DJI Flip official: the unique bicycle spoke folding drone starts at $439

At $439, the DJI Flip could beryllium a bully starting constituent for radical who don’t typically bargain drones astatine all. You tin unfold it, motorboat it from your manus with a azygous button, onshore it connected your manus again, oregon optionally usage joysticks, each portion capturing higher prime photos and video than the contiguous competition.

In August, my workfellow Thomas Ricker told you however DJI rival Hover had changed the game by selling a $349 flying camera that doesn’t necessitate radical to larn joysticks; with the $199 DJI Neo, DJI looked poised to musculus successful connected that successful a large way. But the $439 Flip not lone lets you motorboat and movie basal dronies, orbits, and follow-me shots from the drone itself, it dramatically increases camera quality, formation stability, artillery beingness (a quoted 31 minutes), and lets you motorboat it faster. You conscionable won't beryllium capable to alert it FPV similar some of america were hoping.

Not lone is the Flip the archetypal DJI drone to look like a Star Wars AT-AT walker oregon a penny-farthing bicycle erstwhile folded, it’s besides the archetypal to automatically powerfulness connected erstwhile you unfold it, redeeming 2 fastener presses. And erstwhile you flip retired each of its 4 spoke-filled full-coverage propeller guards — which DJI says are a archetypal for its folding drones — they articulation an auto-braking, forward-facing 3D infrared sensor to support the camera from immoderate beforehand impacts arsenic well.

And portion that camera isn’t rather arsenic awesome arsenic the 1.0-inch type recovered connected DJI’s Osmo Pocket 3, I was impressed by my archetypal results successful bully light! It’s smaller 1/1.3-inch 4K60 sensor with 4:3 facet ratio is susceptible of taking 2.7K vertical video oregon 48 megapixel stills down a accelerated f/1.7 aperture lens. Here are a mates of my unedited aboriginal flights, a drone selfie, and a photo, to springiness you an idea:

Frankly, the DJI Neo — which costs little than fractional arsenic overmuch — can’t travel adjacent to this level of performance; implicit the aforesaid water and the aforesaid park, the Neo couldn’t adjacent support a creaseless level changeable arsenic the breeze blew its lighter framework around, and its images were muddy and washed retired by comparison. The Flip has a three-axis gimbal to assistance support that stability. Also, pros tin grounds successful 10-bit D-Log M.

But other, pricier DJI drones could connection amended show still, positive existent vertical shooting by rotating the gimbal — and it’d beryllium hard to ideate a drone enthusiast picking the Flip alternatively of waiting to spot what DJI’s unannounced Mini 5 mightiness bring to the table.

“There are presently nary plans to discontinue the Mini Series. The DJI Flip is a caller entry-level drone bid that volition beryllium offered alongside the DJI Neo and DJI Mini. Each of these drones are designed to conscionable the needs of antithetic types of beginners,” DJI spokesperson Daisy Kong confirms to The Verge.

I americium continually amazed by however ample the Flip is; portion it stays nether the 249-gram value bounds that typically triggers authorities compliance standards similar publicly broadcasting your location. Despite its folding arms, it doesn’t fold down smaller than a Mini truthful there’s nary mode I’m fitting it into immoderate but the biggest cargo pants pockets I own. It’s besides rather large contempt its ducted propellers — perfectly not among the quieter drones that the institution sells.

And contempt costing more than the $199 DJI Neo, it doesn’t enactment immoderate FPV headsets to fto you virtually soar similar a bird.

But the Flip does outgo conscionable $439 implicit with a basal RC-N3 joystick controller that lets you usage your telephone arsenic a screen, positive the launch-it-from-your-hand modes; a $779 kit comes with 3 batteries, a carrying case, and a much susceptible DJI RC 2 controller with a built-in daylight disposable 700-nit screen. The DJI Mini 4 Pro versions of each of aforesaid kits outgo $959 and $1,099 respectively, a $320 difference.

Photography and video by Sean Hollister / The Verge