so ive been going back and forth on this for like two weeks now and i cant decide. i currently fly a mini 2 and honestly its been great for what i do which is mostly landscape stuff and the occasional family vacation video. nothing crazy.

the mini 4 pro is obviously the newer one and has obstacle avoidance which the mini 3 doesnt (well the non-pro version anyway), but im seeing the mini 3 pro pop up used for like $500-550 and the mini 4 pro new is sitting around $760 at most places. thats a pretty big gap.

does the obstacle avoidance actually matter that much for recreational flying? like in open fields and mountain areas im not sure how much id even use it. and is the image quality noticeably different or am i just going to be that guy who spent more money and cant tell the difference in my youtube videos that get 40 views

honestly the obstacle avoidance on the mini 4 pro is nice but its not going to save you in every situation ? i flew mine into a tree branch last spring because it was too thin for the sensors to catch. so dont buy it thinking its a safety net.

that said the image quality is genuinely better, especially in low light. if you shoot golden hour stuff a lot you'll notice it. but at your stage coming from a mini 2 either upgrade would feel like a big jump. if the used mini 3 pro is in good condition id probably just go that route and put the $200 toward ND filters or a second battery pack. those things actually change how you shoot day to day way more than marginal sensor improvements

im kind of in the same boat as you actually so following this thread. i did read somewhere that the mini 4 pro has the newer version of active track which is supposed to be way smoother but i havent tested them side by side myself so take that with a grain of salt