Looking for some opinions please folks…I’ve been offered a DJI Mavic Mini for £150. I’ve been holding out for a Mini 2, which would likely cost around 3x as much. Is the Mavic Mini substantially worse than the Mini 2? What can the Mini 2 do that the Mavic Mini can’t? I know I can Google for answers, but looking for real life opinions! Thanks!
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You can search here for answers too you know, honestly, it’s been discussed to death over the last 18 months alone 
If your budget is £150 I’d buy the Mini 1 now and get out and enjoy it 
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Sorry @PingSpike, I forget this forum has a working search, unlike others I frequent 
My budget right now is around the £150-£200 mark, but I hadn’t ruled out saving for the Mini 2. Seems DJIs hold their value well, so even used Mini 2s fetch nearly as much as buying new.
Apologies again for rehashing an old subject!
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I don’t know if my POV will be valid, but I was at the same place as you a few weeks backs, bought a tomzon (terrible it went back) Then got a tello. Knew I wanted to continue but that should it be that 1 or 2?
So a bit of personal BG from me.
I used to be a multi-media designer for MoD btt was retired after a brain fart. I haven’t watched TV/Films fro 3 years, all screens are at about 15%-20%. Can’t travel, eyes flicker, my aiming eye keeps changing (it’s my brain shorting not my eyes though apparently. Oh and I struggle with tech…
SO I thought to myself what do I want to do? Just get up in the air and fly and get some good pictures
or
do I want to fly and take great pictures and video that I may lead me back into editing. My ex-professional brain just kept going back to those improved camera specs.I got the mini 2 and am not regretting it, although ironically my first edit was actually the tello footage!
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For 150 quid it’s still going to be at least twice as good as a “cheap” drone like a Holystone or similar. Bite the bullet, get it, get out and fly!
(And it’s under 250 grams)
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Agreed ! The first drone I bought was a Holystone HS175 as an introduction to piloting that I got from Amazon very cheap it was enough to make me realise Drone piloting was for me however it was a bugger to pair & software buggy as hell, it holds prestigious accolade of being the my first & only flyaway it drifted away by its own volition it was in view at all times & when it ran out of battery it gently landed & I managed to retrieve it. Eventually it became unable to pair & calibrate so back to Amazon for a refund. I then bought what I should have the old Mini 2 a superb bit of kit that’s never given me any problems !
When the Mini-1 was released it was touted as the replacement for the Spark. As a Spark owner I was totally in disagreement. The Mini-1 surpassed the Spark in only two areas, those being camera resolution and flight time. Where it failed was in durability, wind resistance, advanced auto-modes, reliability, not that I used it but the Spark also had a reasonable Obstacle Avoidance system. I could probably cite more examples.
I haven’t mentioned the weight difference as it’s not something I was overly concerned about.
Then along came the Mini-2. I consider this to be the fix the Mini-1 should have been. It still lacks some of the features the Spark has but now it exceeds many of the capabilities. Most notable of these are the camera and the RF link. I’ve seen mentioned that the camera on the Mini-2 uses the same sensor as that of the Mavic-Pro, it does offer the same resolution and many of the same features. The RF-Link is now the Ocusync2 system, the same as that se on the Mavic Air2(S), the DJI FPV Drone, Mavic-2Pro. The benefits of O2 are I improved signal penetration, lower latency, higher resolution and frame rate of the live video downlink. The Mini-1 uses a vanilla WiFi connection with poor range, even in open areas, is subject to interference in urban areas, the video downlink can be frustratingly slow.
Another very ESSENTIAL improvement that was made to the Mini-2 was the power system, from the battery through to the motors. The Mini-1 had lousy performance in what I’d call average wind speeds. Many found that the drone would be carried away with the wind, even when switched to Sport Mode. So the Mini-2 was equipped with a higher discharge capable LiPo battery (the Mini-1 used lower discharge capable 18650c Lion Cells). Also the ESC’s and the motors were upgraded. I’ve flown my Mini2 in wind speeds close to 30mph and at no time did I feel I was n the verge of losing it, BUT I would still choose another more capable drone if I wanted usable video in those conditions.
If I were in the same situation as yourself I’d personally skip over the Mini-1 and over time add more cash to the drone fund and wait for a Mini2 to become available. There have been some very well priced examples on this forum, your post might even trigger someone to offer you their’s if it’s being under used. Alternatively there is an eBay seller that goes by the handle of “itstor”. This outfit deal in refurbished, but warranted, DJI products. I’ve used them a few times myself as have other members on here.
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Considering I paid around £80 for my Hubsan H501S, which is a nice starter drone, but not particularly intuitive, I’m hoping the DJI will be a decent step up
DJIFPV uses Occusync 3
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Thanks @Nidge for such a comprehensive reply. Lots of food for thought!
I’m begining to see that the drone hobby is a slippery path to purchasing multiple drones 
Much the same as my fishkeeping hobby ‘forced’ me to upgrade from small tanks to medum tanks to large tanks 
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I was in the same position (couldn’t decide between mavic mini and mini 2) but eventually went for the Mavic Mini and the savings allowed me to pick up extras that i wanted (bag, prop protectors, body wrap etc) Not having the mini i can’t really compare how it performs in the wind and personally i tend to avoid flying when its gusting more than about 15/18mph…so relatively calm flying days, but in fairness i’ve found it generally ok in the wind and the Mavic mini has the sports mode so you can get it up to nearly 30mph.
I’ve not had any connection issues, it’s always behaved itself and never flown off!!
Picture quality is great and i’ve not found the need for RAW. The mini can be hard to see at distance (i tend to struggle seeing it after about 300m…hence the partial body wrap and as i fly in the countryside I’m not fussed about the extra few grams taking me over 250g)
It’s all down to budget and i reckon £150 is a bargain (provided you have more than one battery)
For me i’d rather be flying than saving any day of the week!
Been there, done that, still doing it!
Been there, done that etc, etc!
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My first drone was also a Holystone 175D. I enjoyed flying it until it flew away into a wood never to be seen again. The DJI mini is a Ferrari, the Holystone a Smart car. No offence to Smart car owners.
Buy it but keep saving for a Mini 2 - keep the Mini in good condition and you can later sell it to help pay for a Mini 2
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It’s an exercise in self restraint, of which I have none.
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You can get the mini se what is a lot better or my self got the mini 2 what is amazing have a look on YouTube
Ok, I’ll take the bait
How is a DJI Mini SE better than a Mini 1? 
Funnily enough, I’ve been alerted to the Mini SE this evening by a Google Chrome recommended page. Seems that the only difference between the Mini SE and the Mavic Mini is increased wind resistance? Oh and the fact it uses the same batteries as the Mini 2, which would theoretically allow easier upgrading.
I have owned my mini for over a year and have over 150 hours flying time with no issues whatsoever, its never done anything I didn’t tell it to and I take it everywhere. I have tried a few other drones but nothing I have tried works like the mini… Batterys are under £50 and the 3 I have are all still at 100% health… I would recommend buying the mini and not worry too much about better cameras etc the mini is an awesome piece of kit… In my opinion!
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