Having flown my MM a few times now and read many posts on this forum I think the Mavic Mini has an Achilles Heel, Which given its size and weight I surpose was to be expected.

I think many that have got this little drone and previously have or have had other DJI drones are somewhat surprised and a little disapointed.

Well the Issue is............... It cannot handle wind any where near as well as the other DJI Drones. Especially if you go much over 100 m high.

It is a pity as it has many good features and for the money is it good..... I think however when I travel I would need both my Mini and my Mavic Air as I cannot be sure about the wind.

I wonder if DJI can do anything about this perhaps increase the tilt angle...... Who knows.

Hi. Thank you for reaching out to DJI Forum and thank you for your informative insights. Regarding this inquiry. I will be forwarding this to our designated DJI department for further evaluation. Thank you.

yeah you'll never be able to properly use it at the beach.  it's always windy at the beach.

I think DJI has done something about it, they sell several drones that can handle the wind much better.

The wind is definitely its weakest point. Given its weight and motor power I'm guessing there is a limit to the pitch it can be flown at and that's what governs the overall speed against wind.  I'm doing a video on preventing and escaping blowaways that I'm hoping to get up in the next couple of days, as this is happening too frequently to too many flyers.  New pilots don't appreciate the increase in wind up high and experienced flyers are used to ignoring the wind warnings that pop up on the other mavics with no subsequent issues if they carry on flying....
As long as you know this limitation, it's a great bit of kit IMHO

Cheers
Ian

Ian in London Posted at 1-7 08:52
The wind is definitely its weakest point. Given its weight and motor power I'm guessing there is a limit to the pitch it can be flown at and that's what governs the overall speed against wind.  I'm doing a video on preventing and escaping blowaways that I'm hoping to get up in the next couple of days, as this is happening too frequently to too many flyers.  New pilots don't appreciate the increase in wind up high and experienced flyers are used to ignoring the wind warnings that pop up on the other mavics with no subsequent issues if they carry on flying....
As long as you know this limitation, it's a great bit of kit IMHO

Indeed it is Ian. I love the length of time you can fly it. I was one who at first thought it was as good with the wind as m y Mavic Air...… But deffo not the case.

Bigplumbs Posted at 1-7 09:23
Indeed it is Ian. I love the length of time you can fly it. I was one who at first thought it was as good with the wind as m y Mavic Air...… But deffo not the case.

It depends how you look at it.
One the one hand it is  a tribute that the bigger DJi drones seem  able to withstand a hurricane.
But  false senses of security are problematic. If it’s  invulnerable, it’s  requires no  ability and planning, which are called for in abundance in any  interesting flying.
It also seems wind warnings were of no consequence whatsoever.
But they are,  and perhaps the requirement to react to them is overdue - and perhaps why a sub 250 gm drone is  classed as relatively harmless.
To fly at 800 ft with anything smacks of arrogance and is utterly dismissive of the right other people have to expect you to obey the law.

Bigplumbs Posted at 1-7 09:23
Indeed it is Ian. I love the length of time you can fly it. I was one who at first thought it was as good with the wind as m y Mavic Air...… But deffo not the case.

It depends how you look at it.
One the one hand it is  a tribute that the bigger DJi drones seem  able to withstand a hurricane.
But  false senses of security are problematic. If it’s  invulnerable, it’s  requires no  ability and planning, which are called for in abundance in any  interesting flying.
It also seems wind warnings were of no consequence whatsoever.
But they are,  and perhaps the requirement to react to them is overdue - and perhaps why a sub 250 gm drone is  classed as relatively harmless.
To fly at 800 ft with anything smacks of arrogance and is utterly dismissive of the right other people have to expect you to obey the law.

Bigplumbs Posted at 1-7 09:23
Indeed it is Ian. I love the length of time you can fly it. I was one who at first thought it was as good with the wind as m y Mavic Air...… But deffo not the case.

