DJI Mini 4 Pro

https://www.dji.com/mini-4-pro

by Foivos • 3 years ago

406 436 3 years ago

stefan_• 3 years ago

Where is the US or EU competitor to DJI? They are running away with it. Oh right, we instead pioneered regulation and legislation, all those deaths from drones falling down and drones hitting planes.

asynchronous• 3 years ago

Really telling when all the drone deaths thus far have been from DJI drones being weaponized in the Ukraine-Russia war.

rad_gruchalski• 3 years ago

Furthermore, their drones comply with our registration.

ceejayoz5• 3 years ago

Do it before someone dies: "Regulation out of control!"

Do it after someone dies: "Why didn't you do anything?!"

It's not insane to get out in front of drone regulation; their numbers are likely to continue to increase. Lack of regulation certainly isn't DJI's advantage; they still have to comply with it to sell their product in a whole bunch of major markets. That's the exact reason this drone weighs 249 grams.

dopamean• 3 years ago

It's not insane to get out in front of drone regulation

Nor is it surprising. There are a lot of regulations around aviation (though perhaps not as many as there are in other places) and safety is the reason. Every flying object in the sky is sharing the space with commercial airliners, hobbyist pilots, logistics companies, government aircraft, etc. All of which share the same regulations or have specific ones depending on the industry. It makes sense that drones would be regulated as well.

yetanotherloser2• 3 years ago

Solution: stop saying "why didn't you do anything", righteously slap people who do.

Nition• 3 years ago

"Under" 249g. They never say how much it actually weighs, like they do for the larger model.

petsfed• 3 years ago

And anyway, I get the impression the real reason we went so hard on drone regulation was that it thought it'd be easier to make unlicensed drones illegal than it was to investigate every time somebody shot a drone out of the sky. That violations of the anti-anti-aircraft-artillery laws haven't risen commensurate with drone usage really speaks highly of the general populace (although there are a fair number of news stories surrounding incredibly dumb people shooting down drones)

CamperBob22• 3 years ago

I think there's plenty of room to criticize the degree of regulation, while accepting the need for baseline rules.

See the other reply upthread with respect to line of sight ("You're not allowed to use binoculars.") If true, that's stupid and unnecessary.

RandallBrown2• 3 years ago

GoPro tried and failed, but I don't think regulation and legislation were the reason.

ben77996• 3 years ago

GoPro has never had the hard core engineering culture/background to compete with a company like DJI.

GoPro started IIRC as a company that just branded cameras they ordered from overseas.

zeusk• 3 years ago

Anduril I guess? but they're exclusively focusing on the military applications.

What about zipline? There's also some other startups focusing more on use of drones rather than building drones from ground-up.

alsodumb• 3 years ago

US competitor to DJI in what? Consumer marker or technology?

If it's consumer marker where less cost matters a lot, there won't be a US competitor. DJI has home-turf, scale, and first mover advantage there, and a US competitor can maaybe match DJI in price.

In technology/autonomy? Skydio beat them years ago (https://www.skydio.com/). They launched as a consumer drone but I guess recently realized how consumer market in west isn't as profitable as enterprise/defense market so they shut down their consumer division. Skydio founders were pioneers in autonomous aerial vehicles, and it's not surprising they beat everyone else in autonomy. When they launched their first drone a few years ago, they were doing outdoor vision based autonomy for drone using on board compute only - it's an insanely hard problem, especially when you want to do in reliably in a product and not in a lab setting for nice videos. They did it and blew everyone away. DJI fan boys will say 'oh but DJI had autonomy too'. No they didn't, at best they had feedback based obstacle avoidance.

I often tell my friends, one of my biggest regret was not signing up for an internship at Skydio back in 2018. They came to UIUC for recruiting, and they didn't realize their product yet. Back then I was a dumb first year grad student, I didn't check the founders background, and naively thought it was yet another dumb drone company trying to get some VC money by pitching something they'd obviously fail it. I've never been so wrong.

bri3d4• 3 years ago

I guess recently realized how consumer market in west isn't as profitable as enterprise/defense market so they shut down their consumer division.

Subsidies and regulation played a major role here, although probably not the same kinds the parent post is whining about.

The US government and enterprise market requires drones which are compatible with US Federal requirements ("Blue UAS") as well as state-by-state bans on DJI drones. It's a lot easier to compete in a space where your primary competition is being made illegal.

brindlejim3• 3 years ago

Fwiw, Skydio is failing in Ukraine, where Russia's electronic warfare downs its drones. Their "vision-based autonomy" has severe limits, because GPS jamming can fell them.

palata27• 3 years ago

In technology/autonomy? Skydio beat them years ago (https://www.skydio.com/).

In technology, hell no.

Admittedly, Skydio had this pretty good VSLAM a few years ago. Still their drone was pretty useless in most use-cases where you would have taken a DJI. In many situations you don't really need more than "sense-and-avoid". Don't under-estimate DJI. The day VSLAM is important, they may have it much faster than you think.

It's a common mistake in the West to think that "we are better at technology than China". In the drone industry, we are years behind. And because of the technology, not because of the production cost.

I've never been so wrong.

Well they have been struggling like the rest of the Western drone industry, it's not exactly a serious competitor to DJI. I would say that back in the days, Parrot was more successful than Skydio ever was. Since then I would think that the Anafi competes with Skydio (again they don't have the Skydio VSLAM, but who most use-cases don't need that).

adolph• 3 years ago

It isn't clear to me that there is a reason for a US competitor to exist in the pro-sumer market. There are plenty of US firms selling their own parts/BNF kits for the hobbyist market and plenty doing commercial.

ipsum2• 3 years ago

You can replace DJI with any other consumer electronics manufacturer. It's hard to compete with China's vertical integration + cheaper labor. Skydio (Californian startup) used to manufacture consumer drones but recently exited that business to focus on enterprise, probably because of the higher margins.

Johanx64• 3 years ago

DJI is particularly hard to compete with, because it is a very reputable and highly sought after company to work for and thus gets the brightest Chinese engineers on top of everything else you mentioned

mschuster912• 3 years ago

There are numerous people and companies dealing with self-build kits, there is an active open source scene for literally everything around drones. There used to be an US-designed mass market drone, GoPro's Karma (which I happen to own and, somewhat regularly, fly), but well, GoPro suffered from financial issues back then, and couldn't afford competing with DJI.

mitthrowaway22• 3 years ago

I think it's less to do with regulation, and more to do with China acquiring most of the production capacity for the necessary components. Makes it easier to move quickly and iterate when the vendors are right there and speak your language.

0xDEF• 3 years ago

The moment DJI really took off from the competition is when they began using high-end cameras and optics.

