DJI Mini 3 Pro (DJI RC), Mini Drone with 4K Video, 48MP Photo, 34 Mins Flight Time, Less than 249 g, Obstacle Sensing, Return to Home, FAA Remote ID Compliant, Drone with Camera for Adults

The media could not be loaded. A few things right away. This is a great product with a great camera. I am not sure that I would put it as a 100% beginner drone, because you do need to go through the settings and make sure things are the way you will want it to fly, but overall, it is very easy to fly. (+the out of the box settings are pretty much ready to go, I just like to investigate stuff ahead of time and know what I am looking at.)In the end, I am very happy with this drone and believe it deserves a full 5-star review. There are a few things I learned along the way so please look at the specifics below to see what I have come across over the past few weeks.Camera:The camera shots are awesome right out of the box, and if you want to upgrade from there look into Freewell lens filters, they offer a wide variety of lenses for the Mini 3 pro that simply snap on and off for different affects such as polarization, light pollution and more. They aren’t the cheapest, but they work phenomenal if you really want to get the most out of your shots.Color:The drone comes as a light gray color… the same color as the clouds. Personally, this decreases my range of sight for the drone because it can easily get lost on a bright sky or a cloud background. There are a few studies that I looked into that said that white and gray colors are the hardest colored objects to see in the sky which makes sense, the study mentioned that red is one of the easiest colors to see. I visited a company called DecalGirl.com to purchase a drone skin. Their website had almost unlimited styles, colors, and themes for the Mini 3 Pro, and this is basically a sticker set to put on your drone to change the color. I have not gotten mine in the mail yet, but I did order a nice dark red skin this morning for this model for around $25-$30. It may be worth the investment for you (just be sure to read ahead for the 250 gram weight notes below).Performance:I have not pushed any limits with the wind, but I have been out on a breezy day and the drone has performed great, the pictures stay stable, and I didn’t have to worry about my new toy going sailing across the lake in the wind.Idle time is not fantastic for the drone, however, I believe this is an issue with a lot of drones, so I am not about to take a star off or anything for this reason. Drones are basically fan cooled, flying and the propellers keep your drone cool while in flight. If you have a long idle time (5-10 minutes), meaning that your drone is sitting on the ground turned on (propellers not rotating) while you get ready to fly your drone will likely overheat and give you an overheating warning and turn itself off until it cools down. If this happens, be sure to get it in the shade or in its case so you don’t damage your lipo batteries. Even best to take the battery back out for a few minutes. Again, this is not a concern specific to this drone, they will all overheat in the sun if not flying. Just be sure to take your drone out and be ready to fly when you put the battery in and power it on.Other Accessories:I purchased a set of landing gear for this to give it more stability upon takeoff and landing. This was a very nice addition for my use. I would not anticipate any problems taking off and landing without it, but it does sit a lot nicer on the ground when you use it. I think they are all fairly similar to purchase, I got a product called "Landing Gear for DJI Mini 3/Mini 3 Pro Leg Foldable Extended Kit for Mini 3 (2022)/DJI Mini 3 Pro Accessories" from a brand called "YETEETH".Weight:Out of the box, as advertised, the drone weighs in at 249 Grams. In the United States, the FAA requires that all drones with a weight of 250 grams or more be registered. This is a cost of $5 for a 3 year term, not a big deal to me but there are a few things to realize. If you do not want to register your drone with the FAA, you can basically only fly it right out of the box just as it is. Any accessory puts you over weight. Landing gear can weigh 20-40 grams and even the Freewell lens cover as mentioned above weigh in at 1.1 grams, so one lens cover alone will put you over the limit at 250.1 grams. As mentioned earlier, I am also in the process of getting a drone skin, I anticipate this being a few grams also. If you are considering purchasing, the plus battery, that will have a 47-minute flight time instead of the 34 minute flight time please be aware that this batter also puts you over the 250 gram threshold with the FAA.The next thing to know about weight is more of an upcoming rule from the FAA. Currently as of today (7/25/23) on September 16, 2023 according to the FAA all drones flown in the United States over 250 grams in the air must be Remote ID compliant. (The short version is that this is a broadcasting system that lets other aircraft see your drone's location in the air.) The good news is that the FAA has a declaration of compliance already on file that states that the DJI mini 3 Pro is compliant with Remote ID requirements. Also be aware that if flying under part 107 (commercial drone license) that you need Remote ID compliance whether you are over 250 grams or not. There are no settings for this in the drone or anything to worry about, so out of the box, this drone is Remote ID compliant no matter what weight you fly at. If you are wondering, here is a list of all drones according to the FAA that are currently compliant with Remote ID requirements. https://uasdoc.faa.gov/listDocsController:I like the controller, I don’t have a ton to say about it other than there are a lot of cool features built into it for different camera shots and it is a definite bonus to have the screen built in so I do not need to use my phone. One downfall, is that there are some 3rd party apps for DJI. This controller does not support them. If you want to use a different app to fly your drone such as a mapping app that can do auto flights or things you will need a DJI RC-N1 Controller. You lose the screen built in, but you can plug your phone into that controller and do more things from your phone’s apps. (I have not tried this, but this is the response I got asking DJI support a few questions about it.)

