I just took my Mini to get used to the controls a little better since I'm a bloody Beginner.
It's  very very windy today here so I decided to just fly around in low  height and to test all the stuff a little and get used to the App and so  on.

The Mini reached nearly its limits with trying to stay at one point because of the high wind speeds.
I did a little experiment and I'm not sure if this is true or if I just persuade myself that it behaves like this.

I  let the Mini in one position nearby me at around 2 meters height and I  felt like it was, that in Cinema-Mode it had a harder time staying in  place than in Position-Mode and of course in Sports-Mode it seemed like  the Mini could handle it best.


Since I'm  not very experienced and this behaviour could also have been pure  accident because of changing random wind speeds, I wanted to ask you  guys if it is like this.

I’ve heard of similar using tripod mode on other craft, but I don’t think it’s the case, your position is held by gps and vision sensors and this doesn’t change no matter which mode your in, it could be if you tested in different areas that if ground under the mini doesn’t have great light or texture may cause some extra movement.
Or just gusting wind ;+):::::

hallmark007 Posted at 2-1 03:26
I’ve heard of similar using tripod mode on other craft, but I don’t think it’s the case, your position is held by gps and vision sensors and this doesn’t change no matter which mode your in, it could be if you tested in different areas that if ground under the mini doesn’t have great light or texture may cause some extra movement.
Or just gusting wind ;+):::::

Hm, yeah, but I thought since in S-Mode also the pitch angle and so on is higher, maybe there's also some kind of "faster reaction time" to the motors and everything else, you know what i mean?

But this is just wild guessing by myself. I was hoping that maybe there's something written to it or maybe someone can prove it with data.

Mizzu Posted at 2-1 03:48
Hm, yeah, but I thought since in S-Mode also the pitch angle and so on is higher, maybe there's also some kind of "faster reaction time" to the motors and everything else, you know what i mean?

But this is just wild guessing by myself. I was hoping that maybe there's something written to it or maybe someone can prove it with data.

It’s the IMU that maintains the Attitude of your craft and yes in sport mode on a windy day it has to work very quickly to maintain level at hover any yes you can physically see it working very quickly.

I would imagine you could find out through some data, but it would be so fine that it would really test your patience, maybe someone can take the reading from your IMU and see how they match, but my guess would be that difference is minute but it could be done .

The MM has a certain top speed for each mode. That is *air* speed. For instance in P-mode it will fly at 18mph. If there’s strong head wind (say 20mph) the MM will actually fly backwards at 2mph. It will not increase its air speed to make forward gains, even though it’s technically capable of doing it. The same is true with respect to maintaining position. If the wind is higher than its top speed in the current mode, the Mini would basically have to fly faster than that top speed just to maintain position, which it won't do. So in conclusion, yes, I think it's perfectly normal to see the Mini maintain position easier in S mode.

Ice_2k Posted at 2-1 04:06
The MM has a certain top speed for each mode. That is *air* speed. For instance in P-mode it will fly at 18mph. If there’s strong head wind (say 20mph) the MM will actually fly backwards at 2mph. It will not increase its air speed to make forward gains, even though it’s technically capable of doing it. The same is true with respect to maintaining position. If the wind is higher than its top speed in the current mode, the Mini would basically have to fly faster than that top speed just to maintain position, which it won't do. So in conclusion, yes, I think it's perfectly normal to see the Mini maintain position easier in S mode.

At hover it’s gps and vision sensors that keep mini in place and attitude is maintained by IMU, there is no elevator or throttle used when craft is hovering, what your actually saying is that it’s much better to take photos while hovering in sport mode which is just not true makes no sense .
I have posted Mavic mini Rth in 29kph wind and mini travels at 18kph so that part is ridiculous as well, in your manual they tell you it's ok to fly at 8m/s why would they do this if your craft could not move forward into this wind ?


https://forum.dji.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=207824

Mizzu Posted at 2-1 03:48
Hm, yeah, but I thought since in S-Mode also the pitch angle and so on is higher, maybe there's also some kind of "faster reaction time" to the motors and everything else, you know what i mean?

But this is just wild guessing by myself. I was hoping that maybe there's something written to it or maybe someone can prove it with data.

