Mini The Mavic Mini 2 is excellent over water.

[John Gowland]

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The first Mavic Mini had poor sensors and was very unstable over water, even at two meters I lost a MM when it just got “confused” it just dropped into a lake from two meters. https://youtu.be/UO3z56NkxkQ As I said in the video DJI replaced it at no cost. The Mavic Mini 2 has excellent downwards sensors for a tiny drone. You can fly and record at half a meter (20 inches) from the surface of still water in calm winds. But you would be wise not to go below about a meter. (3 feet) The wind factor is important. It is not as good as a Phantom 4 Pro or a Mavic 2 https://youtu.be/FXp-qOqKSVQ But it is very close. A truly amazing drone over water and in general

 

[Deleted member 103366]

The first Mavic Mini had no sensors at all ........

How then does it have landing protection etc and slow its descent when descending from height as it comes below something like 10m above the ground etc. etc.?

 

[John Gowland]

You are correct PhiliusFroggg, it does have sensors, but they are not good enough to keep stable above water. I will correct the text and thank you for your observation.

 

[scro]

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The first Mavic Mini had no sensors at all and was very unstable over water, even at two meters I lost a MM when it just got “confused” it just dropped into a lake from two meters. https://youtu.be/UO3z56NkxkQ As I said in the video DJI replaced it at no cost. The Mavic Mini 2 has excellent downwards sensors for a tiny drone. You can fly and record at half a meter (20 inches) from the surface of still water in calm winds. But you would be wise not to go below about a meter. (3 feet) The wind factor is important. It is not as good as a Phantom 4 Pro or a Mavic 2 https://youtu.be/FXp-qOqKSVQ But it is very close. A truly amazing drone over water and in general

The Mavic Mini does have sensors - multiple sensors, including downward facing proximity and movement sensors. I'm convinced the downward facing sensors are the same hardware as the Mini 2. The user manuals for both Mini1 and Mini2 advise to take caution when flying over water and warn that the sensors may not detect the water properly. The mini2 manual recommends keeping at least 3m above water.

My personal experience with the Mavic Mini and other drones equipped with the same combination of downward sensors (optical flow camera and IR proximity sensors) over water has been good so far. I've also found that it depends very much on whether the sensors can pick up any detail on the seabed/riverbed/lakebed and how turbid the water is. I've flown successfully about 1m over water multiple times with no unexpected altitude changes.

 

[John Gowland]

You are correct scro to state it does have sensors as PhiliusFrogg has pointed out. I have corrected the text. I felt the sensors on the MM2 were far superior.

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[scro]

Looks like @PhiliusFoggg and I posted nearly at the same time I see you've updated the OP

I'd be interested to hear your experiences with the Mini2 when flying in the same locations as where you've been with the Mini1 and had issues. I've flown over clear, shallow water where the rocks/sand under the water was clearly visible and had very good success with the Mavic Mini, flying as low as 0.5m from the water multiple times. When flying over deeper water where the lake bed was not visible, or over muddy water where there was no detail for the VPS to pick out it seemed to be less solid on altitude. I've only flown over water like this on a couple of occasions. I suspect that it is in these situations that the sensors struggle more.

 

[John Gowland]

I have flown the MM with a few replacements and at one meter the drone would be bouncing up and down and in a number of places. The first time I flew the MM2 over water was a totally different experience, it's much more stable in a few different areas. The MM2 seems much more stable even though to the eye the sensors look exactly the same on the MM and MM2.

 

[Barbara]

Far as I know, most if not all DJI drones include a warning that they don't do well with sensing the surface of water, or snow (which is just hard water).

 

[scro]

It looks like our experiences with the Mini1 differ significantly then, because I haven't had any real concerns flying between 1 and 2m above water. The vast majority of low altitude over-water flights have been very stable and predictable. The worst I have seen is about 10-15cm variation in altitude when flying low over opaque water and deliberately pushing the limits to understand the capability/limits of the optical sensors (IR and flow camera).

The potential lack of contrast on opaque water can stop the optical flow sensor from being able to provide useful positional data, and the reflectivity of the water surface can cause the IR proximity sensor to give erroneous readings. The drone could be fooled into thinking it is within landing distance of the water and sending a control input to lower altitude (ie left stick down) can cause the drone to initiate a landing maneuver, and it will lower itself into the water seemingly of its own accord. For this reason I have always been careful with my left stick movements when close to water to avoid this risk.

Good to hear you are having more success with the Mini2 though?

 

[John Gowland]

I agree scro, I have also flown about a meter or two, but I have to take greater care with the MM1. With the MM2 I do not need to focus on the height issue as much, just on what I am capturing.

It may be that the downward sensors are the same, but I doubt this, I think there is a definite refinement. However other factors play an important role. The motors are way more powerful on the MM2 and can therefore react much faster. More powerful motors make the MM2 far more stable in general in the air.
The Mavic Mini 1 uses a new Ambarella CPU and it could be that the MM2 has an upgraded Ambarella CPU or at least is able to process faster due to other improvements like motor power and optical flow on board improvements. There is no doubt that the MM2 is a great deal more stable in general and, from my experience way better over any water surface.
Whatever the case, and we may not know for many years, but the incredible improvements in drone/camera technology is very exciting.

Something positive in this dark period is welcomed. We all hope things will improve in our general lives to let us all take to the skies as we did before and see the world from on high. Peace.