Now that Skydio has exited the consumer drone business and will never sell me the miniature self-flying drone of my dreams, I’m turning to DJI instead. The slick marketing for its just-announced $759 DJI Mini 4 Pro suggests we’re at least on the way – it’s the first Mini with omnidirectional obstacle detection.
2022’s Mini 3 Pro could already see forward, backward and down, but… we crashed it into a tree pretty quickly. Binocular vision in all directions is a potentially huge upgrade if it works well, and the smaller wingspan compared to an Air could also help it fit between trees and/or branches.
I can’t vouch for its ability to avoid trees, but Vjeran now has one to test:
In many ways, the Mini 4 Pro brings the Mini 3 Pro up to par with the larger, more expensive $1,099 DJI Air 3. It already had a similar main camera (1/1.3-inch, 48-megapixel, f/1.7 with 82-degree FOV) and similar battery life of over 40 minutes, but now adds the omnidirectional obstacle avoidance, 100fps 4K (and 200fps 1080p) shooting, and Ocusync 4 video transmission for a 20km range (up from 12km) that the Air already had.
As with the Mini 3 Pro, you can expect a solid half hour of battery life from the included battery, or nearly 40 minutes with the larger ‘Intelligent Flight Battery Plus’, although the latter is not sold in Europe this time as it pushes the weight over the permitted 249 grams. And while DJI also touts ‘True Vertical Shooting’ as a big selling point of the Mini 4 Pro, the Mini 3 Pro (and the $469 Mini 3, for that matter) already have it.
The Mini 3 is also DJI’s affordable battery champion, with an extra four to six minutes of battery life, depending on which battery you use.
You’re still looking at an Air, or better if you need more speed, as it climbs and descends twice as fast as the Mini’s sluggish five metres per second. (The Air is only 25 per cent faster on the straights.) And, of course, the Air has the second f/2.8 70mm equivalent telephoto camera for more flexibility.
I’d recommend loading up the Mini 4 Pro, Mini 3 Pro and DJI Air 3 on DJI’s side-by-side comparison website – it’s nice to see the differences directly.
If you’ve got a Mini 3 Pro or are stocking up on accessories, you’ll be pleased to hear that the Mini 4 Pro uses the same batteries – but needs a new controller because of the improved Ocusync 4 video transmission.