Think of it this way: the Mini wants to maintain position (0km/h speed). That’s with the right stick at neutral position. How it maintains position (IMU, GPS, bottom sensors) is not relevant, the question is *what* does it do to maintain that position? It obviously flies against the wind. So, we know this:

1. Top speed (full right stick forward) is mode dependant. 18mph in P, 28 in S and ~10 (don’t know the exact speed for C) in C.
2. The top speed above is AIR speed. It will not increase its air top speed when flying against the wind and it will not lower its top speed when flying with the wind.
3. Now, consider being in C mode. Top speed 10mph. The mini is trying to stay in place at a 5mph head wind. It’s effectively flying forwards at 5mph air speed to stay put. Now you give it full stick forward. The Mini will just move forward at 5mph because of the 5mph head wind.
4. Now, consider a higher head wind, say 15mph. What would happen if the power used for maintaining position would NOT be mode dependant? Well, since 15mph is below the Mini’s possibilities, it will just fly forward at 15mph to stay put. And then when you give it full stick forward, what would happen? Since we already know the top air speed in C mode is 10mph, if it did that it would actually start moving backwards, even though you asked it to move forward, right? Imagine hovering in C mode and then blasting away with the wind when touching the stick. This would clearly be stupid, which is why all power output from the Mini (both requested from the user and also requested from the software that wants to maintain position) is the same, depending on the mode in which it is. It is the only way possible to provide a predictible behavior to the pilot.

Mizzu Posted at 2-1 03:48
Hm, yeah, but I thought since in S-Mode also the pitch angle and so on is higher, maybe there's also some kind of "faster reaction time" to the motors and everything else, you know what i mean?

But this is just wild guessing by myself. I was hoping that maybe there's something written to it or maybe someone can prove it with data.

The information below in post #9 is completely wrong and no it to be trusted and is coming from someone who’s totally inept on how this drone works .

Well guys. Don't get too deep into it.
I was just curious if there's an advantage in filming/shooting photos in Sports Mode so that the Mini can compensate better on windy days. I'm afraid there isn't any.

Yeah... keep it calm. I do tend to believe near 8 m/s wind MM should not easily move against as it approaches its maximum tilt angle for the P mode.

m80116 Posted at 2-1 06:18
Yeah... keep it calm. I do tend to believe near 8 m/s wind MM should not easily move against as it approaches its maximum tilt angle for the P mode.

I think you should look at wind test above, Mavic mini operates perfectly fine in winds of 8m/s and the only recommendation is not to fly above this wind.

You will see a constant speed of 5/6 m/s in Rth mode into 29kph wind, and this can be increased to 10/11. M/S by simply pushing throttle 100% forward .

Got it. Thanks for pointing this out.

I felt this too somehow.

One theory I have is that in software, sometimes, you can add something called "smoothing", so maybe the C mode uses some sort of that, smoothing which stops rapid movements  from sticks, resulting in this more controllable fly, with somehow, reduced power, response or "curves" to ramp the motors between different frequencies of oscillation.

In S mode the ramp of the speed in motors would look like a square wave _I ... at 90 degree.
In C mode the ramp of the motor speed would look like a  triangle wave /\ ... certain angles.

That could explain why hoovering is harder in C mode.

InspektorGadjet Posted at 2-1 12:22
I felt this too somehow.

One theory I have is that in software, sometimes, you can add something called "smoothing", so maybe the C mode uses some sort of that, smoothing which stops rapid movements  from sticks, resulting in this more controllable fly, with somehow, reduced power, response or "curves" to ramp the motors between different frequencies of oscillation.

Since I'm producing Music (also with Synths and Oscilators) I can perfectly imagine what you mean.
Yes, this acutally sounds kinda plausible.

Ice_2k Posted at 2-1 04:06
The MM has a certain top speed for each mode. That is *air* speed. For instance in P-mode it will fly at 18mph. If there’s strong head wind (say 20mph) the MM will actually fly backwards at 2mph. It will not increase its air speed to make forward gains, even though it’s technically capable of doing it. The same is true with respect to maintaining position. If the wind is higher than its top speed in the current mode, the Mini would basically have to fly faster than that top speed just to maintain position, which it won't do. So in conclusion, yes, I think it's perfectly normal to see the Mini maintain position easier in S mode.

