DJI - Introducing Mavic Mini
The DJI Mavic Mini is a masterful balance of portability, price, image quality, and convenience. Its featherweight, foldable design means you can fly it without needing to register it first, and despite its size it still manages to offer remarkably stable video. The Mavic Mini doesn't have object tracking or object avoidance, and doesn't capture 4K video, topping out at 2.7K at 30fps; but it weighs no more than five golf balls, lasts a solid 30 minutes in the air, and could fit in a large jacket pocket if needed – which means this mighty, mini drone's pros soar way above its consThe DJI Mavic Mini is a perfectly timed masterstroke on DJI's part. It tackles drone law changes across the US and UK head-on, while also delivering great video quality in a premium, compact body.
Laws now state that drones weighing over 250g need to be registered with aviation authorities – the FAA in the US and Civil Aviation Authority in the UK – and before the Mavic Mini launched, there weren't any well-reviewed options in this featherweight category. Which means that, right now, DJI has secured itself a monopoly in the sub-250g premium drone market.
So unlike one of its main rivals, the Parrot Anafi, which captures 4K footage but is pricier, and weighs around 300g, the Mavic Mini doesn't need to be registered. The Mini also features three-axis mechanical stabilization (the Anafi has two – its 'third' axis is EIS), includes handy features like a hot-swappable microSD card slot, and promises better battery life than the Anafi, with a quoted flight time of 30 minutes.
The Mavic Mini isn't without some spec-shortcomings, however. Video capture caps out at 2.7K resolution with a frame rate of 30fps, which will leave some videographers who need 4K footage, or the option to slow things down at 2.7K, looking elsewhere. It also lacks the incredibly handy object avoidance smarts that its larger DJI siblings feature.
We've been testing the Mavic Mini for a few weeks – so does the reality live up to this lightweight quadcopter’s buzz, or is it missing too many premium Mavic features?
0 Comments