It depends how you look at it.
One the one hand it is  a tribute that the bigger DJi drones seem  able to withstand a hurricane.
But  false senses of security are problematic. If it’s  invulnerable, it’s  requires no  ability and planning, which are called for in abundance in any  interesting flying.
It also seems wind warnings were of no consequence whatsoever.
But they are,  and perhaps the requirement to react to them is overdue - and perhaps why a sub 250 gm drone is  classed as relatively harmless.
To fly at 800 ft with anything smacks of arrogance and is utterly dismissive of the right other people have to expect you to obey the law.

The only thing possible would be increase weight, and that goes against the whole point of the mini.
I agree, wind is the weakest point.

Bright Spark Posted at 1-7 11:33
It depends how you look at it.
One the one hand it is  a tribute that the bigger DJi drones seem  able to withstand a hurricane.
But  false senses of security are problematic. If it’s  invulnerable, it’s  requires no  ability and planning, which are called for in abundance in any  interesting flying.

oh c'mon.  if the faa changed their mind and moved the needle from 400 ft to 800 ft because amazon says so, nobody would even blink.  I haven't been on top of this since the beginning so I might not know, is there something special about 400 ft or did they just pull it out?  sounds like 55mph nonsense to me.

In terms of aerodynamics, increasing the tilt angle in high wind conditions will not bring more speed.
The bigger the tilt angle, the bigger the surface that will be affected by that wind. In strong windconditions, a larger tilt angle will only make things worse.

InspektorGadjet Posted at 1-7 12:24
The only thing possible would be increase weight, and that goes against the whole point of the mini.
I agree, wind is the weakest point.

The other "thing" possible would be to sacrifice impressive 30 min flight time and distribute more power for propulsion. But more power for Mavic Mini is not what designers had in mind, I'm sure ...

I think this thread makes a very good point.

The Mini's lack of wind-fighting capabilities is a big deal.  Perhaps especially to new drone owners who, like me, have a lot to learn, and are probably more likely to be caught unaware and lose their brand new Mini.

But I can see how a LOT of sacrifices had to be made to allow this drone to come in under 250 grams.  The motors cannot be as powerful.  Even the power switching module that controls power to the four motors would need to be larger and heavier, perhaps with some external heat sinking, etc., to give it more power even if you were going to sacrifice some battery life.

I think DJI did a remarkable job producing such a tiny, light-weight device with such amazing capabilities.

And this from someone who has been basically grounded for outdoor flying for all except two small windows of low wind here since I got the Mini.  That's over a month, and I have had two windows of only several hours each, (one from midnight to 3am one night, and one actually during daylight).

The thing is:  I saw a number of glowing reviews of the Mini on YouTube where the reviewers raved about how well this tiny drone was able to do against the wind.  I'm sure many of you saw those reviews as well and thought the Mini might actually fly quite well in the wind.  In fact, it does not.

A few years ago, a relative of mine got one of the original Mavics.  And we flew it here.  It fought the wind extremely well and flew a long distance and then back against the wind, and did so admirably.  So that was my experience with these DJI drones.  Then I saw the glowing reports on YouTube where people who had used a lot of these DJI drones purported to test the Mini, thinking it would do badly in the wind, but then reported that to their surprise, the Mini actually did quite well in the wind.

I guess this just goes to show me that people who live in many places just don't really know what wind actually is!  If they lived here, they would NEVER have said that the Mini flies well against wind.  They'd have said "It does OK in calm, or perhaps a slight breeze".  It's all about perspective, I guess.  We had gusts above 70mph here again today. This has been the case for at least a week, and we'll likely have windy conditions for at least another week from what I see on the weather reports.

The good thing is that I've had some time to read about other people's "blow aways" and time to practice some indoors.  So I've been lucky in that respect.

I might have opted to get one of the more powerful drones like a Mavic 2 or perhaps the rather affordable Skydio 2.  Yes, they're more money.  But one of those might allow me to fly outdoors far more often than it appears I will ever be able to do with the Mini.

Of course I wouldn't expect to be able to fly on these very windy days here with any drone.  But I do know that more periods with winds low enough to fly, for example, the Mavic 2 have happened here since I got the Mini.  So it may well have been a better investment for me to have gotten a more powerful and heavy drone.

