DJI Mini 2

Fantastic little drone! – After years with a Phantom III drone I decided to update with the Mini2. In short: fabulous. Terrific range, beautifully light and compact, (under 250g) with excellent video and stills for a drone in this price range. It will fly for around 25 mins on a single charge, though recharging takes quite some time as it’s just USB, so, if you need more… Read more

flight time, get a second and/or even third battery.

I really couldn’t be very much happier- it’s a great step up from the Phantom III.

This would suit anyone brand new to drones, or anyone wanting a good middle of the range drone as a hobby.

Expensive yes...but you get a lot in a surprisingly small package – My wife purchased the DJI Mini 2 Fly More combo as a Christmas present. She knew I was highly interested in getting one but wouldn’t take the plunge myself for fear of crashing a relatively expensive item. On this note, I didn’t need to worry. WHY YOU SHOULD GET THE “FLY MORE” COMBO” version Glad she purchased the “Fly More” combo as this adds a… Read more

number of items which I would have had to purchase myself later. Specifically, this included a purpose built carry case and two extra batteries (only one supplied if you buy the standard Mini 2 item), a charging hub and propellor holder (keeps the propellors held in against the body when transporting which is more important than you might think). The charging hub is useful in ensuring you have a battery ready to go and gives you close to 1 ½ hours of flight time. While batteries in this smart hub are only charged one at a time, it does choose which of the three batteries can be charged quickest and starts with that one before moving onto the one that can be charged second quickest. 5This helps you get re-flying again in the shortest possible time. Additionally, the smart hub can act like a normal “power-bank” and allow you to recharge your phone if it gets a bit drained during your flying operations. Well thought out DJI.There is also an extra five “spare” propellor pairs included (propellors must always be replaced in pairs). The total cost of all these items is well above the cost of purchasing them individually later and all of them are highly recommended when using your drone. I did separately purchase propellor guards which proved beneficial when first learning to fly the drone inside the house as the propellors (and probably your décor) are easily damaged.

DESCRIPTION Despite its small size (weighs 249g to keep it below the 250g limit requiring a drone license) and being only around 290mm x 240mm x 45mm (props extended), this device is extremely capable. As someone who decades ago tried to fly R/C helicopters (not that successfully) it seems modern computing technology has worked wonders on the stability and ease of flying these devices. Essentially, your hand control joysticks are really just there to tell the drone where you want it to go. Keeping it trimmed, balanced and stable is all handled by the onboard electronics. Getting a bit flustered...just release all the controls and the drone will immediately enter a very stable hover. This is literally the perfect beginners drone! I don’t know how robust the drone is when standing up to crashes (been lucky and careful there) but apart from the propellors and perhaps the camera gimbal, it should be reasonably durable. Certainly, neither the drone or the controller feel cheaply made or using cheap materials.

PREPARING TO FLY You will need to attach a mobile phone (with the DJI app installed) to the top of your controller and different connecting cables are supplied to suit whatever connector is on your iPhone/Android. The app controls a multitude of settings (both for flying controls and camera use) and it will determine your location and check it against a central database to ensure you are flying in an area that will not cause interference to other commercial services or similar nearby. If it detects an unsuitable area, it simply won’t let you fly. At time of takeoff, it will also geolocate your position for the “Return to Home” feature. This can be activated manually (as in I lost sight of my drone and don’t know where it is) or will activate automatically if the battery is getting particularly low. This causes the drone to fly back to the exact location it took off from at a preset height (too avoid nearby trees etc). There are also a number of pre-programmed routines that will allow the drone to take off and circle you or move away a preset distance and then back to you amongst others routines. The camera can take 4K video and photos all controlled at the controller as it live-streams an image back to your phone. The stability software keeps your image rock solid and you can also adjust the angle of the camera gimbal from looking straight down to looking up a few degrees above the horizontal. There is just a huge amount of technology built into this device and it is impossible to cover all of this in this review. I still keep finding new things each time I take it out.

FLYING The drone has a (theoretical range) of 10km in distance and 4 ½ km in height but who would want to try that even if it was legal. Speaking of flying legally you are only allowed to fly while it is in sight with a maximum of 200m in height and 2km in distance. Inbuilt limits (but adjustable if you want to) keep the drone within those legal limits, however, this is more than enough for me. The drone battery will supply close to 30 minutes of flying time depending on some other factors (like countering wind buffeting etc). The controller is also powered by a rechargeable battery and it will easily last you a number of drone outings before requiring a recharge. In respect to breezes, the Mini 2’s ability to combat breeze is also very good with it rated to fly with up to 35kph wind gusts. If it detects wind gusts around this level, it will alert you on the controller and suggest dropping to a lower height. After takeoff, it’s simply a matter of using the two joysticks on the controller to tell it where you want it to go. Again, stability is brilliant. The controller includes three flight modes you can choose from; Cine, Normal and Sport. Changing these (even whilst the drone is in flight) changes the responsiveness of the controls. Cine gives a smooth and slow response for best videoing. Sport gives you the speed and Normal is a compromise of the two. Unfortunately, one of the compromises needed to keep it’s weight under 250g is a lack of collision sensors. This is another good reason to keep it in view at all times. There are, however, ground proximity sensors to allow the drone to land safely during use of the “Return to home” feature along with an “Auto-land” capability (Bring it near you and tap a button on the phone app and it will land smoothly and safely.

ACCESSORY RECOMMENDATIONS The only other accessories I have purchased (apart from the before mentioned propellor guards) are a bright orange landing pad and a hood for shielding the sun from the phone screen. The landing pad is great for finding your launch location when bringing the drone back. It’s surprisingly difficult to see yourself when being viewed from above (and despite the amp and drone path being displayed on your home screen) so having a bright orange square helps considerably. Also, it helps during the takeoff and landing phases by helping stop dust and grit being stirred up into the drone and damaging motor and props etc. I’d also recommend you keep a stock of spare propellors hand (they’re not that expensive) as I have found some damage to the tips of mine just from hitting bugs flying around near it when operating.

In summation; PLUS * Very easy for a novice to begin with * Comprehensive range of settings for the camera and controls * 4K camera gives superb digital photos and stable video * Great range and battery life * Drone (folded), controller, smart battery hub and spare propellors all fit neatly in a small shoulder carry bag approximately 250mm x 180mm x 100mm

MINUS * Somewhat expensive * No collision avoidance sensors * Requires the addition of a phone for controlling * Prop tips are may be damaged by bugs * Doesn’t include a SD card which needs to be purchased separately to store photos and videos

OVERALL RECOMMENDATION Overall, this is a highly recommended drone for anyone thinking about getting into drone flying. It’s extremely forgiving in its operation (unless you carelessly fly it into a wall or a tree etc) and I have been extremely impressed with its capabilities. Yes, it is expensive but you do get a lot of technology included. Just be aware that you might have to factor in some extra accessories and you will definitely need to factor in the cost of a high speed SD card (4K video will require the high speed card) and this too will be somewhat expensive.

DJI Mini 2 Combo Highly Recommend – Extremely well built, quick setup, charge all batteries first before setup and first flight Load the app from your App Store Follow all the information to the letter and your set to fly, watch the YouTube video on start Camera and gimbal are excellent quality The craft is very user friendly Highly recommended to anyone wanting to turn their hand to flying one and Photography