DJI Mavic Mini

£369/$399

www.dji.com WEIGHT: 249g DIMENSIONS: 140x82x57mm (folded) CONTROLLER: Yes VIDEO RESOLUTION: 2.7K 30fps CAMERA RESOLUTION: 12Mp BATTERY LIFE: 30 minutes (2400mah)

MAX RANGE: 4km/2.5 miles

MAX SPEED: 47kph/29mph

WITH THE UK, USA and China now requiring the registration of any drone weighing more than 250g (8.8oz), a new market has emerged for ultra-light models that undercut the weight limit.

With the Mavic Mini, DJI’S R&D team have performed a minor miracle to shave weight from their design to keep the Mavic Mini down to 249g, and even trim the price at the same time. The key sacrifice here has been video quality – the Mavic Mini can ‘only’ capture at 2.7K (about half the number of pixels as 4K) and at 40Mbps, so the video has slightly more compression artifacts than that from a Mavic 2 Zoom. You also don’t get anti-collision sensors, which add weight.

Still the drone has a three-axis camera stabilization gimbal, meaning footage looks supersmooth, and DJI’S usual software has received a tidy-up to make it more vlogger/instagrammer friendly. It features Quickshots – pre-programmed selfie-friendly clips – and the lower video res isn’t an issue for online sharing.

VERDICT

PROS: Ultra light and compact; registration-free flying; easy to fly CONS: No 4K; no manual control; no collision avoidance sensors WE SAY: Great value that comes with a few minor caveats