The DJI Mini 2 - 100 flights later


I bought my Mini 2 on the 23rd of June 2021, and, after flying it quite frequently, reached my one hundredth flight on the 7th of November. That's 138 days I believe. All through summer I was flying on most days, but somewhat less as winter begins to take hold. However, notwithstanding some recent windy days - the Mini is very tolerant in wind - I continue to fly, but maybe not quite as frequently - and with gloves on recently.

As for the wind, I've been out a couple of times recently, and thought, uhoh, seems perhaps too windy today, but took off nevertheless. Only once did the Mini complain about high winds, despite flying on some days when it seemed that the wind was just too much. A couple of times the drone was jiggling about quite substantially, and you could hear the motors struggling to keep it reasonably steady. Yet, on viewing the footage later back home, you would have no idea the drone was struggling - the gimbal is so good it simply ironed out all the movement and delivered fine steady footage.

Some statistics

I've kept detailed records of all the parameters of every flight (see Airdata for how to get the details of a flight, which are delivered in a highly detailed CSV file, along with a Google Earth KML file) and have a program which stores and analyses the data. Following are some figures, derived from my data:

Maximum altitude: 645 feet (This was a genuine mistake! I wasn't watching the display and exceeded the legal max of 400 feet)

Greatest distance from takeoff point: 1520 feet (Beyond visual line of sight but this time I WAS watching the display)

Fastest: 33 mph (Just testing. I normally fly in Cine mode at about 13 mph)

Longest flight: 22 minutes. (Low battery warnings! Get home quick! My average is around 10 minutes)

Greatest distance covered in a single flight: 7161 feet (1.36 miles)

Total flight distance: 331395 feet (62.76 miles)

Satellites: 29 (A few times. More usually about 25. I won't take off with fewer than about 15)

Here is the actual analysis, copied from my Python program:

I have to say, I've enjoyed every second of my 1073 minutes aloft (nearly 18 hours) and do enjoy collecting and analysing the parameters of every flight. Only once I got out there and prepared to take off and realised the memory card was not in the drone - I'd left it in the card reader, so all I had was a low-resolution video on the phone. Twice I went out with an iPhone which had a full memory and estimated the parameters as it couldn't keep a log file. Other than that I have full details of every flight, and look forward to reaching two hundred flights.

Oh, perhaps I should add: I crashed it twice. Once was trying to get close to some flowers and the props hit them. This is where Find My Drone came in useful. You switch it on from the remote and the drone beeps and flashed. The other time I hit a tree, but at slow speed, and no damage was done. Another time I was not very careful and mowed off the tops of some flowers, but the Mini remained aloft.