Hello. so i bought the DJ MINI PRO 3 few days ago, and i have a real bad experience with this drone because one of the reasons i choosed MINI PRO 3 was for videos and stuff like this... so everything is perfect, but my drone just cant reach more than 800-900M...
I live in a penthouse, so I have an open view and nothing above me and also my environment is relatively an open environment and this shouldn't be a problem...
I fly it and then when it gets to 800 or 900M it comes back home...
I have read here in the forum several threads that testify to the same issue, threads that were opened a few months ago and also threads from a year or more ago...
I am really upset and considering returning this drone.
There is no way in the world that I will use a product that is not to my liking and not to what I read about it on Google.
I tried to fly in other places as well, and it simply does not pass the 800/900M... what should I do?

Are you aware that local interference etc. influences the available control range?
Are you aiming the antennae at the drone as per the instructions in the manual?
Have you tried flying in a different location to check whether or not local interference is the problem?

Just as a matter of interest it looks as if Israel has some pretty tight regulations concerning drones, e.g.
" Maintain a height of no more than 50 meters from the ground
It is mandatory to maintain constant eye contact with the drone
It is forbidden to fly inside a residential neighborhood near public buildings or gatherings of people, stay at least 250 meters away"
is  your flying in compliance?
BTW the above quotes are taken from
https://www.icd.org.il/post/can- ... a-drone-in-israel-1

Not an expert at all here and apart from the regulations, I cannot see the point to fly a drone so far away when it used for 'amateur' purposes like photos and videos.

This drone cannot be seen when it is 50m above the ground and 300-400m away. I would be really terrified to fly it 1km away, just in case something happen.

Low range is common issue mostly faced by people who live in a country with CE radio transmission mode.

In FCC mode we get much better range, for example I have flown it more than 2kms when I was new to it & just for the record Max I flew was 6.8kms but this was rural environment with not much radio interference.

Max record on youtube videos I found was 11kms in FCC mode.

Hi, nivb. Thank you for reaching out. The main factors that affect the image transmission distance are firmware, signal transmitter power, attenuation, obstruction, and electromagnetic interference. I’ll troubleshoot for you step by step. Please rest assured.

1. Check the aircraft image transmission distance in your country.
2. Check if the aircraft firmware, remote controller firmware, and app versions are the latest. If not, please update the firmware to the latest versions first.
3. Check the remote controller antenna position. Please place your remote controller antenna in the optimal position.

DJI RC:


RC-N1:


DJI Smart Controller/DJI RC Pro:


4. Keep note of tree and house obstructions near the flying field. After flying for a period, note the obstruction near the horizontal line to ensure that there are no visible obstructions in the aircraft's direction.

5. Check whether there is significant interference in the flight environment. Please turn on the Image Transmission Settings to check the real-time channel quality. Or provide a screenshot or a recorded video for us to see significant interference. If the interference is significant, we recommend changing the flight environment. Common electromagnetic interference sources include but are not limited to Wi-Fi hotspots, routers, Bluetooth devices, high-voltage power lines, high-voltage transmission stations, mobile phone base stations, and television broadcasting towers.

If the issue persists after following the steps above, kindly provide us a video of the operation together with the screenshot of the About page showing the RC firmware, Aircraft firmware, and App version. Thank you for your kind understanding and valued support.

Silly question but what is your Max Distance set too in the settings?

Being in the penthouse presents one major issue and that is you have wifi interference coming from at least one or 2 floors below and more.

I have written many replies on here to folks with the same issue, CE isn't great but its also not terrible, 900m is very respectable for built-up areas (urban) and in CE mode, use Youtube and look up FCC mode ;)

Anyway, one member was having issues such as yourself and once they moved to an open area free of buildings, trees and nothing to break the line of sight from RC to drone, their range improved to over 4km.

RC alignment to the drone is very sensitive with the Min 3 Pro, the slightest veering can be the difference between a good signal and a disconnect. To aid with this you have the Flight Attitue Radar that's found in the bottom left corner, this will let you know if the horizontal alignment is good by turning the RC indicator green on the radar or blue if its poor, but it does not help with the horizontal alignment, the only thing that can help there is to watch the signal meter and when you adjust the angle, do it millimetres at a time whilst watching that indicator.

