DJI Mini 3 Pro Top Speed (Explained for Beginners)

When it comes to speed, the DJI Mini 3 doesn’t quite stack up to the big boys, it would seem.

• Fast: Mini 3 – 58.6 km/h or 36 mph.
• Faster: Mavic 3 – 75.6 km/h or 47 mph.
• Fastest: Inspire 2 – 93.3 km/h or 58 mph.

That’s not to say you shouldn’t be impressed. Oh, my no! You should be. The Mini 3, for its size and its weight, actually ranks right up there with the Inspire 2 or the Mavic 3.

That’s the thing we have to think about. The Mini 3 is an aircraft that weighs less than 250 grams and has a footprint of 171 × 245 × 62 mm or 7″ x 10″ x 3″ unfolded. It’s got a wind resistance of 5 and a top speed of 36 mph when in Sport Mode.

The Mini 3 is quite a mighty little flyer indeed. Upon scaling it up, it certainly does equal out to be the equivalent of a larger system.

The Mavic 3 when unfolded (without propellers) is 347.5 × 283 × 107.7 mm or 14″ x 10″ x 4″ and 900 grams. The Inspire 2 is even larger and heavier.

Either way, if we were to scale that Mavic 3 or that Inspire 2 down to the Mini 3’s size and weight, well, I think we’d be right where we’re at with the Mini 3.

When we talk about drones and their speeds, it’s all relative. The speeds are programmed into the system and we shouldn’t see much of a difference between what is claimed by the manufacturer and what we would achieve in the field.

There can be many considerations as to what might slow an aircraft down or even speed an aircraft up during a flight, such as weather conditions, location, and even connection strength.

There’s also a time and place for a fast flight over a slower more cinematic one. Depending on what you’re looking to achieve during a flight, the top speed may not even be an issue.

Who am I kidding right? Who doesn’t want to push their Mini 3 to the max and see if it can do it? The fact is there’s really only so far you can go.

Below are the numbers. Sorry, these are the top speeds programmed in by DJI.

Top speeds for the three different Flight Modes for the Mini 3 Pro:

• Sport Mode: 16 m/s – 57.6 km/h (35.79 mph)
• Normal Mode: 10 m/s – 36 km/h (22.36 mph)
• Cinematic Mode: 6 m/s – 21.6 km/h (13.42 mph)

DJI Mini 3 Pro Flight Modes #

So, if you’re feeling cheeky and really want to dash around, Sport Mode is for you. Similar to all DJI drones, the Mini 3 features three different flight modes. As with anything drone-related, each mode has its benefits and its drawbacks.

1. Sport Mode #

Sport Mode allows you to fly the aircraft at its top speed. It also disables the obstacle avoidance system, so the trade-off is speed vs. safety. In this mode, the only active sensor is the Downward Vision System and GNSS for positioning.

Other enhancements in Sport Mode would be more responsiveness from the sticks and increased agility. With the maximum speed in sport mode set to 16 m/s, you’ll certainly be dashing about.

2. Normal Mode #

Normal Mode is just what it sounds like. Unlike in sport mode where the speed is increased, and the agility is optimized, in Normal Mode, the craft utilizes its GNSS and all of the aircraft’s vision systems to locate itself and stabilize.

Normal Mode is where you will have all of the craft’s protective obstacle avoidance systems active and operating to assist you. It is also the flight mode you will need to be in to use any of the Intelligent Flight Modes within the Fly app.

With the top speed for the mode set to 10 m/s, this all-around mode will cover nearly every need you could have during a flight.

3. Cine Mode #

Cine Mode is similar to Normal Mode with the obstacle avoidance system being active during flight. When flying in Cine Mode, the speed is limited so that the craft can maintain a more stable flight.

If you are familiar with DJI and its products, you will be familiar with an Intelligent Flight Mode named Tripod Mode.

Cine mode is very similar and is programmed in a way to place thresholds on the control settings to limit the ranges of speed in which the aircraft can be operated.

Cine Mode slows the overall speed of the craft down; it also affects the pitch smoothness on the gimbal and braking as well. If you’re the cheeky guy from sports mode, Cine Mode might not seem too interesting.

If you’re looking for that perfect cinematic shot though, you may never fly in any other mode again. You may not be going very fast at a top speed of 6 m/s, but the footage will be amazing.

Real Life Top Speeds! #

I just so happen to have been spending some time with the DJI Mini 3 Pro.

Like most of you, I know other drone pilots. The drone community is one of the most welcoming and friendly groups of people you could ever find and be a part of.

As such, although I don’t own a DJI Mini 3 (yet!), I have had ample opportunity to fly one and check it out through and through.

One of the things we looked at was the aircraft’s speed while flying in the different flight modes. In our experience, we got pretty much just what we were expecting.

DJI Speed
Actual Flight Speed

Sport Mode
57.6 km/h (36 mph)
58.5 km/h (36.35 mph)

Normal Mode
36 km/h (23.2 mph)
37.7 km/h (23.2 mph)

Cinematic Mode
21.6 km/h (13.4 mph)
21.1 km/h (13.1 mph)

If you look at the above numbers, our flights were right along the line of what we should have seen. You can even notice by the numbers above that we had a little wind that helped out on the first flight in Sport Mode.

It also kept us from achieving the top speed while flying in the same area, height, and direction in cinematic mode.

The wind speeds at the time of flight were 8 to 10mph. In our example, the wind helped add some speed during our Sport mode flight and must have shifted some and worked against us when we conducted the same flight in Cinematic mode.

Another factor could have been the aircraft’s speed since it was flying slower through that airspace allowing the wind to affect it more.

All three flights were at 100 ft altitude if you’re interested.

What it shows is that the DJI Mini 3 is well-engineered, something we have come to expect from the folks over at DJI.

They haven’t disappointed, and they even seem to have over-engineered the areas you would expect to see over-engineered in a device such as this.

This aircraft certainly is capable of faster flight, by design. That extra bit is important. This means the DJI Mini 3 is able to achieve these speeds while fighting the wind to some degree.

Wind Resistance #

When we talk about an aircraft’s speed of flight, we always have to take into account the aircraft’s wind resistance. The Mini 3 is no exception.

As a matter of fact, due to the aircraft’s diminutive size and weight, being able to ward off the wind during flight is not only very difficult, but could very well lead to a flyaway, and should always be of concern not only to the crafts speed but it’s safety as well.

With the Mini 3, they thought about this quite a bit and it shows with the Mini 3 having a Level 5 Wind Resistance Rating, with a Max wind speed resistance of 10.7 m/s or 24 mph.

For an aircraft the size of the Mini 3, well that’s pretty darn good.

Since wind resistance is dependent on the aircraft’s propulsion, having the top speed and the ability to still acquire solid stable footage in that type of wind is impressive.

It’s almost hard to believe that we were only introduced to the DJI Mini in 2019 and we have had such advances in that drone platform in such a short time since then.

What with the DJI Mini 2 leaving us all pleased and warm inside, with its camera advancement and improved flight controls, and especially its low cost, it was hard to think of what DJI would produce next.

Then they give us the DJI Mini 3, setting a new standard for Mini drones.

With its blend of power, portability, and performance it makes a welcome addition to any drone pilot’s hanger. It straddles both the consumer and professional fields with ease.

The addition of the quirky rotating gimbal will no doubt please content creators worldwide.

So, get out there and have yourself a Mini adventure, the world awaits. Don’t forget to share!

Fly Safe, Fly Always, Always Fly Safe!