DJI is a video camera company that happens to put the cameras on drones.

palata27• 3 years ago

Not what I saw at all. I saw them take off with their shitty camera on the Phantom 2 Vision+. They had really good consumer drones long before they started having really good cameras. Then they bought e.g. Hasselblad.

palata27• 3 years ago

Oh right, we instead pioneered regulation and legislation

To be honest, we were far, far behind DJI waaaaay before we started talking about regulation and legislation. And since then we have not really been catching up at all.

VerminOctopus12• 3 years ago

The US doesn’t have the engineering talent to pull off what DJI has.

htrp• 3 years ago

Take off whenever inspiration strikes. Weighing less than 249 g, Mini 4 Pro was designed for convenience on the go, [1] and the drone's weight means there's no need for training or examinations in most countries and regions.

Wasn't this loophole basically closed by the US FAA a couple years back?

ceejayoz5• 3 years ago

https://www.faa.gov/uas/getting_started/register_drone still says "except those that weigh 0.55 pounds or less (less than 250 grams)".

jstanley• 3 years ago

It's not a loophole, it's a deliberate exemption!

pkdpic• 3 years ago

Makes enough sense to me but curious why specifically? Are they quieter or less dangerous below that size / weight?

asadhaider• 3 years ago

UK and other countries have relaxed rules for drones under 250g, see here[0] as well as the FAA link.

[0] https://www.caa.co.uk/drones/rules-and-categories-of-drone-f...

Racing0461• 3 years ago

Yesterdays compromise is today's loophole.

htatche• 3 years ago

I got all excited thinking of the potential of keeping this at the bottom of someone's pack given it's low weight, until I remembered how much I despise people flying drones on top of my head whenever I'm out in the outdoors, looking for a peaceful place to connect with nature.

baz00• 3 years ago

Yeah this. In the middle of bloody nowhere in Central Asia completely off any beaten track and there was wanker with a drone buzzing around.

elxr• 3 years ago

Exactly how I feel. For me, I think the best use case for drones, if I were to get one someday, is for shooting sports/events where the prop noise would be drowned out by an already noisy environment.

Like motocross, or a basketball game, or a car meet.

There's no way I'm taking out a buzzy drone when out on a quiet hike or at a typical campground. Just kills the calmness.

macintosh-hd• 3 years ago

You’re not legally allowed to fly a drone over people without authorization.

josefresco• 3 years ago

This looks just like my Mavic Mini (similar weight/size) which is no longer in production. I do like how the new DJI drones have their own integrated controller/screen. One of the biggest pain points with my Mavic is using my phone.

xeromal2• 3 years ago

Yeah, my phone is too big to fit in the little holster so it's always haphazardly put together.

cush3• 3 years ago

Light drones are great, but how far away are we from quiet consumer drones? I'd love to not have every hike ruined by some wannabe videographer.

ben77996• 3 years ago

The mini is pretty damn quiet. At 50ft of altitude people don't hear it. AT 100ft of altitude people don't even see it.

I've flown one hundreds of times and other than other drone owners no one has ever said a thing or noticed. The drone owners notice and come over to talk drones.

4gotunameagain• 3 years ago

The others do not say a thing because they are polite probably :)

loeg• 3 years ago

I've been annoyed by drones lots of times and never talked to the operators. It's not because I didn't notice.

Foivos5• 3 years ago

I have noticed that it really depends on the wind direction. If the wind blows from the drone towards the people, you could hear it at 50 meters. Plus, when there is a lot of wind it makes much more noise in its struggle to fight it. Otherwise, unless it is directly next to you, you can hardly hear anything.

My biggest crowd are children and pets. They always seem to be amused by the drone.

photonbeam• 3 years ago

Lots of people avoid confrontation

andersrs3• 3 years ago

Of course! Only drone owners have working ears. Could it be that everyone notices but they just don't want to speak with some rude drone dude.

broguinn• 3 years ago

I had the same thought seeing the hero videos on this page displaying beautiful mountain scapes and vistas - I wouldn't want to be the person disturbing this space with an intrusive drone.

mk_stjames• 3 years ago

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks this.

I read over their product page and, like always, I'm absolutely amazed that these things exist now and can capture such amazing video and photography at their price point. I'd love to get one to use.

But I won't buy one, because every time I go out now to the beach or on a hike, I see people with things like these and I just cannot stand them. I hate the ridiculous noise, I hate the fact that these people are filming things in the middle of streets and sidewalks and trails and generally putting themselves in the center of everything and inconveniencing everyone else just to 'get their shot'. I hate the idea that I am potentially being filmed by some random kids with a high speed camera on the drone hovering out over the park bench I'm resting on.

And because I hate these things, I will not buy one, because I do not want to turn into the annoyances that I feel, no matter how cool the tech looks.

That... or... I'm secretly afraid that I'd buy it and not actually have anything cool to film and it'd sit in a closet and be another $800 paperweight device.

But let's go with not wanting to be an another annoying 'Main Character Syndrome' person and just be quiet and peaceful when out and about.

dylan6043• 3 years ago

screw the drone, anybody know what the motorized surfboard things are?

mschuster912• 3 years ago

A very few very selected nature parks with no-fly zones aside, most suffer more from GA with engine, cell, wing and prop designs literally dating back to 1955 (Cessna 172), than they'd ever from drones operated by responsible people.

snoman• 3 years ago

Are the hikers considered intrusive, or just the drones?

Vox_Leone2• 3 years ago

Others might say that drones are a sensible and respectful way to honor a beautiful landscape.

Mini 2's are quiet enough and much of the hostility against their use is rooted in prejudice and a little bit of hysteria.

mrtksn• 3 years ago

Should't be too far away, the commercial drones of Zipline are supposed to be super quiet. Here is video demonstrating the tech: https://youtu.be/DOWDNBu9DkU?si=_x9vSAygUSHq4ZQw&t=832

amelius3• 3 years ago

Even if they are 10x more quiet, then if there are 10 of these drones flying around we're back at square one.

dylan6043• 3 years ago

I'd love to have my photoshoot not ruined by some wannabe hiker.

it plays both ways

__MatrixMan__2• 3 years ago

Actually, we're authentic hikers. We're wannabe drone hunters.

cush3• 3 years ago

If you’re looking for somewhere outdoors without people may I suggest you not choose a hiking trail…

bunabhucan• 3 years ago

https://www.ll.mit.edu/sites/default/files/other/doc/2022-09...

q87b2• 3 years ago

At least then you know that you are being watched and recorded by some creep with a drone. It is disturbing how society tolerates these pretty-secret surveillance devices just because they can take videos that look like those documentaries on TV, yay...

pb7• 3 years ago

The interactive 3D model at the end is really sick.

nickthegreek• 3 years ago

$759 for those wondering.