The above will only work if the compass in the device youre using is calibrated ok, that includes the DJI RC, you will know if its not because the RC indicator on the Radar will be pointing in the wrong direction to the drone that what youre actually pointing at.

NOTE: steel balcony may interfere with the compass in the DJI RC or your phone, this will cause the RC indicator to point the wrong way, up to 90 degrees off.

To be fair though, 900m over urban is quite respectable for CE

Sean-bumble-bee Posted at 4-22 05:33
Are you aware that local interference etc. influences the available control range?
Are you aiming the antennae at the drone as per the instructions in the manual?
Have you tried flying in a different location to check whether or not local interference is the problem?

I don't know if you read my whole post,
But I already wrote that i've tried in other places, i had to go with my car to some places and even there it wont pass the 900M.
Also, as i said, I live in a penthouse and I have 3 air directions, straight, left, and right
Straight- I see the sea, on the left - buildings and on the right - an open area like a sandpit and there are no buildings and no trees, it's a completely open and huge area... I tried to fly the drone both to the sea, both to the area of the buildings and to the area of the open area, in all of them , it just won't go past the 900 and come back and I have no idea why? I don't expect to fly it 8KM as listed in the manufacturer's instructions but I would also expect to fly it at least 1KM or even 2 and it just doesn't happen. Precisely because I live in a penthouse, I am not limited in this respect and I have the freedom of action to fly to open places where there are no buildings or things that should hinder the drone from flying...

DJI Gamora Posted at 4-22 14:15
Hi, nivb. Thank you for reaching out. The main factors that affect the image transmission distance are firmware, signal transmitter power, attenuation, obstruction, and electromagnetic interference. I’ll troubleshoot for you step by step. Please rest assured.

1. Check the aircraft image transmission distance in your country.

Hey, thanks. Let me tell you please that i live in a penthouse and I have 3 air directions, straight, left, and right. Straight- I see the sea, on the left - buildings and on the right - an open area like a sandpit and there are no buildings and no trees, it's a completely open and huge area... I tried to fly the drone both to the sea, both to the area of the buildings and to the area of the open area, in all of them , it just won't go past the 900 and come back and I have no idea why? I don't expect to fly it 8KM as listed in the manufacturer's instructions but I would also expect to fly it at least 1KM or even 2 and it just doesn't happen. Precisely because I live in a penthouse, I am not limited in this respect and I have the freedom of action to fly to open places where there are no buildings or things that should hinder the drone from flying...

Burt37 Posted at 4-22 14:40
Silly question but what is your Max Distance set too in the settings?

it sets as "No limit". I didn't touch it nor changed it... it was like that when i got the drone.

Bashy Posted at 4-22 19:02
Being in the penthouse presents one major issue and that is you have wifi interference coming from at least one or 2 floors below and more.

I have written many replies on here to folks with the same issue, CE isn't great but its also not terrible, 900m is very respectable for built-up areas (urban) and in CE mode, use Youtube and look up FCC mode ;)

Not only in my penthouse but i also had to go with my car to some places, and even in a open view, when there are no WIFIs etc its just wont pass the 900M... really bad.
i dont expect it to go on 9KM as its listed in the manufacturer's instructions but i would like to even pass the 1 or 2 KM but it's not happening and idk why!

nivb Posted at 4-23 06:21
Not only in my penthouse but i also had to go with my car to some places, and even in a open view, when there are no WIFIs etc its just wont pass the 900M... really bad.
i dont expect it to go on 9KM as its listed in the manufacturer's instructions but i would like to even pass the 1 or 2 KM but it's not happening and idk why!

Everytime the same story! The only thing, newbies are reading 9km range and take it as a guaranteed figure!
Read the description very carefully and you will find out, what is behind this figure!

Moreover, flying  900m out of a penthouse is dangerous and stupid...

UweE Posted at 4-23 06:37
Everytime the same story! The only thing, newbies are reading 9km range and take it as a guaranteed figure!
Read the description very carefully and you will find out, what is behind this figure!

Who asked?
buying a drone that is supposed to fly 9 KM but it can't even go 800M no matter where and when you fly it, is stupid.
Keep convincing and lying to yourself.
blocked.

