Bashy Posted at 2-8 18:27
Thats not confirmation of anything im afraid, the problem with your test is different days, thats easily enough for outside influences to change enough to either reduce the range or in your case, show an improvement.

Also you're in CE so that means your range is handicapped from the get-go

You flew 3.8 km at 25 m in a foggy conditions? LOL You were really testing your luck. Well, if you know the area it's easier.

Yes, I can also confirm that the way one holds the RC may influence greatly the range. I saw it in my tests as well.

Today I flew my Mini 3 Pro just past 1km at 30m , -4 degrees C, very light fog. I still had all my bars for signal. I am flying in Northern Ontario Canada on, just on the edge of my town. Also, I was using a DJI RC with the screen.

The above may not be relevant to most here, but just posting my experience so far.

Drone Buddy Posted at 2-9 11:55
You flew 3.8 km at 25 m in a foggy conditions? LOL You were really testing your luck. Well, if you know the area it's easier.

Yes, I can also confirm that the way one holds the RC may influence greatly the range. I saw it in my tests as well.

Well, yes and no, its highly unlikely one would encounter anything else flying in thick fog and certainly not at 30m, anything flying at 30m in fog has a much more serious concern, e.g., that thing is going down (and not meaning me) ;)

Its probably about the safest time to do a range test.

fansa78b5913 Posted at 2-9 16:37
Today I flew my Mini 3 Pro just past 1km at 30m , -4 degrees C, very light fog. I still had all my bars for signal. I am flying in Northern Ontario Canada on, just on the edge of my town. Also, I was using a DJI RC with the screen.

The above may not be relevant to most here, but just posting my experience so far.

damn, you was lucky, very lucky as you risked prop icing for sure, this is a concern when the air temp is below 4C and the humidity is high, you hit both criteria, did you see any icing when you got back. I remember flying my P4P in light fog and 1C (actually 0C at 120m as it drops around 1C per 100m) and that landed with icing on the props and all other leading edges, legs etc.

Thanks for sharing though

Bashy Posted at 2-9 18:20
Well, yes and no, its highly unlikely one would encounter anything else flying in thick fog and certainly not at 30m, anything flying at 30m in fog has a much more serious concern, e.g., that thing is going down (and not meaning me) ;)

Its probably about the safest time to do a range test.

Unlikely to hit something at 30 m? Hm... Let's see. I have several mobile towers nearby, electrical stations and other high objects I would fly in such conditions only if I really,m really knew the area well and even then you may not know if something changed since the last time you saw the famialiar surroundings

Drone Buddy Posted at 2-10 03:55
Unlikely to hit something at 30 m? Hm... Let's see. I have several mobile towers nearby, electrical stations and other high objects  I would fly in such conditions only if I really,m really knew the area well and even then you may not know if something changed since the last time you saw the famialiar surroundings

You missed the obvious, i know the flight path and thats what i am referring to, no one else's either, just mine as thats what i did the tests on... ;)

Bashy Posted at 2-9 18:24
damn, you was lucky, very lucky as you risked prop icing for sure, this is a concern when the air temp is below 4C and the humidity is high, you hit both criteria, did you see any icing when you got back. I remember flying my P4P in light fog and 1C (actually 0C at 120m as it drops around 1C per 100m) and that landed with icing on the props and all other leading edges, legs etc.

Thanks for sharing though

If I have to wait for plus temperatures, my drone will be in a box for another month. My props had absolutely no icing and it was only a 6 minute test flight, straight back and forth. The cloud ceiling was about 60m and the winds were light.
Battery capacity is affected, but I keep a very close eye on it. All of my flights so far have been in freezing temperatures, but I keep a very short distance for now. Previous to that I had only gone as far as 400m at a much lower altitude. The coldest I have flown was around -15C, but stayed in my driveway to take some 360 panoramic photos.
Thanks for your feedback. Cheers from Canada.....brrrrr

fansa78b5913 Posted at 2-10 05:17
If I have to wait for plus temperatures, my drone will be in a box for another month. My props had absolutely no icing and it was only a 6 minute test flight, straight back and forth. The cloud ceiling was about 60m and the winds were light.
Battery capacity is affected, but I keep a very close eye on it. All of my flights so far have been in freezing temperatures, but I keep a very short distance for now. Previous to that I had only gone as far as 400m at a much lower altitude. The coldest I have flown was around -15C, but stayed in my driveway to take some 360 panoramic photos.
Thanks for your feedback. Cheers from Canada.....brrrrr

