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DJI Mavic Mini
- mc32 7y agoIs this replacing the Spark? They still list the Spark on the site but no stock, unless it will have an update shipping soon. Still, this looks good.
- yardie 7y agoSame price as the Spark when it was released. Smaller, lighter, and longer flight time than the Spark. There really is no reason to purchase the Spark unless you need to replace another Spark. I have a Spark and I'm really looking forward to this and being out from under the thumb of the FAA (<250g). DJI has knocked it out of the park this time.
- headcanon 7y agoThats my guess. The Mavic Air got pretty close to competing with the Spark, Mavic Mini looks like a clear replacement.
- bcheung 7y agoI have the Mavic Pro and have issues with the wind carrying it away and not being able to navigate where I want. Is a smaller drone going to even more issue with wind or have they improved this?
- ortusdux 7y agoI don't know if this a normal stat to list for drones, but they note the Max Wind Speed Resistance as ~18 mph. They do not list the wind resistance of the Mavic Pro.
- headcanon 7y agoHow windy is it where you live? I've flown the Mavic Pro over the Pacific and Lake Michigan through what I would describe as a "healthy breeze". I think its max wind speed is approx 22mph, but can't find a reference for it. I'd say rule of thumb is if you wouldn't want to eat a nice brunch in it, you don't want to fly in it. edit: Pretty sure it uses GPS, compass, and gyro to stabilize itself relative to the wind.If gentle winds are causing it to drift too much, you might be having trouble with one of those. You might want to calibrate compass and make sure you're getting good GPS reception. I've found stabilization is not good in WiFi control mode either.
- closetohome 7y agoThe drone will stay where you park it unless you're flying in winds that are unsafe, which the manual recommends you avoid, and the app will actively warn you about.
- fh973 7y agoGreat, it's a toy! Seriously, with 249g, drone laws do not apply (start with 250g) and you can do whatever you want with it in public.
- echelon 7y agoCan you fly it in cities? Even if they're near airports?
- rickmode 7y agoAre you sure about the "do whatever you want" part? Just because there is no need to register with the FAA doesn't mean the FAA rules do no apply.
- jasonsb 7y agoWell it's great that you don't need to get a permit in order to fly this drone, but that doesn't mean you should do whatever you want with it in public.
- ericcumbee 7y agoit's five dollars and filling out a web form. its not exactly onerous requirement.
- thrwn_frthr_awy 7y agoWhat they are referring too is that you still shouldn't operate these drones where they are not allowed just because they weight less than some FAA weight limit.
- tibbon 7y agoAnd I know people are like, "Well, just follow the rules!", and they should... some people fly drones stupidly. BUT - it's worth pointing out that if you live in some cities like Boston, that it is nearly impossible to fly a drone in city limits. Or Cambridge. Or Somerville. Check out the maps on Skyvector; it's 70/SFC, until you're in Watertown, parts of Quincy of north of Lynn. The FAA says to call the tower for permission; and I've spoken to the tower at Logan, and they said the FAA told them to not grant anyone permission (this was 2 years ago admittedly). So having a little micro drone that you can fly 30 ft in the air around your house legally since it's under the weight limit? Pretty neat.
- kawsper 7y agoI'm on a german IP but don't speak a word of german, however the whole page is in german. My browser sends the correct headers, accept-language: en-US,en;q=0.9,da;q=0.8.
- bschwindHN 7y agoI'm in Japan and just get a 404. Just shitty web development, nothing surprising.
- rasz 7y agoChinese must find geoIP really sleek, Alibaba kept serving my Poland IP Russian language version for couple of years.
- sneak 7y agoAs someone who wants hardware that does what I instruct it to after I have purchased it, regardless of the manufacturer's wishes, I don't think I can support buying DJI's otherwise-excellent products any longer. The firmware updates and activation locks and flight restrictions imposed by the DJI Go app are too onerous. If I buy a tool, and the tool now belongs to me, the manufacturer attempting to restrict my use of that tool is morally unjustifiable. (Yes, I have an iPhone, and yes, I'm pissed off about that, too.)
- landcoctos 7y agoI've never considered buying a drone however I would certainly not buy one that required an app + required user account to operate a piece of offline equipment.
