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DJI Mini 4 Pro

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Re: DJI Mini 4 Pro

#151

Post by grecy »

bmurphy1976 wrote: post #33

I have a Spark and a Mavic Air 2. I really love flying the Spark, it's a fun zippy little drone. I'd compare it to something like a Miata. The Mavic on the other hand is all serious, professional utility. It's more like a mini-van. It's a great tool but it's not even remotely fun to fly. My biggest issue with my Spark is the 9 minute battery life. Even though I have 4 batteries, having to constantly land and swap the…

I have the original Mini, 20 minute flight time is common, I go over 30 when there is little to no wind.

I'll probably sell it if you're interested

Re: DJI Mini 4 Pro

#152

Post by grecy »

ben7799 wrote: post #22

I've had the original Mini since it came out. Other than damaging a prop from it hitting a blade of grass on landing it is in perfect shape. Yes, they are so fragile I landed very smoothly in the grass and soft grass is enough to damage the props! I don't fly it as much as I used to. These new ones are certainly an engineering marvel with how much they have added and still kept it under 249g. The big one to me though…

I've got the original Mini too, and I had never encountered this before until very recently when I tried to fly it in the US.

What happens if you turn off your cellular data (or are simply out of reception) ? Does it let you fly it anywhere then?

In Australia and the Canadian Arctic I basically never had reception, and it never cared once.

Re: DJI Mini 4 Pro

#153

Post by trust_bt_verify »

jbm wrote: post #137
ashton314 wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People who hike with speakers blaring are a strange breed that I’m likely to never understand. Like, why listen to music in the first place while hiking? I’m out here in the woods to get as far away from civilization as I can. I don’t need $latest_popstar dragging me back.

I've never done this, but if I was trying to be charitable; in bear country, I assume making noise to avoid startling the animals is best practice.

I have worn a bear bell on my backpack when I’m far out but that’s a bit different than a speaker as you could imagine.

Re: DJI Mini 4 Pro

#154

Post by phil-martin »

ashton314 wrote: post #118
trust_bt_verify wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being able to spot a small white object in the sky and hearing it are very different things. I put drone operators on the same level as those who hike with speakers blaring. No one is being hurt, no laws being broken. Just inconsiderate considering a large part of the experience for most in nature is the serenity.

People who hike with speakers blaring are a strange breed that I’m likely to never understand. Like, why listen to music in the first place while hiking? I’m out here in the woods to get as far away from civilization as I can. I don’t need $latest_popstar dragging me back.

I use headphones to listen to music or audio books while hiking, walking or exercising. I enjoy it, and also a useful tool to stop mental self-talk while being able to enjoy the surrounds.

But playing music over speakers that would interrupt the tranquillity of other people trying to enjoy the quiet and space is very not cool.

Re: DJI Mini 4 Pro

#155

Post by MichaelApproved »

dreamcompiler wrote: post #141
ben7799 wrote: post #22

I've had the original Mini since it came out. Other than damaging a prop from it hitting a blade of grass on landing it is in perfect shape. Yes, they are so fragile I landed very smoothly in the grass and soft grass is enough to damage the props! I don't fly it as much as I used to. These new ones are certainly an engineering marvel with how much they have added and still kept it under 249g. The big one to me though…

I'd like to find a good competitor too, and not just because of the geofencing. DJI has been identified as a national security threat by the US DOD, essentially because there's no way to be sure that every second of GPS-tagged video shot by a DJI drone isn't going into a giant server farm owned by the Chinese intelligence service. https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/270608...

> there's no way to be sure that every second of GPS-tagged video shot by a DJI drone isn't going into a giant server farm owned by the Chinese intelligence service.

I checked your source and it didn’t back up this claim.

I’m not a networking specialist but isn’t it possible to detect if something is transmitting a massive amount of data (such as video) to an undetermined destination?

seems like this type of blatant data export would be easy to detect and subsequently ban the device doing it.

I’m just a simple software developer, so the network stuff can go over my head sometimes (heh), but the claim that such a large amount of data is being transmitted in a way that couldn’t be confirmed enough to ban the product seems dubious.

Re: DJI Mini 4 Pro

#157

Post by Johanx64 »

ipsum2 wrote: post #28
stefan_ wrote: post #2

Where is the US or EU competitor to DJI? They are running away with it. Oh right, we instead pioneered regulation and legislation , all those deaths from drones falling down and drones hitting planes.

You can replace DJI with any other consumer electronics manufacturer. It's hard to compete with China's vertical integration + cheaper labor. Skydio (Californian startup) used to manufacture consumer drones but recently exited that business to focus on enterprise, probably because of the higher margins.

DJI is particularly hard to compete with, because it is a very reputable and highly sought after company to work for and thus gets the brightest Chinese engineers on top of everything else you mentioned

Re: DJI Mini 4 Pro

#158

Post by aynyc »

MichaelApproved wrote: post #155
dreamcompiler wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd like to find a good competitor too, and not just because of the geofencing. DJI has been identified as a national security threat by the US DOD, essentially because there's no way to be sure that every second of GPS-tagged video shot by a DJI drone isn't going into a giant server farm owned by the Chinese intelligence service. https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/270608...

> there's no way to be sure that every second of GPS-tagged video shot by a DJI drone isn't going into a giant server farm owned by the Chinese intelligence service. I checked your source and it didn’t back up this claim. I’m not a networking specialist but isn’t it possible to detect if something is transmitting a massive amount of data (such as video) to an undetermined destination? seems like this type of blatant…

Given the volume of data, they can just box up the hard drives and ship via container ships or planes.

Re: DJI Mini 4 Pro

#159

Post by andersrs »

ben7799 wrote: post #25
cush wrote: post #14

Light drones are great, but how far away are we from quiet consumer drones? I'd love to not have every hike ruined by some wannabe videographer.

The mini is pretty damn quiet. At 50ft of altitude people don't hear it. AT 100ft of altitude people don't even see it. I've flown one hundreds of times and other than other drone owners no one has ever said a thing or noticed. The drone owners notice and come over to talk drones.

Of course! Only drone owners have working ears. Could it be that everyone notices but they just don't want to speak with some rude drone dude.

Re: DJI Mini 4 Pro

#160

Post by renewiltord »

all2 wrote: post #51
endisneigh wrote: post #20

it would be neat to mount some sort of weather proof container on a tree with a solar panel that it could go into, so then it's like a bird. could imagine some shared spec and network of these so they can charge, lying in wait.

> lying in wait What are they waiting for?

Perhaps they could substitute for stationary security cameras. When incidents occur, you could track the target. Entertaining sci-fi.
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