so ive been going back and forth on this for like two weeks now and i cant make up my mind. i fly maybe once or twice a week, mostly just hiking trails and some landscape stuff, nothing crazy. i already have the mini 3 pro and honestly love it but the air 3 keeps tempting me every time i see footage from it.

the omnidirectional obstacle avoidance on the air 3 is the main thing pulling me toward it. i've had a couple close calls with the mini 3 on trails where the side sensors just aren't there. but then again i've never actually crashed it so maybe i'm just being paranoid. the image quality difference seems pretty marginal to me from what i can see on youtube but i feel like people always say that until you actually see it side by side on a big screen.

anyway is anyone here running both or has switched from one to the other? curious if you actually notice a difference day to day or if its one of those things where the specs look better on paper but out in the field its basically the same experience

had the mini 3 pro for about 8 months before i got the air 3 and honestly the jump was bigger than i expected. the low light performance on the air 3 is genuinely noticeably better, like not subtle at all. shot some stuff at golden hour last fall and the noise difference was pretty clear when i pulled it up on my monitor at home.

that said, if youre flying trails and keeping it under 250g matters to you at all for reg purposes, that alone might be the reason to stay put. the air 3 is noticeably heavier and bulkier to carry around all day. i actually find myself grabbing the mini 3 still for longer hikes just because its so much easier to pack. so it really depends on what annoys you more i guess ? slightly worse low light or a heavier bag.

im in kind of the same boat lol. i ended up just keeping my mini 3 and putting the money toward ND filters and an extra battery instead. feels like the smarter move for how much i actually fly. maybe when the next generation comes out ill upgrade properly