I recently bought a mavic mini & would like to fly it at night. I understand that I need to buy an anti collision light, however the faa is talking about an aircraft Orientation light. Is this required to buy separately, or can I use the light on the back of the mavic as one of these?

Hello there. Thank you for reaching out and for the inquiry. Hope that you'll get the best recommendation from our fellow DJI Co pilots in regards to flying at night. However, we would like to inform you that the sensors of the drone may not work properly if there would be not enough light while flying. Thank you and always have a safe flight.

You'll definitely need a good amount of experience and a locating light (beacon), the light on the back of the Mini is just a status light, useless just after a few feet in the air.

In regards to flying at night you should check out the article here.  

I do a lot of my flying at night.  I am also a licensed fixed wing pilot, so am very familiar with standard aircraft lighting colors.  For my Mini, the normal configuration I fly with is a red strobe on the front side of the left front leg, a green strobe on front side of the right front leg, and a white strobe on the back of the battery compartment door.  This essentially duplicates the lighting arrangement for a real aircraft except that on a real aircraft those would be steady lights rather than flashing.  Because of viewing angles of the strobes, those three locations work almost perfectly for 360 degree lighting.  I have flown the Mini out to about 7,000 feet and the strobes were easily visible on a really dark night out in the California desert, and at home I have had the Mini out to 1,700 feet in the Los Angeles suburbs which has lots of light pollution.  Again, they were still very visible (I ran out of WiFi range).  Because each strobe is a different color, it is easy to tell the orientation of the Mini by looking at it.  The strobes I have flash four times in very fast succession, then repeat about every 1.5 seconds, but from a distance, the four flashes appear to be one longer flash.  Here is a link to the strobes I have (although I did not get mine from Amazon):
Cree strobes
I have not had any issues with the camera seeing the flashes except when close to objects or the ground.  The only real issue with the strobes is that they are so bright that hand catching is hard because the strobes are blinding when that close in front of me.  I do have a second set of the red and green strobes that have the strobe LED covered with several layers to partially attenuate the light level.  I use those when I am shooting video of my Christmas light show and am never more than about 50 feet from the Mini, and I don't really want the bright strobes as a distraction for anyone else that is watching the light show.  And before someone asks, if the Mini is only 50 feet away in front of my house, why bother with the strobes at all?  The reason is that after being able to tell the orientation of the Mini by looking at it, I find that I miss that ability if I don't have the strobes mounted.
As for attachment.  I have a velcro patch that stays on the battery compartment door for the white strobe.  I have some 3D printed holders for the front legs that work pretty well, or I use small zip ties (I have to use the zip ties if using the attenuated set of strobes because they wont fit in the holders).  I also have a pair of holders that fit the rear arms, but decided that I don't like them.  They also add enough weight to trigger "payload mode".
One note is that adding the strobes does put the Mini over 250 grams, so at least to stay legal, registration is required (I did register mine) here in the USA.  Also remember that there are restrictions on night flying if you are doing so under part 107 - but I am flying under the recreational rules.  And yea, I know those rules are changing...

K6CCC Posted at 1-7 08:37
I do a lot of my flying at night.  I am also a licensed fixed wing pilot, so am very familiar with standard aircraft lighting colors.  For my Mini, the normal configuration I fly with is a red strobe on the front side of the left front leg, a green strobe on front side of the right front leg, and a white strobe on the back of the battery compartment door.  This essentially duplicates the lighting arrangement for a real aircraft except that on a real aircraft those would be steady lights rather than flashing.  Because of viewing angles of the strobes, those three locations work almost perfectly for 360 degree lighting.  I have flown the Mini out to about 7,000 feet and the strobes were easily visible on a really dark night out in the California desert, and at home I have had the Mini out to 1,700 feet in the Los Angeles suburbs which has lots of light pollution.  Again, they were still very visible (I ran out of WiFi range).  Because each strobe is a different color, it is easy to tell the orientation of the Mini by looking at it.  The strobes I have flash four times in very fast succession, then repeat about every 1.5 seconds, but from a distance, the four flashes appear to be one longer flash.  Here is a link to the strobes I have (although I did not get mine from Amazon):
Cree strobes
I have not had any issues with the camera seeing the flashes except when close to objects or the ground.  The only real issue with the strobes is that they are so bright that hand catching is hard because the strobes are blinding when that close in front of me.  I do have a second set of the red and green strobes that have the strobe LED covered with several layers to partially attenuate the light level.  I use those when I am shooting video of my Christmas light show and am never more than about 50 feet from the Mini, and I don't really want the bright strobes as a distraction for anyone else that is watching the light show.  And before someone asks, if the Mini is only 50 feet away in front of my house, why bother with the strobes at all?  The reason is that after being able to tell the orientation of the Mini by looking at it, I find that I miss that ability if I don't have the strobes mounted.

