With this MAVIC MINI REVIEW based on 4 months of experience flying the Mavic Mini, I want to discuss if the Mini actually is the best choice for beginners by covering 7 reasons why it might not be the best option for new pilots (+suggest what I would get instead if I had to start out today).

Do you agree?
.

Hi Henrik,

About your statement in #1, output power less with low battery.... any documents where this is explained/proofed ? or is it just your assumption?
I do not see this on my MM, at 10% battery it still capable of full "power" in sport mode if i check the pitch down angle plus speed.

cheers
JJB

Good point(s)!

yep totally agree, object avoidance should have been at least on the back/front for it to be a entry level drone...apart from that the app is really unstable and unreliable with a lot of issues, bugs and crashes which adds on top of the bad connection. in conjunction this makes it a lot more risky and prone for a bad outcome in the hands of somebody that has little experience with drones, as it is very easy to make a mistake when the only thing that connects you with the drone fails! they should have spent more time in development and testing prior releasing it, or at least use dji go as a backup working reliable version...

sbonev Posted at 3-2 01:48
yep totally agree, object avoidance should have been at least on the back/front for it to be a entry level drone...apart from that the app is really unstable and unreliable with a lot of issues, bugs and crashes which adds on top of the bad connection. in conjunction this makes it a lot more risky and prone for a bad outcome in the hands of somebody that has little experience with drones, as it is very easy to make a mistake when the only thing that connects you with the drone fails! they should have spent more time in development and testing prior releasing it, or at least use dji go as a backup working reliable version...

FWIW, the iOS app is rock solid

JJB* Posted at 3-2 01:01
Hi Henrik,

About your statement in #1, output power less with low battery.... any documents where this is explained/proofed ? or is it just your assumption?

This was based on my assumptions, not claiming otherwise.

What I think happened was a combination during the battering combined with low temperature, it was throttled at the end before giving the warning (26%) about low battery and asking me to land.  

I should properly follow up with a more scientific test to figure this out ;-)

Ice_2k Posted at 3-2 02:02
FWIW, the iOS app is rock solid

I have to agree here, mine is rock stable in iOS as well

Henrik Olsen Posted at 3-2 02:06
I have to agree here, mine is rock stable in iOS as well

well, not the case on android unfortunately...and i doubt anybody would  want to buy or should buy an ios device just because development team cannot do their job properly.

Henrik Olsen Posted at 3-2 02:05
This was based on my assumptions, not claiming otherwise.

What I think happened was a combination during the battering combined with low temperature, it was throttled at the end before giving the warning (26%) about low battery and asking me to land.  

Thanks Henrik for the clarification.

I have a rock-steady fly app (android) and not a single error on my CE MM.

True, MM cannot handle too much wind, so when fly above 8 m/s  just be very carefull when flying not in LOS. (better is to wait for a less windy better day i think...)

What i do not 'like' about the MM ;
> that loosing the video link it wil RTH automatically, why not hover and wait a little longer to wait for establishing a video connection again? if still no video link than give the pilot the choice of RTH by SW or fly back manually as the RC connection is still working.
> it will autoland within 20 meters fom HP if disconnected; why not fly back 19 meters to HP ? (i have to find always a good HP when flying close to water...)

Apart for that i think MM is a great drone for starters, if they read/understand the manual completely and start to learn to fly the slow way...thus no flying low above streaming water the second flight or so  ;-)

cheers
JJB

To be honnest I disagree that MM is wrong for beginners. You only need to take it seriously as flying is quite complex skill (OPs need to understand that MM is not a toy), You need to learn the limits and not break those limits.
My Android app works fine. Maybe front sensors would be helpfull for Mini2 and of course to finetune app and fw for Mini1 is needed.

sbonev Posted at 3-2 02:08
well, not the case on android unfortunately...and i doubt anybody would  want to buy or should buy an ios device just because development team cannot do their job properly.

well, not the case on android unfortunately.
And you are writing off the Android operating system on the basis of observations of how many Android devices?
If you had a poor performance on one, that's because you used an underperforming device, not because there's a problem with Android.
You would also have a poor performance if you flew with a less capable iOS device too.
There are plenty of Android devices that will run the app flawlessly.
But use a cheap one with a slow processor and not enough RAM and you'll be disappointed.