FYI, below -10C highly unlikely to get prop icing as the air is too dry, so there's that going for you

Bashy Posted at 2-10 04:26
You missed the obvious, i know the flight path and thats what i am referring to, no one else's either, just mine as thats what i did the tests on... ;)

I may hav emissed the obvious but you also missed my obvious

Knowing the path is onw thing but checking it right befoer flight another as surroundings may have changed and we may not be aware of them so we start flying and bang.

Drone Buddy Posted at 2-20 07:39
I may hav emissed the obvious but you also missed my obvious

Knowing the path is onw thing but checking it right befoer flight another as surroundings may have changed and we may not be aware of them so we start flying and bang.

Its flat farm land, nothing but lots of veggies and turf ;)

Bashy Posted at 2-20 07:41
Its flat farm land, nothing but lots of veggies and turf ;)

Until someone decides to put an electrical pillar LOL. Yeah, it's a different story when you know your surroundings well.

Drone Buddy Posted at 2-20 11:50
Until someone decides to put an electrical pillar LOL. Yeah, it's a different story when you know your surroundings well.

Just how fast do you think these drones go?  its only 22mph in N and it will stop on a dime so, 100m or even 20m visibility (not that I would in 20m) is ample distance to see any new structures, especially something as mahoosive as a leccy pylon lol ;) thats probably about the only thing that could ever be built there. Please see the image below and i think you may get a better idea, I have hidden the road name and business name but you can clearly see my range test flight path, the pin is my CE max, the end is my FCC max. Its 100% level arable land, there is only 1 structure, a fraction to the right of the flightpath right under the 2, its a green barn and well under 30m, prob 10m max.

Bashy Posted at 2-20 19:02
Just how fast do you think these drones go?  its only 22mph in N and it will stop on a dime so, 100m or even 20m visibility (not that I would in 20m) is ample distance to see any new structures, especially something as mahoosive as a leccy pylon lol ;) thats probably about the only thing that could ever be built there. Please see the image below and i think you may get a better idea, I have hidden the road name and business name but you can clearly see my range test flight path, the pin is my CE max, the end is my FCC max. Its 100% level arable land, there is only 1 structure, a fraction to the right of the flightpath right under the 2, its a green barn and well under 30m, prob 10m max.

Hi, I don't see the image you mentioned. Have you attached it?

Drone Buddy Posted at 2-20 22:32
Hi, I don't see the image you mentioned. Have you attached it?

as soon as i came on here i thought, i bet i forgot the image lol, will add it, 2 secs...

Bashy Posted at 2-20 19:02
Just how fast do you think these drones go?  its only 22mph in N and it will stop on a dime so, 100m or even 20m visibility (not that I would in 20m) is ample distance to see any new structures, especially something as mahoosive as a leccy pylon lol ;) thats probably about the only thing that could ever be built there. Please see the image below and i think you may get a better idea, I have hidden the road name and business name but you can clearly see my range test flight path, the pin is my CE max, the end is my FCC max. Its 100% level arable land, there is only 1 structure, a fraction to the right of the flightpath right under the 2, its a green barn and well under 30m, prob 10m max.

That's a nice range.

Drone Buddy Posted at 2-21 10:33
That's a nice range.

Makes it even better being only 31m high, but I doubt it could ever do that if it wasn't for the flat terrain.
I have 2 more tests that i want to perform,

   1. max CE using the Plus battery
   2. max FCC using the Plus battery

They may take more than one try though, it will depend on whether i am happy with it or not lol, I am currently dog sitting 2 extra atm so thats restricting my time out, but after Tuesday all should be good

Bashy Posted at 2-21 18:41
Makes it even better being only 31m high, but I doubt it could ever do that if it wasn't for the flat terrain.
I have 2 more tests that i want to perform,

I would be interested to see the results of the two tests. I am trying to find out how to get at least 2 of the plus batteries as DJI won't sell them directly from their website and I am in Europe.