The Mini is an amazing device.  And I look forward to calm days to use it more outdoors.  But a very powerful drone with good wind-fighting capabilities would be more useful around here.  The mini is very good.  But it's not a windy-area drone.

I think we are kidding ourselves.   most all of us used to fly a wide variety of those toys drones years ago and not even once were those drones blown away out to sea even though they were plenty just as light or lighter.  I would be pleased if my Mavic Mini someone turned into a husban x4 and resist on a windy day.  I cannot ever recall having to pack it in on a breezy day with those toy drones but maybe that's because I didn't care to lose a $25 drone so I fought through it.. cheerson cx-10 can fight thru anything less than a hurricane.  the wind is blowing away the mini but the mini is not helping matters either.

The Saint Posted at 1-7 20:57
I think we are kidding ourselves.   most all of us used to fly a wide variety of those toys drones years ago and not even once were those drones blown away out to sea even though they were plenty just as light or lighter.  I would be pleased if my Mavic Mini someone turned into a husban x4 and resist on a windy day.  I cannot ever recall having to pack it in on a breezy day with those toy drones but maybe that's because I didn't care to lose a $25 drone so I fought through it.. cheerson cx-10 can fight thru anything less than a hurricane.  the wind is blowing away the mini but the mini is not helping matters either.

Well, that's a good point.

With a cheap toy quad, you wouldn't care much if it did get lost.  So you were more free to test its limits and have fun.  At $400, losing it hurts a bit more, and that takes a lot of the fun out of things.

The Saint Posted at 1-7 20:57
I think we are kidding ourselves.   most all of us used to fly a wide variety of those toys drones years ago and not even once were those drones blown away out to sea even though they were plenty just as light or lighter.  I would be pleased if my Mavic Mini someone turned into a husban x4 and resist on a windy day.  I cannot ever recall having to pack it in on a breezy day with those toy drones but maybe that's because I didn't care to lose a $25 drone so I fought through it.. cheerson cx-10 can fight thru anything less than a hurricane.  the wind is blowing away the mini but the mini is not helping matters either.

Perhaps the MM instructions should say:
If you can fly a Kite, do not fly your MM.

Bright Spark Posted at 1-7 11:32
It depends how you look at it.
One the one hand it is  a tribute that the bigger DJi drones seem  able to withstand a hurricane.
But  false senses of security are problematic. If it’s  invulnerable, it’s  requires no  ability and planning, which are called for in abundance in any  interesting flying.

Not sure why you made you post 3 times and also what the rant about 800 feet was about.... Who mentioned that

I am also thinking that my Mini handled the wind better before I did the recent update but cant be sure on that one it is just a feeling I have

Bigplumbs Posted at 1-7 23:06
I am also thinking that my Mini handled the wind better before I did the recent update but cant be sure on that one it is just a feeling I have

I have this feeling too, somehow ive been flying the mini in worst weather than right now, and the mini seems less stable in general, it drifts more in all directions.

I feel the motors are using less energy, thats why those "insufficient power" messages are gone for most, but we are seeing more drifting and drops from sky.

InspektorGadjet Posted at 1-8 01:42
I have this feeling too, somehow ive been flying the mini in worst weather than right now, and the mini seems less stable in general, it drifts more in all directions.

I feel the motors are using less energy, thats why those "insufficient power" messages are gone for most, but we are seeing more drifting and drops from sky.

Yes I agree

My first flights with the Mini on all the first firmware and app were in the Isle of Wight and I cant remember the weather but I flew at the Needles no issue and it was likely to be windy there. Now at home it seems that even on a calm day it seems to struggle at height.....

Might just be in my head but who knows

Well that confirms it a little in my eyes. I just looked back at my flights with the Mini on Airdata and the ones in the Isle of Wight where all seemed good were in winds of 12mph. This was with the old firmware

At home where I was a little concerned about wind and with the new firmware etc  I was generally in winds of 10mph..... This is just from Airdata of course but it is making me think that the last update just turned the power down in some way