Evo 2 Pro 6K in High Winds Almost Had Fly Away

[atortaloha]

So this Autel is new to me for sure. Familiar with DJI flying in high winds in Hawaii a lot and never really having an issue. I flew yesterday and was really windy I will admit, but wanted to test it out and see. I have friends who have these in Hawaii and said they flew in 70mph winds and it handled so thought yesterday would be relatively mild. Well I was wrong. First off is it just me that feels like this drone kind of flies like a pig in a way?? I mean it just seems really darn slow...and yesterday this drone felt like a Mini 1 getting away from me. I literally had to run blocks to get closer to it and safely land in the city. Today I flew again and felt that the only way to get it to move on occasion was throwing it into ludicrous mode which helped but not a lot. It just feels very slow all around so far and really doesn't seem like the drone of choice for high wind flying. My Mavic's handle way better in the winds. Just curious to others thoughts on how this flies and if they feel it flies sluggish and slow. Thanks.

 

[Cicero24]

Yes. Everything you say is true. The EVOs are quite quirky.

 

[herein2021]

So this Autel is new to me for sure. Familiar with DJI flying in high winds in Hawaii a lot and never really having an issue. I flew yesterday and was really windy I will admit, but wanted to test it out and see. I have friends who have these in Hawaii and said they flew in 70mph winds and it handled so thought yesterday would be relatively mild. Well I was wrong. First off is it just me that feels like this drone kind of flies like a pig in a way?? I mean it just seems really darn slow...and yesterday this drone felt like a Mini 1 getting away from me. I literally had to run blocks to get closer to it and safely land in the city. Today I flew again and felt that the only way to get it to move on occasion was throwing it into ludicrous mode which helped but not a lot. It just feels very slow all around so far and really doesn't seem like the drone of choice for high wind flying. My Mavic's handle way better in the winds. Just curious to others thoughts on how this flies and if they feel it flies sluggish and slow. Thanks.

No way would I fly these in winds over 15MPH and yes Ludicrous mode is needed quite often to overcome even mild wind. I have the Mavic Pro as well though and would say the two handle wind about the same although it does feel like in Sport Mode the Mavic Pro is a little better with the wind. Also, you did not mention if you have the original props or low noise props. It is possible the low noise props being a newer design might handle the wind a bit better.

Keep in mind the handling is also greatly affected by which direction the wind is coming from. If its a cross wind its going to handle that worse than a headwind. The best wind handling drone I've ever flown was the DJI P4. Due to its square design, it handles wind from any direction equally well. The worse wind handling drone I've ever flow was the DJI Inspire drones; surprisingly they are terrible at wind handling.

 

[Hawaii Drone Imaging]

I had mine up at Ma'ili pillbox in 25mph winds. It did give me some worries when the gust would kick in, but over all it actually held pretty good for what I was doing. I'm kind of glad it is a bit "heavy". Definitely, if you're trying to catch fast moving shots with the high winds, it can be irritating, but for catching orbits and slow in and out "cine" shots it worked for me. The camera didn't pick up any of the "wobble" when gust would blast me.

 

[atortaloha]

No way would I fly these in winds over 15MPH and yes Ludicrous mode is needed quite often to overcome even mild wind. I have the Mavic Pro as well though and would say the two handle wind about the same although it does feel like in Sport Mode the Mavic Pro is a little better with the wind. Also, you did not mention if you have the original props or low noise props. It is possible the low noise props being a newer design might handle the wind a bit better.

Keep in mind the handling is also greatly affected by which direction the wind is coming from. If its a cross wind its going to handle that worse than a headwind. The best wind handling drone I've ever flown was the DJI P4. Due to its square design, it handles wind from any direction equally well. The worse wind handling drone I've ever flow was the DJI Inspire drones; surprisingly they are terrible at wind handling.

Yeah normal props not the low noise props. I was just blown away....no pun jokes here....lol with how poorly it handled in these winds....felt literally like my Mini cursing and I agree my Mavic drones feel way better in sport mode than this drone hands down to me. I wish they would release a Phantom 5 or something already....this drone I know has its limitations and feel like I have barely pushed it too. I almost had this thing blow away on me and was at around my 400' limit in the city and I am sure the tall buildings made rivers of wind up there but really caught me off guard...was like the thing just blew away in atti mode or something.

