DJI Mavic 3 GPS issue will be fixed with a firmware update soon drone maker says
Many of you have expressed your frustration about the DJI Mavic 3 GPS issue and the fact the DJI has remained silent on it. Well, that is until now…
We just received an official statement from the drone maker in which DJI acknowledges the problem and promises us that it will be addressed with a Firmware Update soon.
“We have identified the issue behind the slow satellite acquisition and will address it in a firmware update coming soon,” DJI said in an email to DroneXL.
What is the DJI Mavic 3 GPS issue?
The DJI Mavic 3 GPS problem is that it can take the DJI Mavic 3 a good few minutes to acquire sufficient satellite signals to establish a home point and you can safely take off.
As many of you have pointed out to DroneXL, but also on forums is that it can take minutes for DJI’s latest drone the DJI Mavic 3 to acquire sufficient satellite connections so that you can take off safely.
“Same here.. took about 8 minutes today to acquire satellites. it is unacceptable,” said Clear Prop Media in the comments on YouTube.
The DJI Mavic 3 GPS issue is not a hardware problem
There has been speculation whether DJI Mavic 3 GPS issue was caused by a hardware issue or if this was something that could be addressed with a firmware update.
Fortunately, DJI has now informed us that the issue can indeed be addressed via a firmware update. They have also told us that the update will be available soon. However, we do not have an exact date for you as of yet.
51 Drones address the DJI Mavic 3 GPS issue in a video and said the following:
“It takes an unreasonable amount of time for the Mavic 3 to acquire adequate GPS and the obstacle avoidance has trouble in one particular situation. Let me know if you have experienced these things! The latest update is great, but I think we need another one soon to fix these problems.”
DJI Support also acknowledges the issue
One of our readers had shared the following information with us that was provided by DJI support. While this was not an official statement, DJI basically tells us the same.
Here’s the email from Joel Hartman:
Hello Haye,
Greetings from a fan of DroneXL.
I’m sure you are well aware of the angst many Mavic 3 owners are expressing regarding the 3’s very slow home point lock. Theories abound.
As a Mavic 3 owner, I’ve been communicating with DJI support on this issue and received an encouraging response this morning.
“We are truly sorry about the received GPS signal issue, our relevant team is working hard to resolve this issue by updating the firmware. unfortunately, we do not have a specific date of the update time. But we believe it won’t be long, please don’t worry. As soon as we update it, we will publish it on the official website, please pay attention to the Release Notes of the following website.
https://www.dji.com/downloads/products/mavic-3
Please accept our sincere apology again. Your understanding and support mean a lot to us. Really appreciate your support to DJI.
Have a good day and night.”
Given your extensive industry contacts, perhaps you could confirm that DJI has diagnosed the issue and see if you can ferret out a release date for the promised firmware update.
Thanks and regards,
Joel Hartman, Ed.D.
CEO, Northstar Drone Imagery LLC
Orlando, Florida USA
Have you experienced the same? Did it take your DJI Mavic 3 a long time to acquire sufficient satellite signals as well? Let us know about your situation in the comments below.
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Haye Kesteloo
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I didn’t get a Mavic 3 until mid-January right before the big firmware update with most of the features activated. From that point, I noticed that my GPS connected fairly slowly at about 3 to 4 minutes to get 12 satellites. Fast forward to the last week it’s been taking nearly 10 minutes to get even 10 satellites which is extremely frustrating. I’m really hopeful that there is a firmware fix to take care of this in the near future. I really don’t know what to do with this drone other than unload it.
They keep saying this is just a firmware issue, yet I know of users who have sent their Mavic 3 in for repair, and DJI have confirmed their GPS board was faulty and changed it. The result? They got a drone back that got a satellite lock in less than a minute and suddenly works, with the same firmware as everyone else. I reported this GPS issue to DJI support late December 2021, and have been emailing back and forth with them for over 2 months without getting anything else than emails saying I have to be patient, since they are aware of the issue and is working on a fix. On a good day, my M3 took 4-5 minutes to get enough satellites, but mostly it took more than 10 minutes, and a few times I gave up after 20 minutes. So now my drone is in for repair (10 days since it was shipped to them), and I’ll bet my left kidney that I will soon get an email telling me the GPS board is faulty.
So this is not just a firmware issue even if DJI keep saying so. And being told for over 2 months to be patient and wait for a solution, when I have bought a $5000 drone that doesn’t work is outrageous!
I don’t believe anything DJI says anymore.
Worst support on the planet.
Interestingly, I have no problems whatsoever with satellite acquisition when using my RC-N1 controller. However, it is a serious problem when using my RC Pro controller. Not sure why there is such a significant difference between the two controllers, but I would love to know.
I dont know if it is just me being lucky to have a good drone, or the fact I am in Australia, but my Mavic 3 always connects within 90 seconds
I’m surprised this is “breaking news”, they’ve been saying this for at least a month. It’s apparently that there’s been a problem with Glonass that has caused them to leave that system out of the drone even though the GPS module supports it. A fix has been in beta testing for awhile and should be available this month with the other scheduled update. We’ll see.
I noticed it got quite a bit worse in the latest update. The early firmwares still took longer then my mavik 2 but only like 2-3 minutes.
I’m surprised this is “breaking news”, they’ve been saying this for at least a month. It’s apparently that there’s been a problem with Glonass that has caused them to leave that system out of the drone even though the GPS module supports it. A fix has been in beta testing for awhile and should be available this month with the other scheduled update. We’ll see.
Maybe it’s from combination of both firmware and hardware issue.
I mean do we know that they use GNSS receiver module from only one manufacturer?
They could be sourcing them from couple makers and besides one maker having quality issue they might need some differences to firmware.
Though sure wondered why GLONASS support had been dropped…
The more systems are supported to more certain drone is to find necessary amount of satellites and keep position lock in more different geographical areas, or obstacled environments.
Hi Haye,
I had an issue with my Mavic 3 about a week ago. I sent you a DM on Twitter with the information.
Thank you,
I just recently bought a Mavic 3 Classic & also facing the same weak GPS signal issue, seem they don’t have any solution yet.