Israel is full of jammers that hijack your GPS and controls, but it should be OK towards a beach or desert. A guy from Israel came here and lost control towards a supermarket area. There have been others complaining of 900m range, but the problem got better in a rural area. I presume you have the DJI-RC controller, which is not as good as the cheap RC-N1. You could try that. You could also find someone else with the drone, or try the Mini 2 SE. Mine does 9km in Australia, rural.

nivb Posted at 4-23 06:18
I don't know if you read my whole post,
But I already wrote that i've tried in other places, i had to go with my car to some places and even there it wont pass the 900M.
Also, as i said, I live in a penthouse and I have 3 air directions, straight, left, and right

Hi, yes I read your opening post, several times.
If, by "But I already wrote that i've tried in other places", you are sugeesting that there is something in your opening post to suggest you had flown from other locations, please show me where, because I don't see it.
When I wrote post #2 I had only your opening post to go on.
Post #1 = "Hello. so i bought the DJ MINI PRO 3 few days ago, and i have a real bad experience with this drone because one of the reasons i choosed MINI PRO 3 was for videos and stuff like this... so everything is perfect, but my drone just cant reach more than 800-900M...
I live in a penthouse, so I have an open view and nothing above me and also my environment is relatively an open environment and this shouldn't be a problem...
I fly it and then when it gets to 800 or 900M it comes back home...
I have read here in the forum several threads that testify to the same issue, threads that were opened a few months ago and also threads from a year or more ago...
I am really upset and considering returning this drone.
There is no way in the world that I will use a product that is not to my liking and not to what I read about it on Google.
I tried to fly in other places as well, and it simply does not pass the 800/900M... what should I do?"

Can you confirm that you are aiming the controller at the drone in accordance with the manual, as shown in post #6?
Have you some means of checking interference in the areas where you are flying?

From my own experience with a Mavic Mini control range can vary greatly, the stated maximum control range for the CE Mavic Mini is 2km yet I have lost connection at 200m in some places whilst elsewhere, over open sea, exceeded 2km and I have seen a different CE Mavic Mini go way beyond 2km, again over open sea.

It seems, from threads that I have read, that Israel has quite a number of high interference areas, possibly from military emissions. If that is true, is it possible that the areas you have chosen are high interference areas?

That said, is flying from your penthouse and to 900m legal?
I believe penthouses tend to be at the top of quite tall buildings which suggests to me that it is likely that a flight to and from your penthouse at least starts and finishes above the 50m AGL ceiling that those rules mention.
I would assume that other people live in the same building so the 250m rule appears to apply too.  
Thirdly, unless you have VERY good eyes I doubt you can see the drone when it is at 900m.

I am not going on about the rules to be drone-police, rather it is for your own benefit. I get the impression it is best not to mess with Israeli authorities and it seems to me you are posting, on an open to anyone forum, about breaking three drone rules.

Zoooom Posted at 4-23 07:01
Israel is full of jammers that hijack your GPS and controls, but it should be OK towards a beach or desert. A guy from Israel came here and lost control towards a supermarket area. There have been others complaining of 900m range, but the problem got better in a rural area. I presume you have the DJI-RC controller, which is not as good as the cheap RC-N1. You could try that. You could also find someone else with the drone, or try the Mini 2 SE. Mine does 9km in Australia, rural.

yeah i got the DJI-RC one...
so basically theres no option to bypass the KM limit in my country?
i mean didn't buy this drone so that now i'd have to get on my car and drive to completely open and empty places, that wasnt my intention when i decided to buy this drone.
I wanted to be able to fly directly from the roof of my penthouse and if not then at least in other areas that are close to my home, but it doesn't make sense that a drone that costs 1,100$ (that's how it costs in my country)
And it is specifically written "9KM" also in the manufacturer's instructions here in my country, and it doesn't even exceed the 800M. It sucks. I don't expect to reach 9KM with it, but at least 2KM and it's just not happening. I have nothing to do with this drone. im not like those whos having fun by just flying it (i dont have nothing angaist them) but im not of them, if i bought this drone it was for videos and some nice views, but its impossible when it wont reach 800M and getting back to home.

nivb Posted at 4-23 06:21
Not only in my penthouse but i also had to go with my car to some places, and even in a open view, when there are no WIFIs etc its just wont pass the 900M... really bad.
i dont expect it to go on 9KM as its listed in the manufacturer's instructions but i would like to even pass the 1 or 2 KM but it's not happening and idk why!