SV_BubbleTime• 3 years ago

I was, thanks.

reustle• 3 years ago

And if anyone is curious about getting into the hobby, I just picked up my first drone for quite cheap.

The DJI Mini 2 SE is $339 at most stores.

MattRix• 3 years ago

The DJI Mini 3 is also pretty reasonable at $419

herbst2• 3 years ago

Got a used one for $200. Many people just have it collect dust at home :)

javchz• 3 years ago

As someone who is not familiar with drones, it's this a good bang for they buck deal?

system24• 3 years ago

For the tech you are getting yes. Phantom 4 was $1700 3 years ago. You get more tech in a very tiny package and especially at toy class which is under 250 grams. This it 249 so you can fly nearly everywhere as long as you don't bug people with it.

endisneigh2• 3 years ago

it would be neat to mount some sort of weather proof container on a tree with a solar panel that it could go into, so then it's like a bird. could imagine some shared spec and network of these so they can charge, lying in wait.

all22• 3 years ago

lying in wait

What are they waiting for?

endisneigh2• 3 years ago

to be activated by a user

vorpalhex• 3 years ago

Sounds like the setup for a Scifi novel.

"The drones lie in wait silently. The sun dips over the horizon. A lone IR led comes to life on the robots face. It is done waiting. It's prey is beckoning."

fragmede• 3 years ago

For the stationary cameras to sense persistent movement that wants another camera angle on it. Skydio's focusing on the security/surveillance market and sells docking stations like GP is thinking.

renewiltord• 3 years ago

Perhaps they could substitute for stationary security cameras. When incidents occur, you could track the target. Entertaining sci-fi.

anigbrowl• 3 years ago

Take a look at the Ukraine conflict to see the future of adversarial drone tech. Most of the public stuff is FPV but I think it's extremely likely that there's also semi- or fully-autonomous units flying too.

system24• 3 years ago

They have industrial models for that. It is so futuristic.

https://enterprise.dji.com/dock

palata27• 3 years ago

Then it can disturb the birds around. Doesn't sound that great to me, we are already pretty good at removing their trees.

ramenmeal• 3 years ago

Streaming 1080p/60fps up to 20km wirelessly is mind boggling to me. What kind of tech is used to make that happen? seems like it'd require a lot of power.

all22• 3 years ago

Transmitting long distances lives on a kind of spectrum. On the one end you have MOAR PWER and on the other end you have signals analysis and robust codecs (? I'm not sure "codec" is right. Maybe encoding? Can someone answer this?) that allow for lost information. The signals analysis will clean the incoming signal and the codec/encoding will allow for robust recreation of the captured data.

Most wireless transmission technology lives somewhere in-between the extremes of the above spectrum. Signals analysis is quite advanced and codecs/encodings are also quite advanced at this point.

SSLy• 3 years ago

I'm not sure "codec" is right. Maybe encoding?

Numerology

livueta• 3 years ago

My RF knowledge is hobbyist only but I think the word you're looking for is "modulation", e.g. LoRa is able to work over significant distances at low power because of its clever chirp spread spectrum modulation method.

GenerocUsername5• 3 years ago

First off, those numbers are a huge asterisk for perfect atmospheric conditions.

In reality you will see about a 2km max in relatively clear conditions, and as few as half a km in even normal suburban/urban conditions.

steve_adams_862• 3 years ago

This is my experience with the mini 3. It’s incredible for sure, but once some trees and/or structures are in the way, it falls apart in a hurry.

Foivos5• 3 years ago

Keep in mind that this only applies to the FCC regulations. In Europe (CE regulations) the claimed range is 10 km.

The mini 3 pro has a CE regulations claimed range of 8 km, but after 2.5 km I pretty much loose connection. If I turn the drone to face my direction, I might be able to fly it a bit further, but at this point it is so hard to control it, that there is no point.

Btw, according to regulations, you can not fly it without line of sight. So, in practice the "legal" range is a few hundrend meters. I have yet to see an observer with binoculars. :)

f3d46600-b66e• 3 years ago

You're not allowed to use binoculars.

SirMaster3• 3 years ago

Hmm, 2.5km?

I've flown the original DJI Mavic Pro to about 4-5km multiple times and never had any real issue with the video feed.

I'd be surprised if this much newer gen is worse.

blindriver2• 3 years ago

If I claim to see the drone even if it's very far away, can anyone dispute that?

CSDude2• 3 years ago

I had the original mini with at most 800m range in CE regulations in the middle of nowhere. Pretty dissappointing. I lost it to the sea anyways.

Aurornis• 3 years ago

The video quality degrades at longer distances. You can't get the full bandwidth at the maximum distance, but you might see enough to navigate.

Communicating with a drone up in the sky is easier than something like your WiFi or your cell phone because you have a nice, clear line of sight to the drone. Fly behind a hill, building, or some trees at distance and the drone will lose connection and go into safety mode.

The free space path loss at 20kM is 126dB at 2.4GHz in perfect conditions, or 134dB at 5.8GHz. If you start with the 1 Watt nominally allowed by regulations, that's +30dBm. Subtract 126dB and you're left with -96dBm. That's a weak signal, but it's actually close to the receive sensitivity of the WiFi card in your laptop, believe it or not. I would guess the DJI gear uses narrower channels than WiFi to achieve a better noise floor than the 20MHz (or wider) channels you get with WiFi.

The 20km figure is really an extreme upper limit. Realistically you'd probably need a high-gain antenna pointed in the direction of the drone to achieve it.

okdood643• 3 years ago

Cool stuff.

I suspect military communications uses wattage MUCH stronger than what's allowed by regulation in the battle space, correct?

palata27• 3 years ago

That's super interesting! Would you have resources to recommend to learn about that?

For instance: where do you get that "the free space path loss at 20kM is 126dB at 2.4GHz in perfect conditions, or 134dB at 5.8GHz"? And why does 1 Watt translate to +30dBm?

regularfry• 3 years ago

The channels can't be too narrow bandwidth and still fit any sort of 1080p video feed in them. If I'm remembering my signals courses right, raw 1080p at 60fps would need something like 6GHz, so even at 100:1 compression they'd still need 60MHz channels.

dji4321234• 3 years ago

DJI OcuSync is based on LTE: https://www.suasnews.com/2022/05/the-dji-p1-and-s1-fpv-chips... is an example of more information.

