I have had a Spark for some time and recently purchased the Mavic Air. I've always flown the Spark with prop guards attached and notice hardly any degredation of performance in Sports Mode, so I naturally did the same when first using my Mavic Air, .. big mistake!! I've discovered that unlike Spark, prop guards have a huge effect on Sports Mode performance in the Mavic Air. With them on I was only able to reach 39 km/h, when I took them off I hit 58 km/h in windy conditions today, much closer to what I expected.


This performance hit is not documented anywhere, so I thought I had a faulty drone. Has anyone else experience this?

The performance degradation appears to be imposed by DJI firmware, and I find it very strange that they would do this. Why would they artificially sacrifice safety for speed? I'd be quite happy to accept a slight drop in performance when they are attached, but P Mode performance in Sports Mode is ridiculous! Although they have saved my Spark on a number of occasions, I will not be able to fly with the guards attached to my Air because if I encounter adverse conditions while in flight with them on, I will be unable to count of Sports Mode to help get me out of the situation.

really?  you are surprised that the prop guards have a performance effect?  and you are just as surprised performance is worse in windy conditions?  really?  I am reading this right?

AIister Posted at 2018-2-15 17:41
really?  you are surprised that the prop guards have a performance effect?  and you are just as surprised performance is worse in windy conditions?  really?  I am reading this right?

Thanks for your reply. I think maybe you didn't fully read my post. Of course I expect some degradation in performance with them attached. On my initial flights in perfectly still conditions the Air couldn't go faster than 39 km/h in Sports Mode with the guards on. This is a drop of 31 km/h on their specs. And you think it strange that I am questioning this?  As I said the guards have hardly any effect on Spark's performance, so I expected similar in the Air, and I suspect the limitation is artificial anyway.

It's very much documented that the guards for the Mavic Air are meant to be used in windless and/or low speeds. Quote below directly off the prop guard description in the DJI store.

"Protect people and objects from spinning propellers by mounting this small and light Propeller Guard directly on the propellers to ensure a long, safe flight. It is recommended to use these propeller guards in windless environments or during indoor and low-speed flight."

Kevin79 Posted at 2018-2-15 18:19
It's very much documented that the guards for the Mavic Air are meant to be used in windless and/or low speeds. Quote below directly off the prop guard description in the DJI store.

"Protect people and objects from spinning propellers by mounting this small and light Propeller Guard directly on the propellers to ensure a long, safe flight. It is recommended to use these propeller guards in windless environments or during indoor and low-speed flight."

Thanks for your reply. I got the fly more package, so wasn't aware of that. However, my issue remains that in perfectly still conditions (i.e. windless) I was only able to reach 39 km/h, I cannot imagine how attaching the guards result in such a performance drop, particularly considering that this is not the case with the lower powered Spark

forbsie Posted at 2018-2-15 18:28
Thanks for your reply. I got the fly more package, so wasn't aware of that. However, my issue remains that in perfectly still conditions (i.e. windless) I was only able to reach 39 km/h, I cannot imagine how attaching the guards result in such a performance drop, particularly considering that this is not the case with the lower powered Spark

See the last 4 words of the quote: "and low-speed flight".

When you're flying at 39km/h, it's no longer "windless". The wind is actually moving at 39km/h relative to the drone.

bmemike Posted at 2018-2-15 19:14
See the last 4 words of the quote: "and low-speed flight".

When you're flying at 39km/h, it's no longer "windless". The wind is actually moving at 39km/h relative to the drone.

Still doesn't explain why Spark's performance with guards attached in Sports Mode is virtually unaffected. I believe that the engines are throttled via firmware in the Air when the guards are attached. Is this for mechanical reasons, or is it an arbitrary limitation set by DJI? Don't get me wrong, so far I love the Mavic Air, just find it hard to understand this issue.

forbsie Posted at 2018-2-15 19:32
Still doesn't explain why Spark's performance with guards attached in Sports Mode is virtually unaffected. I believe that the engines are throttled via firmware in the Air when the guards are attached. Is this for mechanical reasons, or is it an arbitrary limitation set by DJI? Don't get me wrong, so far I love the Mavic Air, just find it hard to understand this issue.

I have exactly the same experience - and was as shocked as you, as it flew alsmost 1/2 of the speed compared to flying without guards.

Ofcourse, yes - it makes it fly slower and more for the wind to grab onto - but compared to my first DJI drone (Spark), the experience was huuuuugely different!

Flying in Sport Mode with training wheels on? Why would you want to do that? If you crash at 40 mph, you're fecked anyway, prop guards aren't gonna help, so why bother? Just fly Sport in a wide open space.