How many people got a new Mavic Mini today and already crashed?

[caplanner]

I'll be the first to raise my hand. I got my new drone today and was excited to get out and fly. It's my first drone and we had perfect weather, mid 60's and no wind. Prior to flying, I've been watching countless youtube videos on the mini. I knew to go slow and low. I went through a couple of batteries practicing at my home. Feeling quite confident in my limited ability I walked up the street to a neighbor's house and launched with a fresh battery. All was going well as I flew around his house capturing photos of his house at different angles. I was in the back yard at about 30 feet in C mode. I backed up to get a little wider shot. There was a row of trees across the back property line. No problem, I was watching the drone and not my screen as I backed up slowly with what looked like 20 to 30 feet between the mini and the trees and to my horror, it clipped a branch fell out of the tree onto the grass. No real damage other than some grass stain. The lesson I came away with is my depth perception sucks. I was about 80 feet from the trees I was looking straight at it and felt it was safe up to that point. Other than that snafu, I really like the drone. Very stable and easy to fly. I've got much to learn. OK, I can take the arrows now.

Dennis

I’ve had the mini a couple of weeks now I guess. Christmas Eve I Extended my distance to 1,400 feet and took off.

Started to lose sight of it, got nervous, so started to bring it back by bringing it straight back in reverse - except I’m pulling back on the left stick... imagine my surprise when I hear “landing”.

panic ensues, jump in the car and drive to end of dirt road. No signal so “find my drone” not working. Walk up and down the fields and finding nothing. Look at the flight map, straight line up the road but nothing.

finally looking at my log I see satellite view and see that drone was less than half way to where I thought it was. Talk about bad depth perception!

found drone landed nicely on a pile of rocks with no damage at all. Probably would never have found it otherwise because map didn’t have dirt roads on it.

phew! Learned a couple of lessons with that one....

 

[Deleted member 93449]

I apologize....I thought this was the Mavic FlyAway and Loss Forum. There are many solid and smart people who try and assist pilots, old or new by "spending too much time" online. Human nature is not to use time praising a product that seems to behave as advertised. But when something goes wrong, they will not admit a mistake...and just after Xmas, accidents are comedy gold. When my neighbors kid burst outside, "pushed the button", I was reminded how ATTI mode can hurt, not my neighbor . If I can take it in stride, you can let some constructive advice ride....

Wow, that looks like it hurt!

 

[Saigondroner]

But they will find us.
We always do

IMHO, it is 3 things:

1. DJI markets all their product lines as far too easy to fly in the places that people will go fly i.e. in a dark cave with a waterfall.

2. As prices drop, more and more buyers join in purchasing "Mavics" with fewer & fewer features, and failsafes.

3. The 249g Mini is DJI's attempt to save the UAV hobby while they can. It is underpowered, very susceptible to head/crosswinds, and its price point captures buyers desiring a Mav Pro for years, and are not interested in checking weather patterns, FAA registrations, Sat counts, KPI indexes, etc. DJI knows it, so the MM has it 'own' special app.

YMMV mate...

 

[Saigondroner]

I’ve had the mini a couple of weeks now I guess. Christmas Eve I Extended my distance to 1,400 feet and took off.

Started to lose sight of it, got nervous, so started to bring it back by bringing it straight back in reverse - except I’m pulling back on the left stick... imagine my surprise when I hear “landing”.

panic ensues, jump in the car and drive to end of dirt road. No signal so “find my drone” not working. Walk up and down the fields and finding nothing. Look at the flight map, straight line up the road but nothing.

finally looking at my log I see satellite view and see that drone was less than half way to where I thought it was. Talk about bad depth perception!

found drone landed nicely on a pile of rocks with no damage at all. Probably would never have found it otherwise because map didn’t have dirt roads on it.

phew! Learned a couple of lessons with that one....

Very nice job indeed! There is nothing worse than the sick panic feeling thinking you're having a flyaway. Keeping a MM in sight must be tough; I went up to 550m today, with a Mav Air, and landed with 4% battery. I thought I was going to have to catch it....

Try and keep sight on the bird. Always double check your homepoint being recorded, and the RTH altitude is set where you want it to be. And study how RTH operates...if you're nervous, and RTH starts going up (or worse)...that sick feeling can get bad. Safe flying!!!

