At $439, the DJI Flip might be a good starting point for people who don’t typically buy drones. You can unfold it, throw it from your hand with a single button, place it back on your hand, or optionally use joysticks, all while capturing better quality photos and videos than the immediate competition.
Last August, my colleague Thomas Ricker told you how DJI’s rival, Hover, had changed the game by selling a $349 flying camera that doesn’t require learning to use joysticks; with the $199 DJI Neo, DJI seemed ready to get involved in a big way. But the $439 Flip not only lets you launch and film drones, orbits, and basic tracking shots from the drone itself, but it dramatically increases camera quality, flight stability, battery life (31 minutes) and lets you launch it faster. . You just won’t be able to fly it in FPV like some of us were hoping.
Not only is the Flip the first DJI drone to look like a Star Wars An AT-AT walker or penny bike when folded, this is also the first to turn on automatically when you unfold it, saving you the hassle of pressing two buttons. And when you unfold each of its four full-coverage, spoke-filled propeller guards – which DJI says is a first for its foldable drones – they join a forward-facing, self-braking 3D infrared sensor to protect the camera of any frontal impact. . . Also.
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And while this camera isn’t as impressive as the 1.0-inch type found on DJI’s Osmo Pocket 3, I was impressed with my initial results in good lighting! Its smaller 1/1.3-inch 4K60 sensor in 4:3 aspect ratio is capable of shooting 2.7K vertical video or 48-megapixel stills behind a fast f/1.7 aperture lens. Here are some of my first unpublished flights, a drone selfie and a photo, to give you an idea:
Frankly, the DJI Neo – which costs less than half – can’t come close to this level of performance; over the same lake and park, the Neo couldn’t even maintain a smooth shot because the breeze made its frame feel lighter and its images were muddy and washed out in comparison. The Flip has a three-axis gimbal to help maintain this stability. Additionally, professionals can record in 10-bit D-Log M.
But other, more expensive DJI drones could still offer better performance, as well as true vertical shooting by rotating the gimbal – and it would be hard to imagine a drone enthusiast choosing the Flip over the wait to see what DJI’s unannounced Mini 5 might bring. the table. .
“There are currently no plans to retire the Mini Series. The DJI Flip is a new series of entry-level drones that will be offered alongside the DJI Neo and DJI Mini. Each of these drones is designed to meet the needs of different types of beginners,” confirms DJI spokesperson Daisy Kong. The edge.
I’m continually surprised by the size of the Flip; while staying under the 249-gram weight limit that typically triggers government compliance standards, like making your location public. Despite its folding arms, it doesn’t fold down any smaller than a Mini, so I can’t fit it in the biggest cargo pants pockets I own. It’s also quite noisy despite its shrouded propellers – absolutely not among the quietest drones the company sells.
And while it costs more than the $199 DJI Neo, it doesn’t support any FPV headset to let you virtually soar like a bird.
But the Flip only costs $439 with a base RC-N3 joystick that lets you use your phone as a screen, plus launch modes from your hand; a $779 kit comes with three batteries, a carrying case, and a higher-performance DJI RC 2 controller with a built-in 700-nit daylight-viewable display. The DJI Mini 4 Pro versions of each of the same kits cost $959 and $1,099, respectively, a difference of $320.
The DJI Flip should be available for purchase and shipping today on the DJI website.
Photography and video by Sean Hollister / The Verge
