DJI Mini 4 Pro Landing Pad Challenge - Round vs Square Test

My friend Richard tells me that a round landing pad is a better choice when you want to achieve a precision landing with your drone. We put that to the test here, round pad vs square pad. Of course, the DJI Mini 4 Pro was the perfect drone for this test. Check it out!
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[@RonaldBrown59]

I have a square and round landing pads in the car. And I use them mostly to protect the drone from dirt, dust and sand. When I take off from a clean sidewalk or the street, I don't even put one down, and as you said in the video, the DJI drones don't need the landing pad to land on the spot they took off from. What makes my round landing valuable to me is that I can stake down in the sand and not have it blow away or move around as the down is landing. Great testing Marcus, and thanks for sharing.

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

Thank you Ron! I agree with all of your points!

[@Piratepoilet]

Love you're videos dude. When I first started watching videos like yours I didn't have a drone. Now I do have a drone, I just had to get a DJI mini 4 pro and I love it. Kids these days don't know how lucky they are. Now I'm an oldish man 60ish again I feel like a kid again buzzing round the sky with this little drone is just AMAZING 🚁👍

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

I agree, this is such a fun hobby! Thank you for your kind words!

[@Spark_m3p_m4p-ed3rd]

Good test I have a circular landing pad. 6 inch deflection is standard for free flying. I have designated 7-point Waypoints . Next automatic take off and return home. Landing precision 1 inch .

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

Thank you! That is awesome!

[@waddac2]

Great test there buddy.

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@chrishope82666]

Very good demonstration

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

Why thank you Mr. Hope!

[@MartinHubbard1]

Great video, anyone else notice how the drone zeroed in on the middle of your shadow every time? That's interesting, almost like it preferred the contrast of shadows rather than the pads and the painted carpark area ...

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

Yes, I wish would have kept my shadow out of the shot.

[@jasonstripling7743]

I think the paint threw it off, would be interested to see the round pad on an all black Parking spot with no shadows, bet you get a better result!

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

That could be. 👍

[@lauren301]

I use the Hoodman Landing pad because it is weighted so using it anywhere and any conditions is no problem

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

If I had some of that Alberta oil money I could afford one of those fancy pads.

[@lauren301]

@@IdahoQuadcopter 😂😂😂

[@vanpdroneshots]

@@IdahoQuadcopter 😄😄😄😄😄

[@vanpdroneshots]

They are the best, I use the 3 feet version of it.

[@johnk7649]

Squares have it! Like to see the Mini 3 Pro vs the Mini 4 Pro landing competition. Let the games begin!

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

I love that square pad John! 🙂

[@michaeldanforth3059]

Mini 3 pro does not have precision landing and the min 4 pro does. That’s why the mini 4 pro tilts the camera down when it starts to descend down after coming home and the mini 3 doesn’t. Both are very good drones 👍

[@michaeldanforth3059]

The mini four pro has precision landing and the mini three pro does not. That’s why the mini four pro tilts the camera down when it’s done coming home before it lands.

[@rickseyeview5345]

Interesting. As you mentioned, I often find an oil spot on the pavement. My Mavic 3 Classic will find that oil spot every time. Thanks for the test Marcus!

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

Yes, DJI has really got this figured out. 👍

[@charleshatmaker4425]

Thanks for sharing great stuff

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

Thank you for watching!

[@txarchdroneguy4731]

Marcus, i used to use the round landing pads, but I now use and much prefer the square ones, for the same reasons as you, heavier, and much easier and compact to store in my custom cases. I have two sizes, one large. For my phantom, mavic 3, and air 3. I use the smaller one for the min i 4, avata, and fpv. Also, although 6” isn’t much difference when it comes to drones, if you tried the square landing pad a second time, like you did with the round pad, it may have landed closer to the center if the pad. Great review.

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

Great minds think alike Mike! The square pad works better for my purposes.

[@georgekelly1948]

I enjoyed this video, Marcus, just as I enjoy and learn from all of your productions. My Air 3 has been absolutely spot-on in its landings. I can’t help wondering if the variance of shadows over the takeoff/landing area affected your test in any way. Cheers from Wisconsin, buddy.

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

Thank you George! Mostly this was just a bit of fun!