 

[Saigondroner]

Wow, that looks like it hurt!

Meh, I went and got my old Phantom 2 Original....gave that kid a haircut he'll never forget :-D (joking)

Yes, it really did hurt, plus one must heed possible infections in the tropics, with that hassle. The boy was shaken seeing all the blood...so his dad took him home...next day, we met up, and I taught him pre-flight stuff.


That was a Mavic Air...sheesh

I’ve had the mini a couple of weeks now I guess. Christmas Eve I Extended my distance to 1,400 feet and took off.

Started to lose sight of it, got nervous, so started to bring it back by bringing it straight back in reverse - except I’m pulling back on the left stick... imagine my surprise when I hear “landing”.

panic ensues, jump in the car and drive to end of dirt road. No signal so “find my drone” not working. Walk up and down the fields and finding nothing. Look at the flight map, straight line up the road but nothing.

finally looking at my log I see satellite view and see that drone was less than half way to where I thought it was. Talk about bad depth perception!

found drone landed nicely on a pile of rocks with no damage at all. Probably would never have found it otherwise because map didn’t have dirt roads on it.

phew! Learned a couple of lessons with that one....

FWIW, my takeways today were don't go higher than necessary. I had a spotter 1km away, with binocs..he couldn't find the drone. It is a very different environment above 150m....and trust the failsafe features. My panic moment today was thinking sport mode will descend faster LOL!....I fought the urge, and just let RTH do its job.

 

[Saigondroner]

Established procedures and common sense will prevail...unless the hardware (or software) is corrupted...then all bets are off.

I really do not think the MM was designed to demand (or mention) preflight SOP, UAV Forecasts, Airdata records, and Phantomhelp decoding for most buyers....this forum being excepted. I've been given the batteries & controllers of 5-6 Sparks, by tourists who just said "it flew away into the sea". None would allow me to touch their mobiles for the logs...casual MM users won't be better...:-(

 

[Capt KO]

You will like it. Not noisy like the air, flys longer, and takes pretty good pics.
called mine pocket pete.

I’ve tried to name mine but I keep yelling the same three things at it: Stop!, Stay!, Oh NO! .......Maybe I’ll call it Dog

Other words I can’t mention without censorship

 

[dfwblah]

Hi,

Why not asking with a more positive way: how many lucky people got a new Mavic Mini and already enjoy it, flying so easily and given such good and sharp photos and videos ?

Don't be fool, most of the people that are really happy with their Mavic Mini don't spend too much time on blog or forum!

Lighten up, Francis.

 

[hiflyer201]

"It’s a joke I made a couple years ago. It’s really mavic with cages and a GoPro dropping from
The tree."
Lapeer...that is one beautiful tree...Looks like something I would have been thrown out of the house for showing up with.. love your sense of humor!

 

[hiflyer201]

"Raised up for the power lines I saw at 2:00 but went right through the middle at 2:07"

PM...that video didn't need that added thrill....It was Super without it..Thanks for sharing!

 

[Mac Man]

My Mini WAS under the tree, but I kinda cheated and bought a "throw-away" 140g mini-clone while I waited for Mavic to confirm shipping.

Same here! Knowing I was getting a Mavic Mini for Christmas, I bought a “toy” drone the first of November. It was completely manual. Just hovering took constant stick control. I practiced various drills flying boxes, circles, and figure 8s with the drone facing away, toward me, and in the direction of travel. Flying the MM yesterday was pure joy. Having an AC that holds in place when you let go of the sticks was heaven. I highly recommend learning to fly an inexpensive drone first. It will give you skills that kick in when you get in trouble.

 

[Mac Man]

I apologize....I thought this was the Mavic FlyAway and Loss Forum. There are many solid and smart people who try and assist pilots, old or new by "spending too much time" online. Human nature is not to use time praising a product that seems to behave as advertised. But when something goes wrong, they will not admit a mistake...and just after Xmas, accidents are comedy gold. When my neighbors kid burst outside, "pushed the button", I was reminded how ATTI mode can hurt, not my neighbor . If I can take it in stride, you can let some constructive advice ride....

That looks painful. A great reminder that these are not toys.

