I got a close call today almost having to land my Mavis Air 2 in the sea and a question poped in my head. I made it to the beach but about 1km from take off spot.

Lets say you know that you wont be able to make it back to the spot you take off. Would you go farther in normal mode or sports mode. Saving battery going slow or going as fast as you can in sports mode?

it depends on a lot of factors are you know.

but overall, I would guess speed over battery.

Sports mode massively drains the battery. Billy Kyle did his first MA2 flight in Sport mode and got 15 minutes. I’ve got 29 minutes in N mode.

One of the biggest drains on the battery is also wind speeds which are quicker at higher altitude. So given your scenario I’d switch to N-mode, lower altitude to 200’ AGL and fly back in full pitch in a straight line to your position, decreasing altitude as you get closer.

I would also strongly advise flying out against the wind so that the wind is carrying the drone on the return flight. Note that wind direction can also change quite rapidly, especially over the sea so always start the return with plenty of battery power remaining and don’t fly out too far.  

Would you go farther in normal mode or sports mode. Saving battery going slow or going as fast as you can in sports mode?
It's very similar to your car in this respect.
If you were on the highway with your fuel guage showing low, would you stand a better chance of getting home if you drove at 100 mph or 50 mph?

DJI shows a max distance of 9.25km each way for 18.5km total, although the longest range test I've seen is 8.5km. DJI did this at a steady 36 kmh in still air with sensors off. For max flight time, the correct speed is 18 kmh.

Some people seems to have misread and talk about flight time... but what Im asking is about flight distance.
For the same factors no matter what they are (wind, etc) flying in normal mode will get you farther? Or in sports mode will get you farther?

If you're flying until your battery reach 0%, should you fly in normal mode or sports mode to get you farther?

Based on AJ's data of 15 minutes in Sport and 29 minutes in Normal and the spec sheet DJI provides which says you get 19 m/s in Sport and 12 m/sec in Normal, you would travel 17,100 m in Sport and 20,880 m in Normal in their scenario.  All said, this assumes each of them had relatively the same winds and took off and landed with the same battery power.

Note added:   The max flight distance in the spec sheet is listed at 18,500 m.   This number is less than the distance computed above which makes me wonder about the data used in the computations.

2nd note added:  The spec sheet max distance of 18,500 doesn't make sense to me if they list max flight time of 34 minute (not realistic from my experience) and Normal 12 m/s which computes to 24,480 m.  With that figure, the numbers AJ provided are more realistic.

Oops...previous post had math error...read again for correct numbers and added notes.

You could test this without to many problems, and come back and show us the results ;+)

DBlue420 Posted at 9-7 07:55
Some people seems to have misread and talk about flight time... but what Im asking is about flight distance.
For the same factors no matter what they are (wind, etc) flying in normal mode will get you farther? Or in sports mode will get you farther?

Given that either of the flight modes has absolutely nothing to do with the transmission system the range is thus dictated by the amount of power in the battery. That is why everyone is replying with how best to reserve battery power in order to maximise the distance the drone can fly. Your drone ain't flying anywhere without the juice to fuel it!

The typical max speed of the MA2 in N-mode is 26.5MPH. The Typical max Speed of the MA2 in S-mode is 42.5MPH. Whilst the drone will fly 16MPH faster in S-mode the battery depletes at around twice the rate in S-mode (given Billy Kyles 15 minute maiden flight in that mode compared to nearly 30 minutes in N-mode) then it becomes basic maths - the drone will fly further in N-mode as a total range. Though as Rustic17 correctly pointed out - this will also depend on other variables such as wind speeds but in N-mode you can expect to fly nearly 3KM further in total flight distance on one battery (not to be confused with 3KM further from your position). You should therefore be able to reach the maximum distance of 10KM in either mode when flying in idyllic conditions in an FCC area but don't expect the battery to have enough juice for a safe return if flying in S-mode or either mode into a strong wind or even moderate breeze.

hallmark007 Posted at 9-7 08:52
You could test this without to many problems, and come back and show us the results ;+)

Lol I was hoping someone else did before trying

If I had to guess, I would say that going faster isnt as efficient and cost more energy "per km". And I have a tendency to switch to sports mode a lot to reach areas I wanna film so maybe I should take my time to get there in normal mode.

Like some people pointed out, it is not easy to test. I guess one would need a buddy who also have a MA2 and both take off at the same time from the same spot and just fly away until their batteries reaches 0%.