Take it from me, if all other obstacles are out of the way then there's two main factors, atmospherics and most important, 100% alignment is key., at 1500m the drone is only about 4 degrees off the horizon, that means that the further you go the more horizontal the RC needs to be, at 1500m, the RC needs to be nearly flat, screen facing straight up. There is nothing wrong with your setup as long as youre up to date.

on a bad day my mini 3 pro in CE mode will do 3.3km rural, on a good day over 5km

PS, as for the penthouse, its not just the drone thats affected by wifi etc, the RC is also affected too, you have many signals coming from below, just put a wifi scanner on you phone an have a look at how many devices you can see, there will be lots i bet...

Other than that, i have no ideas...

nivb Posted at 4-23 07:27
yeah i got the DJI-RC one...
so basically theres no option to bypass the KM limit in my country?
i mean didn't buy this drone so that now i'd have to get on my car and drive to completely open and empty places, that wasnt my intention when i decided to buy this drone.

>>so basically theres no option to bypass the KM limit in my country?

I recently went to Sydney and flew in an urban environment. It's somewhat more tricky than flying rural. In Australia, you are not allowed over private property, or within 35m of people. In Israel it's 250m. You risk dropping the drone on houses, and the serial number can be tracked back to you, if you insured the drone with Care Refresh, or bought it directly at DJI. If you are going to fly the drone a lot, it really has to be done over water!!! (Which there isn't much of in Israel) The other way to fly a drone in an urban environment is to go straight up, and just look around.

The main reason to go rural is to find out if it has a fault. You might find the range increases.

Bashy Posted at 4-23 08:21
Take it from me, if all other obstacles are out of the way then there's two main factors, atmospherics and most important, 100% alignment is key., at 1500m the drone is only about 4 degrees off the horizon, that means that the further you go the more horizontal the RC needs to be, at 1500m, the RC needs to be nearly flat, screen facing straight up. There is nothing wrong with your setup as long as youre up to date.

on a bad day my mini 3 pro in CE mode will do 3.3km rural, on a good day over 5km

Just to second interference around the controller idea.
From memory there is one thread in here or MavicPilots, concerning a flight somewhere in the eastern Med I think, perhaps Turkey, where the log explicitly mentioned interference around the drone and I think the controller with those warnings appearing at different times and the drone in different locations

nivb Posted at 4-23 06:44
Who asked?
buying a drone that is supposed to fly 9 KM but it can't even go 800M no matter where and when you fly it, is stupid.
Keep convincing and lying to yourself.

blocked you, too

nivb Posted at 4-23 06:19
Hey, thanks. Let me tell you please that i live in a penthouse and I have 3 air directions, straight, left, and right. Straight- I see the sea, on the left - buildings and on the right - an open area like a sandpit and there are no buildings and no trees, it's a completely open and huge area... I tried to fly the drone both to the sea, both to the area of the buildings and to the area of the open area, in all of them , it just won't go past the 900 and come back and I have no idea why? I don't expect to fly it 8KM as listed in the manufacturer's instructions but I would also expect to fly it at least 1KM or even 2 and it just doesn't happen. Precisely because I live in a penthouse, I am not limited in this respect and I have the freedom of action to fly to open places where there are no buildings or things that should hinder the drone from flying...

Hi, nivb. If you have performed the steps provided and the issue persists, kindly contact the Aviation Authority in your country (https://www.icd.org.il/english) to check the altitude range limit. Due to local laws and regulations, the maximum flight altitude may vary in different countries and regions. Before flying, please always check local laws and regulations. Thank you for your kind understanding.

i have the same problem with my mini 3. the farthest it has reached before was 7.5km, now it can barely reach 1km. dji should remember that if not for the advertised flight range i would never buy it. i would never buy a drone that can barely reach 1km distance. i have a feeling that dji have limited the distance intentionally thru firmware upgrade. this is so unfair and i can buy drones a lot cheaper;than dji for that 1km distance range. i have both rcn1 and rc controllers and its still the same range.

I think that you need a dose of reality. You are using a sub 250g drone that should be kept within the range of your eyesight at all times. Possible range and actual realistic range are too completely different things. I regularly use my Mini 3 Pro at 500-600 metres and the signal remains strong unless there is an obvious obstruction close to me. When I fly that far away and do more than simply go and return I use about 50% of the battery, I wouldn’t feel comfortable  trying double that distance.