Follow Me Mode Question. How Accurate does it keep it's position?

[FlyBoyNC]

Hey guys. I have a Follow Me mode questions for the P3A. I am planning on plowing snow in my neighborhood Saturday. It's our first real snow here in the south this season (8-12 inches). Our neighborhood street is straight with about 30 feet of tree clearance from the center of the road. If I position my P3A directly behind my RZR at roughly 20-25 feet, will it remain directly behind me as I move forward? My concern is I don't want it to maneuver to the side of me more than 10-15 feet. If it does, it will most likely strike a tree and make for a bad snow day for me.

So for the ones that have used follow me mode, how accurately does it remain in the set position as you move?

Thanks.

 

[Oso]

My experience is that if you move slowly and consistently, the Phantom will follow you very well and keep you in the frame. If you move too quickly, it won't keep up and you will move out of the frame. Going around corners would be a concern, but you said it's straight so it should be fine. Just experiment a bit with how fast you can move to find the right speed for your needs.

Reminder that you'll need to be at at least 10m in altitude before engaging Follow Me. Also, you need GPS at your RC (on your phone/tablet for example) for Follow Me to work at all. You also need to have FW 1.4 or later.

 

[BigAl07]

Could you just position it higher than the tallest tree to be safe? It would be a shame to be even slightly wrong and your P3A sleep with the birds especially with this much snow coming into the area (20"+ here I heard).

 

[FlyBoyNC]

Could you just position it higher than the tallest tree to be safe? It would be a shame to be even slightly wrong and your P3A sleep with the birds especially with this much snow coming into the area (20"+ here I heard).

You know, I thought about that. The tallest trees that border the road in my neighborhood are 140 feet. I hate to be that high and not capture the action.

 

[BigAl07]

You know, I thought about that. The tallest trees that border the road in my neighborhood are 140 feet. I hate to be that high and not capture the action.

Oh now that's a whole other story. Yea makes sense.

Go out and do some tests before the snow hits so you'll have a better feel for how the aircraft maintains (or not) without the workload of the snowplow.

Regardless the footage should look cool.

 

[FlyBoyNC]

Oh now that's a whole other story. Yea makes sense.

Go out and do some tests before the snow hits so you'll have a better feel for how the aircraft maintains (or not) without the workload of the snowplow.

Regardless the footage should look cool.

I agree. Thanks for your input.

 

[alokbhargava]

GPS lock with 10plus satellites is very important for you. There are always dead spots of GPS if you fly low and close to tall trees. I would definitely ensure that I don't face GPS issues on P3 as well on controller device in the entire shooting area.