- tunap 7y agoI had my 1st experience with a Mavic Air this past weekend. It is an amazing piece of tech and the vids are beautiful. I was unaware, however, of it's online requirement. It operated fine where no cell signal exists, so there must be a way to dark comm it. However, I wouldn't give them $ in the first place with such a requirement. Too bad, I was considering one in lieu of a full frame dslr. Looks like hi-res, poorly shot photos are back on the menu.
- tooop 7y agoYou don't have to be online while flying just logged in the app at some point in the past.
- sneak 7y agoEven their handheld video cameras require online activation. It’s madness.
- dawnerd 7y agoGo buy a plane and complain about all those pesky flight restrictions.
- landcoctos 7y agoArgh! Just when I thought the drone fad had passed...
- forgone 7y agowhat's the legality of it in the UK?
- alias_neo 7y agoI believe, according to a drone flyer friend, that the 250g limit applies here too. Just don't fly it near any airports.
- dogma1138 7y agoConsidering the registration requirement in the UK is to register all drones above 250g in weight this one seems to have been designed as a loophole. As it weight 249g you don't have to register with the CAA and as long as you keep it under 400ft altitude and within 150ft from other people and private property you can fly it anywhere where there isn't a local limitation and it's not restricted airspace. In places where there are limitations e.g. London and other big cities you can fly it on private property. Please note that in the UK the entity that manages a park or other public spaces can impose its own restrictions e.g. you can't fly drones in Alexandra Palace despite Barnet Council not having a wide ban on drones. For the most part don't be an idiot the police doesn't enforce these rules for the most part outside westminster where the cops do chase down drone flyers especially around the tourist spots since you aren't allowed to fly anything within 150m of a congested area which is pretty much any spot in central london.
- ctdonath 7y agoComplying with a deliberately & precisely worded law is not exploiting a loophole, it's complying with the law.
- nwallin 7y ago"But your honor. The speed limit is 65 and I was going 64." "You were exploiting a loophole. You may have been adhering to the letter of the law, but you were in gross violation of its spirit. We don't play games in this courtroom. Your fine is $250 and you owe $437 in court fees."
- bittercynic 7y agoAnyone know how to use the video downlink from DJI drones without the rest of the system? If there is a forum out there for hacking DJI's stuff, I haven't found it yet.
- bri3d 7y agoWhat do you mean? On the one hand DJI sell their downlinks separately (Lightbridge and DJI FPV) as standalone products. On the other hand there's a decent modding community for DJI gear: https://dji.retroroms.info/howto/start https://dji.retroroms.info/howto/start
- Rebelgecko 7y agoOn older DJI Phantom drones you could ssh into the drone and pump the video into ffmpeg or wherever. I think they became more proprietary and locked down so I don't know how easy this is to do nowadays.
- blhack 7y agoWow, very cool! As others have pointed out, being under the weight limit set by the FAA is basically THE selling point. Ethical question: are DJI the good guys here working within the rules set out of the FAA, or are they running afoul of the spirit but staying within the letter?
- post_break 7y agoThis is how all laws work though. Rifle minimum barrel is 16" so they make 16" barrels. Wifi can only put out X watts max, they put out the maximum by law. There are no ethics in following a laws minimum or maximum.
- cookiecaper 7y agoIt's a great reason to exercise caution when setting up rules and definitions. Whatever distinction gets established, however arbitrary, casts a tint on everything else on either side of it, for better or worse. This is true even in things as routine daily chit-chat and conversation. Think about how often tacitly express your opinion through the way you frame a discussion and how often those environmental cues bias other parties to respond in particular ways. Then, consider how often marketers, salespeople, and other manipulators intentionally frame interactions to provoke a specific biased response. The light touch and the small nudge are grossly undervalued.
- pc86 7y ago> It's a great reason to exercise caution when setting up rules and definitions. This is (part of) the reason people spend hours debating seemingly mundane aspects of rules & regs, legislation, corporate bylaws, etc. Eventually someone will have a [dis]incentive and try to get around something.
- roywiggins 7y agoI'll just note that laws and regulations can get struck down for vagueness. If there's no hard rule about what kind of drones are regulated how, then it becomes more burdensome- or even impossible- to know whether you're complying with the law.