Newbie here. I did a test and made it to 2050 feet before signal message came up. I turned the drone th face me and got all but one bar back. I brought it back to fly another day. Are the attenas in the front of the drone that the signal came back when turned?

dcfox Posted at 2-22 11:41
Newbie here. I did a test and made it to 2050 feet before signal message came up. I turned the drone th face me and got all but one bar back. I brought it back to fly another day. Are the attenas in the front of the drone that the signal came back when turned?

In order to have the best signal, you have to consider:
- the RC position because it has the antennas
- the drone position - is it facing you, or it's going away from you
- weather conditions
- drone altitue
- etc

Here are a few advices from DJI from their post on FB

Drone Buddy Posted at 2-22 07:50
I would be interested to see the results of the two tests. I am trying to find out how to get at least 2 of the plus batteries as DJI won't sell them directly from their website and I am in Europe.

Amazon, Ali Express, eBay are the places, Ali is the cheapest at just over £80 GBP

Once i have the details of those flights i will update here, may take a while mind

Bashy Posted at 2-22 18:16
Amazon, Ali Express, eBay are the places, Ali is the cheapest at just over £80 GBP

Once i have the details of those flights i will update here, may take a while mind

Yeah, I know about them but I'm hesitant to order especially from Ali because I don't have very positive experience with them when specifically buying batteries. I order very often from them, though.

I managed 9km in CE mode with the plus battery, but I had a cross-wind. I start groping for a signal at the 5.5km mark, so I put the drone up. Makes a temporary difference. At the end of the run, I was getting 3 bars, but mostly 2. I could have done 10km, but my knees start knocking. It takes a very looong time to do this, and the drone feels like it's tooo far away. When you're only 4km away, the drone is quite close. Only 4 minutes away, if you go to Sport.

The other trip I did, was 6.5km, up a hill, to see over it. However, I had a severe head-wind, so it took 50% of a Plus battery to get there. It's hard waiting for a time with no wind. Can take months. Once I did it when it was raining a bit.

Sean-bumble-bee Posted at 2022-12-31 11:29
I read your entire post.
My point is that if the drone were so utterly crap then people like Bashy and Dronehunter wouldn't be able to post logs showing maximum distances around 5km, and Bashy's probably using a CE spec drone presumably the same as you.
https://forum.dji.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=268461&extra=&page=3

hahha.  Flight distance is now over 5380km on Mini 3 pro. and no range issues here.   

These guys didnt have a range issue -

Ha..  He was wrong about the wind, though.  If there is any deviation from 10.6m/s, you have a big headwind. So, put it in sport mode, and test. If it only does 12.5, you've got problems.

Zoooom Posted at 2-23 02:36
Ha..  He was wrong about the wind, though.  If there is any deviation from 10.6m/s, you have a big headwind. So, put it in sport mode, and test. If it only does 12.5, you've got problems.

Sports mode with the plus battery only lasts a few moments before you get battery overload messages and the drone slowing to a stop if there is any wind.

Zoooom Posted at 2-23 00:09
I managed 9km in CE mode with the plus battery, but I had a cross-wind. I start groping for a signal at the 5.5km mark, so I put the drone up. Makes a temporary difference. At the end of the run, I was getting 3 bars, but mostly 2. I could have done 10km, but my knees start knocking. It takes a very looong time to do this, and the drone feels like it's tooo far away. When you're only 4km away, the drone is quite close. Only 4 minutes away, if you go to Sport.

The other trip I did, was 6.5km, up a hill, to see over it. However, I had a severe head-wind, so it took 50% of a Plus battery to get there. It's hard waiting for a time with no wind. Can take months. Once I did it when it was raining a bit.