The MM has a certain top speed for each mode. That is *air* speed. For instance in P-mode it will fly at 18mph

I would not be so sure, actually. DJI drones don't have a way to measure airspeed, only groundspeed via GPS. If you look at the specs, DJI states that in P-Mode the MM has a "Max Speed" of 8m/s and a "Max Tilt Angle" of  20 degrees. When I first looked into it, I thought it meant that at full stick the AC would tilt 20 degrees, and on a calm day that would translate to a top speed of approximately 8m/s. I don't think that's the case. Actually, I'm sure it isn't: my MM in P-Mode at full stick, on a calm day, reaches 8m/s at about 15 degrees. Why is it not using the extra 5 degrees? I'm thinking that those 8m/s are actually a max allowed (i.e. limited) groundspeed, for that mode.
It would be fairly easy to prove: on a day with a gentle breeze, try flying up and down wind. With headwind, will the AC use those extra 5 degrees to try to reach 8m/s? And in case of tailwind, will it slow down (decrease tilt) not to exceed 8m/s?

On another thread, Dirty Bird said that for some DJI drones you can set RTH max speed and max tilt (sort of a hack, but possible). He also said that the AC does not exceed the set max speed, even in case of tailwind, which seems to confirm that "max speed" should really be read as "max allowed groundspeed".

I think we can only guess how the MM behaves in various modes, but we cannot know for sure how DJI programmed it. I looked at a recent flyaway log (on this forum) where RTH was engaged and - apparently - the AC encountered some headwind: groundspeed was well below 8m/s and tilt was mainly between 15 and 20 degrees, but it was not constantly near 20 degrees, which is what one would expect if the AC was programmed to try to reach the set max speed, within the limit of the max tilt angle.

120ccpm Posted at 2-1 23:36
The MM has a certain top speed for each mode. That is *air* speed. For instance in P-mode it will fly at 18mph

I would not be so sure, actually. DJI drones don't have a way to measure airspeed, only groundspeed via GPS. If you look at the specs, DJI states that in P-Mode the MM has a "Max Speed" of 8m/s and a "Max Tilt Angle" of  20 degrees. When I first looked into it, I thought it meant that at full stick the AC would tilt 20 degrees, and on a calm day that would translate to a top speed of approximately 8m/s. I don't think that's the case. Actually, I'm sure it isn't: my MM in P-Mode at full stick, on a calm day, reaches 8m/s at about 15 degrees. Why is it not using the extra 5 degrees? I'm thinking that those 8m/s are actually a max allowed (i.e. limited) groundspeed, for that mode.

I’m not saying they actually measure air speed, I meant that’s how fast it goes through the air. Maybe a better way to say it is that it doesn’t care about the ground speed, it doesn’t push the throttle down further if there’s strong head wind. You can clearly see this demonstrated by flying into the wind and then back with the wind. The speeds you’ll get (ground speed i mean, reported in the Fly app) will be different. I tested this just yesterday and I was quite easily going over 18mph in P mode flying with tail wind.

Mizzu Posted at 2-1 22:09
Since I'm producing Music (also with Synths and Oscilators) I can perfectly imagine what you mean.
Yes, this acutally sounds kinda plausible.

Musician and synth lover here too

120ccpm Posted at 2-1 23:36
The MM has a certain top speed for each mode. That is *air* speed. For instance in P-mode it will fly at 18mph

I would not be so sure, actually. DJI drones don't have a way to measure airspeed, only groundspeed via GPS. If you look at the specs, DJI states that in P-Mode the MM has a "Max Speed" of 8m/s and a "Max Tilt Angle" of  20 degrees. When I first looked into it, I thought it meant that at full stick the AC would tilt 20 degrees, and on a calm day that would translate to a top speed of approximately 8m/s. I don't think that's the case. Actually, I'm sure it isn't: my MM in P-Mode at full stick, on a calm day, reaches 8m/s at about 15 degrees. Why is it not using the extra 5 degrees? I'm thinking that those 8m/s are actually a max allowed (i.e. limited) groundspeed, for that mode.

That sounds right

Ice_2k Posted at 2-2 01:25
I’m not saying they actually measure air speed, I meant that’s how fast it goes through the air. Maybe a better way to say it is that it doesn’t care about the ground speed, it doesn’t push the throttle down further if there’s strong head wind. You can clearly see this demonstrated by flying into the wind and then back with the wind. The speeds you’ll get (ground speed i mean, reported in the Fly app) will be different. I tested this just yesterday and I was quite easily going over 18mph in P mode flying with tail wind.

It would be great if you could look at the logs and check speed and tilt angle when going upwind and downwind. You might get some noise in the values, so maybe try to average them out over few seconds of flight.