Howdy yall,

I have an older DJI Mavic 2 that no longer works.

So I'm in market for a new drone, preferably sub 250g so I can use it to fly around the ranch to look at the cattle and wildlife. Lots of short elevation changes like gullies and creases and obviously trees…

Had decided to get a DJI Mini 5 pro until I found out it's not actually sub 250g.

So I'm looking at 3 models at the moment and torn between them for different reasons:

1) DJI Neo 2… loves its size and lots if selfie and ai follow me capabilities and can run on standard DJI remotes or stand alone, but limited with 1/2" cmos cam and short run time (real world 10-12min, not the 19min advertised). Also has full obsticle avoidance . $600 kit

2) DJI Flip… much larger but still foldable. 1/1.3" cmos cam with better color. 18-22 min real run time. Limited obsticle avoidance and has some selfie and ai capabilities but not as easy as Neo. Basically larger and clumsier but better camera and longer runtime. $800 kit

3) DJI Mini 4 Pro. Same cam as Flip but much quieter and has full obsticle avoidance. Best cam and capabilities of the group but most expensive. $1200 kit

4) Potensic Atom 2… same 1/2" cmos cam as Neo 2 but better photography limits. 20 min fly time. Some AI follow me capabilities using remote . Some people complain about range. But overall a value unit at $520 kit

I can't seem to decide as I have no experience with any of the selfie or ai features. Noise is a minor concern as well although I'm not sure how much tbh. Neo2 is high pitch and loudest, Flip sounds like a bee hive, and the other two sound like typical drones

Curious if any of yall have experience with any or all of these and can lend any advice. I'd rather not spend the most possible since buying the pro4 is essentially same as pro 5 but with lower specs

I have a Potensic Atom 2. Got it from Costco. The only drone I've used, so can't compare to others.

I've flown it around the neighborhood and out at the farm. I'd guess I can fly about a 1/2 - 3/4 of a mile before range becomes an issue. I usually just fly above the tree line so that I don't have to worry about obstacles.

Works well for what it is. Not sure what more I'd want it to do. We have under 200 acres, and it can cover most of it.

The most interesting discovery is that our neighbor has a blind and feeder set up in line with our house about 500 yards away. So that's great.

Sucks about the blind.

Yeah the Atom 2 was my initial thought, esp given the current confusion with DJI and support. I just wish there were more options.

Any idea what's wrong with the Mavic 2? Do you think someone could fix it?

Won't connect to any remote. Not sure why but I stopped messing with it when I realized the rules changed. With all the new restrictions I just decided to get a new drone under 250g. May sell this Mavic 2 eventually

Just discovered the Skyrover brand. May be a possibility

I assume you checked the dji prices on Amazon.
I fly a mini pro 4 most of the time. Still fly my dji mavic air 2 but the mini is easier with the new remote and has the 1 inch cmos camera.

Dji stuff just works. That's why they have 95% of the market. Anything else is a waste of money. Wish I could get a similar american made product, but it just doesn't exist at the same price or as far as I can tell any price.

Yeah all prices were from Amazon. Couldn't find better prices anywhere.

just pony up and get the DJI Matrice Thermal drone.

I have the mini 5 pro with the controller with the screen and antennas that fokd out. Also the plus batteries. Don't really give a chit what the gov says about 250 grams. My batteries are the plus so I know it's over but I thought it was still 249 with the small batteries?

With the good remote and plus batteries, range and flight time are impressive. Can't recall ever really running out of battery time on a single flight.

Ordered off Ebay from South Korea for around $1050 for everything. Arrived in a few days. Whatever you get, get plenty of batteries and some spare props. Might be hard to find in the future.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/236329483721?_skw=mini+5+pro+plus&itmmeta=01KK9F1S70J5VR47GY5NYDP9D3&hash=item370655bdc9%3Ag%3A4dgAAeSwMbNoy7Mn&itmprp=enc%3AAQALAAAA0GfYFPkwiKCW4ZNSs2u11xDOq0cnQP30xupPjVO6%2FEnDPuSiuu9qL1hmQneohjrpa33QGqTg794yo5arC9bpqqMyMYwchLK3NNFoiVl%2FCimfDMfy4bU1tzrAjzJv%2BrgO3R3mpdidrP9IWp369xK%2Bswe4ftUhvMIrzHYKRJU2vj7A3jSneGdmVn33TrEf6BEMVu1LvtspefzrzVVhgbLMHGexqxeUQmy7vA4CyqDeeIKRSUfvV0b1qAeQP%2BMvDAi6dbcnuKt%2BVyUHElcijkgxM2s%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR9yTh6-aZw&keyword=mini+5+pro+plus&sacat=0&relatedSearch=true

AstroAggie15 said:

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just pony up and get the DJI Matrice Thermal drone.

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My colleague has this one. It's pretty damn nice. He can get some really amazing data when inspecting roofs. I've considered getting one, but I have never used one and I have convinced myself that I will simply fly it into a tree and be out all that money so I still do things with eyes and ladder. If it's too tall for that, then I just call him.

That's the thing about dji with the obstacle avoidance on its hard to hit anything

Moses_93 said:

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That's the thing about dji with the obstacle avoidance on its hard to hit anything

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That's what everyone has said. That actually makes me feel a little better. It's an automatic default thing? That's nice to know.

On a mavic or mini its default setting in normal mode is stop. You can set it to go around or turn it off. In sport mode its off, but it lets you go 40 miles an hour (and drains the battery pretty quick). I assume the more expensive djis have similar settings.

I ended up ordering a Skyrover X1.
Basically same as the Mini 4 Pro at 40% less cost.
We will see.
Just using it to look over areas of the ranch for fun anyway.

Moses_93 said:

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On a mavic or mini its default setting in normal mode is stop. You can set it to go around or turn it off. In sport mode its off, but it lets you go 40 miles an hour (and drains the battery pretty quick). I assume the more expensive djis have similar settings.

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Spot on.

We use ours for hog hunting at night. Spots em so fast. Use them to track hogs after that didnt drop.

Unfortunately obstacle avoidance does not work at night