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/listDocs
Controller:
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.)