This is a major advantage DJI and other Chinese drone makers have over US based ones. Technically acquiring an SDR/DSP implemented LTE baseband is not a major difficulty. Getting Qualcomm to let you is quite a challenge.

Looking at FCC listings and product pages you can tell that DJI are also throwing power at the problem. The EIRP on DJI devices is very high. They go up to 33dBm (2W EIRP) on the most modern devices like the Mini 4 Pro.

gruez2• 3 years ago

DJI OcuSync is based on LTE: https://www.suasnews.com/2022/05/the-dji-p1-and-s1-fpv-chips... is an example of more information.

Is it using LTE bands? Or just LTE technology on non-licensed bands?

ben77996• 3 years ago

I've had the original Mini since it came out.

Other than damaging a prop from it hitting a blade of grass on landing it is in perfect shape. Yes, they are so fragile I landed very smoothly in the grass and soft grass is enough to damage the props!

I don't fly it as much as I used to. These new ones are certainly an engineering marvel with how much they have added and still kept it under 249g.

The big one to me though is the wind resistance. 10.7m/s is 23mph. The original specs 17mph. It is hard to say at which point it starts having trouble, but 23mph is a non-trivial improvement, it probably means 2x as many days you can actually fly.

Now the things that suck about DJI, and I wonder if they are actually at all improved with a new drone:

- Geofencing sometimes locks you out of legal flights, no way around that unless you can jailbreak

- Some legal flights require you going through an unlock process, and if the DJI web infrastructure is having a bad day you also get locked out of flying in a legal place

I would probably buy from another competitor, especially a US one, just over the unlock experience with DJI.

ShadowBanThis014• 3 years ago

Another gripe about DJI for video use is that they rip you off for a "license" to use CinemaDNG... which is an open, license-free codec.

andy_ppp• 3 years ago

Isn’t this because they have to pay Red for their ridiculous patent of compressed raw video?

ChrisMarshallNY5• 3 years ago

I have a friend that builds his own drones (and RC vehicles, like a really big, fast tank). He sneers at DJI, but keeps one to entertain the mensch (that's me).

He also sneers at licensing, jailbreaking, geofencing, etc.

I notice that there aren't any pictures that actually show people in close proximity to the drone. The "drone in hand" picture looks photoshopped, so I assume the drone is actually not-so-mini. I have a teeny-tiny drone, about half the size of a sparrow. It doesn't have cameras, though.

SparkyMcUnicorn• 3 years ago

The "drone in hand" picture looks photoshopped, so I assume the drone is actually not-so-mini.

Folded (without propellers): 148×94×64 mm (L×W×H)

Unfolded (with propellers): 298×373×101 mm (L×W×H)

coder5432• 3 years ago

The size of the drone is not some secret... you can search for the Mini 4 Pro on YouTube and find a bunch of hands-on reviews.

The DJI Mini drones are very compact. The DJI Air 3 is arguably the next level up in the lineup, and it weighs 3x as much and is noticeably larger. The "teeny-tiny drone" you're describing just doesn't sound comparable or particularly useful.

cultofmetatron• 3 years ago

would love to get an alternative but it doesn't seem like anyone else is getting anywhere near the flight times that dji has. all the non dji drones I've seen list 8 min while dji is saying 15-20 min.

ChrisMarshallNY5• 3 years ago

Hmm… it’s interesting, the reaction I got to this personal anecdote.

It is what it is. This chap exists, and I talk to him, almost every day. He has a great deal of enthusiasm, and does interesting work. I am sure his approach is quite common, in the HN crowd.

My friend is not your typical DJI customer, and his approach is no threat to them. People like him have always been around. It’s like people that mod cars. They don’t threaten the mainstream.

But the reaction seems to have been quite defensive.

roshin• 3 years ago

Do you have a recommendation of a drone with similar features that doesn't require jailbreaking?

mlindner2• 3 years ago

I've heard good things about Skydio.

bri3d4• 3 years ago

Autel drones tend to fall around a generation behind DJI's in terms of capability, and they don't have geofencing. Unfortunately, they are much more expensive like-for-like and if you are also concerned about China, they share the same China-problems.

There are no US or European drones that really come close, unfortunately. Parrot are 2-3+ generations behind DJI in terms of capability: wireless link, camera, and even basic flight stability are all quite a distance behind. Skydio had unique autonomy capabilities which were really cool but were a long way behind in controller capability, camera, and wireless tech and exited the consumer market.

Honestly, DJI no-fly zones in the US are not too onerous in my opinion - most of the places that are banned probably should be banned. I would recommend a DJI drone with a standalone remote (to avoid needing to install DJI apps on your phone). However, generally speaking in Europe their no fly zones are more restrictive and can be quite frustrating.

dreamcompiler• 3 years ago

I'd like to find a good competitor too, and not just because of the geofencing. DJI has been identified as a national security threat by the US DOD, essentially because there's no way to be sure that every second of GPS-tagged video shot by a DJI drone isn't going into a giant server farm owned by the Chinese intelligence service.

https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/270608...

MichaelApproved3• 3 years ago

there's no way to be sure that every second of GPS-tagged video shot by a DJI drone isn't going into a giant server farm owned by the Chinese intelligence service.

I checked your source and it didn’t back up this claim.

I’m not a networking specialist but isn’t it possible to detect if something is transmitting a massive amount of data (such as video) to an undetermined destination?

seems like this type of blatant data export would be easy to detect and subsequently ban the device doing it.

I’m just a simple software developer, so the network stuff can go over my head sometimes (heh), but the claim that such a large amount of data is being transmitted in a way that couldn’t be confirmed enough to ban the product seems dubious.

onethought• 3 years ago

That release is about using DJI drones in government and military installations. There is not a suggestion that DJI is being used to do wide spread civilian spying.

Meanwhile in the US...

abacadaba• 3 years ago

Also a national security threat because they're game changing weapons and they make the most and best of them.

baybal2• 3 years ago

identified as a national security threat by the US DOD, essentially because there's no way to be sure that every second of GPS-tagged video shot by a DJI drone isn't going into a giant server farm owned by the Chinese intelligence service.

There are far more obvious reasons for that. These drones are of enormous military value. By buying them, US consumers are funding an obvious foreign military hardware production. US money may well be funding production of drones which may once be used to correct artillery strikes on Los Angeles.

DJI are particular seem to work in concert with "military civilian fusion," and have hardware, and software to defeat both very serious jamming, and attempts to fry its radio with pulsed microwaves. Military jammers for 2.4g band seemingly have near 0 effect.

grecy4• 3 years ago

I've got the original Mini too, and I had never encountered this before until very recently when I tried to fly it in the US.

