DJI launches the Mini 2, packing even more features into its smallest drone ever

DJI is already known for making some of the world’s most impressive aerial drones, but it appears it doesn’t want to rest on its laurels. The company is looking to push the boundaries on now only how good its drones can be, but also how small they can make them too. The company just announced its new DJI Mini 2 drone, which builds on its previous DJI Mavic Mini claim as the lightest and smallest drone on the market by adding a host of new features that make it as good as many of the other top of the range drones out there.

The new Mini 2 comes in at the same size and weight as the previous model, but this time has drastically improved wireless connectivity that allows it to fly more than 2.5 times the distance of the original, plus it adds more stability to its connectivity. The new drone also sees a bump to its video resolution, now up to 4K at 30 frames per second at a 100Mbps bitrate, up from the 2.7K, 25/30p @ 40Mbps video it shot before. Along with the ability to grab RAW photos instead of JPG, this also allows for better editing. Aside from 4K videos, the Mini 2 also has an optiona 1080p at up to 60fps mode.

To go along with the improvements to its range and camera resolution, the flight motors have also been improved which now gives it a top speed of 57 km/h while still having the ability to withstand gusts of wind as strong as 36km/h. Strong stuff but I wouldn’t recommend flying this in Cape Town during our usual windy season – which feels like most of the year – because you can kiss your drone goodbye if you do so.

Still, for its size, those are impressive improvements with the only real drawback being that it has a 30-minute battery life that will require some rather quick and sneaky drone flying. That’s probably exactly what you want out of this drone: getting those great shots in tight spaces that most drones simply aren’t able to capture.

The Mini 2 is on sale for $449 in the US and should be coming to SA in the near future, though you could always import one in yourself if you’re in a rush.

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