Is the mini 3 more sencitive for wind than other drones?

[alexjo55]

I love my mini 3, but one of the things i really hate is that it is affected by the wind so much.
I have only had a phantom 3 before so i dont know how sensitive other drones are, but i think the mini 3 is very sensitive for wind.
Even if its not that strong wind, it drifts, and even worse, having headwind and the drone goes in like 3m/s.

I used ton put it in sport mode and then i can fly a bit faster, but still slow.

Been looking to by some other drone, maybe mavic 3.
It weighs about 3 times as the mini 3, but i have no idea if it can handle the wind better just by that reason, or if its the motors that are more powerful.

1. is the mini 3 more sensitive for wind than other drones?
2. why?
3. Can you do anything about it? Like put some extra weight on it or something?

 

[old man mavic]

@alexjo55 ,any sub 250g drone is going to be more susceptible to wind
not only because of its weight ,but also for the amount of thrust ,that the small motors and props can provide
once you go into Air 3 ,or above territory,then not just the weight, but also the the power that a 4s battery can provide ,comes into play
given the Minis power to weight ratio it does do a good job ,just adding more weight to the mini 3, would impact considerably on its flight performance, and flight time, to no real advantage
and could even be detrimental to the motors and ESCs ,as they would be working harder to keep the drone in the air

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

At a guess the mini 3 series will be the least sensitive of the 3 mini series drones, with the Mavic Mini probably being the worst.
Drones fly faster by changing their pitch and or roll, you may find that the find that, within a given flight mode, DJI have a variable maximum airspeed/pitch in place that is affected by the pitch of the gimbal. If so this is intended to try and keep the gimbal from hitting the hard stops at the limits of its travel.

Aside from anything else additional mass might put the drone into a different regulation category.

 

[scro]

Light drones such as the mini3 tend to noticably twitch and jitter in wind more than their heavier counterparts. This is due to their low inertia, and the fact that wind tends to be turbulent near the ground where the drone is close enough to you to see such twitchiness. A good analogue of this is how "bouncy" a 4 seater aircraft is compared to a large airliner when coming in to land. Both aircraft can land successfully, but the lighter aircraft gets buffeted more by the same wind. For comparison a phantom 3 is nearly 5 times heavier than a Mini3. The Mini 3P has a fair bit of spare thrust so adding some weight to it (eg use a Plus battery, or strap some weight onto it) will make it less twitchy in the wind (due to increased inertia) but this won't make it any better at flying into a headwind, and if you add too much it could end up hindering it. However, the extra weight will not make it any better at holding position, and the gimbal is more than capable of smoothing out the twitchiness, so this extra weight will really only make it look like it's fighting the wind better, while draining the battery faster.

Ability to fly into wind is not dependent on drone weight, but rather the maximum airspeed the drone is capable of. A lightweight racing quad will make better headway into wind than an Inspire 2. In anything more than a very light breeze all drones will see a reduction in groundspeed when flying into a headwind.

If you are seeing your mini 3 drift noticeably in wind then there is either a problem with your drone or you are trying to fly in very windy conditions (ie winds peaking at more than 16m/s). The Air 3 and Mavic 3 both have higher max speeds than the Mini 3, so will be able to make better headway into any given wind. In all cases I'm referring to S-mode speeds, as that is the best mode to use in windy conditions, since it allows the drone to achieve maximum airspeed.

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

This is due to their low inertia,.................

 

[msinger]

Been looking to by some other drone, maybe mavic 3.
It weighs about 3 times as the mini 3, but i have no idea if it can handle the wind better just by that reason, or if its the motors that are more powerful.

Yes, there is a rather large difference between those drones. The top speed is 35 MPH (Mini 3) vs. 46 MPH (Mavic 3).

 

[PHZ]

Light drones such as the mini3 tend to noticably twitch and jitter in wind more than their heavier counterparts. This is due to their low inertia, and the fact that wind tends to be turbulent near the ground where the drone is close enough to you to see such twitchiness. A good analogue of this is how "bouncy" a 4 seater aircraft is compared to a large airliner when coming in to land. Both aircraft can land successfully, but the lighter aircraft gets buffeted more by the same wind. For comparison a phantom 3 is nearly 5 times heavier than a Mini3. The Mini 3P has a fair bit of spare thrust so adding some weight to it (eg use a Plus battery, or strap some weight onto it) will make it less twitchy in the wind (due to increased inertia) but this won't make it any better at flying into a headwind, and if you add too much it could end up hindering it. However, the extra weight will not make it any better at holding position, and the gimbal is more than capable of smoothing out the twitchiness, so this extra weight will really only make it look like it's fighting the wind better, while draining the battery faster.

