Hello from Canada

[cowgalgonepilot]

Just starting to get into the drone industry, looking at getting a dji mini 3, flew one of my friends and liked the way it handled, any recommendations or thoughts or reviews/experiences with it? Any tips or advice about getting into drones and getting your first drone is welcome!
-Molly

 

[GFields]

Just starting to get into the drone industry, looking at getting a dji mini 3, flew one of my friends and liked the way it handled, any recommendations or thoughts or reviews/experiences with it? Any tips or advice about getting into drones and getting your first drone is welcome!
-Molly

Greetings from Birmingham Alabama USA, welcome to the forum! We look forward to hearing from you!

I would recommend the Air 3. Fairly inexpensive but feature packed.

 

[msinger]

Welcome to the forum!

looking at getting a dji mini 3, flew one of my friends and liked the way it handled, any recommendations or thoughts or reviews/experiences with it?

All of the currently available DJI consumer drones would be a great choice for a first drone. Whether or not the Mini 3 will meet your needs is up to you though. You can compare the major features across all consumer DJI drones here.

 

[MA2 317]

Hello from the Crossroads of America cowgalgonepilot.

Welcome to the Forum.

 

[Prop Wash]

@cowgalgonepilot - Thanks for joining us here @ MP!
I hope you enjoy flying as much as we all do - Looking forward to seeing what you see through your drone!

Be sure to go online to see what it is you have to do to fly your drone legally in Canada.

 

[RodPad]

Welcome to the forum!

Anyone that is new.
I great day can go bad really fast and stay away from Mavic Magnets

Ask your friends for tips that they have learned so far or post your questions on this forum.

These members here are great!

Rod ..

 

[old man mavic]

welcome to the forum

 

[LoudThunder]

Just starting to get into the drone industry, looking at getting a dji mini 3,

Welcome from the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, USA. We have a Member's Map in the Upper Right of the Title Bar. Click on "Members" and then Click on "Member's Map…" Check it out and you might find some new flying friends.

Member Map

mavicpilots.com

If you are still undecided about a drone or which drone, watch lots of YouTube Videos, not just the wonderful times flying but also the reviews (which may be old videos since the Mini 3 has been out a while…)

Since you live in Canada, there are specific laws and rules for you to follow, please check to ensure these are current.

Flying your drone safely and legally

How to fly a drone legally and safely in Canada

tc.canada.ca

Even if you have flown Drones before, here is some Good Old Fashion Advice…

You paid a lot of money for that Drone, put your phone number on it. If your drone gets lost or stuck in a tree and it finally comes down when you are not around, give the finders an opportunity to contact you so it can be returned.

Now, for the Fun Part, But do not let the excitement of the moment get the best of you. When you are going out to fly, do it slowly and deliberately. Get used to a set procedure and even practice it.

There are so many things I could write but these are the highlights that I feel need mentioning.

Plug in your phone/tablet into your controller; turn on the Controller and DJI Fly App (if it does not start on its own…). On the Drone, open the front legs, then open the back legs, and then remove the Gimbal Cover.

The Gimbal is the most delicate item on the Drone and banging or bumping can damage it. I also fastened a short "Remove Before Flight" ribbon to the cover so it's more noticeable and I do not forget to remove it…

Turn on the drone and watch it come to "life." Watching the Gimbal go through its self-check is almost like watching a puppy or kitten opening its eyes for the first time…

Place the drone down (preferably on a Landing Pad) while it finishes its self-test (collecting satellites, etc…).

Check your battery status (Phone, Drone, and Controller), check the Signal Strength, by now the Controller should have reported it updated the Home Point.

Lift off, 6 feet (2-meters) or so, hover a bit, check the controls (move the drone a bit forward, back, left, right, yaw left and right). By now, your Controller will probably report again, "Home point Updated."

If you go out in a rush and race thru your start up and take off before the drone has finished it prep, it may update its Home Point over that pond or that old tree you are flying over and in your excitement, you'll fly the drone long past it Low Battery point and when it engages Return to Home and lands in the pond or in a tree; it will be all on you…

Now go have fun, learn to fly the drone by sight before you try to fly it out a distance depending on the video feed, FPV.

I would also advise you to use YouTube and watch a lot of the Videos on flying and setting up the Drone. When it is too dark, too cold, or too wet, you can "fly it vicariously" through YouTube. Also watch some of the Blooper Drone Videos and learn how not to fly your "New Baby."

Below is the link to all of the downloads offered by DJI for the Mini 3, including the User Manual.

After you read the Manual, read it again, you will be surprised what you missed the first time and you will be better prepared for that first "scary moment…"

DJI Mini 3 - Download Center - DJI

At DJI Download Center, Learn aboutDJI Mini 3

www.dji.com

Fly On and Fly Safe…

 

[Drone Master]

Welcome to Mavic Pilots! Enjoy the forum!

 

[Gagey52]

Greetings Molly, welcome to the forum from the outback of Australia. Look forward to your input.
Regards

 

[3rdof5]

Welcome!

 

[PanoVolo]

welcome to the forum from Halifax, NS

 

[WanderLost]

Just starting to get into the drone industry, looking at getting a dji mini 3, flew one of my friends and liked the way it handled, any recommendations or thoughts or reviews/experiences with it? Any tips or advice about getting into drones and getting your first drone is welcome!
-Molly

Welcome Molly. I'm also pretty new and just started last December with an Air 2S. Knowing what I know now, it would have been much easier to start with a sub 250 gram drone like the mini 3 or mini 3 pro since you don't need a license or Transport Canada registration to fly it.