What happens if you turn off your cellular data (or are simply out of reception) ? Does it let you fly it anywhere then?

In Australia and the Canadian Arctic I basically never had reception, and it never cared once.

nhumrich• 3 years ago

I fly on a cell phone without a SIM card. Basically, if you haven't logged-in in the last 30 days, your flights are limited quite a lot. You can only fly so far (100ft?), and so high. I just make sure to log in and get all firmware/map updates over WiFi before I leave on trips and have been fine.

pedrovhb• 3 years ago

I had the original mini too. Really fun, but mine is RIP in the water under a waterfall ravine. It's hard to say whether it was a GPS bug, a gust of wind, or just my own fault, but as I was shooting a video next to some rock walls, it went towards the rocks and I couldn't get it back. After the first hit it tumbled and hit some vegetation, and then it went all the way down, no way to recover.

It's a good thing the new ones have collision avoidance, it could likely have saved mine back then. I'll someday get one of the newer ones, it was pretty fun and an impressive piece of engineering. Sometimes I think to myself "this would be a really great shot with the drone", or wish I had it to scout some terrain ahead when hiking or exploring. It's a pretty cool gadget!

ChatGTP• 3 years ago

My friend was flying his, lost it and asked it to fly back to him and it went absolutely full speed into a waterfall about 10 meters in front of us.

It was hard not to chuckle.

RIP.

GraceCat123• 3 years ago

Are there any good US competitors recommend?

nebula88045• 3 years ago

No because DJI, XPENG, BYD, and a ton of other Chinese companies have this 'move fast and break things' mentality X100 that most American firms don't have. They ran circles around GoPro and their attempts. Closest analog is Tesla/SpaceX but who knows if even those guys last long term when the guy running it is so easily distracted by nonsense (eg. Buying Twitter, starting yet another company, playing hours of Polytopia etc. )

palata27• 3 years ago

As a consumer, honestly, go for DJI.

A few years ago, assuming you had been willing to pay more for something worse but for ideological reasons (like you would buy a Fairphone, I totally get that), I would have adviced for an Anafi. But now the Anafi AI and Anafi USA are a lot more expensive, that's not for consumers anymore IMHO.

As a company, if you cannot go for DJI, then the alternatives to Mavic are Parrot Anafi and Skydio, I guess. For the bigger drones (like the Matrice series), honestly it's hard. Just be prepared to pay a lot more for a much worse product.

kaptainscarlet• 3 years ago

I think it's a good thing the props are fragile as the motor would be damaged if the props hit an object without absorbing the force of impact.

qup• 3 years ago

haha, check out freestyle fpv. you won't believe what the motors can survive.

bennyelv• 3 years ago

The big one to me though is the wind resistance. 10.7m/s is 23mph. The original specs 17mph. It is hard to say at which point it starts having trouble, but 23mph is a non-trivial improvement, it probably means 2x as many days you can actually fly.

That’s a huge one for me as well (also own a mini). I live near the sea and the number of days you can actually fly is surprisingly low. 23mph is still pretty low, but I understand the weight vs windspeed tradeoff.

theshrike79• 3 years ago

I think I paid 300€ for a Mini Fly More Combo slightly used (under 10 hours or flight time according to the drone).

It's a fun toy, but can't stand the wind at all, so it's a bit nerve wracking to fly it over open water if it's not completely calm :D

I really do want the Mini 4 Pro, but can't justify the 1000€+ price tag with the proper controller.

geon• 3 years ago

I have a race drone. It was fun to fly it through tall grass like a weed whacker.

The first few props were super brittle and shattered at the slightest botched landing. I also think they were poorly designed with no fillets, so the stresses would concentrate at the base of the blades and the plastic would crack.

A bought another couple of bags of props, and they were MUCH higher quality. Often I can just bend a blade back after a rough crash landing.

ShadowBanThis014• 3 years ago

Let's hope this thing is compatible with DJI's own goggles. They seem to be getting better about this, but for a while they released drones that weren't... a real disappointing WTF.

TheCaptain48152• 3 years ago

Was just telling my friend I was a bit surprised at how rapidly consumer drones advanced in the late 2010's and have slowed down ever since. Seems like a lot of these features haven't really improved all that much in the past 5 years.

Tepix3• 3 years ago

Most aspects have seen good improvements, in particular range, flight time and the camera. The Mini 4 Pro also has the 360° sensors that previously only were on the larger drones.

The Mini (2019) was a big step up compared to the Spark (2017) with merely a 2-axis gimbal and the Mini 2 (2020) brought very welcome range and camera improvements. I don't have first hand experience with anything more recent but it looks like both the range and the camera keep improving in those. The flight time, top speed and wind resistance are also increasing.

So i'm not sure what in particular you feel hasn't improved significantly.

TheCaptain48152• 3 years ago

True, I suppose I was referring to rate of change during those early years.

jms703• 3 years ago

Terrible website. So difficult to view.

system24• 3 years ago

DJI's website is literally one of the best out there, what do you mean?

bmurphy19762• 3 years ago

I have a Spark and a Mavic Air 2. I really love flying the Spark, it's a fun zippy little drone. I'd compare it to something like a Miata. The Mavic on the other hand is all serious, professional utility. It's more like a mini-van. It's a great tool but it's not even remotely fun to fly.

My biggest issue with my Spark is the 9 minute battery life. Even though I have 4 batteries, having to constantly land and swap the batteries is a real drag.

Does anybody have one of the older Minis? How do they compare to the Spark?

bittercynic2• 3 years ago

Original mini here, and I've flown a friend's spark. The mini flies about 30 minutes on a charge, and is much more compact when folded. The spark had more sophisticated collision avoidance than my mini. They seemed comparably zippy to me, but I never flew them back-to-back.

ben77996• 3 years ago

The original was more like 20-25 minutes.

Which at some point becomes boring. Like you usually don't have enough interesting things to do with the drone to stay engaged that long.

So something like a 45 minute flight is not going to make me buy a newer one, cause i don't have something interesting/important I need to do for that long.

Tepix3• 3 years ago

The Mini 2 has a battery range of close to 30 minutes. It's a big improvement over the Spark, in particular the 3-axis gimbal makes a big difference.

bmurphy19762• 3 years ago

But how does it handle? The spark is really agile. It doesn't go as fast as the bigger drones, but it accelerates and turns much quicker.

grecy4• 3 years ago

I have the original Mini, 20 minute flight time is common, I go over 30 when there is little to no wind.

I'll probably sell it if you're interested

c_o_n_v_e_x• 3 years ago

I can't find replacement batteries for the Spark. My spark went into cold storage during covid, during which time all the batteries irreparably self-discharged.

