If anyone like myself was lucky enough to pickup the DJI Mavic Mini on the eBay Plus deal last week you are probably after a few extra batteries.
After some digging around I found the cheapest to be $48.30 at Camera Electronic. $15 postage is a bit steep however still not a bad price for an indiviual battery compared to $69 elsewhere and even better value when you buy a couple as the postage fee is flat.
yea I took advantage of that $64 price! it wasn't even in stock until yesterday I think. I remember checking few days back and it wasnt available.
it was $61 a few days before until someone took the last one, then it went offline a few days until it was restocked at $69 then dropped to $64.07
If you buy two, this is worth it.
Can you use this on the mini 2?
Yes, but doing so takes it over 250g.
By much? Does it have more battery life?
High 250s, apparently, but once it's over it's over, the quantum is irrelevant.
Less battery life, apparently, but not a huge decrease.
@jamba: Ah true, I thought the rego thing was anything sub-2kg if used for work. Looks like that is currently the case, but they are phasing in rego for recreational use of drones 250g and up next year. Either way, you don't need a licence - just register and pass a quiz.
Any commercially-related usage and you still need to do the rego + quiz, even if it's sub-250g.
@eggboi: Don’t think you need a license over 250g either, unless commercial use as you say, or your drone is getting really big.
Under 250g you don’t need to worry so much about airports.
CASA:
“If your drone weighs more than 250 grams, you must fly at least 5.5 kilometres away from a controlled airport, which generally have a control tower at them.“
That’s all at the moment. The 250g hype doesn’t apply so much in Australia…yet. I’m sure rego will be a thing for recreational flyers in the future (maybe CASA just isn’t quite ready for the inundation yet).
@Banj0: Yeah i did see on the casa website yesterday that they will be bringing in mandatory rego for recreational drones as of next year, but drones under 250g will be exempt. Not much of a benefit compared to the exemptions for sub 250g in US and other markets.
Can you link to the rule about being able to fly closer to airports with a sub250g drone?? Sounds great but i can’t seem to find that allowance anywhere… i had assumed no drones of any weight were allowed within 5.5km of airports.
@eggboi: I think the general (recreational) drone rego was supposed to be in a fair while ago, but I expect the systems weren't in place. Imagine the numbers of people who will need to register!! I have 4 drones over the weight limit, but I would only consider one of those dangerous if it got out of control.
I'm a club member though, so can go fly at my local field without registration regardless, but multi rotors tend to be something that it's nice to be able to fly at a local oval or something.
https://www.casa.gov.au/knowyourdrone/drone-rules
Well…it doesn't say you can't :) Just says that drones over 250g can't.
Hey…that gives us 1 gram more to play with on the Mavic Mini!
@Banj0: Actually I found it - https://www.casa.gov.au/publications-and-resources/publicati…
So yes, you can currently fly within 5.5km of an airport with a mavic mini, safe in the knowledge you won’t be fined $1-11k haha.
Whether the DJI app will allow you to fly in that zone is a whole other issue. I think their app currently geofences ALL of their drones so they can’t fly within 5km of airports, but i’m not certain.
@eggboi: Yeah…it's interesting. Seems to put up a 150m ceiling for me (I live at the edge of a takeoff/approach zone), which as far as I can tell has no basis in actual Australian flight regs. I believe there's override for certain zones?
Their software does not seem to adjust the map for sub 250g drones vs heavier.
Don't think I'll be taking my Mavic Mini up to the fence line of my nearest airport for a fly though.
@Banj0: The departure and approach zones are relevant and shown on page 15 of the casa pdf in my prev comment. Bigger drones have to worry about those areas AND the general 5.5km radius, but it looks like sub 250g you only need to avoid the departure and approach zones (the elongated bow tie shapes). Some suburban airports have a surprisingly large exclusion zone if you have to abide by the 5.5km radius, so your lil drone is a big bonus in those areas.
@eggboi: Yeah, I have seen those maps, but I wasn't trusting them. I think the last time I looked at a map it didn't show such huge swathes of the area I live in within a no-flight zone.
Actually, what do you think about this bit?
"Micro RPA are permitted to be flown within 5.5 km (3 NM) of the movement area of a controlled aerodrome provided it is:
› not operated over the movement area
› not operated over or in the departure or
approach path
› not creating a collision hazard to other aircraft taking off or landing."
FFS…If I take that literally, I can't fly in some of the fields closest to me, which are a long way from the airport. The approach/departure paths cover a huge swathe of the suburbs.
Note that CASA doesn't actually publish their own map for model users…they simply refer to third parties, and then say:
"they are not an official source of air navigation information and should be supplemented by using official sources of information when planning an operation."
Nevermind…just look at "official aeronautical information publications such as the En Route Supplement Australia (ERSA), Visual Terminal Charts (VTC), Visual Navigation Charts (VNC), NOTAMs and the Aeronautical Information Publication (AIP) itself (see appendix A)."
LOL…easy peasy.
Actually, I just checked out the ok2fly maps (I had been looking at one of the others), and the info is much more detailed. It mentions height restrictions at the edges of the approach/departure zones, and even flags the RAAF Centenary on March 31st…neat! I think this might be my go-to map source.
@eggboi: Here's an excellent quote from CASA,
"Non controlled airspace within 30 m (100 ft) of controlled airspace constitutes the no-fly zone for non-controlled airspace."
Id buy up the batteries i have a feelign they are going to discontinue mavic mini 1 and stop supplying parts
(they did it to me with the mavic pro)
Free pickup in stores too
Thanks op! Exactly what I was after. I didn’t notice they had a surcharge on PayPal when I placed the order though. I hate it when they do that.
Cheers, got two. Expires tonight midnight WA time!
Anyone get theirs yet? Mines on backorder :(
Same. Back order.
Ditto.
@cloudie9: An update, says its ready for dispatch but logged into my account couldn't find my order, lol!
Good if you need a few. Got one off Amazon delivered in a day yesterday for $64. Back up to $69 now but seems to jump around a little.