Beginner's drone - used options

[Gad-Westy]

I quite fancy dipping my toe in the world of drones. Mainly for stills but I'm interested in messing around with the video stuff too. Maybe a bit of car tracking etc.

I'm not sure how much use I'll get out of one and I am a more than a little concerned about not crashing it! And I want to minimise any license requirements.

This has lead me towards the DJI mini options. Secondhand as I might just decide it's not for me and move it on again. For the same reason, I want to keep the budget as low as practical to get something suitable. Thinking somewhere in the £250-500 sort of ball park. Sub 250g to minimise on paperwork. I believe I'd just need to register it?

I have to admit I'm a bit baffled by the DJI range but I think the sub 250g offerings are:

Mini
Mini 2
Mini 3
Mini 4
Mini Pro 3
Mini Pro 4

Looks like I'd want a 'fly more' kit with any of those options. That might rule the pro ones out but having some a little reading trying to understand the difference it seems those to might be more idiot proof that the others which might have persuaded me to the up the budget.

But I guess really, I could do with someone just telling me where I should point the credit card and why as my head is frazzled by it!

[joropug]

I had a mini 2 and upgrades to a mini pro 4.

Correct you want the fly more kit you'll often waste a battery trying to work out what shots you want.

I have 3 batteries and take a decent fast anker power bank out with me which can charge them up really quickly after use.

Mini pro 4 is superior obviously but a lot more. I use portrait mode a lot on the pro 4 which isn't on the mini 2, for posting to social media this is great as most people view in portrait.

Crash sensors allow for advanced tracking , can follow a car easily and spin around it etc without touching the controller.

I crashed my mini 2 a few times into branches and even a building whoops.... pro 4 I had auto following me on a bike between trees the other day! Miles better if you see yourself using it.

Mini 2 fly more for sub £250 will do a great job though and you can probably sell it easily after if you upgrade

[Freakuk]

Gad-Westy said:

I quite fancy dipping my toe in the world of drones. Mainly for stills but I'm interested in messing around with the video stuff too. Maybe a bit of car tracking etc.

I'm not sure how much use I'll get out of one and I am a more than a little concerned about not crashing it! And I want to minimise any license requirements.

This has lead me towards the DJI mini options. Secondhand as I might just decide it's not for me and move it on again. For the same reason, I want to keep the budget as low as practical to get something suitable. Thinking somewhere in the £250-500 sort of ball park. Sub 250g to minimise on paperwork. I believe I'd just need to register it?

I have to admit I'm a bit baffled by the DJI range but I think the sub 250g offerings are:

Mini
Mini 2
Mini 3
Mini 4
Mini Pro 3
Mini Pro 4

Looks like I'd want a 'fly more' kit with any of those options. That might rule the pro ones out but having some a little reading trying to understand the difference it seems those to might be more idiot proof that the others which might have persuaded me to the up the budget.

But I guess really, I could do with someone just telling me where I should point the credit card and why as my head is frazzled by it!

I can probably help with some of your questions.

Pro models will probably have better sensors and a few more bells & whistles, i.e. proximity sensors, range etc and would certainly be where I'd be spending my money.

As such I have a MP3 and I'll be honest I barely use it other than holidays and maybe a few days out here and there, so you'll probably be in the same boat as me in usage after the initial new toy syndrome has worn off.

Flymore kit gives you a controller with screen (and more importantly range), plus a 2nd battery and charging dock, batteries probably last 20-25 mins on later drones, you have to give yourself enough time to fly back and land in that time also. It's always good to have lots of batteries, they're not cheap though.

Also, you will need decent/fast SD cards, not sure what the max size is, you would need to check on DJI's site, but it may be prudent to have several smaller ones than 1 huge one.

The MP3 has front/rear collision/proximity sensors only, the MP4 had left/right also, but to be honest if you are in wide open spaces you don't need this functionality. I don't think the non-pro version have this, or some certainly won't.

Tracking should be available on all of your list (I think), but they'll only track up to around 30mph and again, this is where the collision sensors may be useful.

Keeping under 250g you just need to register annually with the CAA.

Probably worth trawling YT and looking at reviews for the above and see what suits your use cases.

[littleredrooster]

Before buying, do what I *didn't* and have a look here and see if you can fly locally.

I bought a Mini 2SE and then found that I was inside - and pretty much surrounded by - No-Fly zones. Couldn't even do a test flight from a local field! I've had it over a year and it's still in its box!

From your previous posts, I guess you live further North than me (Thirsk), so may be clear of the airfields, but close to large areas of No-Fly in the North Pennines. Lots of the pretty bits around Teesdale and the Durham moors are verboten.

[Gad-Westy]

Thanks folks. Been doing a bit of reading up on these options this afternoon and have very much taken the advice above on board too. I think, being sensible a good entry point seems to be the Mini 2. I hadn't picked up that there were also some SE models to chuck in the mix but seems that they don't offer raw photos options so have ruled those out. The Mini 2 seems to do enough for me to see how I get on without any major limitations. That said, if a Mini 3 happens to pop up at a good price, the portrait mode for photos could be handy. Not a deal breaker.

littleredrooster said:

Before buying, do what I *didn't* and have a look here and see if you can fly locally.

I bought a Mini 2SE and then found that I was inside - and pretty much surrounded by - No-Fly zones. Couldn't even do a test flight from a local field! I've had it over a year and it's still in its box!

From your previous posts, I guess you live further North than me (Thirsk), so may be clear of the airfields, but close to large areas of No-Fly in the North Pennines. Lots of the pretty bits around Teesdale and the Durham moors are verboten.

Thanks for this. Handy site. Yeah, you're in the right area. Weardale/Teesdale etc. Funnily enough where I live is also right on the edge of a no fly zone. Looks like I could fly in the back garden but not the front! And as you say, some local roads that might have made interesting filming locations are off limits. Not the end of the world for me but well worth knowing about. Asking this for a friend of course, but do the drones still fly in these areas or do they know where they can and can't go? i.e. can you physically fly them where you shouldn't? I'm partly curious as a couple of years ago, my friend flew his Mavic something or other around here without issue and we were both oblivious to the restricted flying area.