a digicam drone for novices and vacationers

The DJI Flip launched in January 2025, marking a game-changing addition to the world of compact drones. It’s design is a large departure from any form of drone we’ve seen earlier than, representing one thing like 4 huge wheels surrounding a digicam. The DJI Flip drone is finest for vloggers, novices and journey fanatics — providing one thing of a mixture between the ultra-low price DJI Neo (which launched in late 2025) and the DJI Mini lineup.

With its foldable, full-coverage propeller guards, superior security options and a sturdy digicam system, the DJI Flip is palm-sized drone that mix’s Neo’s ease of use with digicam high quality that’s nearer to skilled grade (aerial photographs are the identical high quality because the Mini 4 Professional). I spent the previous month testing out this neat little drone to place collectively my DJI Flip evaluate. So with that, right here’s a deep dive into its options, strengths and weaknesses — plus an evaluation of the way it stacks up towards different DJI drones.

Its beginning value? It is available in underneath $500, at $439 to be precise. Upgraded fashions embrace the DJI Flip with the upgraded RC 2 quite than the usual RC-N3($639) and the Fly Extra Combo with RC 2 ($779).

Take a look at my unboxing video beneath, the place you’ll discover all kinds of key particulars (and see them for your self)! In any other case, learn on:

Who’s the DJI Flip finest for?

There are all kinds of digicam drones in the marketplace. The Flip actually isn’t probably the most highly effective, as different digicam drones just like the DJI Air 3S and DJI Mavic 3 Professional can supply even stronger flight and better picture high quality. Nevertheless it’s powerful to argue with a drone underneath $500 that’s this good.

• Vloggers and social media creators: With vertical capturing capabilities and audio recording through smartphone integration, this drone is optimized for movies meant for platforms like Instagram and TikTok.
• Newbie drone pilots: The foldable propeller guards, computerized braking, and light-weight design (<249g) make it one of many most secure and best drones for first-time flyers.
• Vacationers: As a result of it’s compact and transportable, it’s closely checks the comfort field in a rating of finest journey drones.

Key options of the DJI Flip

Design

The DJI Flip takes the enclosed propeller guards that made the Neo a preferred drone for teenagers (and a preferred drone for novices, too). From there, it provides the foldable design first launched into DJI merchandise with the DJI Mavic manner again in 2016.

That makes the DJI Flip the primary DJI’s first drone to function foldable, full-coverage propeller guards. It’s environment friendly in design from a portability standpoint, but in addition far safer versus having propellers uncovered.

These propeller guards are made with conventional polycarbonate materials.

And naturally, this drone is extremely light-weight. It weighs underneath 249 grams. Any drone weighing underneath 250 grams is important because it’s not regulated by federal aviation businesses in most international locations. That features the U.S., the place the Federal Aviation Administration requires that pilots register drones weighing 250 grams or extra. Drones 250 grams or extra additionally have to be Distant ID compliant.

Digital camera

The digicam will get you mainly the identical high quality because the Mini 4 Professional (but that drone begins at greater than $300). The photograph above is an unedited model of a shot I took in nonetheless photograph mode with this drone.

This drone’s digicam additionally will get actually attention-grabbing in that it’s designed to additionally alter for close-up photographs of individuals. When taking close-ups, count on the identical high quality as what you’d get on the Osmo Pocket 3, which is part of DJI’s hand-held lineup of cameras.

Faucet to deal with the topic you need in focus (if it doesn’t robotically focus to the realm you need). From there, the drone snaps a photograph that pulls out particulars in faces whereas blurring out the background (that’s the place the f/1.7 aperture is available in). The photograph above reveals precisely what these close-up photographs appear like. I personally discover the standard of close-up photographs to be greater than even photographs taken from a medium distance.

Listed here are some key digicam specs:

• 48MP images with excessive dynamic vary and 4x zoom.
• 1/1.3-inch CMOS sensor.
• Twin Native ISO Fusion.
• f/1.7 aperture.
• 2.4μm 4-in-1 pixels.
• 4K/60fps HDR video, 10-bit D-Log M shade mode, and gradual movement at 4K/100fps.
• AI-powered instruments like SmartPhoto and clever capturing modes (e.g. Dronie, Circle, Helix).

