Hi all 
Just after your thoughts on upgrading from the Mini 3 pro to the Air 3s 
any thoughts and advice would be very much appreciated.
Many thanks in advance Richie 
I have the Air 3S and love it, nearest thing to perfection in my opinion, just wish I could get out more to fly it, you wonât be sorry, watch some videos on YouTube youâll see what I mean 
Brilliant, but remember the Air 3S is >250g thus you will need the A2 CofC if you havenât already got it and it will need to be currentâŚ
Stay Safe, Fly Happy
MDSteve
Many thanks Yorkie9668 great advice my friend I have watched a fair few videos on YouTube and have been impressed .
Many thanks MDSteve I have started the A2 CofC course but not took the exam yet.
Me tooâŚ
Stay Safe, Fly Happy
MDSteve
A lot depends on your reasons for upgradng
Wait a week to see what the Mini 5 Pro brings 
I upgraded to the Air 3S a week after its launch, from a mini 3 pro. What a difference the Air 3S is, so much better than the mini 3 pro in all respects. Handles lovely in strong wind. I have had a bird strike with it, large bird, drone simply wobbled and carried on flying ok. I did take the A2 CofC exam soon after buying it, well worth doing.
You can using Article 16 Operational Authorisation in certain environments. But obviously you need to be member of a recognised flying organisation.
A great informative page right here 
So did I from the 4 Pro and itâs amazing! Iâm still keeping the 4 Pro though.
Many thanks Bargemaster I did wonder how it would preform in wind stronger than the mini 3 pro and I dare say it has a better camera too. Many thanks again .
Like a hot knife through butter!
Except where you can fly it
Youâll be able to fly the Air3S in a whole lot more places from Jan, as the C1 label comes into effect and greatly reduces the separation distances. So no A16 or A2CofC needed
Maybe
These are mine!
99% certain I reckon.
You should be able to fly exactly the same places as a sub 250g drone can now, but only in the UK.
I have the Air 3s, an awesome drone for sure, but 'll be keeping my mini 4 Pro for these reasons:
- Canât justify upgrading to a mini 5 Pro by Jan 26 (in terms of cost only) and do not want the potential attention an RiD enforced drone may bring thereon (at least for 2 yrs at the moâ).
- I fly overseas and the Air 3s doesnât have the same freedoms, or portability, that the mp4 has now, or for the forseeable future.
- My mp4 draws far less attention than the Air 3s, despite the latter being remarkably quiet for its size and performance capability.
- I do a lot of walking and scrambling (alas my climbing days are very much limited nowadays, ageing is a bitch sometimes) and the smaller drone is less of a pain to travel light with!
- Despite itâs level 5 wind capability, I have found it works quite well in 35mph gusts and do not tend to get out much in weather much worse than that!
That said, my Air 3s will most definitely be my go-to drone 90% of the time (assuming, of course, my confidence in the 2026 rule changes is not proven to be misplaced)!
So my advice is get an Air 3s before 2026 and hopefully enjoy 2 yrs of RiD freedom with no restrictions other than those applied to any sized drones over 100g.
I have the air 3. Its been awesome.
Bigger presence in the air, very stable the lenses are fantastic for photography.
I can only imagine the âSâ should improve on all of these.
The only drawback is if you want the same/ similar flight privileges as the sub 250 mob, you need your A2 CofC. But thats very easy and provides some good learning.
I find the neo, avata2 and my Air 3 a great line up as i can use the Googles 3 on all of them.
Other than that, go and enjoy.
I am a Mini4P owner who regularly considers upgrading to the Air Series, mainly because of how uncomfortable I am sending my little mini up into big catabatic winds that frequently gust above 25 mph, as is usually the case up the big exposed hills around here. I get quite worried about being blown beyond VLOS, which hasnât happened to me so far, but probably only because I really am very cautious about when I fly, and donât really test the limits as much as I probably should.
And I donât like having to be in Sport Mode (without OA) a lot of the time to try and fight that.
Most of the time it copes with big wind very well, and better than Iâd expect for something so small and light, but there have definitely been days where high winds make a mini so âbuckyâ in the air that the gimbal canât stabilize properly so footage is affected, and worry about it being blown away subverts any joy of flying I might get otherwise. And thereâs quite a lot of those days in the UK !
Might wait til Air 4 or 5 though - I am very happy with the Mini 4 on the days when I can fly it, and there are still enough of those to keep me amusedâŚ
Very ignorant question, but does this mean Air3S can fly in same environments (come January) as the sub 250grm mini4? JUST realised that has been answered previously!
Thatâs the recommendation from the CAA, but nothing set down in legislation yet so it could change.
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