[@DroneViewsMedia]

That was a fun test Marcus, personally I rarely use landing pads, and if I do it's a square one. The convenience of packing them away is the thing for me. 👍

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

Yes Alan, this one was just a bit of fun!

[@SkyLabZaamslagtheNetherlands]

I don't use one at all, my DJI Mini 3 is so much off Center when she returns at the Homepoint between 1 and 8 Meters ! My previous drone the DJI Mini 2Se was much more accurate.....

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

I understand. I like using a landing pad for uneven surfaces.

[@garychap8384]

DJI should produce a standard image for landing pads in 3 sizes - using additional elements (like cross-bars) that properly identify the pad size. The smart camera should identify the pad... know what SIZE the pad is based on its design (hence distance) ... know if it's off-centre (by foreshortening) and be able to do a perfect AUTO landing with proper orientation. Once a pad is acquired at the home location (or anywhere) the GPS can be overriden for visual auto-land. This would allow a high precision autoland at any location, not just the home location. Just bring her in and cam-down so that she spots the pad, then the controller announces "visual auto-land available" ... 'okay' that, and let her do her thing! The pad image could optionally be made in retro-reflective for night use, making the AUX light useful for identifying landing pads even at quite long ranges. I's a bit of a missed opportunity for such a smart drone. Not to mention the added 'accessory revenue' ; )

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

I'm quite impressed with how well it does as is. 🙂

[@garychap8384]

@@IdahoQuadcopter Yes, granted. But it isn't yet robust enough for point-to-point commercial operations outside of VLOS... which is currently holding back commercial applications somewhat. It's coming though, from what I've heard from our team. I just hope we also get it for the retail ultralights.

[@yoelroque3950]

I use a round landing pad , I have the mini 4pro & what I do I take it up to 3’& put the gimbal facing the middle & press record for a few seconds then put the gimbal back to normal then fly it then put RTH & it lands in the middle

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

That's great, thank you for watching. 👍

[@williamlaabs]

I noticed that the area where the drone was taking off and landing from had shade spots from the trees, and also your shadow was cast out in that direction. I'm wondering if the shadows were playing tricks with the precision landing algorithms? Or maybe the time from take-off to landing, the sun moves a bit and the shadow pattern also moved, so it might throw it off a couple inches. This makes sense as it was off in the same direction every time. Another thing I thought of is that on take-off, if there was a little wind, it might not have gone straight up and by the time it got to 7 meters, it was off a couple inches or so. I'd be interested in seeing the test again with the landing pads in a shade free zone and no wind. Just a thought Marcus. Enjoyed the video!

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

Those are all good points. I was pretty happy with all the landings.

[@delzane]

Looks like you have a "left-handed" drone there. 😅😂🤣I prefer my square, heavier landing pad too. Thanks for sharing! 😎

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

It sure liked that left side Del! 😀

[@iFixThings]

Another nice video there Marcus. I only have the Mini 2, so no luxury of precision landing for me. I'd like to see what the Mini 4 would do if you moved the landing pad, say 6 feet or so, after the drone had flown out of sight of the pad.

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

That might be an interesting experiment. Thank you!

[@olabergvall3154]

The shadows of the trees, and indeed your own shadow, is right on the home point. Sometimes this shift and movement is enough to confuse the precision landing, since the look of the home point is inconsistent.

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

That could be. 👍

[@garychap8384]

