Hey DJI forums!

My name is Mike; I reside in Bucks County, PA (Newtown to be exact) and I am the proud owner of a new DJI Mini 2! My wife got me the best birthday present EVER. I received the Costco bundle that came with the case, extra battery, and 32 GB microSD card.

This is my first experience with drones, and I took my Mini 2 out on a few test flights today to practice and had a blast! I wanted to swing by to introduce myself, and ask a few questions of the members of the forum:

- Are there any recommended accessories that I should get for my Mini 2? I was looking at a landing pad on Amazon as well as possibly an external battery pack for charging on the go. Anything else I should consider?

- Is DJI Care worth it? I know Costco has a very liberal electronics return policy if anything breaks--it's basically a defacto lifetime warranty. Any advice/experience that you all can share?

- Any recommendations for good drone flight spots and areas to get scenic photos/videos in Southeastern PA and NJ would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, all. Looking forward to sharing more posts and footage and chatting with you all in the forums

Mike

Dji Mini 2 is the best school drone you can get, I also started with it almost a year ago. If you are like me and use to play videogames I'd recomend controller mode 3 instead of 1 or 2 because it's just like the standard control for any videogame while the other types are more for RC traditional enthusiast and are not very intuitive.

Accessories for the Mini 2... a nice charger capable of 36W or more if you want to charge the batteries faster than with the default 18W charger from DJI, the official sun hood for the controller is also a must, and also some 30W or more capable powerbank (100Wh or so at least), to charge the batteries on the go if needed is also fine. And a 128GB microSD, as 64GB ones tend to get full quickly at 4K.

Learning to takeoff/land from your hand instead of using the ground or pads is one of the best habilities you can learn, but it's a bit scary at the beginning, Flytpath has a video about it. Since my fourth day or so I've been doing it every time, even on windy days. Note that if the blades hit your fingers, the'll do a little cut or two (on bigger drones like the Inspire are more dangerous though) but never let them go near your eyes and allways be prepared to cover them with your arm if something hapens.



I don't have care refresh for any drone... not having it prevents you from being overconfident about your flying capabilities. After 800 flights, more than 5000Km and nearly 200 hours of flight haven't crashed yet (a bunch of close calls though XD)... but ... just happens from time to time and one day you just crash, it's a common thing, you just repair it or buy another and keep on with the hobby.

If you were from Europe I'd say that the best accessory you can get is a hack for the drone to unlock FCC mode... but you are already on FCC mode, so that's all XD

Your time frame for buying the Care Refresh package is limited and may already have expired.
I use a landing pad whenever possible. There are times when it might be inconvenient to hand launch and catch. And hand launching is actually more difficult because you normally need two hands to strart the motors. I have actually launched from atop my head  few times ...easier ;-)

Hi there. Thank you for reaching out. Hope that you could get the best recommendation from our fellow DJI Pilots here in DJI Forum. Please note that there is a 48 hours timeframe after you activate your aircraft if you are willing to purchase the DJI Care refresh. Also, you may check our available accessories on our store website using this link https://store.dji.com/category/mini-2?from=menu_products . Thank you for your valued support!

Dji Care Refresh is deffo worth it, more so for beginners and can be extended for 2 years.

Welcome to the club.   

First, welcome to the forum.  I use a sun hood to make it easier to see my display.  Landing pads are nice as they keep grass, sand, grit out of the motors.  Make yourself a nice pre-flight checklist and follow it.  Practice, practice and keep practicing.  The Mini 2 is a very capable drone and the small size factor makes it easy to travel with.  Good luck and happy flying.

GaryDoug Posted at 8-6 18:46
Your time frame for buying the Care Refresh package is limited and may already have expired.
I use a landing pad whenever possible. There are times when it might be inconvenient to hand launch and catch. And hand launching is actually more difficult because you normally need two hands to strart the motors. I have actually launched from atop my head  few times ...easier ;-)

Now that's using your "head" Gary.  

GaryDoug Posted at 8-6 18:46
Your time frame for buying the Care Refresh package is limited and may already have expired.
I use a landing pad whenever possible. There are times when it might be inconvenient to hand launch and catch. And hand launching is actually more difficult because you normally need two hands to strart the motors. I have actually launched from atop my head  few times ...easier ;-)

It's easily done with the left hand, you just need to repose the controller on the biceps of your extended arm while you perform the action with the sticks with your left hand.

