Phantom 4 Compass Calibration

[Hendricks]

I'm curious.
Every Phantom aircraft I have flown before(Phantom 2 and 3) has required you to do a compass calibration before each flight.

When I purchased my Phantom 4, there was a DJI video up on the Internet saying that I only need to do a compass calibration IF the Aircraft Status Bar on the display prompts you to do so.
If it says ' Safe To Fly ', then you do not need to do a compass calibration.

DJI now has a video out there and it advises people to perform a compass calibration before every flight.

For the last several months now, I have been flying without doing a compass calibration and whenever I have used the 'Return to Home ' feature, my Phantom has landed exactly where it took off.

I'm interested in hearing what others are doing.

 

[sar104]

I'm curious.
Every Phantom aircraft I have flown before(Phantom 2 and 3) has required you to do a compass calibration before each flight.

When I purchased my Phantom 4, there was a DJI video up on the Internet saying that I only need to do a compass calibration IF the Aircraft Status Bar on the display prompts you to do so.
If it says ' Safe To Fly ', then you do not need to do a compass calibration.

DJI now has a video out there and it advises people to perform a compass calibration before every flight.

For the last several months now, I have been flying without doing a compass calibration and whenever I have used the 'Return to Home ' feature, my Phantom has landed exactly where it took off.

I'm interested in hearing what others are doing.

None of the aircraft that you mentioned required a compass calibration before every flight. What was recommended for the P2 was a compass calibration if moving a significant distance from the previous calibration. There was never a good explanation for why that was necessary, however.

 

[Meta4]

I'm curious.
Every Phantom aircraft I have flown before(Phantom 2 and 3) has required you to do a compass calibration before each flight.

When I purchased my Phantom 4, there was a DJI video up on the Internet saying that I only need to do a compass calibration IF the Aircraft Status Bar on the display prompts you to do so.
If it says ' Safe To Fly ', then you do not need to do a compass calibration.

DJI now has a video out there and it advises people to perform a compass calibration before every flight.
I'm interested in hearing what others are doing.

Most users are doing what the manual says and not unnecessarily calibrating their compass.
I haven't recalibrated a Phantom compass since early in the P3 days.
There was never a need to calibrate your P3 (and probably the P2 as well) but poor wording in old DJI manuals sent everyone off doing unnecessary circle dances with their drones.
DJI finally updated their manuals to fix up the compass calibration section (but the latest P4 manual has the proper advice but a page later they still haven't removed the old bad advice).
If DJI have a recent video suggesting frequent compass calibration, it's wrong.
Is it definitely recent?

For the last several months now, I have been flying without doing a compass calibration and whenever I have used the 'Return to Home ' feature, my Phantom has landed exactly where it took off.

If your Phantom had a compass problem, you'd notice it long before it returned home.
If your Phantom flies straight instead of big curves and if it hovers in place rather than slowly rotating, your compass is good.
Coming back to the launch point is due to GPS, flying straight is what the compass does.

 

[msinger]

@Hendricks, check out the Compass Calibration Guide for more details on when you should and should not calibrate the compass.