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DJI Mini 4 Pro

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Re: DJI Mini 4 Pro

#411

Post by mardifoufs »

rmbyrro wrote: post #381
palata wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So, I turn to them: is there anything that proves its a surveillance-free device? No, they cannot assure that. Can Google and Apple prove that their stuff is surveillance-free, though?

No, but US reputation is way better than China's. In the absence of a surveillance-free device, people prefer the one with the better rep.

>us reputation is way better

Where? Maybe in the west, certainly not in the rest of the world. China didn't start a war that killed 1million people not even 20 years ago. Westerners don't care about that but that's to be expected.

Re: DJI Mini 4 Pro

#412

Post by rmbyrro »

WendyTheWillow wrote: post #298
rmbyrro wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given the history of China and its tech companies, the burden of proof shifted to their shoulders. So, I turn to them: is there anything that proves its a surveillance-free device? No, they cannot assure that. Someone may not like it, but China now has a very, very bad reputation among people in the West. Especially after the last pandemic and how they handled it.

Horse shit. If you can’t show specific data traffic flowing from Mavic software back to China that could conceivably be drone footage, this claim is bogus and borderline libelous. It would be trivial to prove this to be true, and there is zero of that proof. Hell, at this point it would be valuable to even see small phone homes by Mavic software from the last year, but I doubt you even have that. There are plenty of…

You are looking at a simplistic perspective.

Surveillance doesn't always run 24/7 for every device. The signal/noise ratio would be extremely low.

To keep a high ratio, it's selectively switched on for high interest targets.

There's no reason for a drone flying on my backyard to send any data to China. Their privacy protection is inexistent. You can ask it to be conceivably whatever horse shit you like, I don't care. I don't want any bytes sent there.

Re: DJI Mini 4 Pro

#413

Post by Sohcahtoa82 »

grecy wrote: post #150
Sohcahtoa82 wrote: post #34

I've been looking forward to the release of the Mini 4 Pro so I can hopefully get a Mini 3 Pro on the cheap. I want something that can autonomously follow me on my mountain bike or follow my RC car as it goes over jumps for under $500.

I read the article and watched the video, I'm not sure that the Mini Pro 4 or 3 have true "follow me" ability. I saw the Mini Pro 4 has "Active Track 360", but I think that is just going to fly a 360 around whatever you choose and follow it as it goes. I have the OG mini, and it certainly can't just "follow me" as I ride my mountain bike wherever. It's purely a software limitation to offer segmentation for their more…

The Mini 3 does not have "follow me", but the Mini 3 Pro does.

I'm glad I caught that earlier, at one point the Mini 3 went on a good sale and I almost picked it up. Glad I didn't waste the money.

Re: DJI Mini 4 Pro

#414

Post by GenerocUsername »

prmoustache wrote: post #322
GenerocUsername wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've had a Mini V1 since 2020 and here are my uses: * Fun Flights * Aerial photography of yard projects * Towing fishing lures way beyond furthest castable distance * Fireworks videos * Hiking Scouting * Surveillance drone ( Caught some motorbikers trespassing on property and tracked them back to house ) * Firewatch * Pester folks safely from patio

I am pretty sure you broke some laws in the process.

I don't think I broke a single law in these examples.

All flights were in legal airspace.

No flights resulted in injury or property damage.

Re: DJI Mini 4 Pro

#415

Post by GenerocUsername »

eweise wrote: post #133
GenerocUsername wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I put a small metal 'basket' that I put the float into. It's a fine-tuning thing to allow the line to tow, but 'pop out' with a bit of extra tension. So we fly it out 200m and then lock the line and it pops out of basket. Risky, but very fun

Thanks. I'm going to try it

Pro-tip, fly up and out to keep the line safely below the propellors.

There is a huge risk of the propellors grabbing the line and losing the drone far from shore, but in our outing we did a dozen casts with out issue

Re: DJI Mini 4 Pro

#416

Post by TheCaptain4815 »

Tepix wrote: post #128
TheCaptain4815 wrote: post #29

Was just telling my friend I was a bit surprised at how rapidly consumer drones advanced in the late 2010's and have slowed down ever since. Seems like a lot of these features haven't really improved all that much in the past 5 years.

