I flew longer distance missions in mixed city terrain, water, parks lowrise houses. From outside and from the inside of the car. I wanted to check the signal range between Mavic Mini 1 while flying the same path.
On the first mission, I was standing outside and flew over the lake and marinas and water parks. 30m high against the strong wind. Mavic min 2 in sport mode was going only 35km/h (on the way back 57.6km/h), I got 3500m and the battery was 50% decided to go back, I didn't get a single weak signal message, the video feed was excellent quality, no chopines no pixelation etc, just perfect. clearly, MM2 is limited by the battery only in this scenario. Very impressive.
Mavic Mini 1 exactly the same path and height 30m: in sport mode, 21-22km/h against the wind with gust slowing me down to 18-19km/h , the first weak signal message showed at 1053m screen was getting occasionally pixelated and quality was not as good as MM2, weak signal message and RC interference message was with me at all time from 1053m until 2232m where I lost signal first time for 8 or so seconds, video feed recovered, but the screen was pixelated, I knew I don't have much longer and will lose signal again soon. at 2521m I have lost it again and did not recover, the drone went into auto RTH and I got my signal back at 2111m, I have lost the signal on the way back few more times. I guess it is usual behavior when the drone points towards you.
Second mission from the car.
First over the park and after about 1km into the lowrise area. I was in the car with windows closed, pointing both controllers as much as I could on to the bird. Both missions were at exactly 115m and across the same path.
Mavic mini 1 first weak signal message showed at 1350m video feed became very choppy, lost signal at 1440m but kept going, video recovered at 1590m, the second signal lose 1770m recovered at 1890m and permanently dropped at 1930m drone hit RTH, during entire flight after about 500-600m video feed was not great.
Mavic Mini 2
I received RC signal interference message at 1297m message disappeared at 1450m , the video feed was excellent. The second RC interference signal showed at 2100m, video was still very good at that point. I lost video feed at 3080m for few seconds but the video recovered, I kept going, at 3350m I lost video for few seconds, and the video was getting quite choppy, I received a low battery message and since I was way further than I wanted to be, I decided to abort and come back. I could probably hit 3500m but didn't want to risk it.
I was very impressed, even my MPP didn't go that far in this area in the past, the range is phenomenal, especially considering I was inside of the car at all times.
Having said that, MM distance is nothing to complain about it, both drones are more than capable and have more range than you would ever be able to use when flying VLOS, especially if you are just starting.
Before someone points out about distance etc. it was all in the name of science so you don't have to do it, I would still not recommend going further than 200-300m , while MM2 can take slightly bigger wind, you need to be able to switch to sport mode before it will drift away, also if you fly with the wind far enough, you will never come back. A stronger signal has its pros but also cons for first-time fliers.
Camera and video quality is slightly better, you will not see the difference on Instagram, but it will show on the big screen, there is slightly more detail, also higher ISO is more usable. A drone hovers more stable than MM1 if you are into time lapsing especially at night (before dusk) MM2 is way better than MM1. The minimum time interval with DNG is 5s and 2s with just JPEGs.
If you are just taking a few snaps for Instagram from new cool drone angle, MM1 is probably more than you need, save yourself money and get MM1. If you are into some more involved photography and for whatever reason limited by 249g weight rules, this is the drone to buy, just waiting for litchi or dronelink to implement waypoints.
On the first mission, I was standing outside and flew over the lake and marinas and water parks. 30m high against the strong wind. Mavic min 2 in sport mode was going only 35km/h (on the way back 57.6km/h), I got 3500m and the battery was 50% decided to go back, I didn't get a single weak signal message, the video feed was excellent quality, no chopines no pixelation etc, just perfect. clearly, MM2 is limited by the battery only in this scenario. Very impressive.
Mavic Mini 1 exactly the same path and height 30m: in sport mode, 21-22km/h against the wind with gust slowing me down to 18-19km/h , the first weak signal message showed at 1053m screen was getting occasionally pixelated and quality was not as good as MM2, weak signal message and RC interference message was with me at all time from 1053m until 2232m where I lost signal first time for 8 or so seconds, video feed recovered, but the screen was pixelated, I knew I don't have much longer and will lose signal again soon. at 2521m I have lost it again and did not recover, the drone went into auto RTH and I got my signal back at 2111m, I have lost the signal on the way back few more times. I guess it is usual behavior when the drone points towards you.
Second mission from the car.
First over the park and after about 1km into the lowrise area. I was in the car with windows closed, pointing both controllers as much as I could on to the bird. Both missions were at exactly 115m and across the same path.
Mavic mini 1 first weak signal message showed at 1350m video feed became very choppy, lost signal at 1440m but kept going, video recovered at 1590m, the second signal lose 1770m recovered at 1890m and permanently dropped at 1930m drone hit RTH, during entire flight after about 500-600m video feed was not great.
Mavic Mini 2
I received RC signal interference message at 1297m message disappeared at 1450m , the video feed was excellent. The second RC interference signal showed at 2100m, video was still very good at that point. I lost video feed at 3080m for few seconds but the video recovered, I kept going, at 3350m I lost video for few seconds, and the video was getting quite choppy, I received a low battery message and since I was way further than I wanted to be, I decided to abort and come back. I could probably hit 3500m but didn't want to risk it.
I was very impressed, even my MPP didn't go that far in this area in the past, the range is phenomenal, especially considering I was inside of the car at all times.
Having said that, MM distance is nothing to complain about it, both drones are more than capable and have more range than you would ever be able to use when flying VLOS, especially if you are just starting.
Before someone points out about distance etc. it was all in the name of science so you don't have to do it, I would still not recommend going further than 200-300m , while MM2 can take slightly bigger wind, you need to be able to switch to sport mode before it will drift away, also if you fly with the wind far enough, you will never come back. A stronger signal has its pros but also cons for first-time fliers.
Camera and video quality is slightly better, you will not see the difference on Instagram, but it will show on the big screen, there is slightly more detail, also higher ISO is more usable. A drone hovers more stable than MM1 if you are into time lapsing especially at night (before dusk) MM2 is way better than MM1. The minimum time interval with DNG is 5s and 2s with just JPEGs.
If you are just taking a few snaps for Instagram from new cool drone angle, MM1 is probably more than you need, save yourself money and get MM1. If you are into some more involved photography and for whatever reason limited by 249g weight rules, this is the drone to buy, just waiting for litchi or dronelink to implement waypoints.
