DJI Air 3S LIDAR Smart RTH Test (Non-GPS RTH & Balcony Landing)

[@wellsbengston4132]

That's amazing. I just got an Air 3s and flew it from a table on my open patio. I flew for several minutes then tried the RTH. It decended to almost rooftop level, very close to the house, then canceled the RTH. There were no obstructions. It just needed to move about 3 feet away from the house and descend straight down. It just sat there hovering like yours did. I wish I had tried again like you did, but I manually landed it on the table. I'll try again tomorrow.

[@DigitalTechReviewsTips]

Yeah, it’s a little finicky sometimes. It’ll get so close to doing a perfect RTH and then just stop a few feet from the promised land. I guess it’s better for DJI to have it errr on the safe side though.

[@Tyberius1]

I have been thoroughly impressed with RTH on the 3S. The accuracy (without even needing a gps lock) is insane. Really happy with this drone so far.

[@kennywheelus6857]

Yeah me too,I'm saving up for one

[@Tyberius1]

@@kennywheelus6857 hope you get it soon buddy, you’ll love it!

[@kennywheelus6857]

@Tyberius1 ,ty yeah me too

[@DadRandom]

Those are great steps in a new direction with smart technology

[@psoon04286]

I just have to say for anyone that’s new to this, the real world experience of trusting your recent investment entirely to the machine’s AI is nerve wreaking😳

[@lingoting]

You had the guts and money to have tried this in KL, 100 meters above the ground.

[@badrulhisyamo]

tqs..nice tested air 3s video for rth...its impressive feature🎉

[@jxpat]

Excellent test and incredibly interesting video. Thanks for sharing.

[@DigitalTechReviewsTips]

Glad you liked it!

[@buzzindrones]

Great video and a awesome RTH 👍

[@Errr717]

I'd be real scared to do this. Thanks for doing this.

[@DigitalTechReviewsTips]

Oh trust me, I was wide eyed and adrenaline pumping the whole time. Even now (flying after this test), I don’t do this on purpose cause it’s still too nerve wracking. It’s good to know that it’s a fairly reliable fail safe should the worst happen (and the Air 3S only has buildings or branchless trees around) but in a situation where there’s any wires, trees with small branches, or other thin objects - my confidence level plummets.

[@psoon04286]

Do you think switching to S mode as it approaches your balcony(turning off obstacle avoidance)might allow it to complete the RTH? I do that with my M4P when returning to my 11th floor balcony just to make easier to land on my hand

[@DigitalTechReviewsTips]

So that’s what I usually have done and still do when landing manually in that sort of situation cause as you know the sensors will actually prevent you from flying in close enough to hand catch and can also cause unexpected movements. However, I’m like 99% sure you can’t turn the drone’s sensors off (by flicking it into sport mode) while still having it continue to RTH on autopilot by itself.

[@psoon04286]

@@DigitalTechReviewsTips you’re probably right. Smart RTH overrides everything or it’s not going to work.

[@dlg521]

That is truly amazing and it's enough of a perk to make me upgrade from my Air 3. The things is, while it's impressive, it's scary how much info these drones have in their little "brains". Makes me wonder if the green indicator line is like a digital breadcrumb that it leaves to find it's way back home

[@DarkStoneCastle]

Why doesn't the home point automatically update at 1:05 when the satellites connect?

[@londenard]

When I tried this, that's exactly what my drone did. It set the home point approx 50'

[@DigitalTechReviewsTips]

You tried it with the Air 3S and it did that? 🤔 That’s weird. All other previous drones will behave like that and RTH to the point where it first picked up a GPS signal, but the Air 3S should try and go to where it took off from no matter where and when it eventually got GOS lock.

[@user-SPAUL]

Great video 😎. Why is it loosing satellite connection and what is that black round disc shape thing on the floor ?

[@DigitalTechReviewsTips]

Ok, so one, good eye. The black round disk shape thing on the floor inside is my lens cap. I put if and a case of Osmo Pocket 3 lens filters on the ground cause they were heavy objects that wouldn’t blow away and could help the Air 3S be more stable indoors by providing some tracking points for the downward sensors on what otherwise was a very white and non contrasty floor. As for why the drone was losing satellite connection: I’m assuming you’re talking about when it comes back and is hovering in the balcony area trying to go through the door? That’s most likely cause it’s near a massive building (and partially under part of it as there is actually ceiling above it) and that’s blocking most of its view of the sky - and thus connection to the satellites required for GPS lock.

