RIP Mr Drone, lost at sea…

Hairier :grin:

Storm eunice

:small_airplane::dash::dash:

Glad to see you got sorted, I cant see the NEO being as good as a mini if you want to be flying outside. it would be a shame if you were grounded and not able to fly as much just because wind has picked up a bit but sounds like you already decided against it.

Yeah, I’ve pretty much decided against the Neo because of that. I’m not convinced with the level 4 rating; the drone can probably fly at that speed and hold ground against the wind, but there is more to it than that, with the thing being knocked about by gusts and having only one-axis camera compensation. The gimbal on Mr Drone the well-known submarine worked perfectly even when I got a high wind land immediately warning, and you could see the a/c being shaken about by it even 350’ below.

On that occasion I found that a 200’ descent solved the problem and did not actually land, but was a bit worried the entire flight and not fully enjoying myself. Best not to push the specifications for my own peace of mind!

Airdata UAV ‘good to fly’ seems to work off a safety margin for gust speed (it’s set up for Mini 2SE but will give me a red for any gust over 18mph), which suits me, but I’ve only got the free version so can’t see forecast beyond Monday 17.00, and it’s pretty much wall-to-wall red in daylight hours until then!

I got hit very recently in a out of nowhere very strong head wind situation 1.16 miles out at sea… My drone wanted to auto initiate a RTH and I still had 47% battery. It probably calculated what distance it was already out from me for that warning to kick in? I cancelled the RTH and immediately dropped to skimming the water at less than 20 feet for a faster return.

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Ok, bought the new drone, Coverdrone having agreed to pay (well done CD, to be reccommended, delays my fault, otherwise would have taken about a week which seems reasonable), £189 2nd hand from MPB (tx, mynameisjoe). Mavic Mini, same spec as Mr Drone but Fly More Combo. Due for delivery Friday 30th. Friday looks like a good flying day according to Ventusky and AirUAV, bit overcast for good photos but fine for test flight over the rec again. Next week has some sunshine forecast but it is accompanies by winds too strong for a Mini.

The surplus £10 will go towards replacing the Skytron Strobon.

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You down graded :thinking:

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Massively

Possibly; it was the availabilty of the Fly More package within budget that prompted the decision. AFAICT the specs are more or less the same as the Mini 2 SE, in fact the only difference I can find is the lack of ‘boomerang’ quickshot, which is not something I’d use much anyway.

There’s a different RC, though, which is a bit if an unknown quantity. Can I use the Mini 2SE RC with it? If so I’ll try both to see which one I get on with better and sell the other one on for whatever I can get for it. Fly More will mean I can, um, fly more, a big advantage with the days shortening and less flying weather over winter. I’ll put the £10 surplus towards replacing the Strobon.

I’d been looking at a refurbed 2 SE on the DJI Store app, but it sold before my pension came in last night.

Problem with the OG Mavic Mini was the connection for the RC link. Range was poor poor poor. It’s why despite very rarely flying the Mini, I changed to the Mini 2. It used Wifi I believe on that first one, and then was it occusync 2 upwards from the 2, 3,4 onwards… I couldn’t get passed 100/150m with the OG mini. Whilst the camera and flying specs similar it was this reason and this reason alone I changed.

I’d definitely look at the Mini 4K, Mini 2 SE, etc upwards if you can. You will be disappointed if you want to fly even a little further than 100m

Presumably it goes into RTH mode and/or there’s a warning if it goes out of signal range? 100m is getting close to my eyesight’s ability to see the drone as required by the CAA’s VLOS requirement, so it might not be too much of an issue, but it’s certainly someting to keep in mind. I should prolly fly closer to home point anyway in case I need to land, and need to consider this in planning flights and filming.

There are quite a few differences between the 2 drones

Also @TheJohnster don’t fly it with your new Apple Watch on, they don’t like that.

Anything other than the most deserted of spots took the range (and video feed) to almost unusable.

It does, but a lot sooner than you might want it to.

DJI Mini 2 vs. Mavic Mini: The Best Mini Drone Ever - DJI Store.

Level 4 wind rating is going to be another issue, but it’s the best I can afford for now so I’ll have to live with it’s shortcomings and save up for something better next year. Wifi connection presumably means using the 2 SE RC won’t work.

Tx for the tip about the watch! Prolly best to turn the wifi on the phone off while I’m flying as well.

Your presumption is correct, it wont work

I’ve had the mini se with the wifi comms for a few years, not sure if it’s supposed to be better than the original mini though. Range varies massively, in the right location (usually open countryside) I’ve consistently got over 800m, in more built up areas I’ve had it limited to less than 100m. The biggest drawback for me is the camera, whilst video seems pretty good, photos are poor.

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Yeah in good conditions (open fields with no interference) it was ok. Built up has people’s WiFi etc etc which will badly affect it. As Chris said, watches, phones laptops etc can also interfere.

That’s why the occusync ones are far better and resilient. Think the OG was claimed 4km FCC mode range and all newer (mini 2, 4k and upwards) are 10km.plus.

It’s not just range to think about (10km is just silly), but you get a tree in between or a wall or some interference etc… 4km ideal conditions, but the airs fulla interference!

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Not doubting for a second that a smartwatch will interfere with it, but I can’t quite see how, since the watch/phone connection is BT, not wifi. But I’ll leave the watch home when I go flying all the same! Spilsby’s 800m in open country is a bit more encouraging and more than enough for my purposes. Name; My Little Drony.

Wondering if antenna extensions are worth the bother, or just cheapo rubbish.

Unless it’s a powered amplifier kit hard wired in to the controller it’s just cheap plastic gimmicky tat. Try a few searches, they’ve been discussed many times over the last seven years.

I won’t bother with them then. I don’t think there is such a thing as a powered amplifier kit, or at any rate I haven’t seen one on the 'zon. There are antennae for racing drones which I think might be something you fit to the drone rather than the RC, and I have no idea what improvement it would make.

I don’t know what a zon is, but there are a few threads on here with powered amplifier kits.

Not sure if you’d still be able to find one for the DJI Mavic Mini these days, but at a cost of several hundred quid for a decent antenna mod kit you’d be better off selling the Mavic Mini and buying a DJI Mini 4K.