That's very interesting cause I have just had a go with my mini  2 as its lovely here, and I took it out in 5.8 as far as about 2 bars I think it was and switched to 2.4 and it jumped to 3 bars then 4 white bars, I did it 2 or 3 times and exact same, CE 2.4 on the mini 2 and p4p is a stronger signal...
Edited video on my phone won't play from my server, will stick it on the tube, gis a mo....

FlyBoo Posted at 5-17 11:52
I suppose I should state my drone is a CE model.

CE should stand for CRAP EXPERIENCE because once the drone is on edge of VLOS and so much as a leaf gets in the way, its bye bye signal, FCC mode or nothing I'm afraid.

TheBoy Posted at 6-6 09:55
I know, had to use Sports mode and low altitude to get back....    ...right up until the stupid thing disconnected due to poor signal, and climbed up to 55m.

Regain control, repeat. 3 times.

ouch,   I chose not to fly just in case.     If I had the M2P it would have been fine, but Id only taken the Mini3 on that trip.

DAFlys Posted at 6-7 22:39
ouch,   I chose not to fly just in case.     If I had the M2P it would have been fine, but Id only taken the Mini3 on that trip.

Yes, once it was back in my hand, that was it for the day .  The wind itself wasn't a huge issue, as the Mini 3 is stunning in wind - but be aware, it can drain the battery at an alarming rate, leaving you exposed if you wait for low battery RTH - and flicking to Sports and lowering the altitude as much as possible but retaining VLOS makes it normally trivial to get it back....    ...it was the disconnections that again caught me out.

Someone mentioned on the Mavic forums that a person did a factory reset of the controller and then updated it again and that seemed to help them with signal and range. Might want to contact DJI for the info and hopefully it'll help those with this issue.  

as of 8th June in the UK, my mini3 with RC Pro controller is losing signal at a height of 100m over open countryside at 280m. This is not acceptable and I hope DJI are addressing this as a matter of urgency.

Great vid from Air Photography summing up same issues I am seeing, mainly my Mini 3 Pro being outperformed by my old Mavic Mini in terms of range.

The Smart RC should have had external antennas. I'm very upset. DJI PLEASE FIX THIS

UPS stopped by this morning with a package that I have been patiently waiting .  I could not wait to get home from work to open my package .  I immediately  charged the battery and RC controller.  I was surprised how little time it took to complete a full charge on the RC controller and Mini 3.   I  called my dog and we headed to Ehukai Beach  otherwise known as the Banzai Pipeline..   I was very excited about this drone but will probably be returning it.  The Mini 3 just did not live up to all the hype that the  YOUTUBERS  influencers made it out to be.  I will just leave it at that as I like DJI and own 2-of their best drones .  

DAFlys Posted at 5-17 11:24
I’m finding mine temperamental.  Good range on one flight then on another 200m and the video is glitching.    Time will tell more but with only one battery it’s slow going.

Yes, the signal is somewhat instable. It may drop from 5 bars to 0 within a few meters. Sometimes range is perfect, sometimes just 100m (without any obvious reasons, also in rural areas). I really wonder how this could be...

TheBoy Posted at 6-8 05:06
Yes, once it was back in my hand, that was it for the day .  The wind itself wasn't a huge issue, as the Mini 3 is stunning in wind - but be aware, it can drain the battery at an alarming rate, leaving you exposed if you wait for low battery RTH - and flicking to Sports and lowering the altitude as much as possible but retaining VLOS makes it normally trivial to get it back....    ...it was the disconnections that again caught me out.

Took mine out yesterday in 33mph winds and kept getting battery overload warnings,    just like some of the early YouTube reviews showed.  

HScholz Posted at 6-8 22:37
Yes, the signal is somewhat instable. It may drop from 5 bars to 0 within a few meters. Sometimes range is perfect, sometimes just 100m (without any obvious reasons, also in rural areas). I really wonder how this could be...

Since Ive started paying better attention to how I hold the remote,  its working as good as or perhaps slightly better than the N1 controller.  

DAFlys Posted at 6-8 22:41
Took mine out yesterday in 33mph winds and kept getting battery overload warnings,    just like some of the early YouTube reviews showed.

Its truly impressive in the wind, isn't it.  Probably almost as good as the Mavic 3, though the footage isn't quite as stable in those conditions.

TheBoy Posted at 6-9 04:09
Its truly impressive in the wind, isn't it.  Probably almost as good as the Mavic 3, though the footage isn't quite as stable in those conditions.

I found my Mavic 2 Pro to be much better in the wind,  but then it can do 45mph.

Tony64 Posted at 6-7 12:21
CE should stand for CRAP EXPERIENCE because once the drone is on edge of VLOS and so much as a leaf gets in the way, its bye bye signal, FCC mode or nothing I'm afraid.