Labroides Posted at 3-2 03:59
well, not the case on android unfortunately.
And you are writing off the Android operating system on the basis of observations of how many Android devices?
If you had a poor performance on one, that's because you used an underperforming device, not because there's a problem with Android.

there is an overall issue with samsung devices, i am not the only one experiencing it! and if note 8 is underperforming i don't know what you consider well performing...issue is not slowness neither poor performance nor android, issue is in the app...issue is buttons on RC not working on start of flight, requiring a reopening of the DJI fly, app force closing and causing reboot of the phone when connection to AC is lost! all serious issues that point to poor coding!

sbonev Posted at 3-2 04:16
there is an overall issue with samsung devices, i am not the only one experiencing it! and if note 8 is underperforming i don't know what you consider well performing...issue is not slowness neither poor performance nor android, issue is in the app...issue is buttons on RC not working on start of flight, requiring a reopening of the DJI fly, app force closing and causing reboot of the phone when connection to AC is lost! all serious issues that point to poor coding!

If that's true, it's an issue with that particular Samsung or it might not have been properly configured.
But it's not a problem with Android.

As a beginner, I try to balance the "limits" of the Mini with my own!  I've had my Mini since 12/2019 and most of my flights have  been test and training around my house.  I've been keen to keep abreast with both issues and techniques with the Mini from sites an videos like this (I find most of Henrik's videos usable).



Finally, grass may be greener on the other side of the fence, but I only have to mow mine!!  Don't chase tech (8K TV, Unpossible megapixel DSLR, Liquid nitrogen cooled terahertz chipset).... fly what you have (till the props fly on).  Love the one you're with.  Who puts training wheels on a motorcycle?  Wow, my posts is now  all  philosophyie.

The Mini is not a good drone for a beginner, because it's not a good drone for anyone.
It's is a cheap drone with limited specs and very limited performance.
Why would anyone think the cheapest DJI drone would be the best for anything?

It's speed is half that of most DJI drones, so it just doesn't have enough go to deal with more than a gentle breeze.
And on top of that, it's got a fatal flaw that DJI still hasn't done anything to fix.
Uncommanded descent incidents are much too common.

btw ...

The output power of any DJI drone is not reduced when the battery level starting to get drained.
Your drone can climb and fly just as fast when the battery is at 30% as at 100%.
Try it for yourself sometime.

I'm a beginner and have found the Mavic mini easy to use.

Wind is an issue but I have learned when and when not to fly.

Things like this come with experience.

For the price its does its job!

Labroides Posted at 3-2 06:13
If that's true, it's an issue with that particular Samsung or it might not have been properly configured.
But it's not a problem with Android.

it is particular to samsung devices, no matter which version of android, which points to poor testing as it is something specific to the architecture of the app and is probably related to the processor. There is no configuration specific to samsung devices app that can possibly fix such issues. only way is proper development and testing. and imagine a scenario where a guy buys a mavic mini and has a samsung s10 for example, latest piece of tech, and goes on and starts flying it for the first time - goes to 100 m distance, loses connection and the stupid app crashes the phone and it restarts, by that time drone has reconnected to RC, while user waits phone to boot and app to start he might unintentionally pull a stick and crash the drone in the head of some innocent passby-er. and this phone restart happens on every disconnect of the RC...one flight - 2,3 disconnects and everything can happen.So far the beginner drone myth goes!!! as much as you want to blame it on user for buying a samsung or bad luck  or whatever issues is mainly in software and hence cannot be totally advertised as reliable

sbonev Posted at 3-2 07:18
it is particular to samsung devices, no matter which version of android, which points to poor testing as it is something specific to the architecture of the app and is probably related to the processor. There is no configuration specific to samsung devices app that can possibly fix such issues. only way is proper development and testing. and imagine a scenario where a guy buys a mavic mini and has a samsung s10 for example, latest piece of tech, and goes on and starts flying it for the first time - goes to 100 m distance, loses connection and the stupid app crashes the phone and it restarts, by that time drone has reconnected to RC, while user waits phone to boot and app to start he might unintentionally pull a stick and crash the drone in the head of some innocent passby-er. and this phone restart happens on every disconnect of the RC...one flight - 2,3 disconnects and everything can happen.So far the beginner drone myth goes!!! as much as you want to blame it on user for buying a samsung or bad luck  or whatever issues is mainly in software and hence cannot be totally advertised as reliable

Then complain about Samsung ... don't try to say that the Android version of teh app is the problem, because it works just fine.

