DJI Mini 3 Drone (DJI RC) - & Fly More Kit Review: A Lightweight Powerhouse for Aerial Enthusiasts

There are now two distinct flavors of the DJI Phantom. The original Phantom [I] and an upgraded model introduced in Oct. 2013, known as the Phantom 2. As the price suggests, this kit contains the original Phantom [I]. In the box I received from Kazoom was a version 1.1.1 model, which is, indeed, the newest iteration of the Phantom [I]. The main advantages of version 1.1.1 over first Phantom [I] (which is known as version 1.2.1) are an upgraded controller and self-locking props. It also arrived from Kazoom with the current controller firmware [version 4.x.x] pre-installed, which means this kit truly is about as close to "plug and play" as you'll find in the world of RC Quadcopters. As is widely recommended online, I downloaded and attempted to read the Phantom manuals (they appear to be machine translations from the original Mandarin and are for the most part unintelligible) and viewed many You Tube tutorials before the DJI Phantom actually arrived. Even after 20+ hours of prep-time, there were a couple of newbie near-misses that almost crashed my first flight. 1. When charging the LIFO battery for the first time, unless you match the polarity of the banana plugs to the charger jacks, your charger will go up in smoke. Make sure you have red to red and black to black. 2. The Phantom's GPS controller is dependent upon a small magnet that is attached to the landing gear. If you accidentally touch the compass with a magnetically charged phillips screwdriver while installing the landing gear, camera mount or prop guards, your Phantom will behave strangely after takeoff. 3. Once you've calibrated the compass and waited through the blinking LED pre-flight initialization, if you don't get the steady blinking green after several minutes, check the GPS/ATT switch on the transmitter. It must be set to GPS, not ATT. 4. Finally, after you get the blinking green LED and are ready to take off for the first time, don't be surprised if nothing happens when you ease the throttle forward. It turns out the you first have to start the motors by simultaneously pulling the left joy stick to the 7 O'Clcock position and the right joy stick to 5 O'Clock. Something that's probably so basic to flying RC models that I never once saw it explained online or in the manual -- except for one tiny illustration in the middle of the two-page Pre-Flight Flow Chart. As for Pros and Cons, if like me, you are purchasing a DJI Phantom because of the stunning aerial Go Pro footage you've seen online, beware that while amazing still photos are relatively easy to achieve, there's nothing "plug and play" about getting professional quality video with the Phantom. The anti-jello mount is a good start, but smooth and dramatic footage will eventually involve adding a brushless gimbal, not to mention many, many hours of practice flying. The biggest advantage of the Phantom is that in GPS mode, the quadcopter practically flies itself. Release the joy sticks and the Phantom hovers in place -- which is an amazing accomplishment. The GPS mode even manages to compensate for the effects of a fairly strong breeze. My first flight was in a fairly steady 12-15 knot wind, but whenever I let go of the joy sticks, the Phantom would stop and hover in a fixed position. While hovering in GPS mode, however, the Phantom is far from motionless. Rather, it undergoes a series of constant corrections that show up on your video as sharp jerks. It's child's play to fly the Phantom in GPS mode, but don't expect to get much in the way of worthwhile video footage. That requires near calm conditions and flying in the more difficult to master ATT mode, in which GPS corrections are far less pronounced. The biggest advantage of the Phantom, of course, is the fun factor. A couple decades ago I made my living doing aerial photography from a real helicopter. The Phantom is almost as much fun, and infinitely safer.

Great drone that’s beginner friendly! Super nice to have the extra batteries and carrying case which keeps everything together

Takes great quality pics and videos which is specifically what this drone is for, not a drone for kids play, as it is not built to be used roughly. I was getting some low shots in my yard and hit a property marker post which broke the front propeller swivel joint, thanks to Drone Nerds (dronenerds.com) it is fixed and in great condition again for just over $100 so maintenance isn't crazy either. 100% recommend this drone.

I got this as a Christmas present for myself. Its been a rough winter and I have only flown this eight times. I had zero RC aircraft experience. Let me tell you, this is such a high performance craft its scary. Fun scary. Fun, fast and "I can't even see it" scary. Its pretty foolproof if you follow directions. I've done most of my flying as a test pilot...testing the return home failsafe, altitude limits, speed, and even temperature and wind limits. I got it to approx. 1000 ft in under a minute in 14 degree temps. This particular package from Koozam is a great deal with everything you need. I received everything at the same time, and putting it together was easy. My extra battery turned out to be bad, but one email and a week later, I had a replacement. Super customer service. I use a GOPRO HD(1) with a lens protector, and if I take my time I get fantastic video footage. I am in the air flying very aggressively, for ten and a half minutes when the low battery light starts flashing. I am super thrilled with my purchase from Koozam. Can't wait for milder weather, I'll be flying everyday. I have four batteries now, and honestly, I'm ready to take a break after three, but its addicting.Do not hesitate to make this purchase, and if you can follow simple safety instructions you will not lose your aircraft in a fly away, or low battery landing. Most of the complainers have problems related to Operator Error. UPDATE: 2/3/14: Just crashed my Phantom. Because I did not have a sufficiently clear area for take off and landing. While coming in for a landing during failsafe mode, a gust of wind pushed my Phantom into a tree branch approx. 30 feet from the ground. The craft barrel rolled to the ground, hitting the pavement with such force that it knocked the camera off the anti-jello mount, and immediately went airborne. It tried to return to the 20 meter hover, but became tangled in the tree. I climbed up and retrieved it. Damage report: Lens protector worked, but gave its life doing so. Camera survived, but SD card was ejected before it could write the crash footage. Anti-jello mount was repaired easily. The Phantom itself suffered only a slight scuff to one of the blades. The crash looked like somebody spiked the thing into the ground. I couldn't believe it actually went back in the air trying to resume its failsafe program. This thing is tough. Please follow the rules of flight. I'm still shaking.

In order to keep the weight down they neglected to say that the object avoidance sensor are not present. I've been flying DJI drones for five years and have never crashed because the object avoidance sensors work. This drone has none and will fly right into objects. I crashed this three times in fifteen minutes and broke one of the arms off. I complained to DJI and their tech didn't even know that there was no object avoidance included. One of the things I value is this feature especially when flying out of the line of sight. The Mini 3 Pro has object avoidance. It is one of the things DJI markets the hell out of on all their models and they don't even mention object avoidance or the lack of it on this model. I'm stuck with a 1000 dollar POS! What a waste of money, I never would have bought this if I had known and they were up front about the lack of this feature.