I'm hesitant to buy another DJI for the reasons above but I haven't seen any non DJI products that wow me. I guess it's a toss up between the FPV and the mini 4.

Sohcahtoa823• 3 years ago

I've been looking forward to the release of the Mini 4 Pro so I can hopefully get a Mini 3 Pro on the cheap.

I want something that can autonomously follow me on my mountain bike or follow my RC car as it goes over jumps for under $500.

Foivos5• 3 years ago

If you want the drone to autonomously track you, then the mini 4 pro is the only realistic choice since it has obstacle detection at all directions. The mini 3 pro does not have obstacle detection at the sides.

In a mountain bike scenario, the drone is mostly capturing you on the side and it is moving sideways itself. So, unless you want to fly it next to the sea, you want to have sideways obstacle detection. Or, just have a friend control it. :)

Sohcahtoa823• 3 years ago

My mountain biking is done at a mountain biking park with no trees on the tracks I ride. As long as it maintains at least 10 feet of altitude over me, there's no risk for it hitting something.

That said, I'm starting to lean towards spending the extra money to pick up the Mini 4 Pro, especially if Costco runs a good bundle deal. Like right now, they sell a Mini 3 Pro bundle for $839 that includes the drone and RC-N1 controller, 2 extra batteries, charging hub, and a 128 GB SD card. All that would be $1,063 if bought from DJI directly.

searchableguy• 3 years ago

Looking for the same. I remember skydio being a good option a couple years ago before their pivot to enterprise and military. Is there a DIY option with open source autopilot?

DJI doesn't sell their latest drones directly in India so out of options here.

grecy4• 3 years ago

I read the article and watched the video, I'm not sure that the Mini Pro 4 or 3 have true "follow me" ability.

I saw the Mini Pro 4 has "Active Track 360", but I think that is just going to fly a 360 around whatever you choose and follow it as it goes.

I have the OG mini, and it certainly can't just "follow me" as I ride my mountain bike wherever. It's purely a software limitation to offer segmentation for their more expensive drones

sroussey• 3 years ago

My mini 3 pro follows me… I’m not sure what you what you mean

Sohcahtoa823• 3 years ago

The Mini 3 does not have "follow me", but the Mini 3 Pro does.

I'm glad I caught that earlier, at one point the Mini 3 went on a good sale and I almost picked it up. Glad I didn't waste the money.

exar08152• 3 years ago

I've got the Mavic 3, and while it's an awesome piece of Hardware all around, I am royally fucking pissed about DJI retracting on their promise to release an SDK for them, which stops me from using litchi with it.

cheesemayo2• 3 years ago

Beware that DJI's software to control these craft is super sketchy to install and use. It doesn't exist in the Google Play Store, to avoid inspection.

hashtag-til2• 3 years ago

I don’t have any of these, but is the software some apk you download, and at that point can’t that be inspected?

spankalee2• 3 years ago

Who inspects APKs?

The Play Store has all kind of automated and manual processes to detect malware and vulnerabilities. It's why I don't enable side-loading on my phone.

cheesemayo2• 3 years ago

The APK is a thin shell that downloads even more code to execute, from the internet. So, what you download and inspect isn't what's executed, and what you execute now might be different in 5 minutes.

SirMaster3• 3 years ago

But yet it exists on the Apple App store where I am sure Apple has inspected it.

I guess the Android version could be a lot different, but why?

m463• 3 years ago

Why wouldn't apple let software just work as a proxy between the drone and dji?

You don't need camera access, location services, etc when the drone does all of it onboard.

I got a mavic early on and sent it back because you needed the app and an account to activate it and fly it, even manually.

andersrs3• 3 years ago

I'm not sure if you're joking. Apple's business depends on them bending the rules for China.

guax4• 3 years ago

iOS does not allow sideloading. Android does. That would be enough difference. You can still enforce app permissions on apps outside the store on Android, like location and cameras etc only when using the app and so on.

spankalee2• 3 years ago

Is this a new thing?

I had the original Mavic Mini and installed the DJI Fly App (v1.2.1 on my phone now) from the Play Store.

edit: here's the listing: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=dji.go.v5

Though it doesn't show up in search from the web.

edit 2: The Android download on their site is definitely an APK and not a Play Store link: https://www.dji.com/downloads/djiapp/dji-fly

Why in the world would they need to do this?

Saris• 3 years ago

Even their play store app downloads a bundle of files to run after you launch it for the first time, which is against Google ToS.

bri3d4• 3 years ago

One easy (albeit a little costly) solution here is to use the DJI Android-tablet remote (DJI RC / RC 2).

muro• 3 years ago

If you use their controller, you no longer need the app on a phone (e.g. to fly in restricted locations)? That would be nice.

Vox_Leone2• 3 years ago

>It doesn't exist in the Google Play Store, to avoid inspection.

I think the real issue is more complicated than that, but, whatever.

I use their software only for administrative tasks - updates, etc. For routine use I would recommend something like Litchi.

flutas2• 3 years ago

Fwiw, Litchi is based on their SDK, so you're not really avoiding their software by using it.

smartbit• 3 years ago

https://flylitchi.com/help is only available for older models, not for the Mini 3/4 models.

brindlejim3• 3 years ago

DJI is fully compliant with China's policy of civil-military fusion. Anyone flying anywhere sensitive should not use them. They're beaming back home whatever they want, and China is using both tech and data to give an asymmetric advantage to allies like Russia in the Ukraine war.

snypher• 3 years ago

They're beaming back home whatever they want

This claim is always thrown out like a life preserver without ever anything to back it up. Do you have anything to support this claim?

firen777• 3 years ago

How do Ukrainian operators avoid exposing their own positions? Do they install custom firmware on their drone?

WendyTheWillow4• 3 years ago

Good luck using my backyard data to fight in Ukraine…

severus_snape2• 3 years ago

Both fronts use DJI drones[0][1], although DJI suspended its activities in both Russia and Ukraine as of April 26, 2022[2] and contractually forbids[3] any sales by dealers to either country and for combat use.

However, other actors are entering the war business, like Parrot[4].

[0] https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NtgseODXGSAomx6G5Efw...

[1] https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/02/16/ukraine-russia-war-dron...

[2] https://www.dji.com/uk/newsroom/news/dji-statement-on-sales-...

[3] https://www.dji.com/newsroom/news/dji-statement-on-dji-relat...

[4] https://www.lesechos.fr/weekend/high-tech-auto/henry-seydoux...

