Range over the ocean

veryzebra · May 28, 2022

My air 2 can fly out over the ocean about 2 miles and make it back. What about the Mavic 3 in real life situations?
Prefer to hear about experiences on the east coast. Thx

Yorkshire_Pud · May 28, 2022

Well I have seen a CE Mavic Mini manage 2.4km over the sea. The pilot's bottle went before the signal or battery level became an issue , the drone made it back. I was quite impressed since the stated limit is 2km.
But you have to accept that if something goes wrong you are quite likely to lose the drone. Apart from "just for the heck of it" there's a fair chance it's going to be a rather 'boring', if nerve wracking, flight.

veryzebra · May 28, 2022

Family owns a charter fishing boat, so isn't so much to record as it flies over the water but rather get shots when they're out with clients. Yes, I've come close to losing my air2 into the bay with low battery forced landing making it just to the bulkhead of the bay lol. Just want to make sure this will indeed make it further out. thanks

Suren · May 29, 2022

I know a guy that took his Mavi 3 over 11kms out over the sea and back with 20% battery to spare. It was not me

GadgetGuy · May 29, 2022

Assuming no wind, it's a simple mathematical calculation, based upon the chosen Mavic 3 speed, and the flight time supported at that speed by the battery, and what remaining percentage battery you want to land with. The control range exceeds the battery flight time. Using the max speed of 33.5 mph in N mode, and a flight time of 33 minutes to 10% remaining battery, is 18.4 miles round trip, or 9.2 miles. That's more than four times the 2 miles of the MA2, which maxes out at 27 mph in N mode and only has a realistic flight time of 24 minutes.

veryzebra · May 29, 2022

Thanks, appreciate it. Guess it always comes down to reception.

Yorkshire_Pud · May 29, 2022

I am not sure I understand you correctly, are you intending to make a habit of flying out to distance over the sea, be that from land or the boat?
Either way, running low on battery over water is not a good idea, I would say that that is more a matter of judgement than range, don't ignore low battery RTH's and don't cancel them and bear in mind you do not want to be returning to home, over water, from distance, into any significant headwind.

This one comes to mind

Arnold LeVine · May 29, 2022

Why not just go on the boat ride and get the photos?

clydesur · Jun 4, 2022

veryzebra said:
My air 2 can fly out over the ocean about 2 miles and make it back. What about the Mavic 3 in real life situations?
Prefer to hear about experiences on the east coast. Thx

Was flying on the Space Coast was videoing my son surfing but no waves. After trying to film for a few minutes I decided to fly elsewhere then I saw a boat way out there. Decided to go take a look. Using 7 Zoom I took off. I went out 17,300 ft over 3 miles before it told me to come home. Took video of the boat and passengers. They never knew I was there, 28 Zoom is amazing.