return/high wind issues

[johnnylang]

kia ora,

Very tempted to the plunge with this little bird, love my Mini2 but active track is a deal breaker for me,

Question: has this drone suffered with return to home of any sort of strong wind, a bit like Mini1?
John

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

Irrespective of the drone model, and not being nasty, but you would do better to fly in such a way so that the return is downwind and not upwind. I think that that is a more important thing to bear in mind than relying on a drones ability to fit the wind.
I assume you are talking about automated RTH's. If so then it is my experience/recollection that IF the RTH is started with a drone in sports mode then the RTH speed can be increased above the automated 'maximum' by giving forward stick. That said you can always cancel an RTH and fly in sports mode.

 

[Meta4]

Question: has this drone suffered with return to home of any sort of strong wind, a bit like Mini1?

Any drone can have problems in RTH if the return is against a headwind that's faster than the drone can fly.
It will have problems in less strong winds if you are too far away too.

If so then it is my experience/recollection that IF the RTH is started with a drone in sports mode then the RTH speed can be increased above the automated 'maximum' by giving forward stick

When you initiate RTH, the drone switches to RTH flight mode.
It doesn't matter what flight mode you start from,. you can always push the right stick forward.

 

[msinger]

has this drone suffered with return to home of any sort of strong wind, a bit like Mini1?

The Mini 3 resists wind at 10.7 m/s per the Mini 3 specs. That's currently better than most other DJI consumer drones.

 

[Meta4]

The Mini 3 resists wind at 10.7 m/s per the Mini 3 specs. That's currently better than all other DJI consumer drones.

When DJI shows wind resistance, that has little to do with how well a drone can fly against wind and their numbers are questionable.
How fast the drone can fly is what matters.

It's a challenge to understand what DJI means by wind resistance.
The speeds shown here are Max speed in N mode and DJI's "wind resistance"
Mavic 3 .. 15 m/s .. 12 m/s
Air 2 ... 12 m/s .. 8.5-10.5 m/s
Air 2S .. 15 m/s .. 10.7 m/s
Mini 2 .. 10 m/s .. 8.5-10.5 m/s
Mini 3 .. 10 m/s .. 10.7 m/s

How a drone can have a max wind resistance of 8.5-10.5 m/s (19-23.5 mph) is anyone's guess

 

[Wild Drone Pilot]

kia ora,

Very tempted to the plunge with this little bird, love my Mini2 but active track is a deal breaker for me,

Question: has this drone suffered with return to home of any sort of strong wind, a bit like Mini1?
John

Air 2 told me wind too much to return home
Before that I always thought I could trust return to home
NOT anymore

 

[Meta4]

Air 2 told me wind too much to return home
Before that I always thought I could trust return to home
NOT anymore

Are you sure?
DJI have a very poorly worded wind warning that incorrectly suggests that RTH will not be possible.
It's not necessarily correct and should just warn that you might have difficulties with RTH if your drone is far out.

I've even seen that warning suggesting that RTH will not be possible, even when the drone is upwind of the homepoint and the RTH path is downwind!

 

[Chaosrider]

The Mini 3 resists wind at 10.7 m/s per the Mini 3 specs. That's currently better than all other DJI consumer drones.

I think the FPV has a wind resistance of 58 mph

 

[Meta4]

I think the FPV has a wind resistance of 58 mph

DJI's "wind resistance" numbers are meaningless and no use to flyers.

 

[Chaosrider]

DJI's "wind resistance" numbers are meaningless and no use to flyers.

This came from a different source. With a top speed of 87 mph, 58 ,mph for the wind resistance at least seems reasonable.

DJIs wind resistance numbers are certainly imprecise, but imprecise ≠ meaningless.

Why do you say they are meaningless?

 

[Cymru]

In normal mode the wind resistance speed is the same as the max speed so presumably its pitch limited.
People are going to need to remember Sport mode exists if it gets stuck or starts trying to struggle home at 1msec.

That said i flew it today in a gust 15-25mph wind and although it warned me i had no issues at all, max speed was reduced but that was it.

