Yes. I get this in a perfectly setup MPP when I attempt to hover in Sport Mode over a white sand beach even at 30Ft.
There is not enough Texture for the Two cameras to make adequate comparisons without some detail to compare the constant "Shots" with.
The MPP starts to drift and slowly climb.
You're account sounds identical to another MP flyer over snow I have read here.
I did not read if you calibrated the VPS or not but that is a good thing to do after every Firmware update.
Also, the VPS does not like Patterns such as Pavers or Boardwalk planking either and the Safe Landing system may kick in and make it look for somewhere, "Better" to land.

nautical_operator Posted at 2018-3-15 13:25
Thanks all for the responses. I just had a 15 minute flight in light wind after: 1. IMU calibration 2. Firmware refresh 3. Compass, gimbal, and sensor calibrations via Assistant. Similar results - not as much horizontal drifting but a scary amount of up / down drifting, not at all reliable. I followed advice on this thread and laid a blanket out on the snow, then flew above it and watched the hover, perhaps a bit better but not normal still.

What are the chances this could be caused by uneven props? I bought 4 official DJI props after I broke the original 3 and replaced them all. It just sounds (props / motors) like it's working way too hard to keep a consistent height at times, but not sure how much of that is wind. I also do not understand why, even if the downward sensors were confused by snow or whatever, it would send the drone down towards the ground. In fact the drone randomly losing altitude seems more common than randomly gaining.

Please provide us a video for further check. Or you can export the flight data and upload to dropbox or google for further check. Thanks for your support.

I hope you have solved this issue because that is a lot of drifting around..   I haven’t had this issue with snowy surfaces causing my Mavic Pro to panic or drift around or get confused usually my Mavic Pro only starts behaving like this in low light situations when just enough light that the sensors aren’t generating low light error in app but too dark for them to lock on and function right.  That’s literally only time I seen my Mavic Pro u able to hover correctly and move up and down and around... in completely darkness it just drifts to the sides but not up and down..

You can disable VPS and the ultra sonic sensor just disable visual positioning system and landing protection, but doing so will mean landing it can be more difficult since it bout VPS or protection. It can just slam into the ground instead of landing softly..   if you disable these things in app and still having issues then I suspect IMUs or an unbalance day prop is being compensated for.

   I have once replaced my props on my Mavic Pro with a brand new set of plat props from DJI and first set I ever got one of the props was unbalanced and triggered a lot of shaking warnings and viberation errors..  it even gave me large wind warnings in app a few times when just rotating the aircraft.  It didn’t move about like this having or anything though but... maybe mine was less unbalanced.    So it is possible one or more unbalanced props could cause the drone to move around a lot as it tries to fight the inconsistencies.  

I haven't yet solved this issue, despite all the help on here (which I thank you all for). I'll try another round of tests tomorrow, upload the logs to here - but I'm just about getting ready to send it in for repair...