I like to spend a good amount of time using it just to see what its strengths and its weaknesses are see if there are any weird quirks that pop up. But I can say without a doubt that this is one solid drone in both the video and photos that it can capture and just the overall performance. Now, like many people, I have had problems with range and signal strength, but Im not really going to get into that in this part of the review. As I dont want that aspect to reflect negatively on the Drone review itself, because the Drone itself is actually pretty good, well talk about that a little bit here at the end of the video now the Mini 3 had quite a design change this year. When you compare it to something like the mini 2, the original mavic Mini or the mini SC, some people think it looks ugly. I for the most part dont mind the look of it. It is quite different, but at the end of the day it is functional and really to me thats all thats important. The build quality of it is pretty well similar to to that of the Mini 2. These sub 250 gram drones need to be light, so they cant use such premium materials as you would find in something like the mavic 3 or the air 2s. Those drones feel nice and solid. When you hold them, these mini drones do have a flimsy feel to them almost kind of like a toyish feel, but I would have to say it of all the mini drones that are available on the market.

Its probably one of the best built ones and doesnt feel quite as toyish and, of course, one of the big new features of the Mini 3 Pro is that we can get this new controller, bundled with it. This is the DJI RC and it comes with a built in screen. Now again, it feels a little cheaper than previous controllers. If you compare it to something like the RC Pro or even something like the rcn1 here, the quality of the material just feels a little bit cheaper, but overall, its actually a really nice design. Its very light to hold its comfortable and having that built in screen is just a nice feature. Its quick to deploy you dont have to worry about hooking up a smartphone, but, more importantly, you dont have to worry about phone compatibility. Weve seen that in the past, with some Android models not being compatible with the DJI fly app. When you go this route here over something like the rcn1, its just nice and simple everything just works, you just turn it on and Away. You go, of course, if you do prefer flying with the rcn1, they do have a bundle where you can get this controller instead, but the price difference between the two is very minimal and I would highly recommend if you are in the market, to purchase a mini. Three really take a close look at the one with the built in screen. It really is a good value for what youre getting now the DJI RC is not quite as advanced or as powerful as something like the RC Pro, but we do get some extra buttons at the bottom here for customization and we do get that extra dial here.

For zooming that you just dont get on something like the rcn1 now many people ask whether you can use something like this with other drones that DJI sell as of right now, at the time of filming this video, it is not compatible with any other drone other Than the mini 3. most likely down the road, they will make it compatible with other drones, but I can see DJI, perhaps selling this independently sometime down the road as it is, a nice slower cost solution than something like the RC Pro. Now, when youre flying the Mini 3 with it, we do get the benefit of having a 700 nit screen its not quite as bright as the RC Pro but 700 nits is not bad, but the nice thing is that 700 nits is sustained, unlike flying with something Like an iPhone that starts out nice and bright, but on a hot sunny day as the phone warms up, that screen can get really dim and it can become almost unusable so again in that aspect. Something like this is a good choice. Now, when it comes to the Mini 3 Pro, it was quite an advancement over something like the DJI mini 2., a lot of times when we get these new drone releases, new generations. The features added and the upgrades are just small and incremental. This drone has had a complete makeover, both in the design and the features that it offers, which is why DJI decided to put the pro title on it.

It now has Optical avoidance, both in the front the rear and, of course, downward facing sensors as well. The Mini 3 is capable of recording in 4k 60, which is important to a lot of people and the intelligent flight features theyve included in. It are just like what you get in something like the air 2s, even the mavic 3, and has active track point of Interest Spotlight. You can create hyperlapses, which is pretty incredible for a drone again that weighs under 250 grams, but more important than all the new features that theyve added. There have been a lot of sub 250 gram drones released over the last year, but with the Mini 3. Everything just works were not having to wait for firmware updates to get the features added everything just works beautifully out of the box. The Drone flies like any other DJI drone, whether youre, comparing it to something like the mavic 3 or the air 2s, and really, when its up in the air. You cant really tell the difference flying it over something like one of their higher end drones. Another nice feature of the Mini 3 is that this camera can turn vertically and that allows you to capture vertical videos. Now that feature is not important to everybody. There are many people who will never use that now, even myself, 95 percent of the time, perhaps even more, I will be filming in a more traditional horizontal format, but it is kind of nice to have that vertical option.

Now, when it comes to the Mini 3, of course, those intelligent flight features are nice. The new obstacle avoidance is nice, but the biggest Improvement, in my opinion, into the Mini 3 is the camera. As mentioned it can record in 4k 60. Now it has a fixed aperture of 1.7, so it is going to perform better in low light scenarios. It has a higher bit rate and the quality it captures is absolutely stunning. The colors in the video are really natural, theyre, not overdone theyre, not underdone. You hear the term color science quite a bit and I would have to say yes, the color science on the mini 3 is quite nice. It has a much bigger sensor than the mini 2., its not quite a one inch sensor, but it is getting pretty close and when we compare video quality to something like the mavic 3, of course, something like the mavic 3. It has a nice large sensor, its going to have better video quality, but I would say its actually getting pretty close to the quality of the air 2s and that can be pretty important to some people. They want the quality of a higher end drone, but they need it to be 250 grams because of regulations in their country. On top of that, this is djis first mini drone that will film in descend lake. So if you want to be able to film in a flat color profile and not just a flat color profile, but a 10 bit flat color profile, the Mini 3 is now capable of that.

