This is the first time I've been able to fly the mavic mini since lock down. It was a new replacement model so I know what the mavic mini normally looks and sounds like. This new one had 2 unusual patterns I would just like to check with other users. From initial takeoff, the drone made an uneven idle speed noise. It was sounding higher and lower while hovering above the takeoff point. I then noticed it was crooked. So it did not look level while hovering. Does anyone know if this will self correct over time? All software updates were done, there were no red wifi symbols on the screen, it was clear for takeoff. Thanks

What was the wind speed on take off?

A J Posted at 6-24 14:55
What was the wind speed on take off?

I chose a quiet sunny day on purpose so i would say 8km/hr. Sorry if you are on American miles, but this is not very windy. The only other issue was I normally take off from concrete surfaces but this time I was in a large grass field and I laid out a mat and put my DJI combo box on top of the mat and used that as a takeoff point

NSW_mmuser Posted at 6-24 15:03
I chose a quiet sunny day on purpose so i would say 8km/hr. Sorry if you are on American miles, but this is not very windy. The only other issue was I normally take off from concrete surfaces but this time I was in a large grass field and I laid out a mat and put my DJI combo box on top of the mat and used that as a takeoff point

I'm on English miles mate - the US took their imperial measurement system from the British when it was a colony

When you take off the change in the sound of the motors and the tilt angle of the drone is caused by it maintaining a precise hover using GPS and the downward vision system whilst fighting the wind which is pushing against it. I would be more concerned if the drone remained untilted and drifted from it's position.

On a larger drone it would handle 8km winds more effectively but being so light the MM needs to adjust its pitch angle more to compensate and the motors will need to work harder. Bottom line, nothing to worry about. If it did that say indoors with the windows and doors closed I would be more concerned but not outside in a light breeze. Does it fly straight?

A J Posted at 6-24 15:11
I'm on English miles mate - the US took their imperial measurement system from the British when it was a colony  

When you take off the change in the sound of the motors and the tilt angle of the drone is caused by it maintaining a precise hover using GPS and the downward vision system whilst fighting the wind which is pushing against it. I would be more concerned if the drone remained untitled and drifted from it's position.

Awesome. Thanks!! and sorry for thinking only american are on miles. I was too afraid to fly it with this unusual pattern, so I stopped and thought about posting on the forum. I will re-try on a completely still day and hope it is back to normal. Your explanation makes sense.

Check the props, calibrate IMU and everything else. If it still hovers crooked in no wind I would contact DJI.

A J Posted at 6-24 15:11
I'm on English miles mate - the US took their imperial measurement system from the British when it was a colony  

When you take off the change in the sound of the motors and the tilt angle of the drone is caused by it maintaining a precise hover using GPS and the downward vision system whilst fighting the wind which is pushing against it. I would be more concerned if the drone remained untitled and drifted from it's position.

Sorry one last query to check, when you asked did it fly straight. Will I test for flying straight up? or a straight horizontal line? i really have not flown it because I was worried it might just plummet to the ground if I flew it

NSW_mmuser Posted at 6-24 15:03
I chose a quiet sunny day on purpose so i would say 8km/hr. Sorry if you are on American miles, but this is not very windy. The only other issue was I normally take off from concrete surfaces but this time I was in a large grass field and I laid out a mat and put my DJI combo box on top of the mat and used that as a takeoff point

8km/h winds is enough to tilt the drone. The drone tilts to maintain position in the wind.

Did you try to calibrate the compass and IMU and change the props?
If the front props are bend or damaged the legs tend to vibrate/shake. Rear ones should just be replaced on suspicion of being bend or damaged.
Do you still have uneven idle speed noise at higher altitudes like 5m?
At the 1.2m default takeoff altitude it might fight it's own airstream reflected from the ground.
If you still have problems you might have a defective motor or ESC.
Or you just underestimate the gust speed. In my area i can have 8kph wind speed but 30kph gust speed.

NSW_mmuser Posted at 6-24 15:21
Sorry one last query to check, when you asked did it fly straight. Will I test for flying straight up? or a straight horizontal line? i really have not flown it because I was worried it might just plummet to the ground if I flew it

Both directions - the drone should not drift at all which is why you are experiencing the tilt on take off in 8km winds. Note that the higher the altitude the stronger the winds too - at 150' AGL an 8KM breeze at ground level could be 15KM or more so that may push the drone more and cause the air speed of the drone flying into the wind to be lower than normal (and faster than normal with a tail wind carrying it).

Put the prop guards on and take off to a couple of feet in your living room - there should be no tilt. Then land - don't fly around in the house. Try that first. If you experience serious drift in flight in light winds or if the drone tilts after taking off indoors then let the drone and battery cool down, place it on a dead flat surface at home and calibrate the IMU but don't do that until you have tested it.

Denny-R Posted at 6-24 15:33
Did you try to calibrate the compass and IMU and change the props?
If the front props are bend or damaged the legs tend to vibrate/shake. Rear ones should just be replaced on suspicion of being bend or damaged.
Do you still have uneven idle speed noise at higher altitudes like 5m?

Thanks for the reply. It was brand new out of the box so I did not check the props. I assumed the props would be fine out of the box. I just looked at them now and they look fine (but I don't really know what I am looking for).  I will try this IMU thing and calibration of the compass. I did not try any more flying as I thought something was wrong and came back here to chat on the forum.

A J Posted at 6-24 15:42
Both directions - the drone should not drift at all which is why you are experiencing the tilt on take off in 8km winds. Note that the higher the altitude the stronger the winds too - at 150' AGL an 8KM breeze at ground level could be 15KM or more so that may push the drone more and cause the air speed of the drone flying into the wind to be lower than normal (and faster than normal with a tail wind carrying it).