Flight time and management

This factor is tremendous simple to fly. DJI offers you a number of choices, together with the choice to fly it handsfree purely by utilizing voice management by means of the DJI Fly app.

You may additionally choose to make use of it with only one hand by means of the DJI Fly app through Wi-Fi direct, which helps you to swap between completely different capturing modes in a brand new vertical display interface.

After all, your different possibility is to go the standard route through distant management. You need to use the cheaper DJI RC-N3 (included with the $439 DJI Flip), or go for the upgraded RC 2 ($639 together with the Flip), which I desire.

Learn extra: DJI RC 2 vs RC-N2: ought to Mini 4 Professional pilots improve?

Count on 31 minutes of max flight time with the Clever Flight Battery.

If you buy the $779 Fly Extra Combo, you get two spare batteries (three whole) plus the Parallel Charging Hub, which expenses two batteries concurrently.

Security and ease of use

Listed here are some key security specs:

• Foldable propeller guards created from carbon fiber for minimal weight and most safety.
• Computerized braking and impediment sensing for protected flying through DJI Flip’s 3D ToF sensors.
• Return-to-Dwelling.

Designed with social media in thoughts

It’s not simply the vertical mode that signifies this drone was designed for social media. There’s the brand new emphasis on close-up photographs, so content material creators can get higher aerial photographs of themselves.

And in the event you’re doing a standup, you are able to do that too. When related to your cellphone, the DJI Fly app truly can seize audio. Even when there’s a slight whirring of propellers within the background, the app can robotically filter out propeller noise.

Listed here are another key specs:

• Vertical capturing with a 4:3 CMOS sensor for high-quality content material creation with out cropping.
• Built-in audio recording with noise discount.

DJI Flip: professionals and cons

Professionals

This drone is a simple, protected to fly entry level to drones — significantly for folks whose precedence isn’t a lot flying drones however extra documenting the opposite facets of their lives. Listed here are the highest 5 “professionals” of the DJI Flip:

1. Security First: Full-coverage propeller guards and computerized braking are unmatched for newbie security.
2. Compact and Moveable: Light-weight and foldable for on-the-go creators.
3. Excessive-High quality Output: Wonderful photograph and video high quality with clever modes to simplify advanced photographs.
4. Ease of Use: Intuitive controls with app and voice command choices.
5. Reasonably priced Entry Level: Beginning at $439, it’s fairly priced for its function set.

Cons

However whereas I do love the Flip, it’s not for everybody. Listed here are some causes you would possibly skip it.

• Restricted Skilled Options: This drone lacks superior impediment avoidance and bigger sensor sizes seen in higher-end DJI drones. That’s maybe the largest distinction between the Flip and the Mini 4 Professional, which has an omnidirectional binocular imaginative and prescient system. Positive, the enclosed propellers will shield folks within the occasion of a crash — but it surely is perhaps price upgrading to that impediment avoidance to restrict the chances of a crash, interval.
• Flight Time: Whereas enough for novices, 31 minutes could really feel limiting for extra intensive shoots. The DJI Air 3S will get you 45 minutes.
• Wind Resistance: The light-weight design could wrestle in windy circumstances in comparison with heavier DJI fashions. Just like the Mini 4 Professional, the highest wind velocity resistance is simply 10.7 m/s. My prime total journey digicam drone, the DJI Air 3S, simply surpasses the Flip by way of flight energy with 12 m/s of wind velocity resistance.

How the DJI Flip suits into DJI’s lineup

The DJI Flip is positioned as a hybrid between the DJI Mini sequence and the Osmo Pocket sequence, mixing the portability and affordability of the Mini with the vlogging and vertical video options of the Osmo Pocket (and naturally, capacity to fly).

