DJI - Air 3s

The Air 3S is a fantastic drone. The handling is super ergonomic, it's incredibly stable in wind and the added LiDAR is good to have in low light. That being said: Make sure your Obstacle Sensors are properly cleaned, as it has the tendency to interpret smudges or dust particles as obstacles, and will become very twitchy particularly in side-flying. Apart from that, the only other issue I've had with it isn't about the drone at all, but rather the Fly More Combo bag. It's rather... unprotective. Exposed sides, and no solid cover to protect the drone's legs means if something sits on top of it, it will crush the folded legs of the drone. Definitely not talking from experience here...

Yeah big time. That's why I love the air 3s. It's a combo of mini because it is portable. Camera quality closer to mavic 4 but not as bulky and more nimble. The air flys on a dime and handles very extremely windy conditions.

I would say mini 5 pro or my favorite air 3s. I would go with the 60mph beast.

My first drone was the Mini SE bought in 2022, and i loved it. Subsequently upgraded to a Mini 3 Pro, but Air 3S would be my absolute favourite.

The best drone is the one that you use the most. The Air 3S is superior, but the M4P is more portable. I have an Air 3 and often just pick up the Neo since I can quickly throw it into my pocket... I'd say: If your main focus is traveling and your audience is either social media, friends and family on WhatsApp or other mobile-first consumers, then M4P. If your main focus is cinematic footage of more sophisticated environments with a dynamic camera system, then 3S. Can't go wrong with either one.

Air 3s would easily clear.

There is no good US alternatives that are equal in capabilities and price. It just seems like the majority of our drone industry serves the military and other govt. contractors and not hobbyist's or small businesses. I own a new DJI Air 3s and an old Tello which is great for flying indoors. The next the drone I buy might be a home made one at this point.

Comes down to how much you're willing to spend. Air3s return to home Feature is nice but if you're above the age of 5 flying home with any drone is easy. Maybe a deal breaker would be how both do in wind so id give the air3s the edge but both are really good.

I'm loving the Air 3S. If weight (compared to the Mini) is not an issue, then I'll highly recommend it. You can do the A1/A3 in a few minutes/hours if you have some basic technical knowledge. To my knowledge there are not many restrictions compared to a <250g (with camera), except for the follow-feature (involving other people) and some special local restrictions (I've seen an area in austria where only <250g are allowed). It's not that heavy nor big, has good wind resistance and the price is okish. And you have optical 3x zoom. Also something I saw on my Air 3S compared to the Mini 4 Pro of a friend is that the videos of the Air 3S are way smoother when it comes to frames per second (idk if that's just a setting-issue on his side tho). Can't really tell you a lot about Mavic since it is >900g and that's why I haven't looked into it.

As a beginner emphasizing on videos, you have two best options: (i) Mini 4 (or 5) Pro, if you're okay with on camera; or (ii) Air 3s if you prefer to also have a telephoto. In my experience (I've had two drones in my life, one with and one without a telephoto), I'd certainly need one. But everyone thinks differently. The prices of these two are not that much different, so I'd suggest you choose based on that feature.

I was wondering the same but got the opportunity to get the air3s fly combo for the price of mini5p combo so I went for it. The most important aspect for me was the battery and even if m5p does a little better than m4p(atleast from raw values as no tests available so far) it's still a long way from the air3s batteries.

Pilot Institute does a really great overview of the Air 3S. Congrats on the upgrade! I recently picked one up as well. And now I don't really want to fly anything else lol My Mini 4 Pro is awesome when I need something super small and quiet, but the Air 3S wins in every category other than size and noise. Wind stability and image quality just aren't even comparable. And having the tele lens adds a lot of creative flexibility.

DJI Air 3s is what you're looking for. Don't go for the mini, especially with the budget you have. The $1,500 gets you the fly more package which brings extra batteries which you'll definitely want

I have the Air 3s, it's my 4th DJI drone. I'd definitely go for one of the mini drones for your first. Mini 4k is a great option, mini 4 pro is great too- but personally I'd gauge my interest. When I bought my first it was an entry level one- as I was trying to gauge if I wanted go get into it or not

Air 3 or Air 3S over the 3 Pro. There is very little justification of getting the Mavic 3 Pro, or any Mavic 3 line. aside from the Cine package. Mini 4 is fantastic as well. Mavic 3 Pro/Non Pro is dated, has worse tech, and uses O3/older controllers that only work with Mavic 2/Mini 3 generation if you want more drones. Neo/Flip/Inspire/Air 3/3S/4 Pro/Mavic 4 all/will use newer controllers. They are not backwards compatible either.

I'd be looking at an DJI Air 3S Fly More kit.

