Please only vote if you have the drone and have flown it so we get meaningful results. You decide on whatever grounds you like re if you are happy or not

My vote is based on the fact that it flys flawlessly way way further than I would ever want to send my little frog all on its own…….I love my little frog

Easily as good as my Mini2 and the video feed is far smoother.

Come on chaps those who have one vote away

I was going to return mine but after this mornings exercise, I have decided to keep and invest in a fly more bundle as they appear on the market.

GLOBAL HAWK Posted at 5-22 03:38
I was going to return mine but after this mornings exercise, I have decided to keep and invest in a fly more bundle as they appear on the market.

What changed your mind?

Exib Posted at 5-22 06:14
What changed your mind?

I suspect he realised that it is an excellent drone.

It is as though you want it to be Bad

Exib Posted at 5-22 06:14
What changed your mind?

I have conducted a fairly substantial test in range and without going into details the results were more than enough for the size and weight of this drone. Outside this account I own 5 other drones from very large to small and in my career have never really had the need to fly more than a 1km away as subject material is always close pending the job.

The Mini 3 Pro for me gives:

1. Adequate range based on flying routine and drone specs
2. Superb video quality
3. Superb photo quality
4. The new DJI RC is very handy for convenience
5. Insane portability
6. A very acceptable and viable backup for jobs where our primary unit goes down or we need a small unit in a confined area
7. Quiet. Great for piece to camera so as to not grab prop noise
8. Vertical mode...not my cup of tea..but hey I may find a use
9. Good price point
10. Cuteness ( seriously, when I unboxed it I was looking for the battery as I thought the battery was not in the drone as the drone was so light in weight lol)

Cheers

GLOBAL HAWK Posted at 5-22 16:55
I have conducted a fairly substantial test in range and without going into details the results were more than enough for the size and weight of this drone. Outside this account I own 5 other drones from very large to small and in my career have never really had the need to fly more than a 1km away as subject material is always close pending the job.

The Mini 3 Pro for me gives:

I agree with all of that

signal loss at 350m definitely not feeling confident, never faced this issue with mavic pro 1

GLOBAL HAWK Posted at 5-22 16:55
I have conducted a fairly substantial test in range and without going into details the results were more than enough for the size and weight of this drone. Outside this account I own 5 other drones from very large to small and in my career have never really had the need to fly more than a 1km away as subject material is always close pending the job.

The Mini 3 Pro for me gives:

Thanks for the information

its like tipping point and me placing my order

Exib Posted at 5-22 23:24
Thanks for the information

its like tipping point and me placing my order

They way I see this panning out is in a few outcomes.

1. DJI failed in R & D and designed the system with an unintentional fault. This would result in a global recall of the product. Financial loss to DJI and lowered confidence from users globally.

2. The variables in the programming were altered to lower the range in order to maintain a better viewing experience on the controller without pixelation because if the drone can't fly too far away, the signal wont degrade.

3. This drone has some great quality video and photo capability. So much that there is a potential for it to kill sales of the larger models or perhaps render them obsolete. What better way to keep the market for larger units like Mavic's Air and 3, keep them going further.

4. The Mini may be targeting a more recreational user who just wants to scoot around the park or while on holidays. I am sure we can all agree that we really dont need to go more than a KM to get great pics

5. They may have just employed point 3. and are monitoring what consumers are saying before they decide to correct with a firmware update.

6. The one I hope isn't probable......The powers that be have ordered DJI to lower the spec for some reason...what???? I have no idea.

My 5 cents of theory.

fans081ebaa6 Posted at 5-22 23:13
signal loss at 350m definitely not feeling confident, never faced this issue with mavic pro 1

This is my main concern - so much so, that I'm considering cancelling my order until I know it is something that can be fixed.

GLOBAL HAWK Posted at 5-23 00:07
They way I see this panning out is in a few outcomes.

1. DJI failed in R & D and designed the system with an unintentional fault. This would result in a global recall of the product. Financial loss to DJI and lowered confidence from users globally.

It has to be something to do with the firmware they released on launch, when you look at the launch videos there are no signal drops or reported range issues

I'm unhappy with the inconsistency of the range.  Some days its almost as good as the Mini 2, others its unusable at less than 500m (urban), with stuttering or no video feed, and very regular disconnections.  The Mini 2 does not suffer this in this area.

I did a rural (to reduce external interference factors) test from the same spot, flying straight out in same direction, between my Mini 2 and Mini 3.  From a pure range point of view, the Mini 2 had no signal hiccups, and stayed at approx 50m high, and the range test ended due to battery constraints.  Mini 3 actually managed approximately the same distance (within about 5%), but had to climb to the 120m limit, and for the last third of the trip had no video feed.