- maxcan 7y agoOh man, been waiting for this. Unfortunately, no active track :( Still conflicted on spending $1000 on the new skydio for what would mostly be a toy for me.
- atourgates 7y agoI currently have a Mavic Pro, and I don't plan to replace it until a Skydio, or something with equivalent AI and automation is available. My dream for my Mavic was capturing new angles of family activities. However, the truth is that the effort required to capture those activities with a Mavic ruins the enjoyment of many of them. Say I wanted to get video of my kids biking. I've got to make sure the drone is charged, have my kids wait around on the trail while I launch it, and then compose the shot and stand there looking at my phone, worrying about running into stuff while they bike. The Skydio's pathfinding and sensors take a good chunk of that hassle away. I could theoretically hand the beacon to one of them, and say, "Ok, great, go ride." And for 20-minutes, the drone would do all the work of getting video, while I rode with my kids. Assuming real-world reviews of the Skydio 2 come back positive, I think that'll be my Mavic's replacement.
- jcims 7y agoThere are some great vids of the Skydio 2 in action on YouTube. One guy on a pit bike getting scared shitless about the abandoned area he drives around is pretty good. Theres a certain predatory element to the flying the Skydio does while operating in trees that is awesome and creepy at the same time. Edit: video in question - https://youtu.be/2UbRP5YsjuY https://youtu.be/2UbRP5YsjuY Flying starts around 4:30. Definitely watch it negotiate through the trees a bit then fast forward to the riding at the end if you get bored.
- dvcrn 7y agoI own a mavic pro 2 and I almost always use it in the AI modes like circling, following, point of interest and what not. I often let it follow friends and really enjoy having it with me. Just wish it was a bit smaller but I really like the camera so probably won’t switch anytime soon
- 7y ago
- bitL 7y agoMavic and its variations are fine, but when will we finally get Phantom 5? Mavic is still far from functionality offered by Phantom 5, whether it comes to stability, ease of use and most importantly video quality. Going to new Mavic feels like downgrade with the only advantage being portability, which is a moot point as one has to carry multiple batteries in a separate bag anyway. DJI, come on, give us something!
- rimliu 7y agoMavic is very far ahead in terms of functionality compared to Phantom 5, given that Phantom 5 does not exist. If you compare Mavic 2 Pro to Phantom 4 Pro, then the only arguable advantage the latter has is the mechanical shutter. No problems with stability, and despite being lighter the smaller aerodynamic cross-section actually helps Mavic to fight the wind. Not sure what advantages P4 has against Mavic wrt ease of use. I sold my P4P and got Mavic 2 Pro and consider that a big upgrade.
- bitL 7y agoI am hearing that often from Mavic Pro users, but both video quality and stability in stronger winds is lacking comparing to P4 series. It's good you are happy, many people like me aren't.
- samplatt 7y ago>If you compare Mavic 2 Pro to Phantom 4 Pro, then the only arguable advantage the latter has is the mechanical shutter. Quite false. Although the resolution isn't different, the camera sensor in the phantom is twice the size and has better optics on it. In terms of photography, it's a no-brainer. We still use a Mavic however due to the ability to upload a CSV of coordinates and camera angles, which is a much better fit for the photogrammetry we use it for.
- spike021 7y agoThat's actually a surprisingly great price. Only thing I'd be worried about a bit is if they have the potential to go the same way as GoPro. DJI reminds me a lot of how GoPro was a few years ago.
- frabbit 7y agoDo you mind explaining that further? I don't know what happened with GoPro.
- spike021 7y agoI'm not an expert on the market or anything, so just my two cents. But for a while, GoPro had fairly explosive growth, in my perspective anyway. But after some time they stopped really innovating and some other brands with cheaper products but similar quality began getting some traction. So GoPro kind of dropped the ball. I think they've been getting better again the past year though. But again, not a market expert; this is just what I can remember seeing and reading about.
- powerapple 7y agoI would see DJI and GoPro two completely different kind of company. DJI founders are technologists, they are technology first company. I don't see how they can stop innovating.