What height was the drone at and was it off a hill, video would be great, i always do a screen record when i do it but i never record from the drone so as to save battery

The first time I did a range test after the warranty return, I picked that direction and went very low, like 25-35m, and was surprised that I got 5.7km without going up much. But the 9km trip seemed to require a bit more height, but at the same time, it seemed to make little difference. The signal is just plain going away. If you want to see the video, check youtube for 9km range tests.

I get the impression that my M3Pro range is reduced when I am stressing the RC processor, ie by flying with focus peaking active and also capturing a screen recording. Over the same route (but not identical conditions obviously) I can fly up to 50% further when I turn these off. Anyone else? Any logic to this?

I don't know. I use the RC-N1, which is better, through the bush, but I haven't tried line of sight. In the N1, you can see a clear division of labour between phone and transmitter.

trainee Posted at 2-26 01:52
I get the impression that my M3Pro range is reduced when I am stressing the RC processor, ie by flying with focus peaking active and also capturing a screen recording. Over the same route (but not identical conditions obviously) I can fly up to 50% further when I turn these off. Anyone else? Any logic to this?

TBH, when I got a very bad range of about 300 m I was not recording the screen but recording the screen may have influence on the drone performance.

Bashy Posted at 2-23 04:34
What height was the drone at and was it off a hill, video would be great, i always do a screen record when i do it but i never record from the drone so as to save battery

I also started recording all my flights, just in case but I do record video on the drone. True, the battery goes get shorter flight life but such is life. I will try to buy some long-range batteries as my 3 at the moment aren't enough.

Yesterday I was at this magnificent place in Ireland flying the drone but I spent my 3 batteries on the first beach and there was another, much bigger beach and I had left just one battery for it. I need to have at least 6 batteries in order to be safe

Drone Buddy Posted at 2-26 08:47
I also started recording all my flights, just in case but I do record video on the drone. True, the battery goes get shorter flight life but such is life. I will try to buy some long-range batteries as my 3 at the moment aren't enough.

Yesterday I was at this magnificent place in Ireland flying the drone but I spent my 3 batteries on the first beach and there was another, much bigger beach and I had left just one battery for it. I need to have at least 6 batteries in order to be safe

I dont record on the drone for the range tests only, anything else gets recorded on the drone

Luckily the Mini 3 Pro batteries are expensive, i think £55 on amazon or the Plus on Ali were around £85, just make sure they are DJI batteries...

Bashy Posted at 2-26 18:13
I dont record on the drone for the range tests only, anything else gets recorded on the drone

Luckily the Mini 3 Pro batteries are expensive, i think £55 on amazon  or the Plus on Ali were around £85, just make sure they are DJI batteries...

Last Saturday I went to one of the most beautiful places in Ireland and spent all my 3 batteries energy on the flights around the place and realized that I need more batteries and the long range ones I will check Amazon.

Drone Buddy Posted at 2-27 15:40
Last Saturday I went to one of the most beautiful places in Ireland and spent all my 3 batteries energy on the flights around the place and realized that I need more batteries and the long range ones  I will check Amazon.

Prob do well to check on ebay and Ali before amazon...

Bashy Posted at 2-27 17:08
Prob do well to check on ebay and Ali before amazon...

I did check last night and you are right - Amazon's choice is... almost non-existant. How many minutes more d you usually get with the extended battery? Approximately, of course.

Drone Buddy Posted at 2-28 03:38
I did check last night and you are right - Amazon's choice is... almost non-existant. How many minutes more d you usually get with the extended battery? Approximately, of course.

33m + 15-25% battery reserve

Drone.Hunter Posted at 2-28 05:34
33m + 15-25% battery reserve

Thank is awesome! Thanks for the info! Where did you buy your extended batteries? Amazon, AliExpress...?

Drone Buddy Posted at 2-28 12:37
Thank is awesome! Thanks for the info! Where did you buy your extended batteries? Amazon, AliExpress...?

Fly More Kit Plus in Kazakhstan (Manufactured 07/2022, Purchased 10/2022)

I'm thinking of buying more, but I'm still not sure if I need it.