What total nonsense. All of my CE mode drones fly fine with plenty of range. Hell I flew large RC jets with CE transmitters on 2.4 gig and never had an issue.

fans4bc11bce Posted at 6-8 18:58
The Smart RC should have had external antennas. I'm very upset. DJI PLEASE FIX THIS

The Smart controller does have antennas. Did you mean the DJI RC

DAFlys Posted at 6-9 22:34
I found my Mavic 2 Pro to be much better in the wind,  but then it can do 45mph.

I found the Mavic 3 is much better than the Mavic 2 in the wind.  And I'd say that the Mini 3 is on a par with the Mavic 3 in the wind, other than the aircraft can't keep as stable.

My poor Mavic 2 doesn't come out that often, and never in strong winds now, so can't comment on a side by side comparison between Mavic 2 and Mini 3,.

Bigplumbs Posted at 6-9 22:52
What total nonsense. All of my CE mode drones fly fine with plenty of range. Hell I flew large RC jets with CE transmitters on 2.4 gig and never had an issue.

Planes have much less locally induced interference issues than quadcopters, hence the control signal will do 3 or 4 times the distance of the control on a quad.

DAFlys Posted at 6-9 01:33
Since Ive started paying better attention to how I hold the remote,  its working as good as or perhaps slightly better than the N1 controller.

I think youre in the lucky group of owners. I bet its gonna be tough for DJI to narrow down, some are ok, some are sporadic and some are poop. I wonder if there is a dodgy antenna, cable or connector?

That video posted a few replies up sums it up when he compares it to the Mini 2 SE (non OC)  although they are all wifi drones lol but still standard wifi beat OC3

Bigplumbs Posted at 6-9 22:52
What total nonsense. All of my CE mode drones fly fine with plenty of range. Hell I flew large RC jets with CE transmitters on 2.4 gig and never had an issue.

You totally missed their point, CE vs FCC and they are right CE 0.04w vs FCC 4.0w

Youre talking about plenty of range for you, you wouldnt even know if the range was poor, you don't go out far enough to know otherwise.

Also, you flying ya jets would have to keep them fairly close due to their nature, i have watched many large RC jet videos and they all tend to fly very locally, there's no live view (as a rule) so you're quite limited, not only that you wouldnt go that far incase it dropped connection, you just wouldnt risk it, i know i wouldnt that's for sure, i mean, there is no safety net, no rth, no hover, just *whistles* splat.....  so yeah, you wouldnt see too many connection issues, if ya did it could be fatal.

DAFlys Posted at 6-9 22:34
I found my Mavic 2 Pro to be much better in the wind,  but then it can do 45mph.

It is better and Mavic 3 is 10 times better thats a beast.

Bashy Posted at 6-10 00:04
I think youre in the lucky group of owners. I bet its gonna be tough for DJI to narrow down, some are ok, some are sporadic and some are poop. I wonder if there is a dodgy antenna, cable or connector?

That video posted a few replies up sums it up when he compares it to the Mini 2 SE (non OC)  although they are all wifi drones lol but still standard wifi beat OC3

It looks like the conspiracies are about to begin. Remember the same with the Mavic 3 and those who were convinced it was a hardware problem , well it wasn’t. I’m not sure if dji can tweak O3 I’ve never heard of it before. There are some very strange things going on regarding signal dropouts IE everyone saying Mini 2 has much better signal and can fly much further. Yet we haven’t seen this actually achieved in any test. But we have seen many tests that show there is no difference. The same can be said of using RC N1 or Dji RC both show similar range in both rural and urban areas. I hear what people are saying but I’m not convinced that this doesn’t have something to do with how they are actually flying or the areas they are flying in. I don’t think Mini 3 will ever be as good as Mavic 3 but it should be as good as Mini 2 so for me I would like to see those two drones tested together in the same conditions.

hallmark007 Posted at 6-10 01:33
It looks like the conspiracies are about to begin. Remember the same with the Mavic 3 and those who were convinced it was a hardware problem , well it wasn’t. I’m not sure if dji can tweak O3 I’ve never heard of it before. There are some very strange things going on regarding signal dropouts IE everyone saying Mini 2 has much better signal and can fly much further. Yet we haven’t seen this actually achieved in any test. But we have seen many tests that show there is no difference. The same can be said of using RC N1 or Dji RC both show similar range in both rural and urban areas. I hear what people are saying but I’m not convinced that this doesn’t have something to do with how they are actually flying or the areas they are flying in. I don’t think Mini 3 will ever be as good as Mavic 3 but it should be as good as Mini 2 so for me I would like to see those two drones tested together in the same conditions.

