Over the years, drones have become far more prevalent than ever before. They’re fun, efficient and can be immensely beneficial for an abundance of purposes. Whether you’re interested in an adrenaline ride or you just want to snap pictures of your real estate property, a drone will prove to be a good choice. With that being said, some people have taken to racing drones as a sport. If this is something that you intend to do, you’ll first need to find out how fast drones can fly and what factors could potentially play a role in their top speed.
What Impacts Drone Speed?
With the growing popularity of drones, federal governments have been forced to enact drone laws. Mostly, these laws govern the locations in which drones can be flown. There is little in terms of speed limits. In fact, the laws make it clear that commercial drones can only fly at 100 miles per hour. So, you should be able to push your drone to the limits and achieve its maximum speeds. This is definitely the case if you’re going to be racing your drone. Below, you’re going to learn about the factors that can potentially impact the overall speed of your drone.
The Weather
First and foremost, you should understand that the weather is indeed going to impact the speed of your drone. When your drone soars through the air, it is definitely going to run into some sort of wind resistance. That wind resistance is going to worsen when the wind is blowing at high speeds. Unless you’re flying in the same direction as the wind, it is going to slow the drone and make it much more difficult to achieve the top speeds. Rain, fog and other elements may slow down your drone too.
Speed Setting
Another thing to note is that many drones are equipped with speed settings. It is entirely up to you to adjust the speed setting. If you need to make sure that your drone doesn’t exceed a certain speed, the maximum speed setting will help. If you allow the speed to remain too high, you may run out of the drone control range. That could cause control issues. For people who intend to race their drone, there is a good chance that you’re never going to use this setting. It would severely limit you.
Motor Strength
You should also know that the motor is going to impact the drone’s speed. Obviously, some drones have a more powerful motor than others. If you’re going to be racing your drone, you will definitely want to spend a little more to get more power and more speed. The drone flight time may be impacted by the speed. If you’re flying at the maximum speed, there is a good chance that the flight time is going to dip significantly.
Read more about drones’ flight time
How Fast Some Models Go?
There are plenty of drones out there on the market. Just remember that some of them are better than others. Some drones are capable of achieving much faster speeds. If you’re interested in racing your drone, you’ll definitely want to choose a drone with the maximum speed. At this point in time, the Yuneec Typhoon H Pro is one of the fastest drones out there. It is estimated that this specific model is capable of reaching maximum speeds of 70 miles per hour. This is the very best drone for people who want to race with a chance to actually win.
The DJI Spark is not necessarily suitable for racing. After all, it is only capable of achieving speeds of 31 miles per hour. If you’re going to be using this drone for racing purposes, you will definitely want to make sure that the competition is level. Otherwise, your DJI Spark drone is going to get blown away by the competition. The Autel Evo is another very fast drone. This one is capable of reaching speeds of approximately 65 feet per second. Suffice to say, it is one of the fastest drones on the market. Another great thing about this drone is the fact that it has a drone control range of roughly 4.2 miles.
Read Autel Evo review
Finally, you have the famous DJI Mavic Pro. DJI makes some of the best drones on the market. However, they might not all be suitable for racing. This is definitely the case if you’re going to be going up against the Typhoon H Pro. Your drone won’t stand a chance. In all, the DJI Mavic Pro can reach maximum speeds of 40 MPH. The upgraded Pro 2 is slightly faster at 45 MPH.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, there are plenty of factors that can impact your drone’s maximum speed. Somethings will slow it down while others will speed it up. The aforementioned speeds are simply estimations. Take the numbers for what they’re worth and remember that environmental factors can ultimately impact the speeds that you’re able to achieve.