by The DJI Mini 3 Pro is a 249-gram marvel of a prosumer drone. It’s easily the best folding mini drone DJI has ever produced, and yet my favorite part of the $909 / £859 / $1,299 package is the revolutionary DJI RC.
The new remote control incorporates a 5.5-inch high-resolution color screen.
Before I say why I love this remote so much, it’s worth explaining that you’re going to pay for the DJI RC. You can pre-order a DJI Mini 3 Pro for $669 / £639 / AU$989, which means you’ll get a drone, but no remote (the drone works with DJI’s RC-N1, which has no display) . If you want the drone and the RC-N1, it will cost $759 / £709 / AU$1,119. The package you want, in my opinion, is the $909 which includes the new DJI RC.
This isn’t DJI’s first remote. That was the discontinued DJI Smart Controller. At first glance, these two devices are quite similar (same square shape, same 5.5-inch screen), but the lines are smoother on the light gray DJI RC and there are no antennas to unfold.
why love
To understand why I love this new remote so much, we have to go back to my early days of flying DJI drones. For pretty much all of them, it was a marriage between my iPhone and the remote. Over the years, DJI has come up with a variety of ways to secure smartphones of various sizes and run the cable from the remote to the phone’s data/powerport port.
Because they had to build it as a one-size-fits-all, marriage is always a little awkward. Early DJI drone remotes offered these study arms that you unfolded from the remote body and then pressed on the edges of the phone. It looked messy, but I’ve never had an iPhone come out of place. Cableing them, however, was a nightmare.
The DJI Remote introduced with the DJI Mini 2 (the RC-N1) is a notable improvement. The arms were gone, replaced by an elegant spring clip on the top edge of the remote. Just pull it up, release the phone and let the tension of the springs pull it back into place on top of the phone. This also made running the cable easier.
Even with this remote, though, there were numerous concerns: did I have the latest DJI software installed? As mobile editor and drone newbie Tom Bedford recently noted, DJI has a penchant for releasing new apps for different drones. You just have to pay attention to which one you should install.
Then there are the batteries. Most DJI drones really do consume battery, but I’ve always worried about having enough juice on my iPhone. My fear was that if my screen went dark, I would lose control of the drone.
a better way
You can guess the obvious and significant benefit of the DJI RC: no iPhones or smartphones of any kind.
I don’t need to connect the remote to Wi-Fi (unless I want to), find an app, or put cables and smartphone in place. If I forgot my iPhone, I could still fly the DJI Mini 3 Pro.
That’s freedom.
This is easy to use.
This is fun.
None of this would be true if DJI hadn’t built a stellar drone remote. Though heavier than previous remotes (and the ultra-lightweight DJI Mini 3 Pro), the DJI RC is a pleasure to hold. The knurled metal joysticks (which you take out of the back and screw on the front) are perfectly positioned just above the screen, which is smart placement because my fingers never covered the screen.
On the front is a set of easy-to-reach controls to quickly snap a photo or start or stop video recording. Just below are the dials (one on each side). One lets you control the gimbal’s camera orientation and the other lets you digitally zoom in on the live image the drone is transmitting to the remote.
There’s also a couple of buttons for quick access to things like reorienting the camera forward or down, as well as access to some of the other advanced camera settings (they’re also customizable).
Among the joysticks are buttons for home and pause, power on and a slider for flight mode. It’s a simple but sensible layout.
Even though there are no visible antennas on the DJI RC remote, it maintained perfect communication with the drone as it flew 400 feet above me and then over a mile away.
The 5.5 inch LCD screen is bright enough for direct viewing, but my son noticed that he couldn’t see what was happening even though he was right next to me. It’s not a problem for pilots, but it’s not a screen designed for group viewing,
The screen, which is also touch-sensitive, doesn’t require much as the remote automatically connects to the DJI Mini 3 Pro. Once that was done, just click on “Go Fly” to enter the controls and see through the drone’s 4K camera.
I tap the screen to launch it and I can swipe to access various controls.
I could also, by double swiping across the top of the screen, see what appears to be the base of Android. It’s in these settings that I entered my DJI account information and added Wi-Fi connectivity so I could download the latest firmware directly to the remote and drone.
I’d expect the battery life to not be as good with a full-sized screen to support it, but it’s easy to get over multiple 30-minute flights.
If there’s one caveat here, it would be that the lack of a direct connection to a smartphone limits its media download capabilities. I can play photos and videos recorded on the DJI Mini 3 Pro directly from the drone’s microSD card to the RC screen. I can also download photos from DJI RC, but not videos. If I had a phone connected, I could download everything.
Yes, the DJI Mini 3 Pro is one of the best drones you can buy and one that I absolutely loved flying, but I have to say the experience might not have been as great without the DJI RC.
