Does anyone else have to recalibratae their compass before every single flight on the M2P?  This is my first DJI drone that I've ever had this experience with.  I have to pickup the drone and rotate is every single time.....is this something I need to send back for warranty work?

Also, is there a way to recalibrate the horizon?  Mine is slightly off level.

Hello and good day Black Diesel. Thank you for choosing DJI and for the the inquiry. You need to calibrate the compass of your drone in the following situatins. First, when the application prompts that the compass needs to be calibrated, the drone’s compass has suffered from interference as the aircraft was turned on in a place where there is magnetic interference. Make sure to fly the aircraft in an open area free of interference. Second when powering on the drone, ensure that the aircraft is at a standstill. If there is interference or the aircraft is powered on during movement, the compass’s orientation may be altered, and then re-calibration is needed. And third ensure the flight stability, the application will prompt you to calibrate the compass when there is a need. Please follow the application and calibrate it. Thank you for your support.

DJI Stephen Posted at 2-16 16:01
Hello and good day Black Diesel. Thank you for choosing DJI and for the the inquiry. You need to calibrate the compass of your drone in the following situatins. First, when the application prompts that the compass needs to be calibrated, the drone’s compass has suffered from interference as the aircraft was turned on in a place where there is magnetic interference. Make sure to fly the aircraft in an open area free of interference. Second when powering on the drone, ensure that the aircraft is at a standstill. If there is interference or the aircraft is powered on during movement, the compass’s orientation may be altered, and then re-calibration is needed. And third ensure the flight stability, the application will prompt you to calibrate the compass when there is a need. Please follow the application and calibrate it. Thank you for your support.

I'm launching in places with no magnetic interference.  Out in the boonies, in fields, on the beach, etc...my launch areas are wide open areas without obstruction, and,  I'm turning on the drone when it's in launching position at a standstill (it is not moved after power up).   It doesn't matter where I'm at, it always says "compass error" and asks me to recalibrate by picking up the drone and rotating it.  It will fly okay after it calibrates for now, but I've never had to do this every single time with any drone I've owned previously.  

Do you have a solution for my slanted horizon?

Normally with the mp2 you also have to , and it always asked me to, callibrate the compass when travelling more than 31 miles(50km) from the last point it took off( strange dji mod is not aware of this ). Thats new with the mp2 series. The mavic 1 and platinum never had to do this. I think its because the mp2 has now one compass in stead of 2 .

I would disregard the 31 mile theory from the manual. I take my MP2 back and forth between Europe and US and was never asked to calibrate the compass.
If I get a compass interference warning on ground I don't calibrate. I switch off AC and move to a different spot. It always worked for me.

Regarding the horizon being off: Try gimbal calibration.

Eric13 Posted at 2-17 13:30
I would disregard the 31 mile theory from the manual. I take my MP2 back and forth between Europe and US and was never asked to calibrate the compass.
If I get a compass warning on ground I don't calibrate. I switch of AC and move to a different spot. It always worked for me.

Ok thats strange , i have to callibrate indeed after travelling 50 km. I would not have clue why there is a difference in this. Maybe dji can explain

No compass errors on my M2P so no in answer to your question.

Black Diesel Posted at 2-16 16:09
I'm launching in places with no magnetic interference.  Out in the boonies, in fields, on the beach, etc...my launch areas are wide open areas without obstruction, and,  I'm turning on the drone when it's in launching position at a standstill (it is not moved after power up).   It doesn't matter where I'm at, it always says "compass error" and asks me to recalibrate by picking up the drone and rotating it.  It will fly okay after it calibrates for now, but I've never had to do this every single time with any drone I've owned previously.  

Do you have a solution for my slanted horizon?

Do you wear a watch on the arm you hold the mavic while calibrating?

I have the mpp and I have traveled 2000km from where the compass was last calibrated and it did not ask to be calibrated

Can you post an image of the screen you see instructing you to calibrate the compass.

The compass only really needs to be calibrated once, thereafter only if advised by the DJI Go 4 App' , or perhaps if some erratic flying needs investigating. Other than that you can check the compass reading by looking at 'Main Controller Settings' / 'Advanced Settings' / 'Sensors' and then tap on 'Compass' tab to view compass interference reading. A low value (short green line) is desirable, if it creeps into yellow and most definitely red then I would move aircraft to another spot. If there is no reading (with all powered up and connected) then that would indicate a faulty compass sensor.

