I've flown my mini about 6-8 full batteries.  Today I flew at about 200 altitude about 2000 feet away from the home point.  I was getting interference so I decided to fly it back closer to the Home Point. But on the way back I noticed that it was only flying about 8-10 mph and I started getting a message said that Insufficient Power.  Then it dropped to below 5mph with full forward in the right stick and it was losing altitude fast.  I stopped pushing the right stick forward and it rose back up to the altitude as before.  This started happening at about 60% power on the battery and I was flying in P mode.  I thought it might be a bad battery so I tried a fully charged battery and the same thing happened.  Then I flew it backwards away and towards me at full power and it was fine.  It flew about 18mph in one direction and 15mph in the other.  I figured it was a little windy.  Going forward it gave me problems right away.  Tried a 3rd fully charged battery and started by calibrating the compass and flew away and towards myself at full forward on right stick.  Flew forward in both directions with no problems until battery was at about 60% power and it started losing power again.  Mostly this happened only when flying towards myself and I'd say there was probably a 3-4 mph head wind.  I did firmware update ending in .300 about 10 days ago or so and I've flown it before without noticing this problem until today.

Anybody else have this problem?

The losing altitude part seems really worrying.... maybe it's the same issue as here?

Ice_2k Posted at 12-18 14:37
The losing altitude part seems really worrying.... maybe it's the same issue as here?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKs-UakFY8M

I had the same issue right after updating to the new firmware...I reverted back to the old firmware and then updated to the new firmware again and no issues. So, my belief it was a firmware glitch.
My mini bounced off water!! All good now.

Hi, thank you for bringing this query to us and we're sorry for the inconvenience caused by this issue. Can you please try to refresh the firmware of your DJI Mavic Mini using the DJI Assistant 2 to see if the problem persists? Also, I will highly recommend also to calibrate the drones IMU for us to make sure that it is fully calibrated and ready to go. After the firmware refresh, try to fly the drone and please let us know if there would be some changes. Please keep us posted. Thank you for your understanding and support!

DJI Gamora Posted at 12-18 15:06
Hi, thank you for bringing this query to us and we're sorry for the inconvenience caused by this issue. Can you please try to refresh the firmware of your DJI Mavic Mini using the DJI Assistant 2 to see if the problem persists? Also, I will highly recommend also to calibrate the drones IMU for us to make sure that it is fully calibrated and ready to go. After the firmware refresh, try to fly the drone and please let us know if there would be some changes. Please keep us posted. Thank you for your understanding and support!

Ok, I’ll get the batteries charged up and do as you suggest.  I’ll let you know.

Ice_2k Posted at 12-18 14:37
The losing altitude part seems really worrying.... maybe it's the same issue as here?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKs-UakFY8M

This is pretty much what happened to me but since I did my testing at a higher altitude I didn't crash it.  I believe I saw a video when these were first released with the first firmware version with the same problem and it is supposed to be fixed with the newest firmware update.  I'm going to update again using the Assistant 2 app and do as suggested and calibrate the compass and the IMU.  

It was really weird to see my drone flying toward me at full speed an all of a sudden start to drop in altitude.  When I let off the stick it always went back up.  I also tried at about 1/2 power and it still did the same thing.

DJI Gamora Posted at 12-18 15:06
Hi, thank you for bringing this query to us and we're sorry for the inconvenience caused by this issue. Can you please try to refresh the firmware of your DJI Mavic Mini using the DJI Assistant 2 to see if the problem persists? Also, I will highly recommend also to calibrate the drones IMU for us to make sure that it is fully calibrated and ready to go. After the firmware refresh, try to fly the drone and please let us know if there would be some changes. Please keep us posted. Thank you for your understanding and support!

I just tried opening up my Assistant 2 app and in big red letters it said I had been blocked from using it by administrators.  That's weird.  I used to use that app all the time to update my original Mavic.  I have not used it for my Mavic 2 because it updates very easy with WiFi.

I uninstalled it and I'm going to download it again.  We'll see if maybe it's because there's a newer version or something.

DJI Gamora Posted at 12-18 15:06
Hi, thank you for bringing this query to us and we're sorry for the inconvenience caused by this issue. Can you please try to refresh the firmware of your DJI Mavic Mini using the DJI Assistant 2 to see if the problem persists? Also, I will highly recommend also to calibrate the drones IMU for us to make sure that it is fully calibrated and ready to go. After the firmware refresh, try to fly the drone and please let us know if there would be some changes. Please keep us posted. Thank you for your understanding and support!

Ok, I did as you said to do and flew 2 fully charged batteries today.  Everything is fine now.  I kind of wonder what the problem was.  I'll have to keep and eye on it from now on.  Thanks for the advise.