Put the prop guards on and take off to a couple of feet in your living room - there should be no tilt. Then land - don't fly around in the house. Try that first. If you experience serious drift in flight in light winds or if the drone tilts after taking off indoors then let the drone and battery cool down, place it on a dead flat surface at home and calibrate the IMU but don't do that until you have tested it.

ok. Great advice. Hey I thought about taking off in house but I was worried how high it would try to take off. I live in a unit so the roof is not too high. I'm going to see how windy it is today to see if I can re-test. This forum is great! Thanks heaps

NSW_mmuser Posted at 6-24 15:46
ok. Great advice. Hey I thought about taking off in house but I was worried how high it would try to take off. I live in a unit so the roof is not too high. I'm going to see how windy it is today to see if I can re-test. This forum is great! Thanks heaps

Or an enclosed space outdoors - behind some walls. Honestly, I have flown all the Mavic's and latest Phantoms, they all tilt a little on take off in a heavyish breeze to hold their position. The Mini will get blown around more purely because of it's weight and the pitch noise from the motors is due to the change in wind speeds - which are never consistent.

NSW_mmuser Posted at 6-24 15:46
ok. Great advice. Hey I thought about taking off in house but I was worried how high it would try to take off. I live in a unit so the roof is not too high. I'm going to see how windy it is today to see if I can re-test. This forum is great! Thanks heaps

Oh, and NEVER calibrate the compass indoors. You should really only calibrate anything when the app tells you too. If everything is normal then a calibration will only make it well, normal lol If you need to calibrate the compass then do that at your flight location only and straight before take off. Ensure there are no heavy metal objects around the drone/area.  

NSW_mmuser Posted at 6-24 15:46
ok. Great advice. Hey I thought about taking off in house but I was worried how high it would try to take off. I live in a unit so the roof is not too high. I'm going to see how windy it is today to see if I can re-test. This forum is great! Thanks heaps

Oh, and NEVER calibrate the compass indoors. You should really only calibrate anything when the app tells you too. If everything is normal then a calibration will only make it well, normal lol If you need to calibrate the compass then do that at your flight location only and straight before take off. Ensure there are no heavy metal objects around the drone/area.  

When you say it's "crooked", does it look like it's just leaning into the wind to hold position?

I mean, is it leaning to its left?  If so, try turning it around (yaw) to face the opposite direction.  Is it then still leaning to its left, or is it now tilting to its right, still leaning into the wind?

Zbip57 Posted at 6-24 16:17
When you say it's "crooked", does it look like it's just leaning into the wind to hold position?

I mean, is it leaning to its left?  If so, try turning it around (yaw) to face the opposite direction.  Is it then still leaning to its left, or is it now tilting to its right, still leaning into the wind?

Thanks. It was crooked so that I would think the image it took of me would be lopsided. It just did not seem perfectly horizontal, which i know it can be. It sounds like I underestimaged the wind that day, even though I did not think it felt that way. It is windy today so I won't test it. I thank everyone that has helped troubleshoot. I hope everyone has their lock down restictions lifted soon enough to go fly their drone.

NSW_mmuser Posted at 6-24 17:35
Thanks. It was crooked so that I would think the image it took of me would be lopsided. It just did not seem perfectly horizontal, which i know it can be. It sounds like I underestimaged the wind that day, even though I did not think it felt that way. It is windy today so I won't test it. I thank everyone that has helped troubleshoot. I hope everyone has their lock down restictions lifted soon enough to go fly their drone.

Any images should be level as the gimbal will fix tilt in most cases.

Recommend you try the steps in this thread to check your props, mine were bad straight from the factory.

https://forum.dji.com/forum.php? ... D712%26typeid%3D712

IMU calibration gimbal calibration. Shifting pitch noise patterns shouldn't be of any particular concern, it's just normal motor speed control. It's normal for such a tiny and light drone to wobble a bit while hovering.

It sounds like IMU, but they’re sensors on mini to warn of unit needing calibration, however calibration of IMU is no harm.

IMU "Inertial measurement unit" .

As far as I see it, IMU calibration on a level surface updates a table of values the flight controller software uses as a reference for a level stationary hover. From there the craft responds predictably to flight commands.  It also likely measures any sensor noise and thermal drift so that these technical imperfections are accounted for when using IMU sensor data in flight. - this is likely why there must be no vibrations during the calibration process.


Bad IMU calibration could cause drift and attitude issues as the flight controller fights to hold the craft in what it thinks is the correct attitude as opposed to the correct physical attitude.


The IMU usually has 2 types of sensors – angle and acceleration and in turn 3 sensors of each type measuring in the X,Y and Z axis. These sensors can, through vibration, aging, impact etc, drift in their response over time and thus an IMU calibration will establish a new reference for the IMU’s level/stationary state that the flight controller can work with to restore stable flight.


Think of calibration as the bringing back into line the measured craft attitude with the true physical craft attitude.


As to how often an IMU calibration is needed, Refer to your manual ; certainly after any impact or if there are suspicions the craft can’t hover in a level attitude in a windless environment.

Hi. I am sorry for the trouble this has caused. With regards to this concern. As our valued DJI co pilots advised above, please calibrate the IMU and compass then check the propellers for any dents or issues as a part of the DJI pre flight checklist. Please keep us posted and thank you for your support.

Thanks everyone. With so many windy days since posting this and rain, I haven't been able to test it again. I am confident I have enough to test and go by. I am happy to close this question but I cannot see how to hit a "resolved" button