- Joined
- Dec 7, 2020
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Thought I'd start a thread on this cuz there seems to be more than just me that's experiencing GPS issues. Who else, what happened, what devices involved, what flying mode??
My main GPS problem was when my drone failed (2 times) to optically lock on me after launch via beacon for a follow-me ride on my bike. I had phone/app connected to beacon and was flying via beacon.
Drone took off, turned around to look at me, and I noticed that the icon in top right corner of beacon said GPS....and the drone took off! It was apparent to me that it was going to some errant GPS location, but it was God knows where. I stopped it via beacon at maybe 75' from me and flew it back via beacon steering. Flew back fine. Restarted everything, took off again, same thing!
I should add, sometimes it works perfectly, and I've never had a gimbal glitch.
But I've had issues flying at home too. I live out in the country, so plenty of open space, even so, in my yard on some flights here (and even in some totally wide open desert) the beacon says 'weak GPS, can't follow' or it shows an X on the beacon (so no GPS signal). I'm on my 2nd beacon (tried a friend's too, so really 3rd) and am flying with a new phone (thanks to the recent update that made my Galaxy S6 incompatible with the app), so it seems to me the problem is with the drone.
I've asked Skydio to help me understand which device is doing what when it comes to GPS, but they've not been forthcoming with info. I think when beacon shows X where GPS signal strength is, that means drone itself has no GPS. Makes some sense in that the following mode icon (eyeball, etc) is what the drone is doing. Anyway, after my most recent issues with it flying at home (no GPS), Skydio decided to replace it.
I suspect a flaky GPS receiver in the drone, or a poor connection, but I don't really know.
My main GPS problem was when my drone failed (2 times) to optically lock on me after launch via beacon for a follow-me ride on my bike. I had phone/app connected to beacon and was flying via beacon.
Drone took off, turned around to look at me, and I noticed that the icon in top right corner of beacon said GPS....and the drone took off! It was apparent to me that it was going to some errant GPS location, but it was God knows where. I stopped it via beacon at maybe 75' from me and flew it back via beacon steering. Flew back fine. Restarted everything, took off again, same thing!
I should add, sometimes it works perfectly, and I've never had a gimbal glitch.
But I've had issues flying at home too. I live out in the country, so plenty of open space, even so, in my yard on some flights here (and even in some totally wide open desert) the beacon says 'weak GPS, can't follow' or it shows an X on the beacon (so no GPS signal). I'm on my 2nd beacon (tried a friend's too, so really 3rd) and am flying with a new phone (thanks to the recent update that made my Galaxy S6 incompatible with the app), so it seems to me the problem is with the drone.
I've asked Skydio to help me understand which device is doing what when it comes to GPS, but they've not been forthcoming with info. I think when beacon shows X where GPS signal strength is, that means drone itself has no GPS. Makes some sense in that the following mode icon (eyeball, etc) is what the drone is doing. Anyway, after my most recent issues with it flying at home (no GPS), Skydio decided to replace it.
I suspect a flaky GPS receiver in the drone, or a poor connection, but I don't really know.
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