Koelkop Posted at 2-17 13:42
Do you wear a watch on the arm you hold the mavic while calibrating?

No, I do not wear watches or any jewelry

Aardvark Posted at 2-17 13:44
Can you post an image of the screen you see instructing you to calibrate the compass.

The compass only really needs to be calibrated once, thereafter only if advised by the DJI Go 4 App' , or perhaps if some erratic flying needs investigating. Other than that you can check the compass reading by looking at 'Main Controller Settings' / 'Advanced Settings' / 'Sensors' and then tap on 'Compass' tab to view compass interference reading. A low value (short green line) is desirable, if it creeps into yellow and most definitely red then I would move aircraft to another spot. If there is no reading (with all powered up and connected) then that would indicate a faulty compass sensor.

I will take a look at the compass interference reading next time I fly.  I get the error in the "status window" where it shows the status of all the components.

Black Diesel Posted at 2-17 14:14
I will take a look at the compass interference reading next time I fly.  I get the error in the "status window" where it shows the status of all the components.

"I get the error in the "status window" where it shows the status of all the components."

That normally shows a 'Calibrate' button, which is a shortcut to the calibration process if required. In itself it does not indicate that the compass needs calibrating. If, to the right of that it says 'normal' then that is the indication that your compass is working fine, and no calibration is needed.

The image below shows what I would expect to see if the compass is good

when it needs calibration, it will ask you to calibrate.  If you don t calibrate, you wont take off. But in certain areas (next radio, cell and tv towers, and urban areas) ,  i prefer calibrate it  avoiding any risck

Black Diesel Posted at 2-16 16:09
I'm launching in places with no magnetic interference.  Out in the boonies, in fields, on the beach, etc...my launch areas are wide open areas without obstruction, and,  I'm turning on the drone when it's in launching position at a standstill (it is not moved after power up).   It doesn't matter where I'm at, it always says "compass error" and asks me to recalibrate by picking up the drone and rotating it.  It will fly okay after it calibrates for now, but I've never had to do this every single time with any drone I've owned previously.  

Do you have a solution for my slanted horizon?

Hi, regarding you slanted horizon issue, have you tried to calibrate your gimbal? If yes, I suggest you to manually adjust the camera gimbal on the MC settings fix the tilt horizon problem. Should you have further question, please let me know. Thank you and have a safe flight.

I dont have any compass issues like this and i launched from here  yesterday! No probs

Aardvark Posted at 2-17 14:31
"I get the error in the "status window" where it shows the status of all the components."

That normally shows a 'Calibrate' button, which is a shortcut to the calibration process if required. In itself it does not indicate that the compass needs calibrating. If, to the right of that it says 'normal' then that is the indication that your compass is working fine, and no calibration is needed.

I will take a screenshot of it next time I fly....it definitely asks me to calibrate, even if I'm not in an area of magnetic interference.  After searching around I see there are other people with the same issue.  

DJI Natalia Posted at 2-17 16:16
Hi, regarding you slanted horizon issue, have you tried to calibrate your gimbal? If yes, I suggest you to manually adjust the camera gimbal on the MC settings fix the tilt horizon problem. Should you have further question, please let me know. Thank you and have a safe flight.

I would love to fix this manually.  Can you post the path to the manual adjustment feature?

I always recalibrate my compass and IMU after a good distance tracker ~150miles + or whenever it requests to do so. Just be careful to do it away from any metal this includes rebar in concrete.

Yes, I  experienced this yesterday.  I drove to another city around 80 miles, and I had to do compass calibration. When I returned to my hometown and wanted to fly, it asked for compass calibration again. I am glad it does that to remind me to calibration because that what DJI manual says.

Black Diesel Posted at 2-17 18:55
I would love to fix this manually.  Can you post the path to the manual adjustment feature?

You can adjust it via DJI Go 4 app. Just go to MC settings > look and click for the camera icon > then from there you can manually adjust the gimbal level. For reference, please see the attached image below. Thanks.

I have the same problem with my mavic air. It keeps asking for compass calibration but wont calibrate.

