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is the MM its own worst enemy?

Not so sure about this. For me, they nailed the price/value equation. I've always been drone-curious, but not $900+ curious. I would not have pulled the trigger if it was functionally watered down to be less than the MM is today. Moderate performance, decent range/flight time, & 2K, all good for me. 249g less a concern, but I understand the motivation. This could be a gateway drone for me should this hobby click with me.

I understand and accept the limitations - no sensors, fly-away risk, etc. A $399 loss does not cross the same pain threshold as a $900 loss.

/Scott, I may have misread your intent ...
I totally understand what you're saying. My point was that, if you're on this Forum, you are already far more committed to this than so, so many others that got their toy for Christmas or Hanukkah, naively put it up in the air, then up in the tree or down in to the ocean floor. Then goes into school or work and tells everyone what a piece of junk it is (not because it is, but because they had no clue what they were doing). This because of the way it is marketed.

I encourage you to take a look at the DJI websites for the Air and the Mini. There is a bit more of a seriousness to the Air's site than you would see in the Mini's pages. The Mini is marketed to be the Volksdrone. Heck: the sales slogan is "Fly as you are." Exactly as you are. You, right now, can fly just as you are; knowing just what you know right now. But the flight rules and dangers are the same. I am a DJI fan, but I think it is irresponsible to so loudly promote "249g" and the idea that you don't need to register it without really explaining what that really means. I've heard the misunderstanding repeated even in this forum that there basic flight safety rules don't apply because it only weighs 249g. In the end, that is bad of the hobby which is already on its heals in the crosshairs of the FCC, uninformed local law enforcement and very suspicious and distrusting average Joes that actually believe you might be spying on them through their bedroom windows with your consumer grade drone.

For me, and let's see who out there understands this reference, DJI's marketing of the Mini is the Joe Camel of the drone world.
 
for me the MM was never meant to be a replacement for anything,its primary role was to undercut the 250g weight limit so that people could fly it without registering it, or passing an exam to be able to fly it
and in an effort to achieve that there had to be compromises made ,i think it would have been better if it did have a limited height restriction say 200 ft and a limited range of 800ft,which could not be unlocked until a certain amount of flight time was recorded in the flight log, trouble is everyone would have been up in arms about it (how dare DJI tell us how far or how high we can fly would have been the comments) so it is down to us the consumer to fly it while learning it short cummings, and that unfortunately means that there will be drones lost or damaged due to a lack of understanding of what is and is not possible with this drone
 
If you find a girl that wants to talk to you because you're flying a drone, marry her! I love my wife dearly, and she supports my hobby and even pretends to be interested at times. I can't goes as far as to say, however, that she finds my dronerding to be a turn-on.
 
I agree with the risk loss argument. I could live with a $400, loss if need be, but I'm not willing to risk $900. learning how to fly. I'm intrigued by all of it. After having to work so hard flying a sailplane with a mounted camera to get a shot, to being able to float at will in front of a subject or moment in time is to me hypnotic. I'm a very patient person when required, I'll need to draw on that to avoid mistakes that are so easily made.
 
The MM is my first drone and I am well aware of what it can do and what it cannot do.
It doesn't take a genius to realize that an aircraft that weighs less than 250 grams and is powered by 4 very small motors is going to have problems in high winds.
You must educate yourself and know the crafts limitations.
I too use UAV Forecast and I'm bright enough to know that when it shows this (see attached) you don't even think about flying.View attachment 89948
I applaud you sir
 
for me the MM was never meant to be a replacement for anything, its primary role was to undercut the 250g weight limit so that people could fly it without registering it,

That won't last very long because you have nice people like this guy, who are hard at work to ruin it for everyone who purchases the mini.

 
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Read the thread and everyone is right about the drone and it's capabilities. I'd like however to point out that you as a pilot should be aware of your capabilities as well, respective to visual line of sight. The mini is small, if you follow it while flying you are seeing it, then you turn around for 1 second and when you look up again, you cannot longer see it. This can happen to those with good eyesight, there is no hidden message. It's color on a sunny day is blending just perfectly with the blue sky once it's more than 120 m away from you and 45-60 m altitude.

As for the height, the max altitude I went for was 204 m. Mini was a small spot, but kept its position. I am watching closely and if there is any sudden movement or adrift I am prepared to immediately descend.[/QUOTE

Totally in agreement. Whatever happened to common sense?
 
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it seems to me that in producing the MM,DJI have produced a little sheep in wolf's clothing
what do i mean by that ,well for a start it flies very well has a great little camera a three axis gimbal brilliant flight time and the looks of its big brothers in the mavic family
ok so it lacks some of the features but you can't have everything at its price point
then we come to the sheep part of the story ,it can fly at the current 400 ft altitude limit, it can fly beyond VLOS ,in fact for its size it is very accomplished,
but hang on even at 150 ft it struggles with the wind conditions and go much beyond 800 ft and its barely visible
and it is when it encounters adverse conditions then you realise that its no wolf ,but a little sheep well out of its depth but by then it's to late
I don't know, to me it still seems kinda like a Beta Product, to me anyway. It looks good it has the Camera and Gimbal the Spark should have as well as Battery time. I think with the impending rule changes here in the States they rushed out a little to grab that sub 250 gram market. I'm really watching very closely. I'm still not convinced I want to get it, especially with CES being here. There really could be that next great thing. I also think if you keep waiting for that next great thing, you might be waiting forever. Hopefully DJI can in someway improve this tiny little Bird with a good software update. Otherwise there could be more than a few lost because of weather. I still really wish they'd given the Spark all that love. It's continues to be a great drone. I'll stop whining now,LOL.
 