 

[MS Coast]

Irrespective of the drone model, and not being nasty, but you would do better to fly in such a way so that the return is downwind and not upwind. I think that that is a more important thing to bear in mind than relying on a drones ability to fit the wind.
I assume you are talking about automated RTH's. If so then it is my experience/recollection that IF the RTH is started with a drone in sports mode then the RTH speed can be increased above the automated 'maximum' by giving forward stick. That said you can always cancel an RTH and fly in sports mode.

Yes. And flying manually, you can descend to a lower altitude (as allowed by obstacles) to fly against a lower wind speed.

 

[MS Coast]

I'd guess that a particular drone model's reputation for wind tolerance is less a function of its actual flight characteristics and more strongly related to the number of people who foolishly flew it downwind to the point of no return and then posted a Youtube video or reported a "flyaway" on a forum.

 

[vindibona1]

There have been several reported cases of fly aways with the Mini 1. Not so much the Mini 2. I bought a Mavic 2 Pro 4 weeks after purchasing the Mini 1 because I couldn't fly 50% of the time I wanted.

I strongly recommend you download the app UAV Forecast from the app or play stores. It will tell you what to expect in terms of wind and weather so you can make prudent choices.

 

[Wild Drone Pilot]

Are you sure?
DJI have a very poorly worded wind warning that incorrectly suggests that RTH will not be possible.
It's not necessarily correct and should just warn that you might have difficulties with RTH if your drone is far out.

I've even seen that warning suggesting that RTH will not be possible, even when the drone is upwind of the homepoint and the RTH path is downwind!

All I know is that it said it could not RTH for me
Also said lower altitude when I was just 20 feet up from the water
Not much chance of that either
HTH

 

[Chaosrider]

In normal mode the wind resistance speed is the same as the max speed so presumably its pitch limited.
People are going to need to remember Sport mode exists if it gets stuck or starts trying to struggle home at 1msec.

That said i flew it today in a gust 15-25mph wind and although it warned me i had no issues at all, max speed was reduced but that was it.

Pitch is definitely a big part of the issue.

The Mini-1s have a reputation for being useless in any wind. When I bought mine (used) that was most definitely not the case! It wasn't Mini-2 good, but it was entirely respectable. And I have the vids to prove it!

Apparently, there was a firmware fix that allowed for a greater pitch angle, and that was transformational for improving the wind resistance of the Mini-1.

 

[Cymru]

Still not worked out why DJI don't provide a RTH option to automatically engage sport mode/allow more pitch if it detects its struggling.
Especially in the event of a loss of signal RTH where user cant take over.

 

[tlyons]

kia ora,

Very tempted to the plunge with this little bird, love my Mini2 but active track is a deal breaker for me,

Question: has this drone suffered with return to home of any sort of strong wind, a bit like Mini1?
John

Don't buy it that better return home doesn't matter. It does. Where are these people flying that the wind never shifts, increases, changes past a point of land, or just doesn't act as expected? Or assuming all that never happens, will never see a really great photo opportunity in marginal weather? They must be flying indoors.

Check out the thrust test at here:

Theses are different days but might give some insight in the Mini 2 vs Mini 3:

Good luck!

 

[Meta4]

All I know is that it said it could not RTH for me

Here's the message
Strong wind warning
Aircraft unable to RTH automatically
Lower altitude immediately and RTH manually.

And it's very often not true at all.
You have to disregard it and think for yourself rather than accepting it.

And here's an accurate translation into proper English.
Strong wind warning
This could cause problems with RTH (if you are too far downwind).
If high up and struggling against a headwind, lowering altitude might help.

 

[Meta4]

Why do you say they are meaningless?

Because DJI has never defined Max Wind resistance.
This has left many flyers imagining that it means the maximum wind speed you can fly in (it's not).
There are many scenarios where you could lose the drone in winds less than the max wind resistance level.
And if you know what you are doing, you can safely fly in higher wind strengths.
Dealing with wind is much more complex that a simple single number for go/no go decisions.