With the older Minis, the antenna is in the landing legs.  As the Mini 3 does not have landing legs, they must be mounted elsewhere, and I wonder if this is the reason for it being so disappointing.

I had expected it to be on par with the Mini 2, and it has fallen well short of my expectations.  Which is a shame, because in some other respects, its simply brilliant.  It outperforms the Mini 2 in wind, and the footage is far superior.  I have zero interest in the gimmicks like tracking or vertical video.

Another annoyance is it appears there is no zoom capability when filming in 4k60, hopefully this is just a firmware issue.  But the range is the big problem for me, and I can't help but feel that is a hardware problem that DJI will never admit, as that would require a recall.

And clearly, simply going by the number of threads here, and elsewhere, about the Mini 3's range, it seems to be common that its falling short of expectations (which I imagine for most would be that it would be roughly equivalent to the Mini 2)

Exib Posted at 5-23 00:31
It has to be something to do with the firmware they released on launch, when you look at the launch videos there are no signal drops or reported range issues

True but the slave influencers aren't going to show let alone tell you that the product doesn't perform.

I am very confident that a positive outcome will arise soon.

For me the range is more than enough!
Test in an open field 2.5 km, which I then finished as a precaution...
And at close range (500 m), the orientation of the DJI RC is actually not very important, since the reception is very good regardless of it (min. 4 bars).
The screen brightness is too low for me (in direct sunlight), maybe there is a shade available as an accessory...?
I really hope that DJI RC Pro will be compatible soon, then everything will be really good, for me...

GLOBAL HAWK Posted at 5-23 00:07
They way I see this panning out is in a few outcomes.

1. DJI failed in R & D and designed the system with an unintentional fault. This would result in a global recall of the product. Financial loss to DJI and lowered confidence from users globally.

I dont think any of those are any more than just conspiracy talk.

One that you missed off and that is.

7. Alignment between RC and AC is poor, especially with the DJI RC
Here is why, a reasonable viewing angle is about, what, 45º and that is pointing into space, so unless you're trying to control the ISS, you need to lower the angle some especially when your going on a distance run,

GLOBAL HAWK Posted at 5-23 00:07
They way I see this panning out is in a few outcomes.

1. DJI failed in R & D and designed the system with an unintentional fault. This would result in a global recall of the product. Financial loss to DJI and lowered confidence from users globally.

I'm hopeful that it is something that can be improved in future. I don't believe DJI have intentionally nerfed the signal otherwise why advertise it as flagship level occusync 3.0 with a CE range of 8km?

8:8 and 9 are on the fence, hope you're getting the results you were looking for, Bp, its certainly helping me make my educated buying decision for now

There should be another poll, Something along the lines of, "If you knew then what you know now, would you still buy it?" Yes?No

Bashy Posted at 5-23 19:31
8:8 and 9 are on the fence, hope you're getting the results you were looking for, Bp, its certainly helping me make my educated buying decision for now

There should be another poll, Something along the lines of, "If you knew then what you know now, would you still buy it?" Yes?No

It is a poll I was not looking for any particular results. I wanted to gauge opinion which is kind of the point of a poll is it not. I have my views others have theirs. What I know is my view is from real experience not hearsay.

You suggested another poll why don’t you start it or have I got to do that for you

You seem to be looking for justification why not to buy……… Do you honestly need that

Poll created it took about 1 minute. No doubt you will have an issue with the question in some way but hey ho

Bigplumbs Posted at 5-23 22:21
Poll created it took about 1 minute. No doubt you will have an issue with the question in some way but hey ho

You're correct, i do, seen as it's not what i said to ask, but you knew that already, you changed it in the way that many will not openly admit they prob just spent £££ on a disappointing product, for now...

Bigplumbs Posted at 5-23 22:15
It is a poll I was not looking for any particular results. I wanted to gauge opinion which is kind of the point of a poll is it not. I have my views others have theirs. What I know is my view is from real experience not hearsay.

You suggested another poll why don’t you start it or have I got to do that for you

But you were, i remember us having a discussion about the range and you was quite convinced that folks would be happy with what they have, hence you creating the poll

TheBoy Posted at 5-23 01:18
I'm unhappy with the inconsistency of the range.  Some days its almost as good as the Mini 2, others its unusable at less than 500m (urban), with stuttering or no video feed, and very regular disconnections.  The Mini 2 does not suffer this in this area.

