DJI Mavic, Air and Mini Drones
Friendly, Helpful & Knowledgeable Community
Join Us Now

Buying , or not buying ?. That is the question.

Not just buying, bought and sitting on my kitchen table. It’s been a good year for consulting so Uncle Sam and the great Commonwealth of Virginia will be kicking in a third of the cost , after taxes. My current drone has served admirably on several occasions but is the original mini, so I’m getting a pretty substantial increase in capabilities.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 3rdof5
I just got the mini3 pro in August and as much as I like the improvements made in the MP4, I don’t see it making sense for me to upgrade. I would lose too much. Also I am considering getting the Goggles2 and hand controller. Maybe maybe not.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jam0ne and 3rdof5
I just got the mini3 pro in August and as much as I like the improvements made in the MP4, I don’t see it making sense for me to upgrade. I would lose too much. Also I am considering getting the Goggles2 and hand controller. Maybe maybe not.
Get the Goggles 2 ;)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Dustydoug
Bought my Mini 3 Pro in July. Not sure I favour throwing away half of its value and fronting up another £1000 to get the Min4p. The only compelling argument for me to upgrade is the waypoint. But not worth upgrading just for that. The best reason not to buy the Mini 4 Pro is the lack of RC2 controller compatibility. It only works with the Mini 4 Pro and Air 3. The RC Pro does not work with the Min4p.
 
Started with a Mini first version some time ago, and then sold it and bought me the Mini 2, which I still own and still love!
Besides that I have a M2Pro with smart controller. I have a lot of accessories for both drone and for the moment I can do all the things I want to do with a drone. That is why I am not considering buying me the Mini 4 Pro. It was never my intention to sponsor DJI buying a new drone every time they put a new model on the market ;)
 
I have a M3P and just bought the M4P because of the waypoints, better transmission signal (apparently, haven't had a chance to fly it yet), HDR in 4K60, 4K100 recording, slightly better camera sensor processing/dynamic range, landing light, nice new active track features, side obstacle detection, potentially better RTH, and faster RC2 processor. For my use cases, the waypoints feature is going to be awesome.

I was originally going to get the Air 3 but I was waffling because it was mainly the 70mm, more powerful motors, O4 transmission, and waypoints that I was interested in but the main lens didn't seem to be a huge upgrade over the Mini 3 Pro. Plus the Mavic 3 Pro has that really nice Hasselblad lens with adjustable aperture and super tele lens. When I heard about the M4P's new features, I figured it'd be a nice stop gap (to get me the waypoints features & O4) and I'd just wait until the next Air revision or new Mavic 4. I figure I can recover some of the expense by selling my M3P.

Just got the M4P yesterday and charging it up. Is it the upgrade of the century? No! M3P was/is awesome and it does suck that DJI changed the lens cover mounting ever-so-slightly so that none of my Freewell filters fit. Ugh. But overall, it's still a decent upgrade.
 
Selling my Mini 3 Pro and already have the Mini 4 Pro. For me I *really* wanted native waypoint capability and having omnidirectional obstacle avoidance likely gives me the courage to fly closer to things than I did in the past opening up new shooting opportunities.
 
What is your reason for "YES buying" a Mini4 ?
(and what are you doing with your "old" drone?)

What is your reason for "NOT buying" a Mini4?
To buy:
-autonomous waypoints
-precision landing
-landing light

To not buy:
-Annoyance that the features I want are just software updates that my Mini 3 Pro should be able to do and that it took this long for DJI to catch up with my 5 year old Parrot Anafi.
-Reluctance to deal with selling my drone only a year after I bought it

If there were a low hassle way to trade in or upgrade my Mini 3 Pro with $200-$300 added in, I would do it. Dealing with all the "personalities" that appear while trying to sell on Craigslist is an adventure I do not look forward to. ("No, I don't want to trade you for gold coins/farm equipment/broken toys.", "No, I won't wait for you again if you didn't show up the first time.")
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jam0ne
To buy:
-autonomous waypoints
-precision landing
-landing light

