How durable is the Mavic Mini?

[twobob]

Wondering how durable the Mini is? I'm a newbie and am likely to have a few bumps or emergency landings. Are the Mavic MIni's durable or rubbish?

 

[scro]

Fairly durable. I crashed mine into a tree at high speed, got it stuck there for 4 weeks in the wind and rain, and eventually managed to poke/shake it down with the aid of a very long pole. It then dropped to the ground from about 15m height. After getting it home and checking it over all I needed to do was put a new battery in and it was up and flying as if nothing had happened.

 

[scro]

If you fly into a wall or it drops onto concrete, rock or something unforgiving then you're more likely to cause damage. The main bits that tend to break are the gimbal and the arms. Props are also a bit fragile but easily replaceable, and you get spares.

Having said that, the mavics are so easy to control you need to be doing something silly, daring or poorly thought out to get into trouble. Start in a wide open space and get a feel for how the drone flies and gradually work up to more complex flights.

 

[boblui]

 

[KB4MTO]

As fragile as it appears, I find it to be very durable. Hard landings are very difficult to do unless you do an emergency motor stop. But I have done some serious weed-eating on low field passes, gotten it tangled up in vines to the point I had to cut it out, and hit a tree at max speed in sport mode. After all of this, my mini flies as good as it did on day one.

This isn't saying I fly like this all of the time, I have been flying mine for over a year and these incidents happened as I was getting used to the drone. I haven't had an incident with mine for about 9 months. But for normal use, I am very impressed with the quality of the mini, especially for the price.

 

[icecoldgin]

One time, the Mini nicked the leaves of a coconut tree. Worse, it was over a swimming pool.

It swayed in anger and altitude went down but it immediately regained control and stabilized itself.

No damages to the props or the any part of the body. I am still using the same props to this day.

Pretty tough little bugger

 

[gemniii]

I fly with prop guards ALL the time. I'm in a fairly dense section of hardwood forest. I have crashed against the side of my brick house, flown into trees, utility wires, roofs.
No damage at all. Same props.
Note I started flying inside with the guards on and through cautious testing found I could run directly into a wall so hard it flipped the mini and no damage.

 

[hiflyer201]

Like Gemniii says..leave the prop guards on until you learn you have lousy depth perception (we all have) and you acquire a little air sense and the ability to fly and stop flying. (neutralize)

 

[Advocate]

Fairly durable. I crashed mine into a tree at high speed, got it stuck there for 4 weeks in the wind and rain, and eventually managed to poke/shake it down with the aid of a very long pole. It then dropped to the ground from about 15m height. After getting it home and checking it over all I needed to do was put a new battery in and it was up and flying as if nothing had happened.

If that story doesn’t answer the question i dont know what will. Lol!

 

[dap455]

This little thing is incredibly durable, I misjudged the height of the trees in my front yard and crashed into the very top of the tree (50ft up). The Mini thrashed through the tree branches and fell to the ground and not one scratch. I have flown several times after with absolutely no ill effects, yes I got lucky but was very surprised the Mini could survive that kind of crash without any damage.

 

[zeusfl]

Completely agree. Is very impressive how durable is. Very nice little machine.

 

[jwp721]

Go ahead and buy a few sets of propellers would be my first advice.

If/when you survive your first crash you will probably find that props are damaged and need replacing. So far I have had a few bumps of which a handful required a change of props, but nothing any worse than that.

 

[Deleted member 103366]

It seems fairly tough but I think to some extent it depends on luck.
My mini has survived two treeings, that required its rescue, and an encounter with a hedge followed by a 7ish ft drop, but there is a recent thread in here where a 2-3 ft drop snapped an arm.

 

[float]

I was trying to land my mini in the house through a window and it caught the window edge. It fell from the second story flat on its back on concrete. It still works like new.

 

[Deleted member 93449]

I saw the video boblui posted a while back and was shocked at how much punishment the little Mini could absorb and keep flying. It seems as drones get heavier the kinetic energy the have when flying works again them surviving the same types of crash test.

 

[KB4MTO]

I clipped a tree at full speed in sport mode and all it did was crack 2 blades. I thought for sure it broke an arm but it didn't. I am surprised at just how rugged this little thing is.