DBlue420 Posted at 9-7 09:58
If I had to guess, I would say that going faster isnt as efficient and cost more energy "per km". And I have a tendency to switch to sports mode a lot to reach areas I wanna film so maybe I should take my time to get there in normal mode.

Like some people pointed out, it is not easy to test. I guess one would need a buddy who also have a MA2 and both take off at the same time from the same spot and just fly away until their batteries reaches 0%.

Put it this way:

If the flight time in S mode is 15 minutes, the max speed in full pitch is 42.5MPH and the max horizontal distance is 6.2 miles how far will the drone get by 0%?

If the flight time in N mode is 29 minutes, the max speed in full pitch is 26.5MPH and the max horizontal distance is 6.2 miles how far will the drone get by 0%?

Answer - 6.2 miles in either flight mode before failsafe RTH kicks in and it starts flying back to where it took off due to signal loss as the max flight distance has been reached. So the question is which flight mode may have enough battery power remaining to ensure that the drone safely returns to your position after a 12.4 mile range is covered. Answer - N mode.  

DBlue420 Posted at 9-7 09:58
If I had to guess, I would say that going faster isnt as efficient and cost more energy "per km". And I have a tendency to switch to sports mode a lot to reach areas I wanna film so maybe I should take my time to get there in normal mode.

Like some people pointed out, it is not easy to test. I guess one would need a buddy who also have a MA2 and both take off at the same time from the same spot and just fly away until their batteries reaches 0%.

If I had to guess, I would say that going faster isnt as efficient and cost more energy "per km".
If you think a little further, you also realise that going slower uses more battery just to hold the drone up and less in making distance.
Somewhere in the middle is the sweet spot that gets the most distance per battery.
Testing done on other DJI drones shows that optimum distance per battery is achieved by flying at close to full speed in P-GPS mode (no wind).
It's going to be similar for the Air 2.

Testing will be easy when Litchi is available and you can set a course (like a racetrack) and fly that at different speeds..

Someone with an advanced degree in physics should be able to compare the forces of wind resistance for the MA2 with those of the gravitational attaction of same drone to find the "sweet spot". That person would not be me. Any other takers?

Hi. Thank you for reaching out to DJI Forum. With regards to this matter, I hope that our valued DJI co pilots can provide you the best information for this inquiry. For additional information regarding the specification of the DJI Mavic Air 2, please check the posted image below. Thank you.

Dirty Bird Posted at 9-8 09:10
Or you could simply run the same test back to back, once in Normal Mode & once in Sport Mode.  You don't have to max it out.  Just make sure each test begins with a full battery.  Fly out until 65% battery remains, return, & compare distance covered vs how much battery power is remaining.

I think I will try something like that a couple times and see next time im out and about flying

Dirty Bird Posted at 9-7 22:19
There is a point of maximum efficiency, what equates to miles per amp.  Balls-to-the-wall in Sport Mode is like driving your car with the accelerator pushed to the floor.    It's faster, but it won't go as far.

I'm not saying that's entirely wrong, but the car analogy is definitely lacking. With cars, the equation is much simpler, air resistance increases with the square of the speed so the impact on fuel usage is clearly greater the faster you go. But, with drones, there is also gravity to take into account. Every second the drone stays in the air, it's using up energy simply to not fall down. If you're flying flat out in Sports mode, you will be using more energy per distance (or less miles per amp) for the horizontal component but you'll be in the air for less time (roughly 60% if comparing to N mode) meaning you'll spend just 60% of the energy you normally would for the vertical part, the "not falling down" part. I tend to think these two factors might balance themselves out.

https://youtu.be/T_iUr2Acmnw

Normal mode: maximum efficiency

- Max distance:  9,042 m (5.6184 miles)
- Total: 18,188 m

Flight Log: https://app.airdata.com/share/jWypto

From what I have understood from DJI's specs, max distance is achieved at 36 kmh and max flight time at 18 kmh in still air. However, wind, gusts and turbulence very much affect distance. The controller measures ground speed. Maintaining 36 kmh ground speed will use less power with a tailwind and more with a headwind. Either N or S mode will work, but I have found it easier to maintain a target speed in N. Turning off anything that uses the battery will obviously help--sensors, lights, video recording, unnecessary gimbal and flight movement.

So far I have tested 2 times on 2 different day. Going 1km away and coming back to home point. First in normal mode and then in sports mode. Starting with a fully charged battery each time.

The wind might have been a little different between the sports test and the normal test so Im planning on doing this a couple more time to see if I always get the same results but so far it seems like it deplete the battery a little less when going in normal mode. So going in normal mode would get you further.