You can also use the auto takeoff feature from the app, but I always do it with the sticks. When I fly at home I usually take off from the table, but while being outside hand launch is the fastest and easiest way.

I allwyas land in the hand, no matter where I am, as i'ts the fastest way to do it.

Hi Mike, and congrats on getting a great drone.
I haven't had mine all that long (since May), but it's capable of great footage. I'm thinking about a landing pad, but taking off and landing from your hand is very easy.
Just don't forget to press record:

Drone in the right/left hand with 2 or 3 fingers. RC / smartphone in the right/left hand, press Auto Takeoff with your thumb. Landing on the landing pad is "more difficult", because you also have to steer and hit the pad when descending (stupid if you miss it and end up in dirt, mud, tall grass or what else). At hand landing you just have to descend and catch the drone.

I recently purchased the Costco combo myself. First thing that comes to mind is check the spare propellers in the combo. Mine came with the wrong props and screws  for a Mavic Mini not the Mini 2 ! They are different and not interchangable. While you could possibly install the Mini props on the Mini 2, they will come loose and fly off since the screws are smaller and will not tighten up properly. I immediately contacted both DJI and Costco about the safety issue.
Easy way to tell is the color of the stripe on the props, grey/silver for Mavic Mini and yellow/orange for the Mini 2.

I purchased the DJI care as Costcos electronics warranty specifically does not cover drones, only televisions and cameras.

Get yourself a stiff landing pad, a sun shade for your cell phone and I bought a good logbook to keep track of things.
Optionally I also bought a third battery and a  6 in 1 quick charging station which is so much better than the DJI charger but could possibly void any warranty.b
Enjoy!

Welcome!! It maybe usefull for protect the gimbal  

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4053892

Regards

Hey Mike,
Welcome to the club !
Not sure on your level of photography but my advice is to learn manual camera settings if you  haven't already.
Took me a while to find this out but the difference in video footage you can get is like night and day.
Did u get the DJI battery charging hub with your bundle ?  if not, i'd recommend that and a 3rd battery.

Have fun !  

Thanks for the advice, everyone. I did end up purchasing the DJI Care Refresh for my Mini 2. I figured it's better safe than sorry. Of course I'm flying as carefully as possible but I'd rather the peace of mind!

Went flying around some more today and I had a blast. At one point it was a little nerve wracking, however. I was close to 100m altitude and while I got some great shots, the drone is so small it's extremely easy to lose track of at that height (since I'm a new drone pilot I just feel more comfortable always keeping the drone in a position where I can have my eyes on it). Perfect time to check out the return to home feature, which worked great!

As far as accessories, I'm going to start with the sun hood for the controller as well as a landing pad. I thought about propeller guards as well but I'm leery that they may put the Mini 2 over the 250g limit.

Here are some shots I snapped over the weekend...these are completely untouched.

Huginn Kenningar Posted at 8-7 04:13
It's easily done with the left hand, you just need to repose the controller on the biceps of your extended arm while you perform the action with the sticks with your left hand.

You can also use the auto takeoff feature from the app, but I always do it with the sticks. When I fly at home I usually take off from the table, but while being outside hand launch is the fastest and easiest way.

"You can also use the auto takeoff feature from the app..."

You are absolutely right about that. I have only used that once, the very first launch and never again. I always thought the motors had to be already running to do that, but I see that is not the case.

As for the landing pad versus hand-catching, I don't make it a habit of wearing safety goggles to protect me from a collision with my face if the wind shifts suddenly ;-)

MPallanti Posted at 8-8 16:35
Thanks for the advice, everyone. I did end up purchasing the DJI Care Refresh for my Mini 2. I figured it's better safe than sorry. Of course I'm flying as carefully as possible but I'd rather the peace of mind!

Went flying around some more today and I had a blast. At one point it was a little nerve wracking, however. I was close to 100m altitude and while I got some great shots, the drone is so small it's extremely easy to lose track of at that height (since I'm a new drone pilot I just feel more comfortable always keeping the drone in a position where I can have my eyes on it). Perfect time to check out the return to home feature, which worked great!

" I thought about propeller guards as well but I'm leery that they may put the Mini 2 over the 250g limit."

Not only that but the guards, depending on the weight, may put the drone into Payload mode and that will restrict the height it can reach in the app. OK for indoors.