Labroides Posted at 3-2 07:44
Then complain about Samsung ... don't try to say that the Android version of teh app is the problem, because it works just fine.

well nope, software has to be tested before releasing, if there i something wrong in an app how do you expect samsung to fix it?? do you realise the stupidity of your statement?it is easier to fix the code, not the hardware!

Well produced video as always. I disagree with your conclusion, but you make your points eloquently.

As a first time drone owner, I love my mini.

As with any $500 toy, I am careful when flying it and so far, other than shredding 2 sets of props (both absolutely pilot error) I've not had a single issue with it. I've even managed to takes some decent videos with them, although, I admit that owning a camera does not make me a photographer...so they aren't great.

BOTTOM LINE: To me what makes the mini the perfect drone for beginners is the price. I can afford to lose $500 and walk away sad but not devastated. $1,500 would be closer to devastating for me. So I've been able to get into the hobby and enjoy flying my mini without constantly being afraid I'd lose it.

I've already started saving up to get my next one. Probs a Mavic 2.

Thanks for sharing!

Cheers!
=C=

sbonev Posted at 3-2 07:55
well nope, software has to be tested before releasing, if there i something wrong in an app how do you expect samsung to fix it?? do you realise the stupidity of your statement?it is easier to fix the code, not the hardware!

well nope, software has to be tested before releasing, if there i something wrong in an app how do you expect samsung to fix it?? do you realise the stupidity of your statement?it is easier to fix the code, not the hardware!
No but I do realise how stupid your argument is.
You've assumed that there's a problem with Android because your Samsung device doesn't run it properly.
You've made the silly assumption that the software is not tested before release.

But you ignore the fact that lots of Android devices run the app perfectly.
There's nothing wrong with the code.
If that's too complex for you to get your head around, you're going to have trouble flying anything.

Labroides Posted at 3-2 08:08
well nope, software has to be tested before releasing, if there i something wrong in an app how do you expect samsung to fix it?? do you realise the stupidity of your statement?it is easier to fix the code, not the hardware!
No but I do realise how stupid your argument is.
You've assumed that there's a problem with Android because your Samsung device doesn't run it properly.

yep, you are "special" case, i see that...and you know about code as much as about rocket science obviously, otherwise wouldn't say such bold statements that if something is running well on lots of devices and not on another set of lots of devices code is fine, problem is with the "others". Also you seem to know little about android and the fragmentation and issues that it might cause and why is so important good coding, but let's leave it there, enjoy your app, hopefully you won't get a dud version with some update

@Labroides as a software developer with quite a few apps published in app stores, I'm pretty sure @sbonev is right about this one, it's the app that needs to be tailored made for the different particularities of different Android integrations. And it really is a nightmare to build an Android app that works flawlessly across all types of devices. Also, from what I read here, he never blamed the Android operating system itself, not sure why you keep saying this.

What’s a beginner drone, is it a drone with more redundancy then maybe beginners should start on a Matrice 200, it doesn’t matter what a beginner starts with it’s still going to crash if he doesn’t learn to fly it correctly, OP for instance is not a beginner and he has crashed his twice and both times through his own incompetence.
Drones don’t crash themselves people crash them. I do agree that there maybe a problem with something in the drone or FW bringing some down involuntary but what are the other problems, I’d say a good guess , it’s those flying them.
Haven’t seen many crashed in to walls trees etc certainly no more than any other dji new drone and I would say less than I seen with Mavic pro, so OA I don’t think would have made any difference, in fact I can’t remember once using OA on any of my drones.