To not buy:
-Annoyance that the features I want are just software updates that my Mini 3 Pro should be able to do and that it took this long for DJI to catch up with my 5 year old Parrot Anafi.
-Reluctance to deal with selling my drone only a year after I bought it

If there were a low hassle way to trade in or upgrade my Mini 3 Pro with $200-$300 added in, I would do it. Dealing with all the "personalities" that appear while trying to sell on Craigslist is an adventure I do not look forward to. ("No, I don't want to trade you for gold coins/farm equipment/broken toys.", "No, I won't wait for you again if you didn't show up the first time.")
A few years ago I think DJI or an affiliate did have a trade in program, but that ended. Not sure why. Apple has a trade in program, but maybe for DJI it just wasn’t worth the added work or the risk of having excess used older models.
 
excuses ,excuses…..just be honest yall,you ll be selling mini4 when mini 5 comes out and you ll be doing same thing when mini 6 comes out 😁
 

Attachments

  • photo-output.png
    photo-output.png
    712.3 KB · Views: 12
  • Wow
Reactions: Wild Drone Pilot
excuses ,excuses…..just be honest yall,you ll be selling mini4 when mini 5 comes out and you ll be doing same thing when mini 6 comes out 😁
You're not wrong. :D But for me it'll probably be the Mini 6 ... my Mini 4 has to last me through to '25 because I want whatever Air x/Mavic 4 gets released in '24. :) I can't see ever being without a Mini series drone though. They are just so flippin' versatile and portable.
 
A few years ago I think DJI or an affiliate did have a trade in program, but that ended. Not sure why. Apple has a trade in program, but maybe for DJI it just wasn’t worth the added work or the risk of having excess used older models.
Why do what you don't have to? Some say DJi has 94% market share in consumer drones. Don't expect the DJI cripple hammer to be retired anytime soon.

That said, as a professional engineer the Mini 4 Pro is astonishing for what got in and still <250g.
 
I bought the m4p for 360 OA, O4. There are more differences, but these are the biggest features for me.
Also, to add to my fleet.
Autel nano +, air 3, air 2S, M3P,
Thinking about selling the nano or M3P with 0 hours and never been bound). Thanks to Dji refresh. Thanks to my grandson.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Wild Drone Pilot
I decided to give it a week to make sure I wasn't impulse buying based on the barrage of incoming hype. But I decided to place my order today.

It's "just enough", isn't it... To justify upgrading from the M3P. The aggregate wow factor of a bunch of incremental upgrades.

I'm obviously stoked about 360 OA and all of the features that enables.

Oddly one of the other things I'm really looking forward to is the improved processor in the RC2. Laggy electronics drive me batty. And while the original RC isn't terrible, it's there. Just enough lagginess to frustrate me just a little bit every time I use it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 3rdof5 and Torque
Will buy, but . . . Gotta wait a couple months. Arghhh
 
I decided to give it a week to make sure I wasn't impulse buying based on the barrage of incoming hype. But I decided to place my order today.

It's "just enough", isn't it... To justify upgrading from the M3P. The aggregate wow factor of a bunch of incremental upgrades.

I'm obviously stoked about 360 OA and all of the features that enables.

Oddly one of the other things I'm really looking forward to is the improved processor in the RC2. Laggy electronics drive me batty. And while the original RC isn't terrible, it's there. Just enough lagginess to frustrate me just a little bit every time I use it.
I hear ya on the laggy original RC. Drives me insane as well. However I went with RC-N2 with my Mini 4 Pro to take advantage of being able to use my own device, better maps, 3rd party apps, etc. I have to say, the RC-N2 is a different flying experience!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Krrr and Hands Down

DJI Drone Deals

New Threads

Forum statistics

Threads
134,601
Messages
1,596,687
Members
163,100
Latest member
DigitalJoe
Want to Remove this Ad? Simply login or create a free account