Flight Time

[8676309]

Guys, it's time to come back down to reality.

DJI claims these are "specs":
Video Downlink: Max 700m Wi-Fi Connection
Remote Controller: 800m (FCC)
Max Flight Time: 25mins

Okay, the control (800m) and video downlink (700m) on the PV2+ are attainable and probably have been reached by everyone here.
The 25 minute flight time has been reached here by NOBODY.

There is nothing wrong with consistency, especially in "specs". Even though I'm alright with the flight time (though slightly disappointed at first), someone else might not be.
This is why fuel economy is regulated. Just like you guys say "meh, high winds" or "meh, flying too hard", car manufacturers would always overstate the fuel economy of their vehicles by 20%+ and hand-wave it away with "you probably drove the vehicle too aggressively" or "you spent most of your time in city traffic", etc.

 

[DownunderPhantom]

I have written to DJI and asked what is the minimum expected flight time for a Vision Plus and they have replied most times by saying the max flight time is 25 minutes, I did however receive one email that stated that they can guarantee a flight time of 15 minutes.

So even though they have on the packaging "and 25 minutes flight time" they can only guarantee 15 minutes flight time which is 40% less than 25 minutes.

Even though they have stated "Max 25 minutes" on other documents, websites etc, these are not readily available at the point of sale and when it is displayed in black and white on the packaging "and 25 minutes flight time" it is miss leading and here in Australia if it is miss leading it is illegal.

As I said previously, I would not have a problem at all if the wording was different on the packaging but it is not, however I am quite happy with the flight times. The problem is that DJI are getting away with something that is miss leading and illegal.

 

[Jstic]

Guys, it's time to come back down to reality.

DJI claims these are "specs":
Video Downlink: Max 700m Wi-Fi Connection
Remote Controller: 800m (FCC)
Max Flight Time: 25mins

Okay, the control (800m) and video downlink (700m) on the PV2+ are attainable and probably have been reached by everyone here.
The 25 minute flight time has been reached here by NOBODY.

There is nothing wrong with consistency, especially in "specs". Even though I'm alright with the flight time (though slightly disappointed at first), someone else might not be.
This is why fuel economy is regulated. Just like you guys say "meh, high winds" or "meh, flying too hard", car manufacturers would always overstate the fuel economy of their vehicles by 20%+ and hand-wave it away with "you probably drove the vehicle too aggressively" or "you spent most of your time in city traffic", etc.

EXACTLY, and this applies to a lot more than auto MPG ratings. All manufacturers for the most part use "best possible conditions" when rating their products.

 

[Flying High]

25 minutes is probably a calculated time with a bare P2 hovering, a 5400mAh battery is around 63 Watt hours, if it takes 150 watts to hover then it is 63/150 = 0.42 hour, 60x0.42= 25.2 minutes.
To actually achieve this would be pretty well impossible in the same way as manufacturers car consumption figures are not either.
Weight is the real killer, any unnecessary weight will eat into your flight times as will the wind, I get 17 minutes max with mine fully loaded with a H3 3D, fpv tx etc and BT groundstation receiver which I think is pretty reasonable.

 

[ToThePoint]

I get 14 min with my bird. Its fair enough, if i want to fly longer i take the second battery.

 

[happydays]

Didn't Colin Guinn get 25 minutes on that video he did when the Vision was launched? Remember, the clip of him chasing himself on the boat on Lake Austin (From memory...)?

 

[Dirty Bird]

This is why fuel economy is regulated. Just like you guys say "meh, high winds" or "meh, flying too hard", car manufacturers would always overstate the fuel economy of their vehicles by 20%+ and hand-wave it away with "you probably drove the vehicle too aggressively" or "you spent most of your time in city traffic", etc.

I own quite a few laptops, tablets, phones, etc.. One of my laptops claims "up to 9.5 hours of run time". While it may be theoretically possible to achieve 9.5 hours if you disable all radios, throttle the processor to 5-10%, set the screen brightness at minimum, etc. But who is going to do that? I've never had that laptop get anywhere near 9.5 hours. I think I may have gotten 7 hours a few times. Quite a disparity.

After 25+ cycles on my four batteries I still get 20+ minutes out of my Phantom each and every time. I have been up for 22+ minutes on numerous occasions. That's running her down to 9-10% battery, and that is NOT just sitting around in a hover on a calm day. That's camera recording while climbing, descending, flying 2-4 miles, engaging RTH, etc.. Not sure about the latest app & firmware (I run firmware 3.0 and the 1.39 app) but you can run the thing all the way down below 0% battery so long as you keep the throttle held up. You have to be careful when the battery gets this low as you have much less lift.

My point being, if you have a car that gets 25 mpg with a 10 gallon tank, you probably aren't going to run the tank to completely empty to obtain the theoretical "up to 250 miles per tank" range. Because the car is powered by fuel instead of electrical energy stored within a battery, you will have full power as long as fuel flow in maintained, but that is just a factor of the differing technology involved. But unless you are leaving the bird in the air until it absolutely can no longer fly...something I do NOT recommend since falling from the sky is inherently more risky than simply drifting to a stop...you haven't really tested the actual limit.