 

[Flash Grundelore]

Yeah. I had basically no probz in the transition because I used my time with the little one which was far more finicky than the MM. I’m trying to take it really slow as I gain coordination, confidence, and experience, but it’s hard because I keep realizing what I MIGHT be able to do down the road.

 

[tjie777]

Absolutely loving mine! I'm really impressed by this machine for the money.

 

[t76turbo]

Ok, I''ll admit I did. Got the MM for Christmas and took it out today for the maiden flight. Have read LOTS and LOTS and watched lots of videos.

To boil my story down I did great for 99.999% of my outing. Kept it slow and didnt go to high. Just to get used to everything. But got a little too close to my house and got turned around with what was forward and back as the drone was turned the opposite way I thought. So I hit a limb which bounced it into my house and on the ground. No damage other than a couple scuffs on the propellers. Glad I bought the fly more combo so I have an extra set. But I definitely will be buying another couple sets just in case. Guess I should have put the guards on for the first flight!


Are the propeller sets still on backorder??? If so, anyone know where to get some now???

 

[Thanev]

Went to the gym today at 5 A.M.Was expecting the Mini to arrive today.It didn't and I was exhausted so I crashed.

 

[dfwblah]

Ok, I''ll admit I did. Got the MM for Christmas and took it out today for the maiden flight. Have read LOTS and LOTS and watched lots of videos.

To boil my story down I did great for 99.999% of my outing. Kept it slow and didnt go to high. Just to get used to everything. But got a little too close to my house and got turned around with what was forward and back as the drone was turned the opposite way I thought. So I hit a limb which bounced it into my house and on the ground. No damage other than a couple scuffs on the propellers. Glad I bought the fly more combo so I have an extra set. But I definitely will be buying another couple sets just in case. Guess I should have put the guards on for the first flight!


Are the propeller sets still on backorder??? If so, anyone know where to get some now???

I signed up my props and orderEd replacements on Amazon that arrived in a couple of days and work fine.

 

[Thomas B]

Ok, I''ll admit I did. Got the MM for Christmas and took it out today for the maiden flight. Have read LOTS and LOTS and watched lots of videos.

To boil my story down I did great for 99.999% of my outing. Kept it slow and didnt go to high. Just to get used to everything. But got a little too close to my house and got turned around with what was forward and back as the drone was turned the opposite way I thought. So I hit a limb which bounced it into my house and on the ground. No damage other than a couple scuffs on the propellers. Glad I bought the fly more combo so I have an extra set. But I definitely will be buying another couple sets just in case. Guess I should have put the guards on for the first flight!


Are the propeller sets still on backorder??? If so, anyone know where to get some now???

yep it’s always that 0.01% of the time that gets most drones.
At least you understand now that reading and looking at YouTube is not a substitute for practicing in a wide open area, especially until the orientation of the drone is easily determined and both controls and expected results of using them are intuitive.

Be sure and read the info here on prop replacement for the MM... not completely straight forward.

 

[LaaLaa]

First flight outside today and took it very steady after calibrations.

Although there was little wind, it did seem to move a little more than I expected however the camera was stable and it never looked as though it was having trouble.

GPS took a longer than my MP to lock on but maybe that was because it was it's first flight as after a 15 seconds in the air and 3m up all was OK. I tried the flight modes and other basic movements and was impressed. Touch screen operations are really simple and intuitive which makes things easy.

Other thoughts - battery low warning came up earlier than expected given remaining flight time on display; it really is low to the ground so I'll need to get used to hand launching / landing; props put up a good fight when trying to put it back in the case.

Overall I'm very happy.

 

[JSM]

I couldn't take all the suspense and drama waiting to crash mine, so I just kicked her into S mode, full speed ascent, started to read the manual. No pilot error, no HW failure. Logs not available. Video shortened for brevity.

(I am joking, BTW)

Seriously, I hope pilots, both experienced and new, have lots of safe and fun flying. Read the manual 1st, please.....the MM is VERY small, and nothing like other DJI birds. Happy holidays

Had mine for a couple of months, lots of flying in different conditions and no problems as yet however RTH can be a little off / unpredictable and have to tie a piece of string on my finger to remind me that there is no OA sensors !!!!!