Compass Calibration

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When it's completed properly it's good for the region your flying in unless the menu instructs you to recalibrate?

How wide of area are you good in?
Like if I drive 30 miles away am I still good?
 
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Actually, your good for several 100 miles! Even then, the only thing that changes is magnetic deviation (difference between true and magnetic north). For instance, the difference between here in Ohio and Kansas is only about 4 degrees. You can't fly far enough on a battery for those differences to have any meaningful effect!
 
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On the other hand, if done properly there's no harm in doing it often (or every time)...
 
When it's completed properly it's good for the region your flying in unless the menu instructs you to recalibrate?

How wide of area are you good in?
Like if I drive 30 miles away am I still good?
The manual for a P4 pro doesn't advise you to do any compass calibrations, regardless of distance from anywhere.
I took mine out of the box from China and have been safely flying it for 5 months without any calibration.

It's likely that there never was any need to recalibrate based on distance from anywhere.
 
On the other hand, if done properly there's no harm in doing it often (or every time)...
But it's completely unnecessary and does nothing to make your flight any better or safer.
And it's the people that don't do it right that end up in trouble that would have been avoided if they hadn't done it at all.
A huge number of last Phantom stories begin with .. I calibrated the compass like I always do.
 
If your initial calibration was done in your home flying area (and you're sure there was nothing around you that would influence the local magnetic field), then you don't have to recalibrate unless you get a warning to do so. If you've chosen a new spot to fly from close to your home location, my advice is to use the Magnetometer built into you iPhone/iPad and a free app to check around and see. As Richard mentioned above, if you're traveling cross country and want to make sure you're referencing Magnetic North for that area, then do a recalibrate.
 
I also never calibrated out of the box from China. I have flown it here in Los Angeles and 1200 miles away in New Mexico. I can't see any reason to calibrate it unless the software warns there is an issue. If I do it right then I haven't changed anything, and if I do it wrong I could be screwing myself.
 
On the other hand, if done properly there's no harm in doing it often (or every time)...
The more you calibrate, the more your chances of getting a bad calibration. Do it once and leave it. There is absolutely no reason to do it before EVERY flight. Even DJI says to not do it.
 

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