Poll-What kind of range are you REALLY getting with your Air?

[OldGoatMTB]

I've lost contact several times at about 3000 feet. In test on private land I lost it at 1000' or less with trees in between.

 

[dawgpilot]

I've lost contact several times at about 3000 feet. In test on private land I lost it at 1000' or less with trees in between.

Official Mavic Air Range Leaderboard!

Thought I would start this thread simply because there has always been one on each forum within the Drone Pilots Network. As time moves forward, antenna and controller modifications will become the norm with the MA.. As many of us know, we don’t expect huge distances or range from the MA...

mavicpilots.com

 

[Ski_K2]

Regularly fly in remote areas with no wifi or cell phone coverage/interference to 5000 ft. range with clear FPV and maneuverability control.

That's WAY more than I typically need.

2500 ft. range is normal for me.

Won't fly at distance in or near towns, cities or forests since US law requires line of sight and I'm a solo pilot.

 

[Unknown Pilot]

1.5km with ease. I've set my max distance to that.

 

[MAGA]

200 yards maybe 3

 

[OldGoatMTB]

Hmmm, my Mavic Air manual says "transmission range up to 2.49 miles or 4 km". It doesn't sound like anyone's getting anywhere close to that. There is a video on YouTube where 'The Everyday Dad' does a range test over water and gets 4km. I'd be happy to get half that in real world conditions. I'm kind of disappointed as I purchased it believing it could go further. It's really the only thing I don't like about my Air.

 

[gvsukids]

Hmmm, my Mavic Air manual says "transmission range up to 2.49 miles or 4 km". It doesn't sound like anyone's getting anywhere close to that. There is a video on YouTube where 'The Everyday Dad' does a range test over water and gets 4km. I'd be happy to get half that in real world conditions. I'm kind of disappointed as I purchased it believing it could go further. It's really the only thing I don't like about my Air.

have you tried a range extender?

 

[OldGoatMTB]

have you tried a range extender?

No, have you had much success with them?

 

[OldGoatMTB]

Correction, using google maps I determined that I probably was able to make one line-of-sight flight of 1.25 miles/2.01 km. Not bad, but half of what the documentation states for the maximum limit. I can't remember if I had connectivity problems, but it was so far out I wanted to get back before my battery got too low, and 1.25 miles was how far it had to go to video the intended subject.

 

[Unknown Pilot]

Official Mavic Air Range Leaderboard!

Thought I would start this thread simply because there has always been one on each forum within the Drone Pilots Network. As time moves forward, antenna and controller modifications will become the norm with the MA.. As many of us know, we don’t expect huge distances or range from the MA...

mavicpilots.com

Those are some impressive distances - even without the mods!

 

[Bill combs]

I've lost contact several times at about 3000 feet. In test on private land I lost it at 1000' or less with trees in between.

You should try the parabolic range extenders that fit on the remote

 

[Hopper13]

Lots of trees here, but I’ve flown as far as 1500 feet at low altitude with no issues. I have parabolic extenders, but have no tried them yet.

 

[Dan C]

Urban locations: 300-600 meters.

Once I was at a large lake, one cell tower nearby. I flew out over 1km, and still had strong signal. At a guess, I probably could have reached 2km.

 

[emvision]

3000 feet, but could have gone further, good signal, but I chickened out.

 

[Martysticks]

I was out at a small beach, flying over water and hit 6300 feet. I did lose sight of it at about 2300 feet. After turning around I flew for quite sometime and managed just under 24000 feet total. That’s enough for me.

 

[Richlizard]

Can't get past 800m no matter what frequency.

Tips appreciated.

 

[kingsnake11]

It's a moot point for me...living in Canada with the rules imposed by Transport Canada for the requirement of flights being within visual line of site, I set my "fence" at 200 meters, and altitude at 80 meters. Through trial and error, I found that I could still maintain vlos with the old Mark I eyeballs at these maximum distances. I can extend this quite a bit with the use of strobes but most of my flights are without them. I understand that the same vlos rule applies in the US so those who can fly a couple of miles away must have super fantastic eyes, the envy of fighter pilots everywhere.

 

[OldGoatMTB]

Sounds like each person has different results, but of course every situation is different. I'm really not just about flying a long way for no reason, I have actually bumped up against a limit that prevented my from getting all the video I wanted to, in particular there is a very 'scenic' quarry near me that I was taking video of, but when I got near the far end of it I was losing signal/control.

 

[Fred Norman]

Consistently 5-7,000 ft, but recently I did a range test, got to 12,000 before I began to lose transmission. I was on a gentle hill and sent it down a rural gravel road with no traffic, no trees, no power lines.I did not use a parabolic extender. I feel very comfortable sending it out to 5000 feet routinely..

 

[Fred Norman]

It's a moot point for me...living in Canada with the rules imposed by Transport Canada for the requirement of flights being within visual line of site, I set my "fence" at 200 meters, and altitude at 80 meters. Through trial and error, I found that I could still maintain vlos with the old Mark I eyeballs at these maximum distances. I can extend this quite a bit with the use of strobes but most of my flights are without them. I understand that the same vlos rule applies in the US so those who can fly a couple of miles away must have super fantastic eyes, the envy of fighter pilots everywhere.

Yes, my VLOS is about 100 yards, I always send my drone out beyond my VLOS. But I live in the arid, wide open American West..