I'll let you in on what's happening here... Realise that besides GPS accuracy _(a function of the number and quality of fixes)_ you also have a GPS data resolution limit... So, even if your GPS module is 100% accurate, the GPS locations will snap to a grid of points due to its resolution. That resolution can be perhaps as fine as 10cm. Again, this factor is entirely independent of GPS measurement accuracy. So, re-center your pad on the drones preferred landing offset. There's a good chance that this places it right inside a square of 4 GPS vertices. But, there really shouldn't be any need for this... GPS Landing is not optimal. Instead, DJI should publish a standard 'pad' image in 3 'machine identifiable' sizes... _(Think of this as a kind of simple 'QR-Code' of Heli-pads)_ allowing it to switch to visual landing accuracy after GPS has brought it in close enough for the down-camera to recognise the pad. This would allow for perfect visual auto-landings with predictable orientation. We could then manufacture those landing pads in their standard sizings.... with retro-reflection if needed, so that the drone can even pick up visual landing at night, even from longer ranges - using the retro-reflected AUX light. If DJI implemented this you'd get a "Visual landing available" prompt when it identifies a standard pad, day or night. "Okay" that, and watch her come down fast, on a hybrid visual approach, rather than GPS-only approach. No need for her to slow down for ground sensing because her confidence is VERY high... she'll just jump right onto the pad and even land facing the right way. There's no good reason for DJI to use GPS for auto-land when you have a smart camera. I expect they'll implement this soon, as it's a really obvious safety and ease-of-use feature. Especially for the larger drones. In my yard I have a retro-reflective white H in a red circle. I can spot it really well from a decent distance with the AUX light. Then I built.makeshift VASI-style helipad for night approaches. I see a circle of 8 white lights around the pad if I'm centred... if I'm off centre, some of those lights will turn red. Now I love landing fast manuals at night : )

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

I appreciate your detailed precision landing explanation. DJI does use the downward facing optical flow camera to save an image of where the drone took off. Often the drone can take off from an oil spot on the pavement and find it again when landing. 👍

[@garychap8384]

@@IdahoQuadcopter I understand that, but there's an issue with the current strategy. For context, we are currently running licensing trials for XR operations, to provide time-sensitive tissue deliveries to two city centre hospitals. Our organisations drone team was talking to the DJI developers about this and apparently they're already very interested in it, at least as regards the larger commercial drones. I think we will see something like this in a future update for sure. For hobbyists, a machine-recognisable LP would let you put it down anywhere... not just the Launch Point _(which, as we do A->B operations, is super important for us)_ From everything I've seen and experienced _(I'm NOT on the drone team, just a hobbyist)_ the visual aspect doesn't work well right now... I'm reliably informed that this is because the quality and uniqueness of the launch image can vary considerably - so prioritising GPS is currently essential to avoid confusion. There is NO robust visual landing system in DJI drones, currently. With a specific machine-recognisable image, you open up a new category of landing. The visual confidence would be VERY high, permitting high-accuracy purely visual finals, not marred by GPS degradation. Right now, GPS must necessarily override the visual. Done well, the visual can completely override the GPS. ... and for commercial point-to-point ops, that's going to become increasingly important. Not just for us, but generally.

[@Ralph073]

Marcus..would you please do a Video on a SD Card the Very High Quality 3D V90, and what you may suggest for card size 64 or 128MB or higher for KZbin like you do.

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

I often use a 64GB SanDisk Extreme Pro. 👍 Thank you!

[@ssb73q]

Hi Marcus, thank you for doing this test. Forevermore, I will never give you a hard time about the landing pad used. Our crows in Western New York don't taste too bad. vbg

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

Ha! Both styles of landing pad work. It's more a matter of preference. 😎 Additionally, as I said, this was a decidedly unscientific test! 🙂

[@JMprodquad]

Hey Marcus, nice test on the precision RTH. I watch all your videos, and I’ve noticed that your M4P almost always misses the mark when landing on the pad. My M4P always lands dead Center on the pad. At least one of your viewers mentioned that there are shadows on the pad and I also noticed that your obstacle detection is squawking, causing the algorithm to kick in as well. These maybe causing the issue. Something else, on the controller under settings, you should always verify that there is no “controller calibration required” message appearing there. Yeah I know it’s a bad place for it to appear when you’re looking at the main fly screen. Anyway, just some thoughts. Great job. Thanks

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

Thank you. I agree those are all factors that could affect the landing. 👍

[@jaime766]

Hello Marcus-I use around pad even though it is tricky to fold-best regards Mike in Australia.

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

Thank you for watching Mike!

[@michaeldanforth3059]

Many times when you take off with your drone it moves a little bit. That’s why it’s not exact on where it lands for home point when it moves a little bit. It has a lot to do with the wind and sometimes it just goes to one side or the other when it’s taken off

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

Good observation. Thank you.

[@a2tomm]

DJI hit it out of the park with the new landing feature ,i have used both round and square pads ,both seem to work as well but not always

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

That has been my experience too! 👍

[@Cozydrone]

Nice opening ,I wish to someday be able to do that .😊

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

Thank you!