Do you think the cold temperature was a factor? I'm cautious now to fly over snow / in cold conditions

dronespilot.com Posted at 12-19 15:28
Do you think the cold temperature was a factor? I'm cautious now to fly over snow / in cold conditions

I don’t think so.  I think it is/was the firmware.

I really don't understand how it could be the firmware here. An incompletely upgraded firmware would not have such subtle issues, it would be fully unusable. I'll put my money on the specific set of circumstances you encountered that somehow caused the mini to lose altitude. Whether it's a hardware issue or a firmware issue, that's a separate discussion but I don't think simply rewriting the same firmware is a plausible fix for this.

Ice_2k Posted at 12-20 00:22
I really don't understand how it could be the firmware here. An incompletely upgraded firmware would not have such subtle issues, it would be fully unusable. I'll put my money on the specific set of circumstances you encountered that somehow caused the mini to lose altitude. Whether it's a hardware issue or a firmware issue, that's a separate discussion but I don't think simply rewriting the same firmware is a plausible fix for this.

Agree,
firmware, either it works or it doesn't.
I have been following DJI answers here in for the last month,on various issues, you will be amazed how superficial and irrelevant they are.

JeepDaddy Posted at 12-19 13:05
Ok, I did as you said to do and flew 2 fully charged batteries today.  Everything is fine now.  I kind of wonder what the problem was.  I'll have to keep and eye on it from now on.  Thanks for the advise.

You're welcome! Please let us know if you have other inquiries or concerns. Thank you!

DJI Gamora Posted at 12-20 13:57
You're welcome! Please let us know if you have other inquiries or concerns. Thank you!

@Gamora Is your technical department investigating these issues? This seems like the most concerning issue I’ve read about on this forum. I am honestly concerned about flying the mini over water after reading this and seeing the video posted earlier.

Yes, I recently ordered my MM. Next week I will get my hands on it. I am concerned that it might occur when flying above the water...

This issue sounds similar to mine. My Mavic Mini drops in altitude if I accelerate forward and choose to descend. It will continue to descend until I tell I instruct it to climb. I'm so new to the forum, I don't even have permission to post a URL, but if you search on YouTube "Mavic Mini Issue Losing Altitude" my video is the first result. The channel name should just be "David Farmer"

I've contacted DJI through email and will hopefully hear back from them. I'm also going to attempt to re-flash firmware. I'll get back with updates when I do that.

I post the link for you "newbie" ;-) Reinstall firmware definitely does no harm. That's the first what is to do if a curious issue occurs. I've seen you are in mode 1.  Would be interesting what will happen if you use mode 2.

jonny007 Posted at 12-21 15:19
I post the link for you "newbie" ;-) Reinstall firmware definitely does no harm. That's the first what is to do if a curious issue occurs. I've seen you are in mode 1.  Would be interesting what will happen if you use mode 2.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u34L-eQgSOU

Thank you for posting my link!

Also, that did occur to me as well during flight, and I did try changing the modes. Same issue, unfortunately. I will definitely try to re-install firmware. Hopefully it fixes it =(

Ah ok, in mode 1 and in mode 2 too, mmh. Then I think it's not the controller. Perhaps the engines get wrong signals from IMU. Recalibration of IMU ? But if that doesn't help, I think you'll have to open a ticket. Perhaps a DJI Mod still have an idea.

So it seems like a software related problem. Because drone just flies fine and not loosing altitude while hanging in the air with no input. The forward and down combination confuses it. I wonder what is the log file shows when it do that. Could you please upload the logs and lets see what are the sticks show when it is loosing altitude.

Burak C. Posted at 12-22 03:33
So it seems like a software related problem. Because drone just flies fine and not loosing altitude while hanging in the air with no input. The forward and down combination confuses it. I wonder what is the log file shows when it do that. Could you please upload the logs and lets see what are the sticks show when it is loosing altitude.

I'm new to drones. Is it the fc_log file? it's 512mb. Is that normal? x_x

Fragmented Wolf Posted at 12-22 09:45
I'm new to drones. Is it the fc_log file? it's 512mb. Is that normal? x_x

Hi,
Since I don't have my MM yet, I don't know the exact UI. But here I found a video that shows the actual upload process. Instead of DJI GO 4 app just look for DJI Fly instead.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSYl9cyNK3s

Smartphone memory under the directory /storage/emulated/0/DJI/dji.go.v5/FlightRecord the logs are stored. The filename contains the timestamp from your flight, so you can identify the right log. Depending on flight time a log has normally between some 100kbyte up to 2 MB.
Then you can upload to https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/ and share the link and/or register on https://app.airdata.com/ where you have much more informations and details. From there you can share the log too.

jonny007 Posted at 12-21 15:19
I post the link for you "newbie" ;-) Reinstall firmware definitely does no harm. That's the first what is to do if a curious issue occurs. I've seen you are in mode 1.  Would be interesting what will happen if you use mode 2.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u34L-eQgSOU

It seem remote error, try to calibate it again

Hello again, everyone.

