Mini 2 Range Question

[bburnett15]

Honestly, I don't care about range so much as I only want to make sure i dont lose the connection due to obstacles.

At work during a break yesterday, I had it out on a sunny day with a crystal clear blue sky and I lose the thing at about 200 ft
the floaters in my eyes are larger than the drone!

I drove 83 in a 55 mph zone to get to work on time.

 

[djwak59]

And I am sure you never speed.

Just being facetious, that’s all.

 

[tommytavor]

I have a Mini 2 and I have a Mini 3.

From my house in about a 90 degree arc I can fly out over rural land. In the best signal direction I've gone out about 9,000 feet with the M2 and 10,000 feet with the M3. But there were no houses in that direction so I had little signal interference

I took both drones to the high desert mountains of Eastern Oregon in August. Was camped at about 6.700 feet elevation. Nobody around for miles. I did a line of sight range test there where I went out around 11,300 feet with the M2. The limitation on that flight wasn't signal, it was battery. I was able to go out over 18,000 feet with the M3 and the plus battery. Turned around at 2 bars

How did you view it? With spotters along the route of travel.

 

[djwak59]

How did you view it? With spotters along the route of travel.

Once again, LOS be (Mod Removed Language)

 

[edfrombama]

Good morning to all-
Just got in from flying toward town and videoing an early morning train. I let the battery get lower than usual, so i got "return to home" on the way back and just as I arrived back to landing zone, I got the dread "critical battery level" warning. Managed to land old Number One just fine, but I'm glad I was not another 100 yards farther off.
From my experience, with the Mini 2 drones, the critical limiting factor in long-range flying is not controller contact but battery power. As long as we have unobstructed controller/drone communication lines, the little drones can fly way, way out there.
After all, the lunar landers way back when used radio communication not a whole lot stronger than what we have on our drones. There ain't- most of the time- much to get between Earth and the Moon to interfere with radio contact.

you all be safe and keep well- Ed

 

[moldorf]

How did you view it? With spotters along the route of travel.

obviously, I couldn't see the drone. How far away can anybody see a mini? I am going to say right now that I don't believe, for a second, that everybody always has eyes on their mini drones. Not the people who fly in the Western USA at least

but I had a completely clear line of sight for where the drone was, and the only things around were sagebrush, juniper, and rock. There weren't even any roads. Like I said, this is extremely remote country

 

[edfrombama]

Good afternoon to all-

Molderf- I agree with what you say, Heck, if I fly my drone much out of my hand, I can't see it. and once I get up or out a hundred yards, that little drone is invisible to me. Maybe some folks can see their drones far off, but I cannot. But I monitor my screen very closely and the camera and the map do a very accurate job of telling me where my Mini 2 is flying and what it is doing.
And I see nothing wrong with flying far in the conditions you describe. My conditions? pine trees, a few live oaks, and lots of swamps. Not many people or other important things to be affected in any way by my drone and my flying it.
So I fly it out and I fly it home and the world is a good place to be.

you all be safe and keep well- Ed

 

[BrianA]

I just got back from a trip to Vietnam. I flew my M2 in the countryside and out as far as I've ever gone. I started getting weak signal at about 4500-4800ft, so seems this is in line with what a lot of people are seeing. Still able to control it, just a weak signal notification. I was down at about 80-100ft altitude when I got the weak signal alarm. Once I increased to about 300ft, signal was better but not full strength. Very few trees within LOS of the aircraft. Got some great footage that I've always wanted to get in any case.

 

[LoudThunder]

Honestly, I don't care about range so much as I only want to make sure i dont lose the connection due to obstacles.

People forget that when viewing the Atti-Gauge, you not only can see the direction that the Drone is pointing (the Blue Triangle…), it also shows you if you are facing the Drone (Green Dot with the Little Triangle (Hat).

See the graphic below and always point your antenna towards your drone, especially when flying at extreme distances or when there are structures (trees, buildings, towers, etc…) that can block your signal…

Sometimes when flying your drone to extremes, you may turn to see the screen better or prevent sun-glare and when you turn away from the drone, you are sending your strongest signal off to the Alpha Centauri star system…

 

[frcaloy]

4500 ft is about it in urban areas. I got to around 5780 ft in a rural area. I could still push it but reason prevailed.

 

[Hooch33]

Gone roughly 7500ish with my goggles on

 

[DSRT_VLTR]

I pilot exclusively in the Sonoran Desert in AZ. I fly at 20-30m altitude & can go a km & back with my Mini 2.

 

[moldorf]

I pilot exclusively in the Sonoran Desert in AZ. I fly at 20-30m altitude & can go a km & back with my Mini 2.

I lived in Sierra Vista for a couple of years but that was in the mid-80's. If I was there now, with a drone, I definitely go to the Chiricahua Mountains and the Dragoon Mountains. The Huachuca and Patagonia Mountains would be interesting as well.

 

[DSRT_VLTR]

I lived in Sierra Vista for a couple of years but that was in the mid-80's. If I was there now, with a drone, I definitely go to the Chiricahua Mountains and the Dragoon Mountains. The Huachuca and Patagonia Mountains would be interesting as well.

??? This thread is about range.

 

[moldorf]

??? This thread is about range.

it's just an internet discussion about flying a drone; it's not a legal proceeding in a courtroom with a judge determining relevance

 

[Hooch33]

I pilot exclusively in the Sonoran Desert in AZ. I fly at 20-30m altitude & can go a km & back with my Mini 2.

You can go alot further that that, lol a km is like taking it around the block, hell I hit 7500 feet in my neighborhood and fly between 2 story homes over a KM without any signal loss.

 

[Rusty_SWO]

You can go alot further that that, lol a km is like taking it around the block, hell I hit 7500 feet in my neighborhood and fly between 2 story homes over a KM without any signal loss.

Must be nice- I get about 1300 feet in my neighborhood and *boom* lost signal, mission aborted, and it turns around and heads back home.

 

[Hooch33]

Try a set external antennas or boosted antennas, or sit on your roof

 

[LoudThunder]

I get about 1300 feet in my neighborhood and *boom* lost signal, mission aborted, and it turns around and heads back home.

Be Glad, it could have gone "south" for the winter... LoL