[@chefb1461]

Right about time you had a video get that bird in the air

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

For sure Robert! Thank you!

[@timothyfrederickchurch81]

You should do your dronie with the sun behind the camera. It will look better.

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

That is true Tim. 👍

[@michaeldanforth3059]

Even with precision landing when the drone is coming down once it gets to the point where it picks the camera up if there’s any wind or any change in the drone, it will not be accurate

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

That makes sense.

[@jerryfuller-bk8hz]

Marcus, I would just like to ask you a question in regards to measuring height, and distance. Is there a reason you prefer to use the metric system over the imperial system.? My older Yuneec Q 500 is set to the imperial setting. It's just easier for me to not have to convert it over in my head. I guess I'am just old school and yes I'am; and don't think as fast anymore. LOL Hope you and the family have a nice Easter.

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

Thank you! Most drone manuals use metric. I've also found that I like the system. I wish we would switch in the US.

[@floridagadgets9047]

I watched your vid a few days ago and something kept me thinking. What if you tried to use a high contrast landing pad? White on black or black on white, would this look more visually enhanced to the drone coming into land. Maybe someone has said this already I didn’t look at every comment 🤦‍♂️. Just a thought as it will see an oil patch on the asphalt road surface. Great vid 👍👍

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

Thank you! Yes, I suspect more contrast would help.

[@capeRCouple]

I have a square pad and my hubsan mini 1 inch finds it every time and my fimi mini v2 is the same,i know a couple people that have the mini 3 pro and it misses the pad every time,mine however isn't so bad but every now and then it will miss it,i have both round and square pads and have tried both.

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

Yes, both styles work, it's really a matter of preference. 👍

[@FredHarvey-wp2qy]

Hey Marcus! I've always used the round pads, for no other reason than that was what came as part of a bundle when I bought my first drone, a DJI Mini. My Air 2 and the Air 2S always landed on the pad about 5 inches, or so, to the left of the H. I've never thought about it before, but it was always to the left. Do you think an IMU calibration would change that? You mentioned RID. As a Part 107 flyer, you are required to have remote ID on everything you fly. I know the Mini 4 Pro will transmit RID automatically if the larger (heavier) battery is used. Is there a way to switch RID on and off with the lighter battery so that you are still compliant? Thanks!

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

That RID question is something DJI has been working on. When the lighter battery is in the Mini 4 it does not transmit RID. 👍

[@raygeeve1]

It is prohibited to launch, land, or operate a drone within 500 feet of any venue, outdoor public assembly, or event with more than 100 people; within 500 feet of a park except with the permission of the Director of Families, Parks, and Recreation; within 500 feet of any pre-school, elementary, middle, or high school

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

I'm not sure what rule book you use, but those aren't the rules I use.

[@JohnnieDroneFlyer]

Did That Vette Leak Oil To Leave A landing Spot, lol

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

I try to like you Johnnie. I really do.

[@RichardMcCarthy]

Would it make a difference if you had to do an imu calibration and compass calibration marcus.

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

I suppose it could. 👍

[@BASSstarlet]

Why it's so difficult for even these advanced drones to find the landing pads?

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

I thought it did okay. 😀

[@anthonystorrod4470]

I have a question have you seen or heard about the clone drone of the air 3?

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

Yes, I've seen the videos of the Specta Air. 👍

[@flyzone7441]

😊😊😊

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

👍😎👍😎

[@pp2trancos]

Lo bueno de no poder volar es lo que se ahorra en cortaúñas

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

Oh yes, with a hand catch. 👍

[@synthyawylder3297]

Wow, I really noticed a lot of twitching with your compass, & nearly the entire time you were flying. Have you had that same issue with your Mini 3 Pro? I have both, & never had anything like that happen with my Mini 3 Pro compass - I haven't yet taken my Mini 4 Pro up to see if mine has that same issue.

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

It was twitching a little. 🤷‍♂️

[@DroneShowLive]

☘️☘️☘️💚

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

Thank you Tony!!

[@MrDavidcarp]

🛬👌🏿

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

Thank you sir!

[@sxmindian]

First

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

👍