 

[atortaloha]

I had mine up at Ma'ili pillbox in 25mph winds. It did give me some worries when the gust would kick in, but over all it actually held pretty good for what I was doing. I'm kind of glad it is a bit "heavy". Definitely, if you're trying to catch fast moving shots with the high winds, it can be irritating, but for catching orbits and slow in and out "cine" shots it worked for me. The camera didn't pick up any of the "wobble" when gust would blast me.

Normally I live NS Oahu so yeah I have flown DJI drones in hurricane type winds before and super strong trades and really never had any major concerns. This felt like it just wouldn't move and just basically flew away with the currents of the winds...extra mindful now and this won't be my drone of choice for sure for really strong wind days. Aloha

 

[UasDriver]

It just feels very slow all around

mine clocks 22mph, to fast to maneuver filming.... yet! put the AC 10ft off the deck, set gimbal -10, it speeds up real quick

 

[herein2021]

I had mine up at Ma'ili pillbox in 25mph winds. It did give me some worries when the gust would kick in, but over all it actually held pretty good for what I was doing. I'm kind of glad it is a bit "heavy". Definitely, if you're trying to catch fast moving shots with the high winds, it can be irritating, but for catching orbits and slow in and out "cine" shots it worked for me. The camera didn't pick up any of the "wobble" when gust would blast me.

Now that is something I definitely agree with...it is amazingly stable in high winds and in Ludicrous mode. With the DJI drones Sport mode meant you aren't filming anything because the gimbal would let through too much jitter; I also had the gimbal on both the P4 and Mavic Pro just give out in Sport Mode and drop down due to gimbal shutdown in the middle of flying.

The EVO II 6K on the other hand is great in both Ludicrous mode and high winds; I've done some car chase scenes and boat scenes and filmed the whole thing in Ludicrous mode; couldn't have done that with DJI drones.

Normally I live NS Oahu so yeah I have flown DJI drones in hurricane type winds before and super strong trades and really never had any major concerns. This felt like it just wouldn't move and just basically flew away with the currents of the winds...extra mindful now and this won't be my drone of choice for sure for really strong wind days. Aloha

I spent a week in Hawaii and I will say; that was the closest I ever came to losing a drone due to wind. I am very careful with wind but I underestimated the gusts in Hawaii......even in Sport Mode my Mavic Pro was barely moving at 0.6mph......got it back with 3% battery remaining. Almost ruined the whole trip for me since this was literally on day one.

 

[OldBlueHeron]

The Evo 2 handles like a metro bus. I drive a metro bus every day. I make em both hustle.

 

[Coady]

UAV forcast is only an estimate in my opinion. Was put yesterday and it was not safe to fly according to the app and that it was raining .

Not a drop of rain all day .
So maybe it's the same with wind ?

 

[kenautelevo2pro]

my days are flying in windy conditions are over. I've had enough with these drones whether it's the autel or the dji. if that means I don't get to fly much, oh well. it's windy where 3 or 4 days of every week; sometimes all weekend from Friday midday to Sunday night. winds are unpredictable and come out of nowhere at anytime. tired of being terrified to see the drone floating away not making any meaningful progress. so unless it's calm, I find another hobby or sport to engage in that day.

 

[Quad808]

... I have friends who have these in Hawaii and said they flew in 70mph winds and it handled.....

I live on Oahu, and I challenge ANYONE to fly a drone in 70mph winds and live to tell the tale. Video or it didn't happen. I have a stable full of drones, and in gusty trade winds, I won't fly any of them, unless its just for short distances where I am sure that I have enough room so that if I need to land it quickly, I can. Winds in Hawaii are pretty finicky, and stronger the higher you go, and they are pretty constant. Use caution. Any long range flights need to start into the wind, so that you can ride the wind back to you with ease, and less power used to cover the same distance out. I won't risk hitting something, someone or losing my drone because I decided I just had to fly in high windy weather.
Safety is king. The power to weight ratio of the Evo II is pretty good in my experience, on par with the P4P2.0...which is a champ in high winds, but the P4P2.0 is loud as heck compared to todays smaller drones, including the Evo II.

 

[AirStreamPictures]

I find my Evo II much better than my Mavic Pro in the wind. Any time the wind comes up at all, the Mavic controller tells me the winds were too high and I need to land. And shooting video in the wind? Forget about it. I flew a mission last week in 25 mph winds and shot some beautiful footage. (The morning was much calmer when I started, but the wind came up strong a couple of hous after sunrise.) Yes, at one point I needed ludicrous mode to overcome the wind, but the Evo flew well and recorded smooth vide—and the light was beautiful!

