Just purchased my mini!!!

[MaxE1955!]

I've downloaded an app UAV forecast. Nice weather app specifically for drones.

EXCELLENT! That is a great first step!

 

[FoxhallGH]

Welcome to the Forum. Well done in getting the UAV Forecast app'.

We are seeing a lot of reports of the Mavic Mini being taken away by the wind at higher altitude. Download the Mini's user manual v1.0 from here ... Mavic Mini - Specs, FAQs, Videos, Tutorials, Manuals - DJI ... and pay attention to the spec's where it tells you that the max. wind is 8 metres/sec' (17 mph). What a lot of beginners don't realise is that if you have a ground-level wind speed of around 10 to 15 mph, it could easily be two or three times that at your 400ft AGL altitude. There are cases where new pilots have pressed the RTH button and their Mav' Mini has ascended to the RTH height, then been blown away & lost down-wind!

The other thing to make sure you do is study your local regiulations for flying the Mavic Mini.

It weighs in at under 250grams and therefore may not have to be registered with your FAA, but you'll still need to obey the rules of flying.

 

[Capt KO]

Always set your return to home as low as possible to keep it away from high winds Aloft. And it uses less battery power. If you lose track of your drone visually, you can find it by hitting the map in the lower left corner. It will show you the Drone and the way it is pointed in relation to home. That way you can fly it home until it is in view again without using RTH.

 

[Mike4884]

Before even flying begins and you are getting ready setting everything up put the drone on the ground etc.. go through your settings make sure everything is good like the guys said above your return to home make sure it's higher than anything around you also be aware that if you hit return to home within so many feet of the home point I think it's 60 but don't quote me on that.. it will just land so make sure you are out a little bit....anyway now that you are good and have went through your settings first rule of thumb is to always wait for your " home point " you will hear on your device "home point has been recorded" so now you can safely fly you have enough satellites in GPS connection and your home point is set... A lot of new guys overlook this critical step. it is very important if you want you're mini to come back and land where you took off from... just wait for the home point it's not a big deal takes a minute. Especially for the Peace of mind. Also if you have to calibrate your compass make sure not to do it around any metal be aware that even concrete has rebar in it so just try to find somewhere clear of metal and then do the calibration this way you get a good one. You're pretty much set another tip is it just keep an eye on your batteries during flight just be mindful now when you store them make sure you don't keep them fully charged for days on end this is what makes batteries underperform and swell....this won't happen for the mini ...the swelling part (different battery chemistry used in mini, 18650's ) but it will still make your batteries underperform. it's a good thing to get into the habit of this anyway I'm sure now you have the bug and you will be getting another drone sometime in the future LOL so don't keep your batteries fully charged sitting around only charge them when you are ready to go out .... A good storage charge is 2 lights....I have a mavic 2 problem what I usually do is just fly down to about 30% by the time I get pictures/video downloaded I'm down to about 20% voltage is 3.75 which is fine for storage....batteries can sit around for a little bit like this if you do leave them for a long time at a low capacity, just check them every so often because they lose charge as weeks go on.....you don't want to end up with 0% after 2 months of not flying..... batteries are like babies/toddlers you have to keep an eye on them and u have to keep them happy and love them/tlc LOL

 

[Capt KO]

This is great. Everyone that gets there first drone (mini) should read this thread. Covers most frequent errors on the part of novices. Nice

When the green flag comes up saying ‘Good to fly Vision’ DON’t! As stated, you have to wait for the nice lady to tell you that the home point has been established. Now it will say ‘Good to fly GPS’ and your drone won’t go all over the place like people are complaining about. “ Took off and it just flew away“. Lol