Agreed, I too would love to see them go head to head where I fly for range testing, from what I have seen so far though, the mini 3 would struggle. My mini 2 in CE mode, beat my P4P in FCC mode, about 3.8km,the latter only managed 3.6km, if I remember right that is, but I know it was better  than it. I also know I can max out the battery against distance with the mini 2 in FCC mode. As it stands, I can't see me getting a mini 3 based on the range "issues" alone. Did the mini 2 have folks complaining about the range with it came out?

Bashy Posted at 6-10 01:49
Agreed, I too would love to see them go head to head where I fly for range testing, from what I have seen so far though, the mini 3 would struggle. My mini 2 in CE mode, beat my P4P in FCC mode, about 3.8km,the latter only managed 3.6km, if I remember right that is, but I know it was better  than it. I also know I can max out the battery against distance with the mini 2 in FCC mode. As it stands, I can't see me getting a mini 3 based on the range "issues" alone. Did the mini 2 have folks complaining about the range with it came out?

Yes it did but it followed mini 1 which was WiFi so it was so much more reliable than that. I have a feeling many thought the mini was going to be much better than mini 2, but that was never going to happen , but I have seen many long distance flying with mini 3 as I have with mini 2. I haven’t seen anyone show mini 2 is better than mini 3 and I know from flying both that keeping away from potential interference will insure good signal all the time.

Hi all,
When I had time to test the Mini 3 Pro I got to about 430m before the RC signal would drop.
At about 540m away the RC icon went into the red. However, this was all at the height of about 10m. Then I found the signal improved when I went to a higher altitude.
This was using the RC and the Mini 3 Pro. I testing out an a pine plantation, and most of these trees were less then 2meters high.

I honestly hope there is a firmware update soon. It was worrying.
I flew my Air 2s (with the RC-N1) straight after in the same area and had no issues

[media=x,970,580]DJI Mini 3 Pro Range issues [/media]

hallmark007 Posted at 6-10 01:58
Yes it did but it followed mini 1 which was WiFi so it was so much more reliable than that. I have a feeling many thought the mini was going to be much better than mini 2, but that was never going to happen , but I have seen many long distance flying with mini 3 as I have with mini 2. I haven’t seen anyone show mini 2 is better than mini 3 and I know from flying both that keeping away from potential interference will insure good signal all the time.

Are you sure, i just looked at the last 1st 2 pages for the  mini 2 and nothing but good stuff about the range, CE over 4km rural (water) 11km one way FCC (i assume)

Bashy Posted at 6-10 03:40
Are you sure, i just looked at the last 1st 2 pages for the  mini 2 and nothing but good stuff about the range, CE over 4km rural (water) 11km one way FCC (i assume)

Go to YT and type in Mini 2 Bad range there are plenty complaining . I think that almost all dji drones would have some complaining about range, including after app and FW updates, but I don’t remember dji ever fixing range problems.

Have a mini 3 on order but put off by the comments re range and signal loss. As such I contacted DJI and these pics show their responses. I hope they relieve some of the anxieties.

From DJI

hallmark007 Posted at 6-10 03:59
Go to YT and type in Mini 2 Bad range there are plenty complaining . I think that almost all dji drones would have some complaining about range, including after app and FW updates, but I don’t remember dji ever fixing range problems.

Just done tht, page is still open, i see 2 fails, and turned home, says its fw problem, it would help if he was aligned with the drone, he's pointing the wrong way for 1000m away. was an actual issue at 3800ft, not sure what his issue was i didn't watch it all but i also couldn't see his controller indicator as he had the map up.

Theres also 1 about Gavin talking about connection issues and other stuff after an update

The rest are a mini 1 talking about range, another was the mini 2 doing 10km over water, a couple were on about range extender tests and then the rest were mini 3 range issues lol

I see nothing about the range with Mini 2 on launch using the search term you gave me, Mini 2 Bad range.

But yes, you're right about other DJI drones have had bad range issues,  P4P went through after a bad fw release, which was soon resolved though with a beta and then full release.

djiuser_YDX4h7zi2dBs Posted at 6-10 06:18
Have a mini 3 on order but put off by the comments re range and signal loss. As such I contacted DJI and these pics show their responses. I hope they relieve some of the anxieties.

From DJI

Interesting that the part about turning off the controllers wifi and bluetooth is recommended in the manual too (page 44 I think) I don't remember that point being prominent in other drones. Shame its too windy here right now to try out.

But it raises another point. The RC needs to be hotspotted from your phone to acquire maps and use the directional indicator. Maps I get, they can be downloaded and cached, but surely you should be able to use the directional indicator using the controllers own GPS without connecting to a phone or WiFi first?

Long story short , I had DJI drones since the first released, never had problem like this little junk ! Flew different areas and even a few meters away , RC disconnect . Also a lot of time drone is unresponsive to start/stop or even tilting camera etc etc. After so many years of building drones , DJI is selling literally a toy for kids !! THIS DRONE HAS ISSUE WITH HARDWARE !