So that leaves wind, well it’s recommended not to fly in winds above 8M/S and I for one and I see above jjb seconds this if you stick to this then you won’t lose drone to the wind. I think the biggest mistakes new users are having with this drone is not paying attention to its limits and I include people like the OP who has also been guilty of flying his drone in high winds, helping no one particularly those who don’t know anything about drones and are just beginning.

If you give someone a drone and tell him NOT to fly in winds over 8m/s ,and he chances his arm because he thinks he’s flying the M2 he’s read about, and it gets him home safely, what do you think this guy would do with a drone if you told him not to fly in winds over 12m/s, easy he will because that’s what he does.

With the very big exception of craft descending mini flys just fine while some say it doesn’t have power, it has as much power as the spark and some older bigger drones, so having more power might help in certain situations people get themselves into , but they need to pay for that power and it’s most likely that won’t be enough for them.

Where does the OP get off telling those who are flying their drones within the parameters that this drone is not for them, in fact I’d say somewhere in the very high percentages are flying and enjoying them just fine.

Some now saying app is crap, that’s rubbish app is really good with almost no problems, there are niggly bits that users are complaining about particularly new users, like landing within 20m this could be fixed With a FW update, problem with radar on app, I think dji should start teaching users to use small triangle on map to know where craft is and what heading it’s on.

The one big thing people should realize with this drone is, it’s the lowest end drone dji make, it doesn’t have great specs or redundancy, it only copes in wind parameters set down in your manual, and I would say that it should nearly be kept within VLOS or very close to it.

But I would say the likelihood of anyone reading this and thinking they got the wrong drone, that’s rubbish, just look to the OP above and realize part of his problem is he’s crashed his through his own incompetence, try avoiding that . He's also wrong about batteries, and lastly I've seen many many people crash phantoms Mavic pro Air and M2.

sbonev Posted at 3-2 04:16
there is an overall issue with samsung devices, i am not the only one experiencing it! and if note 8 is underperforming i don't know what you consider well performing...issue is not slowness neither poor performance nor android, issue is in the app...issue is buttons on RC not working on start of flight, requiring a reopening of the DJI fly, app force closing and causing reboot of the phone when connection to AC is lost! all serious issues that point to poor coding!

NOTE 8 (Snapdragon version)  user ZERO issues

MM is my first drone, using an old S6 Galaxy as a dedicated controller. Couldn't be happier. Does what it says on the tin. Yes I'd like DJI to give me active track, WB, follow me and a $1000 voucher!! I did my research before I bought it. To those who want, want and want more features, did you do your research? If so, you knew it doesn't come with all those features. Stop moaning and buy a feature loaded drone?

virtual Posted at 3-2 03:54
To be honnest I disagree that MM is wrong for beginners. You only need to take it seriously as flying is quite complex skill (OPs need to understand that MM is not a toy), You need to learn the limits and not break those limits.
My Android app works fine. Maybe front sensors would be helpfull for Mini2 and of course to finetune app and fw for Mini1 is needed.

Yes, that is true it has to be taken very seriously.. but with a drone, this capability is very tempting to push limits and this is when it starts to go wrong

lifeisfun Posted at 3-2 09:05
NOTE 8 (Snapdragon version)  user ZERO issues

that would make sense as mine is exynos... that is why i suspected it might be something with processor...different architecture, load processing, even the ram. anyway, it doesn't necessarily mean it is not connected to bad updates or other issues. the only certain thing is it is code related and manifests itself on samsung phones. Actually i noticed elevated battery usage while using dji app, not sure how much as i didn't pay much attention but significant, 10-20 % - so it could be bad code in the app is loading the cpu cores and not properly using the resources, but again that is only my wild guess

i assume you had loss of connection and didn't experience phone reboot, correct?

JJB* Posted at 3-2 02:29
Thanks Henrik for the clarification.

I have a rock-steady fly app (android) and not a single error on my CE MM.

No worries :-)  Yes, this 20m limit is a bit odd

Great it's working for you

Labroides Posted at 3-2 06:37
The Mini is not a good drone for a beginner, because it's not a good drone for anyone.
It's is a cheap drone with limited specs and very limited performance.
Why would anyone think the cheapest DJI drone would be the best for anything?