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There really could be that next great thing. I also think if you keep waiting for that next great thing, you might be waiting forever.
You have so much choices being in US. We in Europe have less.

The segment of the Mini is ok, at least for me. When I bought mine, I only needed to decide on a single criteria, if the registration is worth it or not. And not being a fan of If, and flying for hobby I said, ok I'll go with the Mini. If I want something bigger I can buy it, the Fimi X8 Se has the same price tag but 3x the weight. A Mavic 2 Pro has 3x the price Tag and 4x the weight and that one has occusync, all around collision sensors, etc. The key takeaway is that both the Fimi and Mavic pro are more advanced and need to be registered as they are heavy and bigger. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, as I did bite the bullet and have preordered a Skydio 2 that needs to be registered as well, but that one is fully autonomous. I just need to be patient for Q2. Now if there is a Mavic 3 unveiled, with autonmous AI like the skydio.. let's keep the options open.
 
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it seems to me that in producing the MM,DJI have produced a little sheep in wolf's clothing
what do i mean by that ,well for a start it flies very well has a great little camera a three axis gimbal brilliant flight time and the looks of its big brothers in the mavic family
ok so it lacks some of the features but you can't have everything at its price point
then we come to the sheep part of the story ,it can fly at the current 400 ft altitude limit, it can fly beyond VLOS ,in fact for its size it is very accomplished,
but hang on even at 150 ft it struggles with the wind conditions and go much beyond 800 ft and its barely visible
and it is when it encounters adverse conditions then you realise that its no wolf ,but a little sheep well out of its depth but by then it's to late

If people would read the manual from A to Z and use common sense a lot of fly away would never happen.
I read stories of people using strong kites and getting blown away in strong winds even if tethered to a cord.
Last weekend a guy here crashed his « toy« , a 1.5 million car, because he didn’t know how to use it properly.
A lot of people overestimate their abilities and go beyond their possibilities.

The Mavic Mini is a nice little drone and definitely not a toy. I like my little sheep. I agree totally with you.
 
Youtube reviewers make it look fantastic, easy to fly, can handle anything.

Add to that people's reluctance to RTFM, and we sit with lots of crashes/'flyaways'.

On some of the threads I see comments like ' DJI should warn buyers that it cannot really handle wind' and I will bet money anything like that would have been ignored like so much other important information in the manual.

Buyers should understand their own limitations as much as they understand the drones - but only in a perfect world...
 
Whatever happened to common sense?
This one flew away. There is so much little common sense these days, whether it is related to toys, phones, drones, cars, public transportation, education, etc. One is responsible to stay guard at his own mind, yet folks nowadays seem to just turn off their brain.

I read stories of people using strong kites and getting blown away in strong winds even if tethered to a cord.
Last weekend a guy here crashed his « toy« , a 1.5 million car, because he didn’t know how to use it properly.
A lot of people overestimate their abilities and go beyond their possibilities.
Well said my friend.

Youtube reviewers make it look fantastic, easy to fly, can handle anything. Add to that people's reluctance to RTFM, and we sit with lots of crashes/'flyaways'.

On some of the threads I see comments like ' DJI should warn buyers that it cannot really handle wind' and I will bet money anything like that would have been ignored like so much other important information in the manual.
Not just reviewers.. DJI did it here too
 
thanks to everyone who has posted on this thread my OP has certainly given an interesting slant on the MM and i hope that it will help new fliers to have their MMs for a long time
 
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Seeing that DJI even said "don't worry, it's easy" is shocking but at the same time I kind of expected it.
I've decided that I'm going to continue re-learning with my "toy" and in a few months if I still enjoy "playing" with drones as much as I do now I might grab a MP2
 
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You can see a MM at 800' ??

it seems to me that in producing the MM,DJI have produced a little sheep in wolf's clothing
what do i mean by that ,well for a start it flies very well has a great little camera a three axis gimbal brilliant flight time and the looks of its big brothers in the mavic family
ok so it lacks some of the features but you can't have everything at its price point
then we come to the sheep part of the story ,it can fly at the current 400 ft altitude limit, it can fly beyond VLOS ,in fact for its size it is very accomplished,
but hang on even at 150 ft it struggles with the wind conditions and go much beyond 800 ft and its barely visible
and it is when it encounters adverse conditions then you realise that its no wolf ,but a little sheep well out of its depth but by then it's to late
 
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You can see a MM at 800' ??
me personally, probably not although the bright yellow skin and light do help, someone with younger eyes could i suspect be able to
 

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