ok so ive been going back and forth on this for like three weeks now and im driving myself crazy. i mostly fly on weekends, nothing professional, just hiking trips and the occasional beach vacation video. my budget is around $900-1000 and everyone keeps telling me different things.

the Mini 4 Pro seems like the obvious choice for my use case because of the under 250g thing - i travel a lot internationally and having that weight class just makes registration stuff way simpler. but then i see the Air 3's dual camera setup and the omnidirectional obstacle avoidance and i start second guessing myself again.

has anyone actually used both? like not just watched youtube reviews but actually flown them back to back? the footage comparison videos i find are always shot in perfect conditions and i want to know how they actually handle in real wind or when the lighting gets weird at golden hour. also curious if the RC2 controller makes a big difference in day to day use vs using your phone

had the Mini 3 Pro before and upgraded to the Air 3 about four months ago, so cant speak to a direct Mini 4 Pro comparison but i can tell you the dual camera on the Air 3 is genuinely useful and not just a spec sheet thing. the medium tele lens (70mm equiv) gets used way more than i expected, especially for wildlife stuff where you dont want to get too close. the omnidirectional obstacle sensing is also noticeably more confident feeling than older setups - it actually lets you fly in ActiveTrack without constantly stopping.

that said, for travel and hiking, the weight thing is real. went to Iceland last year and the registration exemption in certain areas saved me a headache. if youre mostly doing landscape and travel content and not trying to track moving subjects much, the Mini 4 Pro is probably fine and the footage is genuinely excellent. id say spend the extra $200 only if you know youre gonna use that second camera lens regularly

the RC2 controller is 100% worth it btw, dont cheap out and get the version without the screen. flying with your phone sounds fine until youre in bright sunlight trying to see your fpv feed and you literally cannot see anything. i learned that the hard way