It’s additionally price contemplating the DJI Neo, one other tremendous tiny drone, versus the DJI Air 3S, which is a much more highly effective digicam drone.

DJI Flip vs. Neo vs. DJI Mini 4 Professional vs. DJI Air 3S vs. DJI Osmo Pocket 3

So how do these drones (and, properly, the Osmo Pocket) evaluate side-by-side?

The Flip is mainly a candy spot product between the Air 3S and Neo. It’s fairly much like the DJI Mini 4 Professional however with what I usually think about upgraded options (e.g. enclosed propellers, simple flight modes) that I’ll be curious to see if the Flip finally ends up canabalizing the Mini 4 Professional in reputation.

Characteristic	DJI Neo	DJI Flip	DJI Mini 4 Professional	DJI Air 3S	DJI Osmo Pocket 3
Weight	<249g	<249g	249g	724 grams	N/A (handheld)
Digital camera Sensor	1/2-inch CMOS	1/1.3-inch CMOS	1/1.3-inch CMOS	1-inch CMOS	1/1.7-inch CMOS
Picture Decision	12 MP	48MP	48MP	50MP, dual-camera system	64MP
Video Decision	4K/30fps	4K/60fps HDR	4K/100fps HDR	4K/120fps	4K/120fps HDR
Flight Time	25 minutes	31 min	34 min	45 minutes	N/A
Propeller Guards	Sure	Foldable, full-coverage	None	None	N/A
Sensing sort	Downward visible positioning.	Downward: one visible sensor and an infrared sensor. Ahead: 3D Infrared Sensing System.	Omnidirectional binocular imaginative and prescient system, supplemented with a 3D infrared sensor on the backside of the plane.	Omnidirectional binocular imaginative and prescient system, supplemented with forward-facing LiDAR and an infrared sensor on the backside of the plane.	N/A
Wind velocity resistance	8 m/s	10.7 m/s	10.7 m/s	12 m/s	N/A
Max flight distance	7 km	14 km	18 km (Clever Flight Battery) 25 km (with Clever Flight Battery Plus)	32 km	N/A
Value (Beginning)	$199	$439	$759	$1,099	$529

Study extra: DJI Flip vs. Neo: which of those newbie drones is healthier?

Study extra: DJI Flip vs. Mini 4 Professional: How to decide on between two compact drones with equally good cameras

How one can get your fingers on the DJI Flip

You don’t even must be affected person. When you order right now, you gained’t have to attend lengthy as transport begins right now. Whenever you order, you’ll have the selection of some completely different configurations, that are:

• DJI Flip with RC-N3 controller: $439
• DJI Flip with DJI RC 2 controller: $639
• DJI Flip Fly Extra Combo: $779

Whenever you buy the Fly Extra Combo, you get a number of extras past what’s included within the DJI Flip with DJI RC 2 controller package. You do get that upgraded RC 2 versus the same old RC-N3, in addition to:

• Two further batteries (3 whole)
• Parallel Charging Hub
• 2 further propellers
• Shoulder bag

You even have the choice so as to add on DJI Care Refresh, which is DJI’s personal safety plan. It’s fairly complete and even covers unintended injury, together with flyaway, collisions and water injury. The catch? Paying for DJI Care Refresh doesn’t robotically get you a brand new drone. You’ll must pay a small further cost, to have your broken product changed if an accident happens — which is DJI’s manner of guaranteeing you could have some pores and skin within the sport.

DJI Flip: is it price it?

The DJI Flip is a superb entry-level drone for aspiring content material creators and novices searching for a protected, easy-to-use system. Whereas it lacks a few of the superior options of higher-end DJI drones just like the DJI Air 3S, its foldable design, clever capturing modes, and integration with social media platforms make it a standout selection for vloggers and vacationers. It’d even push out the DJI Mini 4 Professional as any form of contender for drone decide.

Its safety-focused design makes it ultimate for novices, whereas its superior digicam options enchantment to creators looking for high-quality content material with out professional-level complexity. If security, simplicity, and social media content material are your priorities, the DJI Flip gives super worth.

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