Most aspects have seen good improvements, in particular range, flight time and the camera. The Mini 4 Pro also has the 360° sensors that previously only were on the larger drones. The Mini (2019) was a big step up compared to the Spark (2017) with merely a 2-axis gimbal and the Mini 2 (2020) brought very welcome range and camera improvements. I don't have first hand experience with anything more recent but it looks l…

True, I suppose I was referring to rate of change during those early years.

Re: DJI Mini 4 Pro

#417

Post by WendyTheWillow »

rmbyrro wrote: post #412
WendyTheWillow wrote: post #298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Horse shit. If you can’t show specific data traffic flowing from Mavic software back to China that could conceivably be drone footage, this claim is bogus and borderline libelous. It would be trivial to prove this to be true, and there is zero of that proof. Hell, at this point it would be valuable to even see small phone homes by Mavic software from the last year, but I doubt you even have that. There are plenty of…

You are looking at a simplistic perspective. Surveillance doesn't always run 24/7 for every device. The signal/noise ratio would be extremely low. To keep a high ratio, it's selectively switched on for high interest targets. There's no reason for a drone flying on my backyard to send any data to China. Their privacy protection is inexistent. You can ask it to be conceivably whatever horse shit you like, I don't care.…

Nothing simplistic about asking for evidence that this is occurring. Yes it’s not easy, but without evidence you’re spewing speculation, and when you claim speculation as certainty it ventures into the realm of bull shit.

Re: DJI Mini 4 Pro

#418

Post by malaya_zemlya »

1024core wrote: post #175
ngcc_hk wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You do not need to transmit the video first. But coordinate or interested person. Even a sport watch can be a security threat as demo by some exercise army personnel. They just know who and when and where these places are. For the transfer part it is much harder as said and easier to detect in peace time. But then what happen in war or proxy-war time. You have to know how many senior Russians are killed by using a ph…

> Even a sport watch can be a security threat as demo by some exercise army personnel. In the early days of the Afghan (or was it Iraq?) war, people used Strava to figure out the locations of American bases. They'd see a bunch of smart watches suddenly wake up in the morning and start exercising at the same time, a dead giveaway.

That happened not that long ago, in 2018 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/28/fitness-tracki...

Re: DJI Mini 4 Pro

#419

Post by semanticist »

RhodesianHunter wrote: post #401
semanticist wrote: post #400

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I don't know" - so why leave a comment? Because you can doesn't mean you have to, especially when you don't actually have any knowledge on the topic at hand. (And, as people have pointed out, this is both a weird and incorrect assumption, adding nothing to the discussion other than confusion.)

Except that they do offer exactly that. No need to be so condescending. https://www.dji.com/lightcut

There's certainly no requirement to use that (it's literally a separate app from the DJIFly app you use the control the drone), and I do know as I fly a DJI mini drone.

What's worse is that I don't think it actually works how you've assumed. The drone has no internet connection itself, the software is instead pulling the files down over wifi, which is something the standard software supports if the drone is close enough. This is the "no need to export from your DJI device" - LightCut can presumably access the drone files directly. None of this requires uploading the videos to anywhere, and doing that wouldn't even make sense - these are large video files, people would notice their data plans being ravaged by multi-gig uploads every time they flew their drone.

As far as being condescending, I think that's less of a negative trait than offering unbacked "I don't know, but" comments which add no value to the discussion.

I did consider the value of my own comment at the time, but I think there is a big problem in tech discussion with people with no actual experience or relevant knowledge feeling that their off-the-cuff suppositions are as welcome and useful as meaningful input from people with direct experience, and highlighting this behaviour as negative and unwelcome is worth risking the inevitable backlash in response.

Re: DJI Mini 4 Pro

#420

Post by 15155 »

pkdpic wrote: post #30
jstanley wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not a loophole, it's a deliberate exemption!

Makes enough sense to me but curious why specifically? Are they quieter or less dangerous below that size / weight?

The FAA Part 107 examination claims this is because lightweight drones pose less harm to life (when accompanied by rotor guards.)
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