Just wanted to share an update as the issue seems to have resolved. When checking if there were any firmware updates via the smartphone app, it stated my firmware was up to date and gave no other options. I then installed the DJI Assistant for my desktop and upon connecting the drone to the computer, a message flashed for only a moment stating 'firmware incompatibility'. There was more, but it was gone in an instant and immediately began downloading and installing a new firmware. Once that was complete, the issue vanished. Craft keeps current altitude when letting off the stick vs continuing to descend.

Thanks to everyone that threw in their two cents and attempted to help the newbie!

In my case mini flew flawlessly from the 1st day. Then after two weeks I got the common "not enough power" error. Landed immediately and inspected the propellers. I have noticed a tiny scratch on one of them although it did not hit anything. Replaced both propellers on this arm and the error is gone.

Then saw this clip: https://youtu.be/OpumxfV-KeE

I think they are right about it. Even smallest damage of the propeller seems to result in mini complaining about power.

You are right Fracz,

There is a 2nd video following the one in the second post where multiple tests swaping between old set and new set of propellers seems to proof that the propellers are the root cause of "max power load reached" error.

fificap Posted at 12-26 09:35
You are right Fracz,

There is a 2nd video (this one) following the one in the second post where multiple tests swaping between old set and new set of propellers seems to proof that the propellers are the root cause of "max power load reached" error.

I would like to see anyone suffering this issue to try this and please report their findings. Maybe it will at least help someone and perhaps point out a flaw in the props.

I will try this "fix" when I have a chance.

I'm sure some of you must have seen the two videos on YouTube where the reviewer had problems with his Mini dipping down while he was flying at an elevation slightly over 5000 feet.  He noted this in his review.

Soon enough, DJI contacted him and gave him new propeller blades and new firmware.  This corrected the problem, and in his follow up review video, he flew at an elevation above 10,000 feet with no problems and with good battery life.

Clearly, that means that the prop blades were redesigned to give more lift at higher elevations.

I live at about 5200 feet.  I get short battery life here, and the insufficient power problems when flying with the prop guards mounted, even at a hover.

I have wondered from the get-go if my Mini came with the new or the old style prop blades.

If someone gets a Mini that has the old style blades installed, and has problems, swapping for new style blades could give a cure.

Had the same issue. I can confirm installing new props fixed the issue on mine. Take great care how you put the drone away into the case because it’s quite easy for the props to shift. The fly more case has a divider on the bottom and if the prop catches the drone will push against the props deforming them

Any resolution on this?  I'm BRAND NEW and want to buy a MM for backpacking here in UTAH.  The mountains are high (11,000' and up) and my pack will be as light as possible.  So the MINI seems like a good fit weight wise and bulk wise.  Are they shipping new propellors with it at this time??  Has anyone flown these newer props at fairly high altitudes like I described recently??  Thanks!

MM is unsuitable for those altitudes, you risk ESC nef errors and drops.

Tbh thought I am not sure how many drones can fly above 3000 m a.s.l. (or as high as 11,000 feet) but anyway, I understand backpacking and how every gram counts.

The idea that I've had for quite some time is to create a modified set of propellers with a more aggressive blade inclination. My plan was to make a field test with my current set of propellers before decommissioning. If the test were to be successful I could still use them for some rare high altitude mountain flight or get myself a new propeller set to do the mod on.

m80116 Posted at 4-13 16:18
MM is unsuitable for those altitudes, you risk ESC nef errors and drops.

Tbh thought I am not sure how many drones can fly above 3000 m a.s.l. (or as high as 11,000 feet) but anyway, I understand backpacking and how every gram counts.

Interesting.  Would you use a 3-D printer or something?  I’d be interested to know how that goes.  The Mini would be a great backpack drone if it could fly up at those altitudes.  

In some non critical stuff why not (not exactly trivial when props are involved). I just planned to shape by stress modifying the impact angle of the original blades with warming-cooling process. But, providing you can build yourself some contraption to not tap the threads in the motors (unless you want to deal with a permanently modified mount) one could also use different props, for example those used by the Mavic Air considering the weight they have to lift could be a perfect match for a Mavic Mini high altitude prop set.

Just an idea... need developing, but I am pretty confident it could be done.