Home Lock

[reALIGNed]

I need to ask this question. I read a ton of posts of pilots getting into a situation of loss of control, visual, orientation, LOS, etc, and they struggle like crazy to figure out which way the Phantom is facing so they know how to bring it back to them. My question is: why not turn on HL, pull back on the right stick and it will return, regardless of which way its facing, this is the entire purpose of this function and seems the majority "chooses" not to use it,....(maybe I'm missing something).
I've used my HL a lot, even when I can't see it in the sky, and as its returning to me, its hauling *** and not wasting valuable time or voltage.

 

[davemcm]

Thought this exact thing last night after I lost mine, I think I've just learned to flip the fail safe switch, but it hovers for a while then comes back slowly but if using home lock would be immediate and full speed

Will definitely be using home lock a lot more now, haven't used it once before, used course lock a few times but not much either.

 

[reALIGNed]

its amazing how nice this feature is (HL), RTH almost seems useless because of its slow travel as it consumes voltage. The most important thing about using HL accurately is to make sure the stick is at bottom center (6 o'clock). Most of the time when I cannot see the Phantom, I will climb apprx. 100 feet to ensure I'm above any obstacles, such as trees, etc., and then engage HL.

 

[Pull_Up]

Home lock won't work if you lose satellite lock for some reason, so it pays to learn to keep orientation by eye and not rely on HL to get you out of trouble every time (or get into trouble in the first place) in case the option suddenly isn't available for some reason. The "radar" screen is useful for confirming orientation at a glance - again assuming you have sufficient sats in view.

 

[Visioneer]

My question is: why not turn on HL, pull back on the right stick and it will return ... (maybe I'm missing something).

One possible answer (at least for P2V fliers) is that they haven't switched to NAZA mode and don't have access to HL.

 

[LandYachtMedia]

HL and CL are tools that should not be considered get out of jail free cards. They can and will fail you depending on the reason you are in trouble to start with.

The best advice is to fly WELL within your abilities and the abilities of your craft.

 

[reALIGNed]

HL and CL are tools that should not be considered get out of jail free cards. They can and will fail you depending on the reason you are in trouble to start with.

The best advice is to fly WELL within your abilities and the abilities of your craft.

Totally agree, but the majority of people switching to failsafe (rth) in a panic will benefit using HL instead.

 

[Pugano]

Hello all first post. Anyway just to chime in i got my first phantom Friday March 7th. I have been flying cheap quads for about a month with little or no experience. I would love to add that home lock is AMAZING as it works just fine for me. Today I was flying my phantom over a frozen lake at a local park and after two days of flight at this park I was worried I was going to hit trees on the other side of the lake. I got extremely scared and started making poor judgment calls on how to get her home. Finally realizing I was in ATT not GPS I quickly hit GPS mode and then Home Lock and pulled back and I was never so relieved to sit there and say hey it survived. I have been trolling around this form for a while. Reading this post this gave me a reason to join.