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Buy Mavic Mini from China, US or UK?

Spinball

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Hello folks,
I'm in the UK. I want to get a Mavic Mini to record us in an American holiday next year.
I could buy the Fly More combo from the UK, but it's £75 cheaper if you buy it in America ($499). So buying it when arriving in the US is an option.

However, my Chinese friend is going to China next week and they have previously been able to pick up a Huawei phone for 35% cheaper for me.
So should I ask my friend to pick up a Chinese one if it's significantly cheaper than $499 (3,500 CNY)?
Do you anticipate any issues?

If purchased either from the US or China, it will be FCC rather than CE, but does that really matter if flying in the UK?

Thanks
 
Technically it’s illegal to use FCC transmitters in the UK. But, that wouldn’t be your biggest problem.
If you buy one from outside of the EU, then firstly your consumer rights won’t apply. Also, if anything goes wrong DJI don’t have to honour the warranty as the unit would be classed as a grey import

 
Technically it’s illegal to use FCC transmitters in the UK. But, that wouldn’t be your biggest problem.
If you buy one from outside of the EU, then firstly your consumer rights won’t apply. Also, if anything goes wrong DJI don’t have to honour the warranty as the unit would be classed as a grey import

Thanks for the reply. Not worried about either of those issues.
It's so cheap, and so much cheaper in China, that it's worth a punt. And in the relatively unlikely event that it breaks (or I break it) and I can be bothered to fix it, I will ship it to my Chinese girlfriend's family who can then send it off for repair and ship it back to me fixed.
I have an original Mavic which I haven't had a need to fly with for over 18 months, and I can't fly that in our upcoming US holiday, whereas the Mavic Mini will be ideal for recording us. I probably won't fly it again until the next foreign holiday.
Any other reason not to save (actually) £90 by purchasing in China? (By the way a 128gig Sandisk card from DJI China is only £15).
 
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I bought the US drone. Live in India. I got a decent range in the US, but the main purpose of this is for my EU vacations. Learnt now, that the in the EU the US version will be limited to 500m, as it does not have the 2.4ghz band, only the 5.8 which will be limited outside the US.
 
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By GPS + Firmware programming.
Turn on subtitles and translation to English. You have some watching to do

But there is also a workaround found by the same Italian pilot and shared also on YouTube. I've posted it yesterday below:
 
I had it create an English translation but didn't watch it all because I didn't understand what the numbers meant.
It's kind of academic because my friend's friend bought a Chinese Mavic Fly More Combo as a gift, so that's the one we're using when we visit America.
Range is not important particularly as I don't anticipate flying it very far either in the UK or abroad.
 
Ok, so to give you some rough numbers.
- If you are in US.. it has a range of about 4000m.
- If you are in China.. it has a range of about 2500m.
- If you are in UK it will have a range of about 500-700m.

I am talking about the same aircraft that is auto changing/adjusting the settings based on where you power it on and the GPS position it determines. This is hard coded in the firmware of the Mini.
 
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Ok, so to give you some rough numbers.
- If you are in US.. it has a range of about 4000m.
- If you are in China.. it has a range of about 2500m.
- If you are in UK it will have a range of about 500-700m.

I am talking about the same aircraft that is auto changing/adjusting the settings based on where you power it on and the GPS position it determines. This is hard coded in the firmware of the Mini.
Very interesting. I guess we will have to go on holiday in the US most. Thumbswayup
 
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Thanks for the reply. Not worried about either of those issues.
It's so cheap, and so much cheaper in China, that it's worth a punt. And in the relatively unlikely event that it breaks (or I break it) and I can be bothered to fix it, I will ship it to my Chinese girlfriend's family who can then send it off for repair and ship it back to me fixed.
I have an original Mavic which I haven't had a need to fly with for over 18 months, and I can't fly that in our upcoming US holiday, whereas the Mavic Mini will be ideal for recording us. I probably won't fly it again until the next foreign holiday.
Any other reason not to save (actually) £90 by purchasing in China? (By the way a 128gig Sandisk card from DJI China is only £15).
Where were you planning on buying it from in China? Is it available online? How much was it?
 
Where were you planning on buying it from in China? Is it available online? How much was it?
My friend arranged her Chinese resident friend to pick one up from a local shop and it was exchanged in person. It was roughly the price I quoted here. I.e. much cheaper than in the UK. And I got the 128gig SD card too.
No idea where it’s available online, sorry.
I flew it a bit in the UK to get used to it (it’s twitchy compared to my first generation Mavic Pro) and then used it as intended in America during our March roadtrip (which was terminated early because of Coronavirus).
 
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