I think what I saw was a temperature issue, where the batteries were cooled down during flight. I will test it out at some point, and make a follow up video on that :-)

Ice_2k Posted at 3-2 08:29
@Labroides as a software developer with quite a few apps published in app stores, I'm pretty sure @sbonev is right about this one, it's the app that needs to be tailored made for the different particularities of different Android integrations. And it really is a nightmare to build an Android app that works flawlessly across all types of devices. Also, from what I read here, he never blamed the Android operating system itself, not sure why you keep saying this.

I can confirm it's significantly harder to develop apps for Android than iOS. It requires top of the line coding, and still despite intensive testing it fails once in a while as there is no chance of testing all the OS and device combinations efficiently. Where I work we interface with hardware as well, and this is where the problems occur, as it otherwise could be automated in test cloud relatively easy.

Cal Evans Posted at 3-2 08:06
Well produced video as always. I disagree with your conclusion, but you make your points eloquently.

As a first time drone owner, I love my mini.

That is ok, we don't need to agree :-)

From your view, it's the perfect beginner drone, so it should be as we all have different views

From my point of view to say that the MM is not suitable for beginners, it means that you should start from drones of 100 euros, height limited to 50 meters and no wind.
If you allow I don't start by buying an MPRO, I would be a fool.
We are all aware of the problems of the MM, I was the first to lose it at sea.

Renato61 Posted at 3-2 10:50
From my point of view to say that the MM is not suitable for beginners, it means that you should start from drones of 100 euros, height limited to 50 meters and no wind.
If you allow I don't start by buying an MPRO, I would be a fool.
We are all aware of the problems of the MM, I was the first to lose it at sea.

I did suggest picking up on of bigger models second hand, but if flying is your things there are much cheaper alternatives, like a second-hand spark or simply a Hubsan.

May I ask how do you lose yours in the sea?

Moving from my own DIY drones I did start out with a cheap secondhand Phantom 3. It was cheaper than the MM flymore combo is today

Henrik Olsen Posted at 3-2 10:58
I did suggest picking up on of bigger models second hand, but if flying is your things there are much cheaper alternatives, like a second-hand spark or simply a Hubsan.

May I ask how do you lose yours in the sea?

Look my thread: https://forum.dji.com/forum.php? ... D712%26typeid%3D712

Usually I avoid buying used, I'm afraid of cheating.

Probably the only missing feature for the MM to be a true "beginner drone" is Obstacle Avoidance. Everything else is as good as it gets, considering the price. I would also point out that no drone can be completely idiot-proof, so beginners must put in the time and effort to learn how to use these things, as they are still flying machines that require some knowledge & skills to operate properly and safely.

The Tello is a beginner drone. The mini is a decent entry level drone with most of the features the bigger drones have.

deathsquad Posted at 3-2 12:43
The Tello is a beginner drone. The mini is a decent entry level drone with most of the features the bigger drones have.

That is a good point :-)

120ccpm Posted at 3-2 12:08
Probably the only missing feature for the MM to be a true "beginner drone" is Obstacle Avoidance. Everything else is as good as it gets, considering the price. I would also point out that no drone can be completely idiot-proof, so beginners must put in the time and effort to learn how to use these things, as they are still flying machines that require some knowledge & skills to operate properly and safely.

I know it's more expensive but Skydio 2 is pretty close to idiot-proof - My buddy has demonstrated how you can fly it with high speed in a forest and it just dodges the tree and finds a new way if the path has been blocked - it's pretty insane

Ice_2k Posted at 3-2 08:29
@Labroides as a software developer with quite a few apps published in app stores, I'm pretty sure @sbonev is right about this one, it's the app that needs to be tailored made for the different particularities of different Android integrations. And it really is a nightmare to build an Android app that works flawlessly across all types of devices. Also, from what I read here, he never blamed the Android operating system itself, not sure why you keep saying this.

from what I read here, he never blamed the Android operating system itself, not sure why you keep saying this.
Because he said it in the post where I first responded to him.
https://forum.dji.com/forum.php?mod=redirect&goto=findpost&ptid=209990&pid=2097372