I'd go Air 3S or if you can find one, Mavic 3 Classic but make sure you get the RC Pro with it. The zooms on the 3 Pro are *ok* but going from a 4/3 to a much smaller sensor is kinda jarring. The 3S is at least pretty darn close but man that 4/3 sensor is phenomenal.

What I would recommend... DJI mini 4k for the cheapest entry. It will let you get a feel for things and find out if you want more. DJI mini 5. If you're going to spend money, then just go with the newest option. It has a lot of the nice features and it's portable. DJI Air 3s. If portability isn't an issue, then the air 3s is a little better. - Although there a couple of drones between the 4k and 5 pro, but the quality up grades are minor and don't have many better features. Mainly obstacle avoidance, which the mini 3 is missing. You could spend money on a mini 4, but for a little more just get the mini 5p. After the air 3s, you would want to make bigger upgrades to the Mavic 3 and Mavic 3 enterprise series. Which is way more than you need IMO

Air 3S and don't look back

I own multiples of both the Air 3S and Mini 4 Pro, and two Air 3 units as well. What do you intend to shoot? How do you intend to shoot it? What lighting/time of day? What output do you expect to use? What wind conditions? What class/weight done can you fly regularly? The Air 3S has FAR better obstacle avoidance in low light on its normal obstacle avoidance sensors vs the Air 3 and Mini 4 Pro, plus it also has front facing Lidar, which has also been impressively good. On top of that, the Air 3S has D-log-M at extended ISO ranges, which happen to be the same ISO range the Air 3 and Mini 4 Pro only have shitty 8bit 'night mode' that SUCKS. I was NEVER impressed by the 'low light' capabilities of the Mini 4 Pro and Air 3, nor their Obatacle Avoidance tech even in what i would consider to be 'good lighting', sunset/dusk is too dark, Air 3S the sensors are fine even when its darker than im comfortable flying. The Air 3S exceeded my expectations in low light, both in terms of obstacle avoidance sensors (which are about 10x more light sensitive than the Air 3 and Mini 4 Pro) as well as 10 bit D-log-M performance vs shitty 8-bit 'night mode' on the Air 3 and Mini 4 Pro. Lidar works with zero light up front. The Mini 4 Pro is great if its calm weather and bright enough outside. Air 3 and Air 3S are FAR FAR FAR more stable in wind or gusty situations. The Mini 4 Pro is also quite small and handy if youre after something compact; its a killer piece of kit that punches WAY above its weight for what it is. We keep a Mini 4 Pro or an Air 3 in deployment as 'risky shot' drones for client work, the footage in proper lighting is GREAT! That said, i'd go Air 3S over a Mini 4 Pro, but we use both cams and low light/wind resistance matters for us.

Air 3s. Better drone overall.

Just a heads up-I grabbed five of the Air 3S combos with the regular controller from Adorama earlier today. They actually have plenty in stock. Skip the eBay listings claiming "only 1-7 left"-they're almost always grey market, overpriced, and usually ship from Korea or one of the Indo-China regions with sketchy terms. Adorama's site is a mess right now (can't add to cart, checkout fails, DJI pages throwing 404s), but if you **call**, you can still place an order directly. Meanwhile, the RC 2 controller alone is going for **$1,000-$1,200**, up from $600 just yesterday. Prices have doubled overnight like it's wartime ration gear. Honestly, I wish I'd pulled a Costco move and gone in with friends to buy 200 units of the Air 2S or Air 3 before this market exploded. You could list the combo at $10K and people would still buy-at least until the shipping backlog clears and pricing settles closer to MSRP. Also worth noting: **DHL is hammering people with "handoff" fees** between $50 and $200, *on top* of normal shipping costs. Feels like straight-up extortion. And here's the part no one's talking about-ports like LA, NJ, and Miami are a total mess. Cargo containers full of DJI gear are going missing or getting "held," and if you think it's not an inside job, I've got a bridge to sell you. There's a real sense that organized groups, maybe even with mafia ties, are cherry-picking hot cargo before it even hits the system. Look, I love DJI. Yeah, it's state-linked, but the tech is legit. What we get here in the West is just the consumer-grade stuff-they're likely developing DARPA-level projects behind closed doors. The idea that my drone is a national security threat is laughable when the U.S. already has 1" eGIS terrain data, hyperspectral satellite imagery, and an always-on IoT network tracking everything down to our light bulbs. But with Remote ID now tying all of us to centralized drone data, and with another DJI blacklist bill back in play, the threat isn't the drones-it's that someone at the FAA, or worse, someone tweeting from a toilet, could *brick every DJI drone in the U.S.* in one night. No DJI Care, no repairs, no parts, no resale value. Just fleets of grounded gear and thousands of professionals screwed. We should've treated DJI stockpiles like GME (Game Stop) shares, but instead the ports knew what was coming since they talked about doing this durning the election eun-up - and now they've got the golden containers warehoused someplace while the rest of us are fighting over whatever they feel like gaming over a million Amazon and eBay FSBO scams going on this second. GAHHH!! lol APS: If my Air 2S flown for over 1600 miles and owned for 4+ years didn't decide to watch it's final sunset from about 10,000ASL in the high Rockies a few weeks ago, and drop lto terminal velocity through the thin air of about 400 feet after an un-happy battery released itself med-flight at the opportunity to be set free into the heavens, likely only to reappear in a glacier in a few thousand years, a few thousand feet down the mountain lol. Or maybe a mountain goat will find it swollen & leaking lithium, and use it as a salt lick until eventually turning into a the infamous Yeti? Anyway was amazingly able to recover the drone, and will never fly without an AirTag velcro'd somewhere on them again! sure lifesaver more than once, including one theft. So yeah... drones are way too expensive. >\_< Dont even get me started on commercial drone insurance costs and how they absolutely rake this nitch of ppl bloody with so many stupid fees. Like how the hell is it more expensive and dangerous for me to fly a 0.70 lb drone around a field, than it is for me to drive my 4,000lb SUV at 75mph through 5-lane rush hour traffic ?! Oh yeah.. cause its federal air space, they say. Good thing the firmware kids have already gotten into the super encrypted Air 3S and new Mavic firmwares according to many of the sub-reds and other "deeper" forums filled with ppl talking about this stuff and the blocks. And yep you guessed it - the knowledge gained in the last 2-4yrs alone across the Ukraine incld ed printed parts, cheap microprocessors running off-the-shelf relatively simple code systems like Raspberry Pi and others. The advant of fiber spooled drone comms, etc. Shit's gonna be bananas as we already see record rone swarms every month from countries like China who dominate. Fly safe ya'll!