Alright I think that makes sense, just to clarify however, are the orientation lights a legal requirement, or is that more of a recommendation. I am going to buy an anti collision light, and I registered last night.

As I understand it, only a recommendation.  I really like to be able to tell the orientation of the Mini by looking at it when all I can see is the lights.

Thanks everyone for your help

fans85abfc24 Posted at 1-7 10:34
Thanks everyone for your help

Make sure you have a helper (Visual Observer) with you to help watch the drone on your first attempt would be my suggestion.   I found it very helpful my first time flying after dark.......

You will really appreciate the lights on the drone when flying at night. Although you can see the installed light from a few hundred yards away, it is not easy to spot. The strobes are far better.

One point that you may want to consider: The very bright strobes that can be seen from a mile or more away take a lot of battery power so they only last a few hours which is not a problem normally since most flights are under 30 minutes. But you may want to add a lesser/cheaper strobe as well, since they can last as long as 72 hours, at much lesser brightness. So why that type? You can use it to find your drone on the ground over the next night or two. The battery in the drone only lasts about 3 hours even when not running, so the "Find your Drone" feature only lasts that long.

K6CCC Posted at 1-7 10:06
As I understand it, only a recommendation.  I really like to be able to tell the orientation of the Mini by looking at it when all I can see is the lights.

I consider FAA rules to be more than a recommendation, and they clearly say "Do not fly at night unless your drone has lighting that allows you to know its location and orientation at all times".
The status light on the back of the MM is only visible from behind, and it's not that bright, so - legally speaking - I'm not sure it would meet FAA requirements.
Having said that, I have flown the MM at night without any additional lights, but at low altitude and limited range... it all depends what you're doing, how far you're going, where, etc.

The new FAA rules for drones will require an anti-collision strobe (red or white) that is visible from 3 miles away.  They do not requite attitude lights.  The new rules are for part 107 drone flights.  They do not apply to recreational flying where night flying is allowed but there is the added requirement for orientation lights.  One would assume the rules will be aligned at some point and the same strobe requirements would apply.  For the MM, which has a green light visible from the rear, it MIGHT be possible to argue that that meets the orientation requirement (if you can see it, the drone is facing away from you, if you can't it's facing toward you) but you still need an anti-collision strobe.  A related issue is that even the lightest currently available strobe will push the MM over 250 grammes, requiring that it be registered.  For recreational flight the 3-mile requirement does not technically apply so I suppose it MIGHT be possible to hook up a small flashing LED that ran off the drone battery and added less than a gramme of weight (but I doubt it.)  I would suggest adding one of the commerially available 3-mile red strobes to the top of the drone and just registering it.

Consider that a bright strobe could get the attention of pilots who are some distance away and they may call it in if they are concerned.  It will also attract attention from the ground so you are more likely to be challenged about your flying.

I have enjoyed taking a few sunset and twilight/night photos where my drone is at relatively low altitude, not bothering anybody and to all intents and purposes, invisible.  Putting a bright strobe on it would make it really stick out.  If nobody knows it's there, nobody will care but, even if it's completely legal, attracting a lot of extra attention to it seems like it could have bad repercussions.  Hmmm...

I am not sure about FAA regulation on additional lights and what not.
Here some tips mainly for safety concern if you plan to fly at night, hope it helps..

According to the new EASA regulations, you need a green light on the drone to fly at night.
Have safe flights!

cLaNzKiLLeR Posted at 1-16 06:49
I am not sure about FAA regulation on additional lights and what not.
Here some tips mainly for safety concern if you plan to fly at night, hope it helps..
https://youtu.be/qvulamEyHP4

GaryDoug Posted at 1-7 15:00
You will really appreciate the lights on the drone when flying at night. Although you can see the installed light from a few hundred yards away, it is not easy to spot. The strobes are far better.

One point that you may want to consider: The very bright strobes that can be seen from a mile or more away take a lot of battery power so they only last a few hours which is not a problem normally since most flights are under 30 minutes. But you may want to add a lesser/cheaper strobe as well, since they can last as long as 72 hours, at much lesser brightness. So why that type? You can use it to find your drone on the ground over the next night or two. The battery in the drone only lasts about 3 hours even when not running, so the "Find your Drone" feature only lasts that long.