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I started out doing a case comparison review and as I was surprised that toward the end of my conclusion I changed my mind entirely. I love tinkering and love putting abstract things together. I was an am proud of what I did with a basic Apache 2800 hard case ($29) and some foam padding lying around the house. I had ordered a commercially sold "Skyreat) case for $35 and initially was disappointed at the injection molded interior vs foam interiors of other cases I've owned.
While I never had any use for the case that came with the Mini 2's FMC, for some reason I like it better with the Mini 3. I can take the BASIC gear with me in the FMC case, but it offers almost no protection. I had good success with my Mini 2 and Apache 2800. It's too bad that the Mini 3 is enough different that it requires its own case (at least the foam cutout part). The 2800 is small enough to fit in my backpack, so that's a plus. I know there are hard cases for over $50, but I guess I'm both cheap and love the challenge of DIY stuff. One of the forum members just turned me on to "Plasti-dip", so I suspect on another boring day I'll pull out the pick n pluck foam, lay out the equipment, pluck out what I need and Plasti-dip that foam. But I think I did pretty well to scavange the foam that came with a string of light bulbs and another product that I can't remember what it held. It was just laying around the house waiting to be recycled.
I suspected Skyreat case to be smaller than the 2800 but questioned how much gear I could get inside it. Foam is easy to modify for extra stuff. But instead of foam, they vacuum molded some soft of plastic to the shapes of the drone, controller and charging hub. I had similarly constructed case for my Mini 2 but never used it because of the injected liner. The Skyreat has that same injected liner, but somehow, even after thinking it wouldn't accomodate my stuff, it actually (mostly) did. I like to leave, thumbscrews on the controller that secure a lanyard and/or a screen shade. Could I pack the screen shade in the Skyreat? What about the leg extensions (yeah I know.. the Mini 3 has no legs).
I had built my "Frankencase" several days before getting the Skyreat and actually anticipated returning the Skyreat. I'd been using the FMC case for "compact" transport, but I think the FMC case wil have limited use and the 2800 will be used when a hard case is neeeded. I don't know. I'll cross those bridges when I come to them.
In the meantime I thought I'd just share my personal evaluation of some possible cases.
While I never had any use for the case that came with the Mini 2's FMC, for some reason I like it better with the Mini 3. I can take the BASIC gear with me in the FMC case, but it offers almost no protection. I had good success with my Mini 2 and Apache 2800. It's too bad that the Mini 3 is enough different that it requires its own case (at least the foam cutout part). The 2800 is small enough to fit in my backpack, so that's a plus. I know there are hard cases for over $50, but I guess I'm both cheap and love the challenge of DIY stuff. One of the forum members just turned me on to "Plasti-dip", so I suspect on another boring day I'll pull out the pick n pluck foam, lay out the equipment, pluck out what I need and Plasti-dip that foam. But I think I did pretty well to scavange the foam that came with a string of light bulbs and another product that I can't remember what it held. It was just laying around the house waiting to be recycled.
I suspected Skyreat case to be smaller than the 2800 but questioned how much gear I could get inside it. Foam is easy to modify for extra stuff. But instead of foam, they vacuum molded some soft of plastic to the shapes of the drone, controller and charging hub. I had similarly constructed case for my Mini 2 but never used it because of the injected liner. The Skyreat has that same injected liner, but somehow, even after thinking it wouldn't accomodate my stuff, it actually (mostly) did. I like to leave, thumbscrews on the controller that secure a lanyard and/or a screen shade. Could I pack the screen shade in the Skyreat? What about the leg extensions (yeah I know.. the Mini 3 has no legs).
I had built my "Frankencase" several days before getting the Skyreat and actually anticipated returning the Skyreat. I'd been using the FMC case for "compact" transport, but I think the FMC case wil have limited use and the 2800 will be used when a hard case is neeeded. I don't know. I'll cross those bridges when I come to them.
In the meantime I thought I'd just share my personal evaluation of some possible cases.