Solo flight time w/ new battery?

[QuadCoyote]

I just got my Solo this morning, and I flew it after bringing the included battery up to a full charge.

I have the 3DR GoPro gimbal installed and had a Hero 4 black on it.

I flew mostly in hover and climbing and descending for just under 7:45 before getting the 25% battery warning. This seems pretty low to me, given the 'up to 20 minute' claim and reported 15 minute flight times. Can I expect this to get better, or is something wrong?

Thanks.

 

[Maddog]

Hovering & climbing will use up your battery pronto!
If you want around 15 minutes you need to hover little, climb slowly, and putt around between 5- 10 MPH. Fly as if your on your last electron!

Also, once the battery reaches about 25% it will discharge much faster than it did before 25%.

 

[Chuck]

Maddog brings up a very good point. If you are at 25%, hopefully you are in the process of landing, or headed home to land. The last 25% doesn't last long, and you don't want to take the level too low and take a chance of harming the battery. Welcome to the forum, Quad, and safe flying to you.

 

[RichWest]

Cycle the battery a few times and then be worried if same. I've never read actual statistics for flight and battery time, but like Maddog stated fly rather than hover. I found recently I increased flight time by a 1-1/2 minutes flying full stick forward through a battery rather than hovering and dancing around.. As they say, your mileage may vary...as are your conditions and abilities.

 

[Marich]

Yep, Lipos need to be cycled a few times to reach max capacity.

 

[RolandS888]

And the motors will loosen up a little with time as well, extending flight times.
As you get more proficient, flying in Fly-Manual and flying into, and drifitng downwind will further extend flight time.
Flying (or just hovering) in FLY mode and using GPS to hold position uses the most battery power as the craft is always fighting the breeze to maintain position, which uses extra power.
Be very carefull switching to manual control, perhaps practice manual control on a smaller toy drone first as it can be difficult at first.
It all gets better as you gain more experience.

 

[QuadCoyote]

Maddog brings up a very good point. If you are at 25%, hopefully you are in the process of landing, or headed home to land. The last 25% doesn't last long, and you don't want to take the level too low and take a chance of harming the battery. Welcome to the forum, Quad, and safe flying to you.

Yes, I mention 25% because I view that as the 'land the thing RIGHT NOW' mark.