In China, it might use a 4G video transmission system. My Air3s can fly 40-60 kilometers in unobstructed conditions.

No issues in strong winds at all. No issues with birds either. A hawk here and there fly close but never attacked. It handles extremely well like a mini but the size of a maverick 4 but more portable. It's an amazing drone and flying through gusts of wind no issues and feed stays steady.

Sure, but there's a definite gap in the market for a "professional" drone at <250gr (aka a Mini 4 Pro with a 1" camera). Otherwise, Air 3s is similarly priced to Mini Pro, and just a tad less portable (also offering the telephoto lens which is certainly nice to have at times).

If you have the budget go air 3s, it handles much smoother than the mini series. Also don't forget to factor in getting your 107 assuming you're in the states.

I might have used the wrong choice of words. I guess I meant that Neo 2 is more flexible with different ways to fly. The video quality is actually significantly better than the Neo 1 which was horrible and not usable. I have an air 3s which I love and the neos. The Neo 2 I fly more then the air 3s based on portability. But the video isn't that much different but I think it's on par or above.

Hey just sold my mini 4 for an Air 3 because I need something heavier, I live by the beach and have a ton of wind, I would have waited for the mini 5 coming out in September *with Lidar, but still would have been too lite *sub 250. The air 3 s has 3 basic things I like over the mini 4. -The weight that I need for my area. -Flight time 45 over 35 for the mini 4. -One inch sensor and dual camera on the 3s And the grand daddy, it has *Lidar. From What I understand about the mini 5 pro coming out it's basically a smaller Air 3. Good luck drones rock.

Air 3s! There's something about that drone that makes you fall in love with it lol. I have both, I can say this from personal experience lol.

Literally every single aspect of Air 3s is better! Tele camera makes the huge difference between the two in terms of camera. The only plus of Mini 4 pro camera related is the option to rotate the camera. Everything else is less than in the Air 3s. Also free panorama is only available on the Air 3s. The intelligent charging hub is also a pretty cool thing: went flying today with a friend and managed to salvage one additional flight out of the few percentages left in the other batteries, he stood by me watching in awe of this trick 😄

In general. It feels like it just transmits with like 10-15FPS. Same when not filming. The live video on the RC2 is also like that. Again, could be a settings thing.

you're lucky then, for me the cheaper option was the air3s :) for which I had to do certifications and all stuff so I can fly above 250g drones.

Air 3s is daily used here at my company. Wonderful drone. Honestly you'll get the hang of it quick. Compared to the minis, this beast is SO stable. Congrats

i got the mini 4k and returned it and got the Air 3s based off the wind handling and pure ability. minis are fun, but just lack that oomph lol maybe just an opinion.

Curious to see the battery of that thing 🤡 I also use the 4G dongle on my Air 3S and have teated it....at around 9kms I turn around so I can return safely. If flown to the very end of the battery without having to return, I guess it will go somewhere around 18-20km