If you buy one new, you can pay a bit extra and get the Care Refresh insurance which will provide free replacements in the event of a loss (3 I think in 2 years) (like the Apple Care coverage for your iphone).

Start low and slow and with a knowledgeable friend at first until you get the hang of flying and controlling your craft and responding to "emergency" situations like trees and water and low batteries.

One benefit of getting a larger drone is the need to be licensed. This will provide you with a ton of knowledge about flying that you might not get without a lot of personal research. The Basic License is not too onerous. I was able to pass after about 3 days of studying for the test. There's lots of online guidance and Youtube videos.

Past that, there are all sorts of things about taking photos and videos and then post processing to make then look professional.

I found that the 4K videos take up a huge amount of space and if you want to share them with family and friends, you can upload them to Youtube for free, and make them unlisted which means only folks with the link you provide them can view it.
It's a handy way to make your videos viewable anywhere.

The Mini 3 is a good deal right now, but only has obstacle avoidance forward. The newer Mini 3 Pro has obstacle avoidance in 3 directions - up, down and forward, helping you to stay out of trouble in more situations.

I graduated from my Air 2s to a Mavic 3 for the longer flight times AND the 360 degree obstacle avoidance to keep me out of trouble. About triple the cost of a Mini 3 however.

 

[kevguy]

Just starting to get into the drone industry, looking at getting a dji mini 3, flew one of my friends and liked the way it handled, any recommendations or thoughts or reviews/experiences with it? Any tips or advice about getting into drones and getting your first drone is welcome!
-Molly

Hello fellow Canadian.

I’m new to drones also. I just purchased a DJI Mini 3 Pro. I was going to get the Mini 3 but people on the forum talked me into the Mini 3 Pro. I’m not going to tell you which one to get as both are less than 250 grams. However, I recommend the RC controller and the Fly More Kit with whatever model you get.

PS: the mini 3 and mini 3 pro have been on sale the past few weeks. Today is the last day for the sales, if your ready to pull the trigger and buy today.

Amazon.ca

 

[rjwmorrell]

Just starting to get into the drone industry, looking at getting a dji mini 3, flew one of my friends and liked the way it handled, any recommendations or thoughts or reviews/experiences with it? Any tips or advice about getting into drones and getting your first drone is welcome!
-Molly

Greetings fellow Canadian!

When I first got into drones, I knew I wanted to get better at aerial photography and videography, so I latched onto a couple of YouTubers that seemed to know their stuff. QuickAssTutorials is one channel, run by Alex Harris out of Scottsdale AZ, he has a very to-the-point, no-nonsense approach in his videos and he was a professional photographer before he got into drones. Another is Matt Brannen from Northern Ireland, his channel is now called The Drone Creative. He makes really cool videos and has easy to follow tutorials on shots and techniques that look really good.

Other than that, there is a whole world of info out there so tips and advice really depend on what you are interested in learning and doing.

If you fly with an extended battery, you aircraft is over 249g and needs to be registered, and you will need a pilot certificate, as you are now into Basic Small RPAS operations rather than microdrone operations. The test isn't that bad, I passed on my first try, and registration is cheap.

Good luck!

 

[rjwmorrell]

Hello fellow Canadian.

I’m new to drones also. I just purchased a DJI Mini 3 Pro. I was going to get the Mini 3 but people on the forum talked me into the Mini 3 Pro. I’m not going to tell you which one to get as both are less than 250 grams. However, I recommend the RC controller and the Fly More Kit with whatever model you get.

PS: the mini 3 and mini 3 pro have been on sale the past few weeks. Today is the last day for the sales, if your ready to pull the trigger and buy today.

Thanks for reminding me about the sale. I just pulled the trigger on a purchase. I went with the Mini 3 instead of the Pro.

The reason why is that I don't need to spend extra for forward & backwards OA (there is no upwards, like on the Air 2S, which would be more useful), I don't need the MasterShots because I never use them, I don't use Burst Shots... and other than that the cameras are identical except for a slightly lower ISO range on the Mini 3 and no H.265 colour option. Plus, with the Mini 3 you get longer flight time per battery, even without the extended range one - and the extended range offers 51 minutes!

There is a difference in transmission system (O2 for the Mini 3, vs O3 for the Mini 3 Pro) but again I won't notice the difference on the 5.5" screen on the RC. The drones are virtually identical in every other way.

 

[EyesWideShut]

Kamloops BC welcomes another Canuck to the Forum. You've gotten a lot of good info/advice on drones and the Canadian Regs (minimal regs) on sub 250g drones. Fly safe and enjoy!

 

[Kendallfordguy]

Welcome from Wisconsin!

 

[JavaJack]

Just starting to get into the drone industry, looking at getting a dji mini 3, flew one of my friends and liked the way it handled, any recommendations or thoughts or reviews/experiences with it? Any tips or advice about getting into drones and getting your first drone is welcome!
-Molly

Hi Molly, I'm also from Canada. For something like a mini 3, you are probably best to just order directly from DJI. I find their support to always be excellent and I've been flying DJI products for over a decade. A Canadian company I also use for purchase is called Omnitechview. They have been excellent for advice and support on purchasing products as well as third party add ons, monitors, parachutes, etc. It's nice to have a relationship with a company in Canada that you can reach out to for advice. Hope this helps.

 

[lensimages]

Just starting to get into the drone industry, looking at getting a dji mini 3, flew one of my friends and liked the way it handled, any recommendations or thoughts or reviews/experiences with it? Any tips or advice about getting into drones and getting your first drone is welcome!
-Molly

Hi and welcome to the forum ,from Len in South Wales U.K. hope you enjoy and fly safe