- bsamuels 7y agoI want to know how big the motors are going to be compared to the Mavic Pro. I've flown 5" race quads that were <250g and working against the wind can be a constant battle if you have gusts >10mph. Traditionally DJI drones have had very underpowered motors so they can get those high flight time numbers; seeing the 30 minute flight time quote here doesn't give me much confidence that it will fly well with anything other than perfect wind conditions. I can't wait to tear one apart and see what kinds of compromises/trade offs they've made compared to their larger drones.
- SpikeDad 7y agoIt's not a race drone. That's a completely different audience. What do you mean underpowered? Compared to what?
- leetcrew 7y agopossibly to hold position in wind?
- Scoundreller 7y agoAnd doing so without losing altitude. A drone needs to tilt to work against the wind, but this also increases its wind loading.
- bsamuels 7y agoLet's say you're flying a race drone in windy conditions. you're aiming for a gate that you're going to fly straight through when a large gust of wind hits. You now have to compensate for that wind to correct your trajectory, and that can take a LOT of thrust depending on how large the gust was and how fast you need to correct the trajectory. It's possible for the maneuver to require so much sideways thrust that you will bleed some altitude and start to fall to the ground (granted on a racing drone this is probably measured in centimeters for most maneuvers, but you get the idea) Racing drones usually have a thrust:weight ratio of 8:1 or so, but the large Mavik Pro has a thrust:weight of 2.5:1, and their smaller Spark a ratio of ~2:1. You need a minimum TWR of about 2:1 to be flyable. If the Mavic Mini has a similar TWR as the spark, then it's very unlikely you'll be able to fly it in any sort of windy conditions.
- skykooler 7y agoIs there a standalone controller for these, or can they only be controlled through an iphone / android?
- rimliu 7y agoThe controller comes in a box. Not sure if you can fly the drone without the phone connected similar to the Mavic, my guess would be yes.
- megaremote 7y agoSince this has a range of 4km, it requires a controller. There is now way to get that distance without one.
- pedalpete 7y agoDoes anybody else fear the annoying future where every tourist attraction, trail, ski run, etc are filled with the buzz of everyone with their personal drones?
- folli 7y agoI feel like an old man, when I say this (and maybe I am), but I'm starting to feel increasingly annoyed by drones in public. You hear the whirring of drones on a nice day by the lake, and sometimes even on some more popular mountain peaks here in Switzerland. For me it's almost as annoying as a mosquito in your bedroom.
- rhombocombus 7y agoI agree in general, but I am torn; while I find drones in parks and natural areas extremely annoying I am utterly fascinated with the technology.
- rb808 7y agoYou're not the only one. In the US they're banned from most national parks.
- president 7y agoYet I see people fly them all the time in Yosemite. It seems like nothing is enforceable these days.
- barbecue_sauce 7y agoI live in the northeastern United States. I have literally never seen a drone (consumer or otherwise) anywhere other than a Best Buy (or similar electronics retailer) still in its packaging.
- tlrobinson 7y agoThey tend to be used by tourists in touristy areas.
- singingboyo 7y agoYeah. I'm in Canada, I have a couple drones. I've seen someone else flying one... once. While I was out finding somewhere to fly. I think what we're running into though is the sheer size of North America. Even within the city here, there are a fair number un(der)developed areas with no/few people around. Out of the city, there rest stops or sometimes even just viewpoints. For all of these, with a bit of walking I can avoid annoying anyone. Somewhere like Switzerland, that might not be possible.
- billziss 7y agoThis looks nice and I certainly appreciate the battery life. To the people that are excited because this is outside some regulatory limits. A few years ago there were no or few drone regulations and people abused this; the result was strict national and city regulations to the point that flying a drone is almost impossible (legally) in some cities in the US. If people abuse the regulatory limits expect more strict regulations. I fly drones and I support such regulations. BTW, a 249g drone would likely take down a small airplane.
- Accujack 7y agoA half ounce hex nut would take down a small airplane in the wrong place.
- iamaelephant 7y agoA half ounce hex nut doesn't fly under its own power.
- Accujack 7y agoIt will if you attach an engine and fuel tank to it. Or alternatively, a small bird in the wrong place can take down a plane. Or for that matter, a clog in the pitot tube from ice.
- megaremote 7y agoThis is pretty good, 30 min flight time and 4km range. > 4 km for FCC compliant Model (MT1SS5) and 2 km for CE compliant Model (MT1SD25).