[@realteachersclub]

​@@DigitalTechReviewsTips I am new to vlogging,can just a Action 5 pro with osmo mobile SE gimbal match a pocket 3 to some extent, would the footage be manageably edited with iPhone 13? 🎉You did a brave work with Air3S, kudos!​

[@DroneManAerialPhotography]

It is super cool👍 Trying to get Mavic Air 3s and test it out🔥👍🛩️

[@ian4846]

I wanna see no gps nighttime rth. I got my 3s a few days ago and I’m really impressed. I upgraded from a mini 3

[@Thunderbyrd.]

That's a big jump.

[@SixOhFive]

I just got my first ever drone and it’s the air 3s

[@HitEmUpru]

What city is that?

[@DigitalTechReviewsTips]

Kuala Lumpur

[@eugeneng5668]

Hi, is it legal to fly drone in KL residential or buildings environment? Thanks for your video

[@jesusgjchuza6491]

Oh man, I just got my Air 3S, I will try it tomorrow 😎🤝

[@DigitalTechReviewsTips]

I filmed this video so people wouldn’t have to “try it” 😂 Hope it all goes well and fly safe 🫡

[@mdkk]

you are a brave man. I am kind of surprised it lost connection so quickly..

[@DigitalTechReviewsTips]

I wasn’t trying to push it. Being I was inside and not even trying to aim the controller in the optimal direction. But buildings also do a really good job at blocking a signal, especially in a city where the is already so much other RF noise with WiFi, cellular networks, etc.

[@mdkk]

@ thats interesting because you were fairly close to the drone, so basically once you lost line of sight the connection dropped. The return to home feature is very interesting. I would Never have felt comfortable flying out of a room without some sort of gps lock

[@lprtravel]

What’s the laws for flying a +250g drone in KL? No line of sight and flying close to buildings within 50m?

[@LancerXShare]

Wow KL

[@dixter1652]

thats pretty cool... If I tried that in my building I think the door man would be knocking on my door and I'd end up with a fine/warning... freaks out the other owners a bit...

[@Diantane]

Do you have it on brake vs bypass?

[@DigitalTechReviewsTips]

I have it set on bypass but I’m pretty sure that this has zero effect on the RTH setting and the drone will always try and bypass objects in an attempt to get back to you and either land or reestablish communication. The only settings you can change that directly affect the return to home function are: Preset vs Optimal RTH path, RTH height (only applicable during when “Preset RTH Path” is selected), and Action taken on signal loss (hover, land, RTH).

[@Diantane]

@@DigitalTechReviewsTips I thought it was pretty cool that you sent it through an open window/door. I have trouble just getting my Mini 4 Pro to RTH without trying to land on top of the trees above the home point. Ordered the Air 3s a few days ago. Its going to be a remarkable transformation seeing that drone moving between the trees and under the branches. That technology would be worth every penny.

[@iqmal]

Nice KL views!

[@PatrickChua]

Excellent video! Would love to see if you can do a night time balcony takeoff and landing if possible 😊😊😊

[@DigitalTechReviewsTips]

Thanks and I don’t know. Nighttime takeoffs and landings still give me nightmares since the sensors can’t see anything to help the drone position itself. However I will add that while taking off/landing at night with the Mini 4 Pro & Air 3S back to back for a night footage comparison I did between the two of them, the Air 3S was SO much more rocksteady in the air than the M4P it was like night and day (pun intended).

[@BelizeByDrone]

Wow!

[@VanGayares]

Bro do you still have that mini3

[@DigitalTechReviewsTips]

No sorry sold it last year.

[@riparianlife97701]

I'm in the same situation: Second story balcony, but I always walk up to the roof.

[@Jedi-h8r]

it goes through your flight path for maximum safety

[@gusm2752]

Still , amazing drones.

[@stanvisualseychelles932]

It could have been the reflection from the fridge that was next to you. Maybe? Who knows

[@londenard]

Just saying but they claim it'll return to your balcony, not that it'll fly into your living room through your sliding door. I've tried mine several times and it has successfully landed on a table on my covered balcony every time. The only time it's failed me was one time it reset it's home point after I flew it around my warehouse and out a dock door. Once outside, it acquired sats and reset it's home point.