JasserInicide• 3 years ago

Not surprising from a Chinese company

dukeofdoom• 3 years ago

I downloaded the apk file and installed it, but for some reason I can't fly app to work on the S20. It just says can't connect to controller.

gruez2• 3 years ago

It doesn't exist in the Google Play Store, to avoid inspection.

I thought that was because the company was sanctioned by the US, and therefore google can't work with them?

nickphx3• 3 years ago

investment exclusion list. DJI is not a publicly-traded company.

nickphx3• 3 years ago

Huh, they used to exist.. It's almost as if some OS SDK changed that restricted what hardware could do.. weird.

nickphx3• 3 years ago

also, the software will run fine w/o internet...

sschueller• 3 years ago

Honestly if I was as large as DJI I would avoid publishing in the play (and Apple app if it were possible) store as well and save the wasted time of the constant pointless review rejections.

ChrisMarshallNY5• 3 years ago

The product they make, that I think is a lot cooler than their drones (but probably was inspired by them), is their Osmo Pocket minicam[0].

[0] https://store.dji.com/product/pocket-2?vid=98631

coder5432• 3 years ago

The Pocket 3 has been rumored to be coming out any day for like a year now... the camera tech in the Pocket 2 is just not that great anymore, even if the gimbal is fine. I want to see what kind of improvements DJI has made over the last 3 years.

whyenot• 3 years ago

It seems like the Osmo Pocket line has stagnated a bit. I bought a Pocket 2 in the summer of 2021, and more than two years later, it still is the current model. That's a shame because while it's a good idea, the camera has some problems. Video quality is not great, especially in low light. It does not work well for creating vertical format (TikTok-style) videos. The screen on the camera is smaller than a postage stamp and is pretty much unusable -- you really need to pair the camera with your phone. ...which then leads to the question, why not just use DJI's excellent Osmo Mobile gimble and record footage using the much better camera that your phone has.

prawn• 3 years ago

I have a Pocket and used it a few times but it's sat idle for a while now. For general casual filming, the workflow on a good phone is better. For anything the phone won't do well enough, use a proper camera.

Main remaining use of the Pocket is having rotating timelapses. That's the only reason I still pack it, and even then only use it on 1/10 trips.

willio58• 3 years ago

Whoever developed this website was probably told "We want it to look like Apple.com" and didn't veer one inch from that request. Not to say it looks bad, but it does feel unoriginal to me.

hatthew• 3 years ago

DJI is absolutely the Apple of the drone world

tambourine_man• 3 years ago

I came here and hit command-f "Apple" to see if others had the same opinion.

dotancohen2• 3 years ago

Funny, I hit /apple for the same reason.

system24• 3 years ago

It might look like Apple but their product demo in pages are extremely well thought. Especially video intros blending with mid-page areas. I am always excited to see their new product pages because they are one-upping every time they release a new one.

brentm• 3 years ago

I always look at these and think I want one but also can't think of what i'd actually use it for. I just picture it sitting in a closet next to my GoPro and Oculus after about 3 days of messing around.

Anyone own one? What do you use it for?

GenerocUsername5• 3 years ago

I've had a Mini V1 since 2020 and here are my uses:

* Fun Flights * Aerial photography of yard projects * Towing fishing lures way beyond furthest castable distance * Fireworks videos * Hiking Scouting * Surveillance drone ( Caught some motorbikers trespassing on property and tracked them back to house ) * Firewatch * Pester folks safely from patio

eweise2• 3 years ago

How do you drop the lure?

prmoustache3• 3 years ago

I am pretty sure you broke some laws in the process.

nxobject• 3 years ago

Agriculture, perhaps? I always imagine that these things are for people with lots of their own real estate to take care of.

ben77996• 3 years ago

The trick is you have to find a way to take it places that satisfy:

- It's OK to fly there and you're not going to annoy anyone

- You can get some interesting photos.

Having previously flow R/C airplanes and aircraft drones like DJI makes are not actually that entertaining to fly, they are too easy and not that engaging.

So it's all about the photos. You'll see new people flying at a park or something, but after a while you're basically thinking the park is not a very interesting thing to take pictures of.

bittercynic2• 3 years ago

Fellow R/C pilot and DJI operator here, and I very much agree. On the surface it may appear to be similar, but R/C flying and drone operation are two completely separate hobbies. One may prepare you a bit for the other, but they are fun for different reasons, and mostly separate skills to develop.

burnte2• 3 years ago

Having previously flow R/C airplanes and aircraft drones like DJI makes are not actually that entertaining to fly, they are too easy and not that engaging.

This is very much an opinion. I have way more fun with my Air 2 than with any RC plane I've had.

steve_adams_862• 3 years ago

I use a mini 3 with my son. He likes to edit together footage and make little movies, I like to explore new areas. It’s tough if you can’t go to relatively private areas; it’s not cool to annoy people with these things. We typically get it high enough not to hear it as quickly as possible in case anyone is around, which can be a bit limiting.

Even so, it’s incredible to get so much perspective. I’ve learned so much about the places we visit from the aerial footage. The videos my son makes are pretty cool, too. Overall I wouldn’t expect one to be life changingly awesome, but I’m glad we got it.

xeromal2• 3 years ago

I've used it to inspect fence holes in my property, to show some technical maneuvering while 4x4ing, showing my family camping spots I stayed in, etc. It's a cool way to gather scenery.

Baeocystin• 3 years ago

I bought a Mini 2 about two years ago while arguing with my insurance about storm damage and roof repairs. Close up, high quality, multi-angle stills and video made it a lot harder for them to argue that their inspectors had done a good job. Their inspectors had, in fact, done a shit job, but it was my word against theirs until I had video proof of my claims. Paid for itself many times over.

c7DJTLrn• 3 years ago

I always look at these and think I want one but also can't think of what i'd actually use it for.

Because they're tools for filming. I don't think people need to buy these as a toy.

Eji1700• 3 years ago

I really wish the tiny whoop scene would take off more to lower the barrier to entry.

It's for extremely small drones (65-85mm from diagonal motor posts) which are great for flying indoors or in small areas.

The main issues being:

1. It's still very much a "hobby" hobby. You can get some ready to fly kits, but even then it can wind up more technical than you expect.

2. They're spec'd for the niche market, meaning quite powerful and very short fly times, which is a shame. One of my favorite drones is the Potensic A 20. A durdly little thing that can fly easily for 10 minutes on brushed motors, but it's not really built to last (or god forbid crash). I'd KILL for a "A20+" which is just low power brushed motors and nicer controls. It's on my todo list to see if i can cobble something together whenever I have real life time again.