FlyBoo Posted at 6-10 10:07
Interesting that the part about turning off the controllers wifi and bluetooth is recommended in the manual too (page 44 I think) I don't remember that point being prominent in other drones. Shame its too windy here right now to try out.

But it raises another point. The RC needs to be hotspotted from your phone to acquire maps and use the directional indicator. Maps I get, they can be downloaded and cached, but surely you should be able to use the directional indicator using the controllers own GPS without connecting to a phone or WiFi first?

But it raises another point. The RC needs to be hotspotted from your phone to acquire maps and use the directional indicator. Maps I get, they can be downloaded and cached, but surely you should be able to use the directional indicator using the controllers own GPS without connecting to a phone or WiFi first?

Not to use the direction indicator, that's based on the compass in the controller from what I've been told and as you can calibrate the controller's compass then that sounds about right to me. You need to hotspot to get the maps downloaded if you haven't already cached them prior to leaving home, i.e. by opening the app and then going into live view and zooming in to the locations that you're going to fly. NOTE; that's the live view map, NOT the Fly Safe map you can enter from the top left on the 1st screen of the app. You prob know that though but it doesn't hurt to mention it again in case others read it that are not aware of that....

CptLuke Posted at 6-10 14:17
Long story short , I had DJI drones since the first released, never had problem like this little junk ! Flew different areas and even a few meters away , RC disconnect . Also a lot of time drone is unresponsive to start/stop or even tilting camera etc etc. After so many years of building drones , DJI is selling literally a toy for kids !! THIS DRONE HAS ISSUE WITH HARDWARE !

Or pilot, bare in mind that from what i have seen and heard, this drone needs a perfect alignment between RC and AC, with nothing in the way at all too. But you shouldn't be getting disconnects that close unless you're directly below it even then, it shouldn't disconnect, get in touch with support and open a ticket...

Bashy Posted at 6-10 00:04
I think youre in the lucky group of owners. I bet its gonna be tough for DJI to narrow down, some are ok, some are sporadic and some are poop. I wonder if there is a dodgy antenna, cable or connector?

That video posted a few replies up sums it up when he compares it to the Mini 2 SE (non OC)  although they are all wifi drones lol but still standard wifi beat OC3

Id love to know what enhanced wifi really means,   

TheBoy Posted at 6-9 23:57
I found the Mavic 3 is much better than the Mavic 2 in the wind.  And I'd say that the Mini 3 is on a par with the Mavic 3 in the wind, other than the aircraft can't keep as stable.

My poor Mavic 2 doesn't come out that often, and never in strong winds now, so can't comment on a side by side comparison between Mavic 2 and Mini 3,.

My Mini3 cant keep up with the Mavic 2,    leaves it for dust in sports mode.

DAFlys Posted at 6-11 00:26
Id love to know what enhanced wifi really means,

Yeah, its prob just a marketing ploy, wifi is wifi ain't ?

Bashy Posted at 6-11 03:33
Yeah, its prob just a marketing ploy, wifi is wifi ain't ?

A certain member did create a post about it - https://forum.dji.com/thread-134530-1-1.html

DAFlys Posted at 6-11 23:13
A certain member did create a post about it - https://forum.dji.com/thread-134530-1-1.html

Yip, WiiFi is just a standard used is all, its all radio waves when you get down to it. Perhaps the "enhanced" part is the number of antennas used, but then when everyone starts doing that, as routers have for example, does it start to become just normal wifi? after all, its not really enhanced over the norma anymore. If nothing else, from what i have seen, its a damn good range when it works lol

I went flying this afternoon, just for the sake of it because the surroundings are not very interesting sadly. CE transmission.
I did not try to reach maximum range, but I was curious so I went circling around a farm and reached 1600m with okay signal. There may be wifi interference from the farm, or my aim was a bit off, or the drone is quite sensitive to its orientation because the signal dropped from 5 to 4 bars going from 1485 to 1548m, then to 2 bars up to 1600m. I think the rotation is a contributor, when facing the RC the signal was lower, went up to 5 bars around 1100m going back home.
Anyway, I plan to use the drone in the mountains mainly, to fly mostly in LoS due to the wind / birds / paragliders that live up there lol. I don't think I would ever need to go that far in standard use as it would be complicated to recover it in case of an event. The signal may not be as strong as one could expect, still it is strong enough for most use cases of a small drone I think... First mountain test next Weekend !

Fully charged battery on drone and on RC controller. Placed Mini 3 Pro out in the open on some boxes about 5 feet high. Walked to about 200 meters,  direct line of sight
, and started to lose signal, though I had still a picture. Set up my Mini 2 the same way, still had a relative good signal at 225 meters with 4 bars. Looks like there is a range problem on the Mini 3 Pro.