Hi everyone,
Great site, thanks for inviting me PingSpike ! A quick question, apart from the obvious benefit of not getting the drone dirty/covered in grass, are there any advantages to having one of those landing pads ? Does the DJI software use visual references to land home, or is it just GPS ?
Cheers,
Simon / flames7607
Yes. The aircraft uses a sort of photo of the area in which it took off from, uses GPS to get it to the ‘ball park’ as they say, then compared patterns and shades of the area to determine where it took off from. Obviously if you took off from grass or tarmac, one bit looks like another so it’s more difficult to auto land accurately in the same spot. So yes the landing pad provides a great visual contrast as well as giving something to bounce it’s scanner (like a bats clicks) to determine height more accurately as it nears landing.
They cost very little, fold up neatly but are the handiest piece of kit.
Hi Brian,
Cheers, that makes sense, purchase made from Amazon !
Thanks for your help
Simon
Brilliant on sand and dusty tracks.
I also saw a (french) guy on a youtube video who balanced it on top the wheat in field and took off from there, that was my deciding factor, but as always I cannot find the video when I need to
as Brian has said the dji drones take a pic of ground beneath them on take off for precision landing, so when it comes back to land it compares the ground at gps location and the pic it has taken so it will land back on the landing pad.
Brilliant. You won’t regret it. As Chris also says, it means you have a wider choice of where to take off from if the ground is a bit ‘sketchy’.
I had one on my amazon wishlist hoping one of the family would get it for me, but no joy. I’ll pick one up myself.
I ordered one after my first flight with the Mavic, these things have such short legs they really need a pad of some sort for most situations and as has been mentioned gives a good reference for the sensors.
I did pinch a small floor mat from the house till my pad came, worked fine but was quite heavy, the fold up pads are light enough that I can carry it together with everything else needed in a rucksack and go droning on my mountain bike.
Sorry to revive such an old thread but I was wondering if all DJI drones do this or is this the ‘precision landing’ function that only the more expensive drones have? (I have a Mini 2)
I’m looking for a landing pad now but want one small enough to fit in my mini 2 bag as I’m a proper lazy git and don’t like having loads of stuff to carry!!
(If any admins see this - Is reviving stuff this old OK or would you prefer a new post?)
I manually land mine on the pad.
Although my landing pad is always in the ‘big’ camera bag, I hand launch and catch the M2 9 time out of 10 (probably more to be honest) once you’ve got the knack it’s very easy
What he said. For my Mini 2 I always catch it and usually just take off from the top of my camera bag. For my M2P I take off from my landing pad and again usually just catch it when landing.
Hmmmmmm maybe I’ll get some more practise first…
Not sure I want to change my name to ninefingers quite yet (And that WOULD be just my luck too!!)
I really need to try landing the mini 2 on my hand, after a minor accident with my fingers and the rotors on a Phantom 3 it makes me nervous. (I wasn’t trying to land the Phantom in my hands)
Check out this, its about the best tutorial on it, don’t try get too close or grab at it, hold your hand steady about 2 feet under the M2, it will think your (steady) hand is the ground, left stick down and it will go in to landing mode then pincer grab it, very easy once you have a few under your belt, very handy for hotel balconies, or so I’ve been told ;o)
+1 for a FlytPath video.
I manged to get out and fly my drone for the first time today and although I was in a well cut park, it didn’t want to take off because of stalks of grass (‘gimbal stuck’), and then it told me a few places were unsuitable for landing as well.
Do people generally use these Landing Pads all the time then? If so I guess I need to get one ASAP.
I use some little extension legs, I do have a pad but have never used it. Either that or be brave and take off from you hand and catch it by hand when it lands, I’ve never tried that, always think I’ll chop my fingers off 
99% of the time with my mini 2 I hand launch and catch, there just isn’t a lot of clearance on the little chap.
Ooh, I love the look of those legs, are they specific for a model? Where did you get them?