Ability to fly into wind is not dependent on drone weight, but rather the maximum airspeed the drone is capable of. A lightweight racing quad will make better headway into wind than an Inspire 2. In anything more than a very light breeze all drones will see a reduction in groundspeed when flying into a headwind.

If you are seeing your mini 3 drift noticeably in wind then there is either a problem with your drone or you are trying to fly in very windy conditions (ie winds peaking at more than 16m/s). The Air 3 and Mavic 3 both have higher max speeds than the Mini 3, so will be able to make better headway into any given wind. In all cases I'm referring to S-mode speeds, as that is the best mode to use in windy conditions, since it allows the drone to achieve maximum airspeed.

I have a Mini 3 P and have only used the smaller batteries. I wonder if the larger battery would help given that the mass has increased while the frontal area to the wind is constant? Thoughts.

 

[Felix le Chat]

The release of the sub-250 gram drones marked the point where consumer expectation banged its head off the brick wall of reality. Since the release of the Mini 3 and the Autel EVO Nano, people who have decided to downsize and buy into the sub-250 gram class have reported three main gripes.

1) ...it's too slow.
2) ...it's too flimsy - it gets blown around by the wind.
3) ...the signal drops out when I try to fly it out four miles away from me.

The responses?

1) Your sub-250 gram drone is not an FPV quarry-racer.
If you want a pocket sized ultra-light drone that can go like a stabbed rat: buy a Cinewhoop 4K FPV racer... just don't expect to have a surprisingly good camera, a slick, professional camera interface or to be able to control it for fine movement or hovering stability... and expect to have to crash it to bring it down to where you took it off from.

2) Your sub-250 gram drone is not an EVO 2 or a Mavic 3.
If you want a drone that has a power-to-weight ratio great enough to fly capably in winds between Beaufort 4 & 5: look at buying one of the big-birds like the Mavic 3 or the EVO 2 but when you do: don't expect to get away from the heavier MTOM regulations either side of the Atlantic - from EASA C1 category upwards: they will only ever get more restrictive from hereon in.

3) Your sub-250 gram drone is not built to fly to extreme ranges.
The TX/RX signal for the sub 250 gram drones has the transmission strength it does in order to guarantee you a stronger control signal within a reasonable (and legal) range: VLOS. It is not there to let you fly four miles out. I wouldn't do this with a Matrice M30: so I sure as hell wouldn't try it with something 1/10th of the size and 1/15th of the weight.

The main complains about the DJI Mini's as well as the Autel Nano drones revolve around lack of speed: lack of ability to handle strong winds and transmitter signal dropouts during long range flights. If all sub 250's are unacceptably weak and wimpy with all the power and stability of a paper plane: why on earth would anyone buy one?

The most compelling reason to buy a sub-250 gram drone is because they can be flown in places where, courtesy of the EASA, the CAA and the FAA the big-birds are even now barred from.

Horses for courses.

 

[Meta4]

Been looking to by some other drone, maybe mavic 3.
It weighs about 3 times as the mini 3, but i have no idea if it can handle the wind better just by that reason, or if its the motors that are more powerful.

1. is the mini 3 more sensitive for wind than other drones?
2. why?
3. Can you do anything about it? Like put some extra weight on it or something?

Contrary to the opinions commonly seen in forums, the weight of the drone isn't what matters when considering how well a drone deals with wind.
It's the drone's ability to push through the air (it's speed) that matters.

Look at the specs for drones you may be interested in and see what their top speed is.
A drone that has a higher top speed will be much better at dealing with wind.
Your Mini 3 has a top speed of 16 metres/sec
The Mavic 3 pro can achieve 21 m/s

 

[scro]

I have a Mini 3 P and have only used the smaller batteries. I wonder if the larger battery would help given that the mass has increased while the frontal area to the wind is constant? Thoughts.

My thoughts:

• The drone's power (ie max thrust) hasn't increased
• The drone's drag due to wind remains unchanged
• The drone's max airspeed hasn't changed
• The drone's mass (and hence density, and inertia) has increased

The result will be no better wind resistance, but slightly less twitchiness/bounciness due to increased inertia. In other words it might look like it's fighting wind better but it will not put up with any more wind than when using the lower capacity batteries.

 

[Flashheart]

I have 2 extended batteries and they do provide greater stability in practise.

 

[Meta4]

I have 2 extended batteries and they do provide greater stability in practise.

What does stability mean here?
Is there any way you could measure this, or was that just a feeling you got?