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Mini 1, Air 2S and UK regulations in 2022 and beyond…

Joined
May 12, 2021
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Age
42
Location
United Kingdom
Hi all! inexperienced pilot here and first time poster - happy New Year to you all.

I bought myself a second hand Mavic Mini in March 2021 and I’ve really enjoyed taking my first steps in aerial photography - I’m relatively new to photography generally but I’d class myself as a keen hobbyist who occasionally uses my photos and videos for work (marketing) projects, but mainly just capturing things for my social media/portfolio.

The Mini has been great for learning the basics and its low weight makes it really useful in a variety of situations, but that is also its downfall - I get high wind warnings in even the lightest of breezes so I haven’t flown it anywhere near as much as I’d like.

As a result, I thought I’d treat myself to a New Year gift and buy an Air 2S; I started reading into the changing rules and regulations, particularly re: C classifications, and while it seems a good idea still to get A2 CoC, it feels to me like investing ~£1k in a drone that will probably be essentially obsolete in 12 months’ time (and therefore hold minimal resale value), probably isn’t a great idea so I’d be better served by saving my money to invest in a C-class drone when they arrive.

Is my understanding, and therefore hunch, correct or am I being overly pessimistic? Thoughts appreciated - thanks in advance!
 
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Yup. You got it spot on. Until they make a definite decision on when and how the classification system works then it’s risky buying anything above 250g.
 
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Perfect, thank you! I definitely don’t have the money to burn potentially £1k, so it’s either something older and cheaper that has a bit more wind resistance or just stick with the Mini for the time being and accept the limitations. Glad I’m not missing something really obvious!
 
Perfect, thank you! I definitely don’t have the money to burn potentially £1k, so it’s either something older and cheaper that has a bit more wind resistance or just stick with the Mini for the time being and accept the limitations. Glad I’m not missing something really obvious!
The Mini2 is a vast improvement on the Mini with regard to wind resistance. Plus, the occusynch makes the control distance and camera feed as good as the larger Mavics. Plus, you get full manual camera control and 4K. So, for not much money you can do a lot more Without worrying about change in regulations.
 
The Mini2 is a vast improvement on the Mini with regard to wind resistance. Plus, the occusynch makes the control distance and camera feed as good as the larger Mavics. Plus, you get full manual camera control and 4K. So, for not much money you can do a lot more Without worrying about change in regulations.
That’s interesting, thank you - I’d be hesitant to replace my existing Mini with a Mini 2 though as that would make it totally obselete so I’d need to sell it. I’m considering a Pro 1 for the ability to take RAW photos - they’re around £80 more than a Mini 2 used, or alternatively just waiting it out to see what comes in the future.
 
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That’s interesting, thank you - I’d be hesitant to replace my existing Mini with a Mini 2 though as that would make it totally obselete so I’d need to sell it. I’m considering a Pro 1 for the ability to take RAW photos - they’re around £80 more than a Mini 2 used, or alternatively just waiting it out to see what comes in the future.
The Mini2 does RAW too. 😊
 
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The Mini2 does RAW too. 😊
So I see! I wasn’t really aware of it before doing some research in the last couple of days (I’d kind of dismissed it because I’d not used the Mini as much as I’d hoped).

As it turns out, I think the best option might actually be to buy a Mini 2, sell or trade the Mini 1 and then wait to see how the new classifications change things over the course of the next 12 months. I’m a bit concerned that a Mini 3 might be released soon though - do you think this is likely?

Also, my biggest gripes with Mini 1 were wind resistance (it’s practically impossible to fly it in anything above 10mph which is pretty much every day in the UK) and the connection to the controller - how much improved are these two factors in particular, do you know?
 
So I see! I wasn’t really aware of it before doing some research in the last couple of days (I’d kind of dismissed it because I’d not used the Mini as much as I’d hoped).

As it turns out, I think the best option might actually be to buy a Mini 2, sell or trade the Mini 1 and then wait to see how the new classifications change things over the course of the next 12 months. I’m a bit concerned that a Mini 3 might be released soon though - do you think this is likely?

Also, my biggest gripes with Mini 1 were wind resistance (it’s practically impossible to fly it in anything above 10mph which is pretty much every day in the UK) and the connection to the controller - how much improved are these two factors in particular, do you know?
Huge improvement in wind resistance. I had the original Air and the Mini2 flight performance is as good as that.
As for the connection. The mini 1 used wifi, which is sketchy here because we have to use the CE mode rather than the FCC mode the Americans get. But, the Mini2 uses occusynch, which is that same as the Mavic pro. Absolutely no issues with connection.
 
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Huge improvement in wind resistance. I had the original Air and the Mini2 flight performance is as good as that.
As for the connection. The mini 1 used wifi, which is sketchy here because we have to use the CE mode rather than the FCC mode the Americans get. But, the Mini2 uses occusynch, which is that same as the Mavic pro. Absolutely no issues with connection.
Perfect, thank you - looks like the best option for me 👍🏼
 
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That’s interesting, thank you - I’d be hesitant to replace my existing Mini with a Mini 2 though as that would make it totally obselete so I’d need to sell it. I’m considering a Pro 1 for the ability to take RAW photos - they’re around £80 more than a Mini 2 used, or alternatively just waiting it out to see what comes in the future.
I sold my mini for £300 privately and bought a mini 2. Don't regret it in the slightest
 
So I see! I wasn’t really aware of it before doing some research in the last couple of days (I’d kind of dismissed it because I’d not used the Mini as much as I’d hoped).

As it turns out, I think the best option might actually be to buy a Mini 2, sell or trade the Mini 1 and then wait to see how the new classifications change things over the course of the next 12 months. I’m a bit concerned that a Mini 3 might be released soon though - do you think this is likely?

Also, my biggest gripes with Mini 1 were wind resistance (it’s practically impossible to fly it in anything above 10mph which is pretty much every day in the UK) and the connection to the controller - how much improved are these two factors in particular, do you know?
That's exactly what I have done
 

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