So if you want to go in and do your own grading, that is now an option which again is just incredible for a sub 250 gram drone. Now another really nice feature of this camera and Gimbal, and the way its designed is, it can tilt all the way up to 60 degrees and its actually quite a bit higher than any other drone that they sell. The mavic 3 can only tilt up to 35 degrees and just offhand I think the air 2s can only tilt up to 24 degrees, so the Mini 3 at 60 degrees is pretty incredible and, as mentioned its important for a couple different reasons. First of all, you can get creative. You can angle your camera quite a bit up to get some really unique perspectives. Now its not something youre going to use all the time most of the time, youre going to be filming Straight Ahead or down at the ground and that 60 degree tilt will work, whether youre in horizontal or in vertical mode. But more importantly, why? Its important is when the drones flying in sport mode because of the way the cutout is up here and because it can angle at 60 degrees you dont, get that camera bumping down, like you do with something like the mini 2. with the mini 2. If you have the camera pointing straight and then you just put full stick forward in sport mode, youll notice, your camera knocks down a bit when you start flying, but with the Mini 3.

That doesnt happen, because it can still look forward as its flying along. So really another important upgrade now when it comes to Performance in the wind, the Mini 3 has the same rating as the mini 2, which is a level 5 wind and for the most part I have no complaints with it. Ive flown it. On a few windy days and the Drone performed just fine, of course it does struggle in the wind if its a really windy day, but nothing Im really terribly concerned about you just have to take some precaution if youre flying out any great distance, you just have To make sure you have enough battery power to fight the wind to get back to where you are safely, so all in all this is one fantastic drone, its actually outperformed, even my expectations of it. I highly recommend it to anybody if you are in the market for a new drone, you dont want to spend a lot of money, but you still want a good performing drone that can capture Incredible video. This is definitely the Drone you should consider. Of course, you can still buy the mini 2 and it is quite a bit cheaper, so that may be an option for you as well, but if you do want some of those intelligent flight features, all the safety features, the obstacle avoidance. Definitely this is something you should consider now, because this drone is under 250 grams. It can be very important in many countries and in some countries its really the only option in countries like the US, its not as important, but even in those situations, its still a drone you may want to consider, because it is extremely late and its easy to Travel with, if youre a person likes to do backpacking trips, its definitely a lot easier to bring something like this, along with you.

On top of that, the batteries are a lot smaller and lighter. So you can bring several batteries with you without bogging you down and thats, even just good for people who like to travel or, if youre, just doing day trips. If youre out sightseeing, you can throw this in a little shoulder bag or even a small hip bag, and whether you use the Drone that day or not its, not really an inconvenient thing to bring along with you. So in that aspect, its great for people who, like to Vlog travel and just dont, want to be bogged down with their equipment and speaking of batteries. One nice thing that theyve done this year is the standard battery is rated at 34 minutes, so were getting a few extra minutes of flight time. But you do have the option in some countries its not available in every country, but you can get get their Plus Battery. That will then get you 47 minutes of flight time. So definitely a great little upgrade as well. The only thing to remember that, if you do get the upgraded batteries, it will put the drone over 250 grams, so you may not be in compliance, so that is definitely something to keep in mind. If you do purchase the fly more kit, you can get it in both versions with the regular battery that will keep it under 250 grams or you can get the plus batteries. So you just have to decide whats right for you.

For me, I went with the plus batteries because, if I need to be in compliance with something I have the original battery that came with it, that will keep it under 250 grams. If flight time is more my priority, I can put one of the plus batteries in and get a good amount of extended flight time now. Just before I go here, I will touch base on the Range problem that I have been having, because I do want to include it in there, because I think it is important now I just want to stress that its not every mini three that is having this Problem just some select units now it seems to be a fairly High number, but basically, the gist is, with this drone Im getting weak signal errors at even sometimes 200 meters, 300 meters Im, sometimes getting disconnected between two and 400 meters a place that I fly quite A bit Im getting disconnected between four and 600 meters and when I did a range comparison with the mini 2, the mini 2 was able to fly for like a kilometer and a half and didnt lose any signal strength, whereas my Mini 3 got disconnected at 600 Meters, so there is definitely something going on with my unit and many other units. People have been reporting the same issue now I uploaded a video a couple days ago going over the reason why its losing its connection so quickly. Basically, it appears that some units are bumping back down into CE mode, and CE mode does not have near the transmission power its more of a European regulation thing in that video.

I also show a trick how to force it back into FCC modes. So if you are having some range issues, definitely go and watch that video. I will put a link to it down in the description of this video, but I didnt want to make that a big part of the full review, because the Drone itself is incredible. Theres just that software bug in there right now that are causing problems for some people most likely it can be fixed with a firmware update. However, I do recommend that if you do have a problem with your range contact, DJI right away, because you only have 15 days from activation to do an exchange after that 15 days, you can still get your drone warrantied, but it involves you sending it in them. Examining it and trying to fix it, so sometimes you dont want to go through that hassle. You just want to get a brand new unit, so if you think youre having range problems make sure you get a hold of DJI as soon as possible. Just so you dont accidentally go over that 15 days, so thats pretty well. All I have to say about the Mini 3 right now, like I said its a phenomenal piece of tech. I am actually going to be flying this a lot this summer, I own. Quite a few drones I own the mavic 3, I own the air 2s, but uh. I do fly my mini drones quite a bit just because here in Canada, theyre not regulated quite as much as the larger drones.

So you can fly it in a lot more places that you cant a larger drone and, like I said its just so easy to travel with, if you are interested in the Mini 3, make sure youre subscribed to my channel, as I will be, covering it fully Over the coming months, making tutorials training videos testing out new features as they get released. Bug fixes anything like that. So if you are interested in it or you do own one make sure youre subscribed and uh, surely therell be a video that might be of interest to you. Well folks, hopefully you enjoyed my 30 day review.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9NjVXeXI0A