Black Diesel Posted at 2-17 18:55
I will take a screenshot of it next time I fly....it definitely asks me to calibrate, even if I'm not in an area of magnetic interference.  After searching around I see there are other people with the same issue.

If your asked to calibrate compass it will say calibrate in big red letters top left hand corner, M2 is prone to asking for calibration when moving location, to see if this is the problem just try using consecutively in same spot and see if it asks for calibration on both occasions.

It seems dji have in both MavAir and M2 made sensors a bit more sensitive, so compass is asking for calibration for some every time they move location.

While for a long time it was advised to calibrate your compass, and then not to calibrate until prompted, now it’s set to distance as low as 31 miles. This is a change from dji but not explained anywhere, new aircraft are also equipped with a look up table which may have something to do with it, but I’m not certain and engineers have not explained.

While it now seems strange to be calibrating so often, just a couple of things, unless you calibrate correctly your craft will not take off, this can only be good for all, and since the release of MavAir and M2 we have seen almost no problems caused to aircraft due to bad compass, this must be seen as a move in the right direction.

I don’t know for sure, but I think this has something to do with new users calibrating wrong, and causing all sorts of problems.


With both my MavAir and M2 anytime I move to a different location to fly I’m likely to be asked to calibrate, with my Mavic Pro I have never been asked to calibrate, but always check values regularly same with my P4Pro and I have seen many more compass problems while flying with both Mavic Pro and P4Pro.

So is it a good thing or a bad thing, that might be the debate .

Aardvark Posted at 2-17 14:31
"I get the error in the "status window" where it shows the status of all the components."

That normally shows a 'Calibrate' button, which is a shortcut to the calibration process if required. In itself it does not indicate that the compass needs calibrating. If, to the right of that it says 'normal' then that is the indication that your compass is working fine, and no calibration is needed.

Good catch.  The (Calibrate) next to Normal could be a source of confusion.

I have been having this problem too. I do power up the drone indoors to update FW, etc.. Today I received my Smart Controller and powered up indoors to link the controller and Mavic 2 Pro. I received a compass error and went outside to calibrate. The calibration failed 3 times. On powering up, I was receiving the warning message and had the red status indication in the top left corner of DJI GO4. I entered the calibration routine from there and it continually failed. So I put the drone on my normal launching point and instead of tapping the warning, I went into the sensor screen There, I had a larger than usual GREEN bar indicating the compass was "In Use". I pulled back on the sticks and lo-and-behold, the propellers spun up and I went flying successfully. I've powered up a couple of times since and have the same behavior - a warning appears on power up but clears when I enter the sensor menu. I need to go to a better place to get a good calibration done. No conclusions, but the compass sensor does seem more sensitive.

I'm always prompt to calibrate compass as well I don't think it's an issue...does your m2p videos shakes tho? I'm not impressed with stability of the video : going straight with gimbal pointing forward, or paning up with gimbal and video is shaky, like vibration shaky..

Nicoricosancho Posted at 3-11 17:11
I'm always prompt to calibrate compass as well I don't think it's an issue...does your m2p videos shakes tho? I'm not impressed with stability of the video : going straight with gimbal pointing forward, or paning up with gimbal and video is shaky, like vibration shaky..

Ive only seen the re-calibrate when Ive turned it on where I suspect there is metal, for example inside a sea wall.  Next time it happens try this,  turn it off.  and turn it back on whilst holding it from underneath, like you were going to do a hand take off,  it should rule out some stray metal that you might not be able to see.

I took mine from London to Singapore (10'500km) and was not asked to re-calibrate so I don't think distance is involved.

DAFlys Posted at 3-13 07:38
Ive only seen the re-calibrate when Ive turned it on where I suspect there is metal, for example inside a sea wall.  Next time it happens try this,  turn it off.  and turn it back on whilst holding it from underneath, like you were going to do a hand take off,  it should rule out some stray metal that you might not be able to see.

I took mine from London to Singapore (10'500km) and was not asked to re-calibrate so I don't think distance is involved.

Is your picture shaky when recording video? I had to zoom in 400% to see it clearly, if video is zoomed out its barely noticeable but enough to #$__# me off... Let me know I wanna know if I have an issue with gimbal. I'll try new props next time as well

I don't even do it once? Nope out of the box and fly. NEver an issue.