I have a Mini 2 drone and am wondering what is the most battery efficient speed to fly:

- horizontally from point A to point B

- vertically from altitude A to altitude B

,regardless of the time it takes to cover that distance, and in the same weather conditions.

• CINE mode at max speed of 6m/s flies 300m in 50 seconds, and consumes x1% battery
• NORMAL mode at max speed of 10m/s flies 300m in 30 seconds,  and consumes x2% battery
• SPORT mode at max speed of 16m/s flies 300m in 19 seconds, and consumes x3% battery
  

How different are the values of x1, x2 and x3, and what is a short explanation of these differences ?

Thanks for your time

In general conditions, normal mode gives you the most range, cine mode gives you the most time in the air and sports mode the most speed.

On quadracoters being in the air consumes a ton of energy already, so in cine mode you are using that energy mostly for sustaining in the air, normal mode is the compromise between speed, air resistance, inertia and consumption and in sports air resistance increases a lot due to the angle at which the drone flies and engines and batteries are working out of the efficient range/ratio, so you fly faster but will eat up the battery in no time.

You want be the most time in the air taking pictures or just waiting in the air for something to happen --> Cine
You want to get to further distances consuming less fuel --> Normal
You want to arrive quick, before the sun sets --> Sports

I use normal all the time, except when precision is needed (cine) or sports when I want to return home ASAP because It's starting to rain or because I decided the flight it's over and don't want to wait much for the drone to return.

PS: Altitude is potential energy, so if you are at high alttude and are short on batteries you can sacrifice altitude slowly in the way back home and you'll gain a few extra time in the air, you can do it even with RTH autopilot enabled.

Thanks for the thorough answer Huginn
So, the speed value, at which the drone consumes the least amount of battery per distance, should be in normal mode. However, in normal mode I can fly with 5m/s but also with 10m/s. Should I consider the max speed of the mode 10m/s to be that point ? Obviously I'm starting to overthink things, but I find these concepts quite interesting.

I tested using half stick instead of full stick with the Air2S, but the problem was that the controller has springs, so fighting the stick tension to fly at a specific speed ends up being tedious.

If the max speed of every mode could be customized (or we had a cruise control mode apart from the hyperlapse mode), we could test different cruise speeds to find the most efficient, but it's not possible atm with DJI Fly, so you basically choose the mode depending on what you need (time, distance or speed) and go full stick.

The more smooth and consistent the flight is, the less battery you'll drain. The wind is also an important factor, on windy days expect fewer minutes of flight time if you tend to travel a lot.

Hi,

good question!  but why not test out yourself.

Fly 1000 meter straight line to a point B and return. ; this in N and S mode. (both with half stick fwd and full stick fwd, so 4 outboud/inbound leg)
Note the battery consumption in all situations.

What i do as a good start, hover in front of you and wait till the batt drops a %. than fully fwd to point B.

Post the logs on here, so the forum can see the results.

cheers
JJB