FWIW, I don’t believe anybody flies any consumer drone in 70 mph winds. A drone with a top speed of 40 mph in winds of 70 mph? Just do the math.

 

[applehaus]

I actually love the way the Evo II handles. I find it way more stable than my mavic or Phantom in wind. Of course, that stability comes with a tradeoff because it means the onboard computer compensates for the wind more than the DJI drones do. Also there's that 22mph limit (or 11, which I use regularly) unless you go to ludicrous mode. I'm a commercial photographer/videographer, so I find the slower handling of the Evo is typically better for the smooth video my customers are looking for.

I didn't see you mention your altitude, nor the altitude of the wind estimates you were looking at. I always look at the wind profile in UAV Forecast to see how it changes for altitude, and I'll echo what someone else said about this only being an estimate; actual wind could be higher or lower.

 

[crusho]

You're lucky it's just wind. Crashed in August; got it back just in time for four months of snow and sub-10° temps, then it's been raining 5 out of seven days since March. I never considered some places are better to own a drone than others.

I'd trade this mess for a windy HI island any day.

 

[richkphoto]

Best drone out of the box I've flown was the Yuneec Typhoon H. It's to bad the dropped the ball on other things like range or they'd be more popular. I'm used to flying bigger custom build drones so I like the way the EVO 2 handles

 

[DsPallasVI]

So this Autel is new to me for sure. Familiar with DJI flying in high winds in Hawaii a lot and never really having an issue. I flew yesterday and was really windy I will admit, but wanted to test it out and see. I have friends who have these in Hawaii and said they flew in 70mph winds and it handled so thought yesterday would be relatively mild. Well I was wrong. First off is it just me that feels like this drone kind of flies like a pig in a way?? I mean it just seems really darn slow...and yesterday this drone felt like a Mini 1 getting away from me. I literally had to run blocks to get closer to it and safely land in the city. Today I flew again and felt that the only way to get it to move on occasion was throwing it into ludicrous mode which helped but not a lot. It just feels very slow all around so far and really doesn't seem like the drone of choice for high wind flying. My Mavic's handle way better in the winds. Just curious to others thoughts on how this flies and if they feel it flies sluggish and slow. Thanks.

Yes, have noticed the exact same experience here in the US Virgin Islands... Have had many DJIs over time here and comfortable with their high winds behaviour.
My current DJI 'Mavick Pro Platinum' handles strong winds (>25kts) quite well and makes good ground(!) speed when flying into a head wind.
My Evo-II 6K Pro in comparison feels like a slug in similar conditions.
Recently was flying over the ocean in strong head winds (+/- 22-25kts), filming a cargo ship leaving port, and my ground speed of the Evo-II was between 8 - 12kts.
And this is in 'Ludicrous' Mode, and set for 45mph.
I watched my battery deplete quite rapidly and barely made it back to the headland I was flying from...
Had noticed this behaviour previously, but wrote it off, 'cause the Evo was still new to me.
Now I have made a mental note that I can't trust the drone to come back in time they way the DJI one does, i.e. good groundspeed against a strong headwind.
With the Evo-II I get the impression that when far away downwind, one must calculate quite some extra time for the return flight...
Though flying in hurricane force winds would be beyond "ludicrous'... as no regular consumer drone I know of can handle these kinds of wind...

 

[kenautelevo2pro]

not sure who wrote that but they probably meant 70mph occasional gusts and not 70mph sustained winds. or maybe 70 kph.

 

[Tiger64]

I was doing a fixed point video earlier this year. The wind was 54kph gusting to 70kph. Over ten minutes ,the video was rock solid with only 1 small jump at about 8 minute mark.
Evo 2 pro
I was impressed with video as it was low light conditions and drone appeared to be dancing around to hold position.
I have had mine now for 6 months and fly every opportunity i get. Other than to do a quick test, i have not needed to use ludicrous mode. I feel it handles quite well for what i want it to do.

 

[Rattlebars]

I flew a mission yesterday and it was set to 22mph. No problem on the way out, but it would do only 1-3mph trying to get home into the a headwind! It was 2000 feet out and my battery was getting low! I thought I might need to hunt in the woods for it when it died, but it made it home with 3% left as it landed on the pad. Whew!