[@DigitalTechReviewsTips]

Yeah, I kinda bent the definition of “balcony”. But in my defense they do show the Air 3S RTH-ing into an open window in the launch video and also have it doing the same thing on the website page for the Air 3S. As for the second part of your comment: It shouldn’t reset the home point. As you can see in my video, the drone didn’t get GPS lock until some 500ft away from my balcony yet still returned with no issues.

[@londenard]

@@DigitalTechReviewsTips Yea, I thought it was kinda weird as well... I'm not a big user of Return To Home anyway. I like to fly my drone back myself and reserve RTH for emergency situations. I have to say it's pretty cool though!

[@BloggerCMartinez]

You were supposed to turn off the front sensors, my friend, so that the drone would pass

[@DigitalTechReviewsTips]

I did that to fly out manually but I don’t think the drone will do an RTH with the sensors off (or even if it will that’s just asking for trouble as it’s basically having the drone fly blind).

[@jeffhudson1744]

obstacle avoidance needs to be off in something like this case.

[@Rooz-ej6lb]

I'm hesitating between the Air 3 and the Air 3 S... and my biggest concern is the issue of GPS disconnection or loss... In your opinion, if someone wants to work in valleys or in the forest where the chance of GPS presence is low, is it better to buy the Air 3 S or can the Air 3 also be useful? Thank you for answering me.

[@SixOhFive]

3s

[@irhuz8683]

Amazing how it wasn't even locked to a Homepoint (i.e. no GPS) but still returned to the Homepoint.

[@DigitalTechReviewsTips]

I know. That part completely blows my mind. Kinda wish I had tried flying around the building before it even got GPS lock but I don’t really trust it that much 😂

[@irhuz8683]

@DigitalTechReviewsTips ohhh dejavu! I also was wondering if it can return if we fly it around the building which literally will be a 100% full lost of signal!

[@rayrdelle]

This is an excellent video..except for the annoying deep bump sound in the background. 😮

[@pchfilho]

Perhaps at the entrance to the terrace the algorithm was made to consider that despite being visible, there may be glass there that is not reflective but could cause a collision. You can see that is an algorithm trying to do the RTH with known conditions. Nothing too smart yet. I think any AI would be able do create a realistic and optmized path using image processing and making an identification of all possible obstacles. Not yet. Maybe drone chips are not yet robust enough to do so many calculations. But the way it is, it already provides a lot of security. I have the sabe situation but no courage to do that with FIMI Mini 3 with no obstacles detection neither GPS....

[@np_production]

👍👍

[@jslllppspp]

Even with wifi, the gps does not work, on my air 3.

[@DigitalTechReviewsTips]

The GPS shouldn’t need WiFi to work. Just needs a wide open area with a clear view of the sky.

[@dextardextar]

bonkers

[@DeansDrones]

Well your not flying from a BALCONY to be fair. now try it from the balcony. Still really cool.

[@DigitalTechReviewsTips]

Yeah I guess that is kinda true now that I think about it 😂 The balcony area of that apartment is just so small that I decided to level up the difficulty for the Air 3S and just have it takeoff & land inside without even thinking about it.

[@VanGayares]

Can i have that😢

[@RS-qu4gd]

Kl rupanya. Menara 118

[@scottwallyn3171]

Move away from the landing spot

[@williamhesbach4072]

It's a really impressive RTH test flight. Unfortunately, the risk shown isn't to the drone but to the drone community. It's hard to imagine that this flight was sanctioned by KL officials, and I wonder if showing authorities where the flight took place was a good idea.

[@ClarenceSteward-x7f]

You are around a whole lot of interference and that's why your drone you have to also understand that it has a interference tracker on board also it tells you buildings, trains, phone towers, radio tiles all those things are interference to a drone. The one thing I wish is that the DJI products would allow you to see the interference the Drone experiencing. A drone does not perform right when it receives interference

[@DigitalTechReviewsTips]

Yup definitely. It’s why DJI now specifically puts an estimate for range while “Flying In An Urban Setting” (or something like that) in the specs section of its drones. And there actually is a way to see interference. Go to the “Transmission” section of the app/RC controller and there’s a chart/graph which shows the 2.4gHz and 5gHz wireless range and where there is interference (if any).

[@splitrock]

I have to call you out here. So you fly out of line of sight to maybe crash into people or cars below? This is irresponsible flying in every way.

[@SixOhFive]

It would never crash it would safely land