ok so ive been going back and forth on this for like three weeks now and i need someone to just tell me what to do lol. my budget is right around the $900-1000 range and both of these keep coming up every time i search. i do mostly landscape stuff, some travel, occasionally film my friends hiking. nothing crazy professional but i want the footage to actually look good, not just phone-camera-on-a-stick good.

the main thing tripping me up is the obstacle avoidance. i know the air 3 has the omnidirectional sensors and the mini 4 pro also has pretty good avoidance now but people keep saying theyre different in practice? and then theres the whole dual camera thing on the air 3 which honestly sounds really cool but i dont know if id actually use it that much. also i travel internationally sometimes so the sub-250g thing on the mini 4 pro is appealing but ive heard the registration rules vary so much by country that its kind of a wash anyway

anyone who has actually used both or switched from one to the other, please weigh in. im going in circles reading specs sheets at this point

had the mini 3 pro before and just picked up an air 3 about two months ago so i can maybe help a bit. the dual camera is genuinely more useful than i expected ? the medium tele lens (70mm equiv) is really nice for compression on landscape shots, makes mountains and ridgelines look way more dramatic than the wide. that alone kind of sold me on keeping it.

the obstacle avoidance difference is real though. the mini 4 pro's sensors are good but the air 3 just feels more confident in tighter spaces, i fly around trees a lot and the air 3 has bailed me out a couple times where i think the mini might have clipped something. that said if youre mostly open landscape stuff it probably wont matter much. the weight thing i genuinely wouldnt stress about for most international travel, just check each country ahead of time and youll be fine either way. if your budget can stretch to the air 3 combo i'd probably go that route but the mini 4 pro is not a compromise, its a genuinely excellent drone

i just got the mini 4 pro like 6 weeks ago as my first real drone and honestly i love it but i will say the dual lens on the air 3 makes me a tiny bit jealous when i see footage people post with it. the tele shots look so different. anyway im probably not the best person to compare since ive never flown the air 3 but just wanted to say the mini 4 pro is really easy to get started with if thats worth anything to you