Sky’s the limit for diminutive drone
DJI Mavic Mini From €399 ★★★★★
Drones made the news for all the wrong reasons over the last 12 months, however they still remain as popular as they are fun. Whether they’re being flown by gadget geeks or fashion bloggers, drone sales are still on the up.
The best known drone maker is DJI and its Mavic Mini opens up a whole new category of drone flying.
At just 140mm x 82mm folded, this remarkably portable gadget fits in the palm of a hand. Despite its diminutive dimensions it looks and feels as well-built as its larger and professional DJI siblings.
The base configuration consists of the drone, a battery and a controller. If you intend to fly for extended periods of time, there is an upgraded Fly More pack that includes three batteries. However, the standard pack has everything you need, including some useful spares.
The controller, like the drone, unfolds and has a receptacle for your smartphone. There is a free DJI Fly app that allows you to bind the controller to your phone, so your smartphone can display the drone’s camera image, as well as the flight controls and data. The last thing to do before flight, is to insert a Micro SD memory card, where your footage will be saved.
First flight of a drone is always nerve-racking, however DJI have made this a snap. You place the drone on the ground, with its tail pointing towards you. Before flight, you’ll be asked to set some useful safety constraints. However also useful is a setting for Return To Home – so if the drone flies too high, it will automatically return home. There’s also an auto take-off button displayed on your smartphone screen, and when held for three seconds it launches the drone. If you’re new to drone flying, it doesn’t take long with the Mavic Mini to grow confident in your piloting skills. You use the two controller sticks to move up and down, left and right and forward and backwards. Once airborne, the function buttons on the app allow you to shoot videos or photos, and also set camera settings. There’s a remarkable array of settings there and the full-HD camera captures superb footage.
While 4K video footage would have been wonderful, its 2.7k is bright, smooth and deep in colour. The still image mode captures images in JPG format.
The Mavic Mini doesn’t have some of the fancy features of other DJI drones, like object-tracking. However, at this price with such portability and build-quality, this has become the drone for everyone.