Using a DJI Mini 2 in the wind

My mini 2 recorded 22.8mph last week.

No issues.

13m per second is a 30mph wind roughly. Thatā€™s an F6-7. In other words itā€™s a Gale!
Only thing worth flying in those winds is an F3F glider.

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Also - unless you know the exact wind where youā€™re at, using an anemometer or you have the skill to know. Itā€™s never usually what the app says. Or a good forecast. These apps are mostly effing rubbish :rofl:

@Diveuk Great tip on not using the RTH Iā€™d have never have thought of that!

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Yep, lots of peeps donā€™t realise that when you use RTH the drone automatically drops out of sport mode.

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Its not the get out of jail free card most think it is ;o)

No it certainly is not, it is an emergency button that gets grossly abused, once you hit that RTH button you have lost all control over the drone until you cancel it.

Assuming you had control of it when you hit RTH. As far as Iā€™m aware, itā€™s proven that in Sport mode, it covers less distance per 1% of battery than Normal mode. Fly must use Normal mode for itā€™s automated safety calcs so the best advice anyone can be given is to remain in full control in strong winds.

Or have good insurance.

[quote=ā€œDiveuk, post:11, topic:37185ā€]
.never use RTH as this will lower the maximum speed of your drone and always monitor the wind direction (as it can change in a blink) and your battery life. If the wind suddenly gets up and changes direction, lower altitude and fly it home in a crisscross pattern across the wind direction.
[/quote]. @Crackerjack Hence my previous postā€¦

Yesterday I went out for my first true flight since getting the mini back from repair. Thereā€™s a small man made loch along the road from me but itā€™s quite exposed and maybe 70 to 100mtrs above the height of my garden. Weather forecast was sustained 17mph winds with gusts doubling that. I neednā€™t have worried!!! The mini2 never batted an eyelid, even though some gusts were making me a little unsteady on my feet. I really canā€™t believe how well this little thing copes with the wind, itā€™s actually quite remarkable. Just thought Iā€™d post this for anyone asking the same question in the future.

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If itā€™s windy and Iā€™m adamant that I need to satisfy my craving to fly I have three planes I take with me.

  1. Durafly Excalibur with an aggressive pitch propellor.
  2. My little Eachine Nano-Skyhunter (4s high C rated batteries).
  3. The AXN Floater. The only time it flew backward was in a 30mph solid wind when the wings separated. After chasing the fluttering foam parts across the field all it needed was a fresh piece of sticky tape and it was back in the air, only for me to chase it again :face_with_head_bandage:
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I was just getting my facts & figures together for next weekā€™s flying and I thought I would look up official dji figures for wind speed, in case anyone asks me.

Mavic 2 they quote 29-38kph which is 18-23.6mph

Mini 2 they quote 8.5-10.5m/s which is 19-23.5mph

This is clearly not correct. Itā€™s obvious the Mavic 2 will withstand much more wind than the Mini 2. Anyone know what the real truth is? @ianinlondon ?

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What makes you think DJIā€™s own web site would be wrong @ash2020 :thinking:

The Mini 2 is a very capable drone, which is why so many Mini 1 owners upgraded and also why itā€™s the most popular drone with our members (more of our members own a Mini 2 than any other drone).

Check out Ianā€™s YouTube channel, he did a wind speed test with various drones just last month.

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Evidence ?

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Mass, momentum.

Also, flying them both in windy conditions. I have no proof, just empirical experience.

Thanks Rich, i will look at that.
Also, there doesnā€™t seem to be any consistency in the specs. One is m/s, the other is kph. They give max speed for the Mini 2 in all 3 modes but for the Mavic 2 only in S mode.

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And here is the very same wind test. Slight disclaimer in that the Mini 2 was actually in Normal Mode throughout instead of Sports Mode - Ian explains what was going on in a later video.

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Make sure you take off in ā€œNormal Modeā€ and not in ā€œSports modeā€

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Great mate thank you very much

I think I bought my Mini2 last February, and from then until now Iā€™ve only flown it twice, and that was from my driveway on calm days.

Yesterday I went to my flying club site and took the Mini2 with me. Down the runway, at ground level, the wind was averaging 20mph with gusts up to 28mph. As none of the others there were willing to put their models in the air I pretty much had carte blanch use of the flying area.

So I pointed the Mini2ā€™s nose into the wind and took off to an altitude of around 15ft. In Normal mode it was obvious by the sound of the motors that the Mini2 was having a bit of a battle but I didnā€™t see any wind warnings in the APP. Next I engaged Sport Mode and took it up to an altitude of 150ft and up wind to a distance of around 600metres. Not once did I see any wind warnings, not until I went into a hover. On the journey back I could see that the attitude of the Mini2 was flat even though it was at full throttle in Sports mode, this was an indication that the tail wind at 150ft was especially fierce.

Back into a hover over the runway at 150ft altitude, I could see that the Mini2 was being blown backward with the gusts but it quickly fought back and regained its position.

So now I did the unthinkable. I flew the Mini2 downwind about 300metres and engaged the Return To Home Function. Watching the telemetry screen I could see it was struggling, averaging a maximum speed of 2m/s into the wind, but it did come back to hover over the takeoff point. On landing it was about 6ft off from the takeoff point, but I still thought this was pretty good all things considered.

Iā€™m now viewing the Mini2 in a different light. Iā€™ll openly admit I originally purchased the Fly-More package as a spur of the moment thing. I purchased it on a miserable Sunday afternoon in February, when I was feeling particularly miserable and in need of some retail therapy. The 20% discount I got on the purchase was a sweetener, but since the purchase I was always asking myself why did I purchase it in the first place. Iā€™d actually come very close to selling it on many occasions. Which for me, selling one of my drones, is about as common as finding unicorn poop, meaning it has never happened.

After yesterdayā€™s unorthodox test I firmly believe the Mini2 is a definite keeper, at least while it remains on its legacy firmware and APP version.

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