- mithr 7y agoLooks pretty cool! Had to laugh at this bit though: > “My girlfriend and I can simply enjoy our time together making memories and leave the rest to Mavic Mini.” ... followed by a lengthy video of them either centering their entire attention on the drone taking the video, or standing to "enjoy nature" while discretely flying the drone at the same time, so that it can take a video of them serenely enjoying their perfect moment in nature.
- alistairSH 7y agoI see the same thing with selfies on vacations - at Machu Picchu, the Scottish Highlands, Iceland, Florence - people spending the entirety of their visit to some tourist spot trying to get the perfect selfie, to the exclusion of nearly everything else. Yes, I also carry a camera and take a lot of photos, but I don't run off the tour bus or out of the car, in an effort to get a shot before anybody else gets there (various waterfalls in Iceland). Nor do I get verbally abusive when people wander into a shot, which I encountered repeatedly at Machu Picchu.
- stevehawk 7y agoTechnology has been great for this, for me. I no longer travel with a camera (aside from phone) or my drone on group vacations. Everyone already has one. So I just let them take all of their photos and after the trip ask for the iCloud or Drive share link or whatever. It's great.
- dgzl 7y agoA few weeks ago I went to see Haystack Rock off the Oregon coast and I just stood there in the tide looking at this giant rock sticking out the water, absorbing the salt water, brisk air and sounds of crashing waves. It was magical. Everyone else around me was only looking at their camera, I'm not sure what they absorbed.
- kbenson 7y ago> people spending the entirety of their visit to some tourist spot trying to get the perfect selfie, to the exclusion of nearly everything else. There is a sweet spot, since I'm at the far extreme other end of the spectrum, and have my own regrets. I don't take pictures. I just looked, and there's probably between 10 and 20 a month in my phone over the last few months, but the vast majority of those are for stuff I got or sent in an message from my wife or a family member, and a few I took to document my MPOE after new equipment was installed. I used to just say to people that I don't really see the point of pictures to remember something. Then I got a little older and realized that I have a crap memory for events, but unfortunately my ways are mostly set, and I'm just not the kind of person that thinks to take a picture (and I'll never post it on social media, that's for sure). The downside is that unless someone else is around to document it for me, there's not much visual evidence to remind my of past events or help me reminisce. I've missed it at times.
- kamfc 7y agoAV industry will never be the same.
- andreapmd 7y agoDJI nailed the ideal form factor for consumer drones (and maybe for quadcopters in general) when they came up with the original Mavic Pro. Since then they've been experimenting with incrementally smaller form factors to find a price and size where the truly average Joe will decide to get a drone to bring on his holidays, but I'm not sure that decreasing size will unlock a large number of new customers. On my personal wishlist for future drones are more sophisticated and precise physical controllers with better pressure gradients, and especially the ability to program flight routes to allow mixed human/automated controls – e.g. "Respond to flight controls normally, but when I press this button 1) increase altitude to 90m over the course of 15 seconds 2) rotate camera downwards by 30 degrees over 15 seconds 3) begin rotating aircraft left by 1 degree per second"
- choonway 7y agoDJI and iRobot may be the only companies to date who managed to produce pro/consumer robotic products sustainably.
- ulfw 7y agothe weight reduction is great. More battery runtime is great. The rest though? DJI had years to improve the Spark and instead they made it worse for photographers. No more panorama? Really? That was the only way to get a bit more resolution of of that tiny 12MP sensor. Frankly without it there is no point for me to own it. No DNG support. Of course. Yea so difficult to do. No 24fps for video folks. Sure...
- billions 7y agoI will not purchase another drone until I can pull it out of my back pocket and throw it in the air, have it automatically take some fantastic shots of my friends and land back in my hand.
- todipa 7y ago2019 - Mavic Mini --> 2020 - Mavic Micro --> 2021 - Mavic Nano --> ... ... ... --> 2049 - Mavic Atom --> 2100: Mavic Dark Matter
- MattieTK 7y agoSurely this is too lightweight to perform in windy conditions?
- throwawaycanada 7y agoGood bye drone laws!! 250g is the limit before you need a license in Canada!