Strong wind conditions magic pro vs phantom 4

[Spy_Corfu]

i have a phantom 4 over a year now and for about a month also a mavic pro and had a chance to compare them while flying in strong wind conditions.
For sure the phantom 4 with its more powerful motors and heavier built can withstand more violent wind conditions. At one time it was impossible for me to fly back head on the wind even in sport mode so basically i used sailing boat techniques and did zig zags at low altitude and gradually move towards me..
it was very nerve wrecking when i found out that the phantom 4 which was over the sea would not return back even at full speed!
With the mavic pro i get the impression that because its much lighter and the motors are not so powerful that it cannot handle strong winds so well.
There is also this dreaded "strong wind" message that i keep getting on the remote controller which makes things more worrying.
Any ideas if there is a wind speed sensor or it just calculates throttle vs ground speed to see if the mavic is actually moving?
I use my drones with Litchi and send them at very long distances .. over 10km distance .. without any radio or image connection .. no need to as with litchi the return to home when connection is lost is disabled (but still returns home when the mission ends or not enough battery) so i am worried about the mavics performance with windy conditions over the phantom 4.

 

[Richard]

i have a phantom 4 over a year now and for about a month also a mavic pro and had a chance to compare them while flying in strong wind conditions.
For sure the phantom 4 with its more powerful motors and heavier built can withstand more violent wind conditions. At one time it was impossible for me to fly back head on the wind even in sport mode so basically i used sailing boat techniques and did zig zags at low altitude and gradually move towards me..
it was very nerve wrecking when i found out that the phantom 4 which was over the sea would not return back even at full speed!
With the mavic pro i get the impression that because its much lighter and the motors are not so powerful that it cannot handle strong winds so well.
There is also this dreaded "strong wind" message that i keep getting on the remote controller which makes things more worrying.
Any ideas if there is a wind speed sensor or it just calculates throttle vs ground speed to see if the mavic is actually moving?
I use my drones with Litchi and send them at very long distances .. over 10km distance .. without any radio or image connection .. no need to as with litchi the return to home when connection is lost is disabled (but still returns home when the mission ends or not enough battery) so i am worried about the mavics performance with windy conditions over the phantom 4.

Did a comparison last Saturday with my P4 and Mavic.

Plotted a more or less rectangular course 43,000' long with the FPV Camera App.

The long legs were approx. 2000' in wind direction and the short ones aprox. 300'. It was just one lap after the other until the approx. 43,000' were reached (mission end).
Hight was 100' at a set max. speed of 33mph, measured wind speed at ground was steady 16mph (flat area close to the beach).
Hovered both drones before mission start. P4 started the mission first and one minute after the Mavic.
Flying a lot in winds between 15 and 25mph I new that the P4 had a better "punch" flying into the wind so it left first to avoid any collision as both drones flew exactly the same mission, 1 minute apart.
The results:

Mavic: SRTH after 21:43 minutes duration, distance flown 37,862'. Top speed 33.9mph, average speed 20.0mph, battery 10% at touch down.

P4: finished mission after 16:51 minutes and 42176'. Top speed 34.6mph, average speed 28.3 mph battery 14% at touch dow.

Results taken from FPV Camera Flight Logs

I like the Mavic a lot and it is my favorit drone at the moment. Flying in high winds is no issue as you have sport mode if it gets tight and gimbal handels it well as long as turbulence is not to strong which can happen at higher wind speeds depending on terraine and objects around.

But its portability combined with features and performance beats all my other quads hands down.

For long range missiones however I prefer the P4 with its solid performance and speed in higher winds.

 

[Wacker2611]

Yes, the Mavics definitely not quite as capable in windy conditions, but imo still acceptable bearing in mind its size and weight etc.


Sent from my iPad using MavicPilots

 

[Richard]

Did a comparison last Saturday with my P4 and Mavic.

Plotted a more or less rectangular course 43,000' long with the FPV Camera App.

The long legs were approx. 2000' in wind direction and the short ones aprox. 300'. It was just one lap after the other until the approx. 43,000' were reached (mission end).
Hight was 100' at a set max. speed of 33mph, measured wind speed at ground was steady 16mph (flat area close to the beach).
Hovered both drones before mission start. P4 started the mission first and one minute after the Mavic.
Flying a lot in winds between 15 and 25mph I new that the P4 had a better "punch" flying into the wind so it left first to avoid any collision as both drones flew exactly the same mission, 1 minute apart.
The results:

Mavic: SRTH after 21:43 minutes duration, distance flown 37,862'. Top speed 33.9mph, average speed 20.0mph, battery 10% at touch down.

P4: finished mission after 16:51 minutes and 42176'. Top speed 34.6mph, average speed 28.3 mph battery 14% at touch dow.

Results taken from FPV Camera Flight Logs

I like the Mavic a lot and it is my favorit drone at the moment. Flying in high winds is no issue as you have sport mode if it gets tight and gimbal handels it well as long as turbulence is not to strong which can happen at higher wind speeds depending on terraine and objects around.

But its portability combined with features and performance beats all my other quads hands down.

For long range missiones however I prefer the P4 with its solid performance and speed in higher winds.

Compared yesterday P4 and Mavic again flying simultanious identical FPV Camera missions with 15' hight difference to avoid possible crash.
Wind at take-off 8mph but higher at 100ft with some downdraft as I flew close to a hill range.
Looking at the flight logs the P4 accelerates much faster out of the corners and the Mavic actually never reached set max. speed even down wind, suppose that the cause was the constant down draft. The faster time was the P4.
The P4 was brand new just had a 5 min test flight before starting the mission. The blue sections indicate loss of radio signal. Flew afterwards 2 km out manually with no issues. Have to find out today hat happend there as I did not realize it until I looked at the flight logs at home.

 

[Richard]

View attachment 4238 View attachment 4239 View attachment 4238 View attachment 4239 View attachment 4238 View attachment 4239


Compared yesterday P4 and Mavic again flying simultanious identical FPV Camera missions with 15' hight difference to avoid possible crash.
Wind at take-off 8mph but higher at 100ft with some downdraft as I flew close to a hill range.
Looking at the flight logs the P4 accelerates much faster out of the corners and the Mavic actually never reached set max. speed even down wind, suppose that the cause was the constant down draft. The faster time was the P4.
The P4 was brand new just had a 5 min test flight before starting the mission. The blue sections indicate loss of radio signal. Flew afterwards 2 km out manually with no issues. Have to find out today hat happend there as I did not realize it until I looked at the flight logs at home.

BTW, both batteries were at 94% at mission start