I did a rural (to reduce external interference factors) test from the same spot, flying straight out in same direction, between my Mini 2 and Mini 3.  From a pure range point of view, the Mini 2 had no signal hiccups, and stayed at approx 50m high, and the range test ended due to battery constraints.  Mini 3 actually managed approximately the same distance (within about 5%), but had to climb to the 120m limit, and for the last third of the trip had no video feed.

so far from what i have seen occusync 3 means drone has double the antennas from 2 to 4...so i cannot see how removing the 2 from the front legs and adding 2 more can cause problems with transmission...more probably it is a software thing and intended perhaps.

sbonev Posted at 5-25 05:37
so far from what i have seen occusync 3 means drone has double the antennas from 2 to 4...so i cannot see how removing the 2 from the front legs and adding 2 more can cause problems with transmission...more probably it is a software thing and intended perhaps.

If its intended, it would have to be declared to the customer.

Interesting vote even though the results are the same across all votes, i'm off the fence now and have placed my order

I've done various tests comparing with my Mavic Air 2 and I see not greate difference.
I tested also in urban environment with ggod results.

Please, use the english subtitles .

ok, let's say you work at dji and you're reading this poll; what do you do?  you can see the gps issue is evenly split with a fair amount of unhappy customers yet there are some who say "no problem."  do you ignore the issue and move on and get slapped with a gps-gate that you didn't see coming or do you look into it?  oh wait, sorry....we're talking about range-gate!  

Raf_IZ0QWM Posted at 5-27 14:08
I've done various tests comparing with my Mavic Air 2 and I see not greate difference.
I tested also in urban environment with ggod results.

I cannot take seriously any distance test that doesn't make full use of the Flight attitude indicator
I can get that distance with my Mini 2 over Urban at 65m and that's with the AC losing the LOS of the RC, i.e. houses in the way.

From a post I just made



So I tested yesterday the range of the Mini 3 pro against the Mavic Air 2. They are pretty much the same +/- 100m

I wont disclose the distance but my findings indidcate both units have simliar range. I have never really tested the range of the Air 2 as I never need to fly far.

So....based on on what I have read, i certainly dont have a 300m range issue, all systems normal here but the Air 2 I use doesn't seem to fly far anyways? Perhaps these newer drones have more limited range?

So I added a black sheep to the mix, fired up my old Mavic Pro and Oh Boy, that thing just kept on going, full signal. It out flew both newer drones hands down in range and never lost a bar of signal strength.

Note: All tests conducted in a rural farming region, no planes, airports or people for large distances, just empty paddocks and pastures and the occasional cow. Max flight height was 80m

Just what I have noticed.

GLOBAL HAWK Posted at 6-4 18:28
From a post I just made

Like i said in your original post, the Mini 3 Pro has 2k extra range over the MA2 so, the Mini 2 Pro should be a somewhat better

Bashy Posted at 6-4 18:45
Like i said in your original post, the Mini 3 Pro has 2k extra range over the MA2 so, the Mini 2 Pro should be a somewhat better

Why do you keep quoting specs rather than trying things real world. Most people don’t even know how far say 500 m is when flying. It is a very long way and way beyond VLOS

GLOBAL HAWK Posted at 6-4 18:28
From a post I just made

I don’t have any problems flying to 1000m and still have full reception , and I’m not sure why I would want to fly any further.

hallmark007 Posted at 6-5 01:38
I don’t have any problems flying to 1000m and still have full reception , and I’m not sure why I would want to fly any further.

Agreed, I did some drone photography this afternoon. I drove as close as i could to the subject and put the drone out, max distance was about 100m.

It’s not very good, sometimes can’t fly around a single building, which I could with my mavic 2. would be nice if they can fix that, but not on costs of battery life (maybe they need more power?)

Bigplumbs Posted at 6-5 00:32
Why do you keep quoting specs rather than trying things real world. Most people don’t even know how far say 500 m is when flying. It is a very long way and way beyond VLOS

I quote specs because thats whats being sold to us.
If the drone is being quoted as 2km further than an older model, then in reality, it should be better than the older model, end of, its not about VLOS or how far folks thinks Xm is. Its about what you're being sold, i really do not care if you're happy with yours, i ain't gonna buy something that's struggling until i find out exactly what is what and that's my perogative!

Checki Posted at 6-5 01:52
It’s not very good, sometimes can’t fly around a single building, which I could with my mavic 2. would be nice if they can fix that, but not on costs of battery life (maybe they need more power?)

Flying out of the line of sight of the RC will almost certainly cut the signal. And that should be expected.

hallmark007 Posted at 6-5 03:52
Flying out of the line of sight of the RC will almost certainly cut the signal. And that should be expected.

Thats all down to the signal though, I did a church with my Mini 2 in CE and lost the signal, got it back and aborted, tried again in FCC and it aced it, it dropped to 3 bars but didn't lose live screen once