I read other reviews and thought I'd give it a chance. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy this was to fly. After assembling I couldn't wait to try it. I did watch a few videos for tips but the first flight went very well. I feel anyone with a bit of common sense could fly one of these. Video is great and I've used it to capture deer out in the field. Still pictures look great too and I've used it to take pictures of our roof after a powerful wind storm. I'm sure they've updated this drone by now but if you find one at a discount I'd buy it. The features are many and not hard to understand by watching videos that others have made.

TL;DR: This is my second experience with DJI drones (first was a Phantom 2 Vision when droning was a new thing). This drone is awesome for beginners and experienced drone flyers. Camera is beautiful and functional. The RC unit is awesome. The range is great. The battery life is OK. Just hold your nose and buy the "fly more" battery combo you can get on top of this. I ended up buying almost everything separately eventually anyway and paid more for it. If you're on the fence, go for it. This drone will do it all.PROS: Got a great discount as a Prime Day deal. Shipping was super fast. Drone comes packaged great. You have to create a DJI account before you can fly. The controls are incredibly intuitive and easy to learn. It still amazes me how you can just sit the controller down and the drone holds its place in space perfectly. The drone weighs under 250g so no FAA registration is required. I'm a video pro and a media junkie and I will say the camera is just awesome--beautiful video and photos. Range is great, I can get about 4,000 feet away in hilly Western Pennsylvania before I start losing range at about 375 feet up. The remote control with the screen is such an upgrade over the old Phantom series controllers. I helped my neighbor locate missing cows by putting the drone up and you could clearly see the brown and black cows on the screen from over 300 feet up. I really love this drone. I've had it about two months and I've flown it almost 30 hours already, which is more than I flew in the entire life of my Phantom drone. Everything is USB-C, which is awesome. The RC unit charges with it, the drone plugs in and charges with it, the triple charger (sold separately) uses it. The features that are built in are incredible. The smart tracking and circling features are great. The crash avoidance hardware is amazing and will save your drone a nasty crash. You can control that stuff and turn it off if you're operating in close quarters though, which is great.CONS: I didn't initially buy a MicroSD card with it and you can only record about 2 minutes of video on the hard drive, but that's my fault. Make sure you check with DJI's compatibility list for which SD cards are approved to use. You don't want corrupted data from junk cards. It doesn't come with any built-in 3 mile strobe light "required" by the FAA for flying at night. The batteries say they'll do 30 minutes, but I usually get about 20-25 before I have to put it down. Pro and Con: The drone knows where you are allowed to be and where you aren't (around airports, government buildings, etc) and will prompt you or downright stop you from flying in these areas.TIPS: Buy the "fly more" combo. I initially skipped on it because I didn't want to pay that steep price, but I ended up buying almost everything that comes in the kit anyway. You will want at least 3 batteries, a charger unit, a case, and ND filters, at a minimum. Do some research on FAA drone regulations and make yourself familiar with them. I am learning more the longer I own the thing. People are amazed at the beautiful, smooth shots I come back with. I'm a video pro so my standards are super high. Drone tech has finally caught up with my high expectations and THIS DRONE IS AWESOME. Absolute 5-star product!!