What is the lowest temp to fly Mavic without problems?

Stringfellow-Hawke · Mar 18, 2017

Not that i'm looking to fly in 10 degrees, but what is an acceptable low end threshold to fly in??
40 degrees? 30 degrees? When would it start to actually affect flight, battery, IMU, etc??

kvn_roberts · Mar 18, 2017

Stringfellow-Hawke said:
Not that i'm looking to fly in 10 degrees, but what is an acceptable low end threshold to fly in??
40 degrees? 30 degrees? When would it start to actually affect flight, battery, IMU, etc??

The lowest I have flown in is about 30* weather and did not notice any decrease in battery life. I did keep the batteries in my bag until ready to use to keep them warmer. I have also flown in fairly windy conditions (20-25mph) in about 36* weather with no issues besides my hands going numb. There is some other threads on here about people flying in like -10* weather and not reporting any issues. I try to stay around what DJI recommends that way if something goes wrong they hopefully won't hassle me.

Randy · Mar 18, 2017

I've flown as low as 10 degrees for short periods, always make sure the battery is good and warm or you'll get the low battery warning fairly quickly.

Robert Mitchell · Mar 18, 2017

I've flown in 5 degrees F for complete battery cycles with no notice of decrease in performance or time, except my phone battery quit. Started with warm equipment from within car. Keep in mind that once flying, the temperature of the battery and the Mavic will tend to rise. This was in dry clear conditions, The biggest concern might be prop icing in humid, misty, or foggy below freezing temps, or DJI not covering a malfunction as their specs quote 32 degrees F and up.

AlanTheBeast · Mar 18, 2017

I've flown it down to -8°C. It would not focus properly.

At -6°C it would focus properly most of the time. Above that no issue.

I would sometimes get cold battery warnings on the 2nd and 3rd batt that were in the car, but cooling I suppose.

The spec of the bird is 0°C and up, but the book mentions flying down to -10°C. So that seems to be DJI's tolerance zone.

Other than that, if it's breezy your hands freeze pretty quick so you need thin, warm gloves that have "touch screen" tips built in. I use mitts that have a detachable finger section. Not ideal.

Boots. Wool socks. Tuque. Landing pad (plywood is great) to keep it off of the snow or mud or grit or sand.

Red_Raven · Mar 19, 2017

I'm located in Iceland so flying cold is my deal. I gave up at -10 not long ago because I had focus problems that I blamed on the cold. Other than that I've not had problems with cold except for my f**** fingers, I've felt like they would fall off. And the pain when you get back into heat is unbearable. I bought myself a good leather gloves with touch features. Probably the nearest I've got to buy a happiness. [emoji16]

I keep the battery's as close to my balls as possible, nice and warm.... [emoji23]

Edit : all numbers I write are in Celsius or metric

Red_Raven · Mar 19, 2017

And one thing I forgot, in really cold flights I've gotten battery error message when pushing the limits in sports mode, really unpleasant pop-up message!

Darryl · Mar 19, 2017

I've flown in-30°c in Canada for 15 min flights at a time without issues. Just keep batteries warm and climatize the drone before flight. No jittery video.

Rennsport · Mar 19, 2017

If the battery is warm, Mavic has no problem with the cold. Your fingers will fail before Mavic.

misskimo · Mar 19, 2017

Last 2 nights I been flying here in the Arctic . -18F was my coldest to fly in. I did get one battery cold warning out of 15 flights so far.
Been checking out night shots
.8 sec. iso 400. Yep. Focus is hard to get. Out of 20 shot. Maybe 2 pictures was ok.
Cant even put it in M mode on infinity and get a clear picture.
Last week took a vid during the day. Hazy and kinda white out. Wouldn't focus for crap. In and out the whole flight. Went out 2200 m. In course Lock mode. 90% of my flights was from inside my warm car.
I was thinking about recalibrating the camera but since others is posting below 6C
Having problems maybe I wont now.

misskimo · Mar 19, 2017

Oh. In cold weather. Be careful in sport mode. They designed this bird in 75°f environment . Cold dense air might amp the motor in sport mode. First thing I got in sport mode. High amp warning. Leave it in P mode. Less amps means no problems.
I also have a rule with mine now. 2/3rd of a battery drain at landing.
18 years of flying big electric helis sure gave me insight of the limits of batteries.
Warm battery means safe flight. And yes. They should heat up a tad while discharging.
In a hover was where I got my warning of a cold battery.

AlanTheBeast · Mar 19, 2017

svavar said:
Edit : all numbers I write are in Celsius or metric

Is there some other kind?

Filmscum · Mar 19, 2017

I have flown in temps below zero many times, with several flights at minus 20F and had no issues other than freezing fingers and battery on iPad mini 4 dropping fast. As many have said just keep your Mavic batts warm. I have gotten the cold battery warning but haven't noticed any negative side effects from continuing to fly until they're warm.

Red_Raven · Mar 19, 2017

AlanTheBeast said:
Is there some other kind?

Nope, I've heard of some weird tribe somwhere north in America using some ruinical nonsense. We all should just act normal like we didn't see it when they post it.

AlanTheBeast · Mar 19, 2017

svavar said:
Nope, I've heard of some weird tribe somwhere north in America using some ruinical nonsense. We all should just act normal like we didn't see it when they post it.

Agreed! Note that Canada is metric - with some lingering runic dimensions due to economic exchange with the southern tribes.

AlanTheBeast · Mar 19, 2017

misskimo said:
Oh. In cold weather. Be careful in sport mode. They designed this bird in 75°f environment . Cold dense air might amp the motor in sport mode. First thing I got in sport mode. High amp warning. Leave it in P mode. Less amps means no problems.
I also have a rule with mine now. 2/3rd of a battery drain at landing.
18 years of flying big electric helis sure gave me insight of the limits of batteries.
Warm battery means safe flight. And yes. They should heat up a tad while discharging.
In a hover was where I got my warning of a cold battery.

Dense air only means the RPM doesn't have to be as high to exert the same amount of work. The drone should see the same overall power output however for hover; higher output for a given true airspeed ( or lower true airspeed for a given amount of power).

armoredsaint · Mar 19, 2017

put on the clear cover too

bvsolutions · Mar 19, 2017

I have flown extensively at -20C. With the gimbal cover on, I have not noticed any issues with the mavic, or controller. The battery on the iPhone and iPad need heat or they will drain in seconds. I use "hand warmer" pads taped by o the iPhone to solve the heat issue.