To be clear, it's still pretty easy to get into. I have the beta cestus as a decent rtf kit, although beta has some battery connectors that sorta lock you in (they are supposedly better than others though and you can convert things...but there's the hobby part again), and there's been other half decent ready to fly kits over the years.

quailfarmer2• 3 years ago

I recently got a BetaFPV Cetus X Pro. I was considering a DJI Mini, but FPV seemed like a lot more fun than the well-engineered computer controlled flight. And the vehicle costs much less to crash and destroy.

palata27• 3 years ago

I feel the same about the SteamDeck. It's really cool, and I kind of wish I had a use for one. But I don't really play games, so...

If you never really cared about RC planes and don't do photography/videography fairly seriously, I guess you won't suddenly find a new passion in drones.

yakshaving_jgt2• 3 years ago

I have a Mini 3 Pro, and I’m quite happy with some of the videos I’ve made with it.

Here’s my latest video:

https://vimeo.com/860800214

And a couple more that I’m happy with:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CsMqtYXICju/?igshid=MWZjMTM2O...

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Crss_afoG0a/?igshid=MWZjMTM2O...

miguelxt• 3 years ago

Those are very nice shots, but... did you considered the local laws before flying them in city centers? From where I am (Spain) it's a big no no to fly one over any even sparsely populated area. It's forbidden (AKA requiring lots of permits) even if you are not flying over people (like in the Thames) or the drone is less than 250g.

prmoustache3• 3 years ago

Most owners buy one then realize: - they can't legally use them wherever they want them and there are finally very little areas you can really use them - they can't use them in FPV mode or without seeing the drone.

Then decide if they want to break or follow the law. Most people not wanting to break the law will let the drone collect dust after a handful of use, those that break the law will eventually lost it at some point or get bored.

I think the only people who really keep using them are travel vloggers and they have sometimes issues at border control and usually need to ask permissions and pay taxes to be able to fly and record stuff near a particular place. Usually they only get permission because they are well known and would boost tourism.

jpgvm• 3 years ago

I'm building a house, I'm planning to buy one to video the process periodically to create a really long time lapse of the build.

I am not yet sure if this one has the appropriate way-point features, I think I am going to go with the Air 3 despite the higher price tag because it's more robust and I need a license to operate a drone for this purpose anyway in my jurisdiction (Thailand).

timeon• 3 years ago

Yeah videos on the page look stunning but visiting those locations would be enough for me.

On the other hand I can imagine using drone with Lidar mapping (on private property).

Eumenes• 3 years ago

Same and everytime I see someone using one, its generally hiking or in a nature area, and its really annoying

yread• 3 years ago

I got a 20eur knock off to check whether the gutters are full of leaves without getting the ladder. It kinda works.

The roof is at the 3rd floor and the ground is a bit uneven there so it's not just that I'm lazy ok?

herbst2• 3 years ago

Got a used mini 2 a few months ago and know what you mean. Thing is for the $200 I paid it's ok. I likely would feel bad with a $1000 machine.

It's picture quality is amazing and it's fun to check caves in the mountains and possible paths before going them. Also more advanced travel selfies are fun.

I don't use it when many people are around, so that would highly limit it in some places for me.

oytis• 3 years ago

Having spent the last two years reading news about Russian-Ukrainian war it's pretty refreshing to see how many people still associate DJI drones with peaceful life and entertainment. And seeing a drone flying in the mountains my first thought was about Karabakh.

palata27• 3 years ago

Genuine question: what kind of smartphone do you think the soldiers use? Do you associate Android/iOS to war? Pretty sure terrorists use Android/iOS, too.

H8crilA2• 3 years ago

Soldiers typically use tablets, to have larger screens. With Google Meet or Discord for real time streaming to battalion/brigade command.

_boffin_• 3 years ago

Dammit! and i just purchased the Mini Pro 3 a few months back... i mean, i love it, but this is awesome too!

ZunarJ5• 3 years ago

Anyone see pricing?

TylerE• 3 years ago

$750 or so

yieldcrv• 3 years ago

battery life good

everything else idk

might make drone LED shows easier though, those are probably a bigger use case than the one off drone enthusiast

ricardobeat2• 3 years ago

LED shows use custom built drones, not commercial/recreational ones. You can’t program these, and you can build similar hardware for 1/5th of the cost.

topherjaynes• 3 years ago

Waiting for DC Rainmaker review before clicking buy!

ryukoposting• 3 years ago

I have an Osmo action camera. Good camera and solid UX, but it forces you to make an account, install an app, and pair with your phone, only to lead you to an app that doesn't seem to do much of anything useful. A mountain of dark patterns, and a huge turn-off that will prevent me from buying another DJI product.

exodust• 3 years ago

The account activation requirement sucks. It's of no benefit to users. Other companies have copied, such as the Insta360 products like their new gimbal. Fortunately I found a better gimbal without that requirement, the Hohem iSteady MT2, which does not come "pre-bricked" demanding account sign-up.

H8crilA2• 3 years ago

Omg, finally, waypoints in an entry level drone! Shooting smooth footage by hand is hard, especially if you're planning to speed it up in editing. The camera improvements look nice too.

TruthWillHurt• 3 years ago

But how many grenades can it carry?

VerminOctopus12• 3 years ago

Zero?

sashk0• 3 years ago

that's nice! but can it drop F1 grenades?

crest• 3 years ago

How many mm of rolled homogeneous steel does it penetrate?

sacnoradhq2• 3 years ago

Reactive armor would just shrug it off.

sacnoradhq2• 3 years ago

So with all this talk over banning TikTok violating the 1st a. rights of Americans using Orwellian, authoritarian tactics critics are decrying, you'd think DJI and sketchy cloud-based webcams would be banned first over more obvious capabilities.

fareesh• 3 years ago

I have DJI drone. It's very easy to fly, however there are all sorts of restrictions that exist in the software which are not in sync with local laws (which may be more liberal than what the software thinks), so your only option is to use sketchy means to actually use the drone.

eenchev• 3 years ago

In Europe, it is limited to a flight height of 120m

ricardobeat2• 3 years ago

That’s enough for photographing an entire small city from above. Though in the Netherlands for example the normal limit is 50m.

There is no way you can keep visual contact at this distance, especially for a tiny drone like this, and you’re getting relatively close to air traffic in some places. Europe is quite dense. Makes sense that going further requires a license / flight plan.

CSDude2• 3 years ago

I had the original Mini and it drifted away to the sea. I launched it from my home which was already in a steep location. RIP I'll never buy a light drone again.

bluetidepro• 3 years ago

Slightly off topic but it's wild how their online store is almost a direct rip-off of Apple's store. Has this been discussed before?

burnte2• 3 years ago

LOTS of webstores look just like that.

DJI Mini 4 Pro

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