Return to Home not exactly home but close...

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A newbie question for sure, but noticing that after calibrating the compass and flying, upon pressing the return to home button on the controller the P3A will come back within range of where it took off but sometimes 20 feet from where it took off. Is this normal?
 
Yes. There is always a margin of error with these types of things, GPS and/or VPS can only be so accurate
 
A newbie question for sure, but noticing that after calibrating the compass and flying, upon pressing the return to home button on the controller the P3A will come back within range of where it took off but sometimes 20 feet from where it took off. Is this normal?
Accuracy is limited by the accuracy of consumer GPS.
Mostly it should be less than 10 feet but occasionally more.
You don't need to let RTH autoland as you can probably choose a better landing spot yourself.
You can cancel RTH at any time and resume control.
 
Standard GPS has a normal accuracy range of 3-5 meters in most cases. Add to that the Russian GLONASS system that the Pro and Adv use, you might get accuracy in the 1-3 meter range, but that's still a 3-9 foot circle it can land in.
 
I agree that RTH is usually about 10-20 feet off. It's still a great asset to bring your Phantom home. It's amazingly consistent and reliable.

When it's almost home, you can let it descend down to about 20 feet (or higher) and then cancel it in mid-air by holding the RTH button again. It will hover in place. Then move it horizontally and land manually. Or even maneuver it with the sticks (both horizontally, and vertically to slow the descent) to refine the landing spot as it's automatically descending.
 
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My RTH is a bit better, usually within 8-10 ft. but as said above, accurate enough... IF I use RTH,
I usually cancel before it starts descending. At that point it's close enough.
 
I've been flying off of a 2' x 2' plywood pad in my field. The times that I've used RTH on my P3P, it lands right on the wood. This might be a result of the optical sensor as the pad is notably different than the grass as well as being used for the take off. I don't know if the optical would remember the take off surface but I suppose it could make the difference.
 
I have been lucky. It's been within 5 ft of home set point.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk
 

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