so ive had the Mini 4 Pro since basically launch and i keep seeing people ask if its worth upgrading from a Mini 3 Pro and honestly the answer is more complicated than the youtube reviewers make it seem

the obstacle avoidance in all directions is genuinely useful, i wont pretend otherwise. had a close call with some tree branches last month that the sensors caught before i even registered it. but like... the Mini 3 Pro also has sensors and in two years of flying that thing i almost never actually needed the rear ones anyway so how much of an upgrade is it really in practice

image quality is a marginal improvement at best. i did a side by side at the same location same time of day and yeah the 4K 100fps is nice if you need slow mo but my editing clients honestly cannot tell the difference between footage from either drone at delivery resolution. the log color profiles are slightly better on the 4 Pro i think but again not night and day

battery life feels about the same to me in real world use, maybe 5 mins longer on a calm day. the form factor is almost identical which is either a pro or a con depending on your situation

if you dont have a Mini 3 Pro yet and youre buying new, yeah get the 4 Pro. if you already have a 3 Pro and its working fine... i genuinely dont know if id make the same choice again. depends what you shoot i guess

this matches what ive been hearing from people i trust more than the usual reviewers. the slow mo thing is the main reason i considered upgrading but my little brother pointed out i basically never use the slow mo footage i already have from my action cam so maybe thats not the selling point i thought it was lol

one thing id add from my own experience with the 3 Pro ? the wind resistance on the 4 Pro seems noticeably better based on some windy day footage ive seen compared to mine. like it holds position better. that might actually matter more to me than the image stuff depending on where you fly

been flying drones since the Phantom 2 days and honestly the upgrade cycle on these consumer drones has slowed way down in terms of meaningful improvements. DJI knows people will buy the new one anyway so they dont need to blow your mind with each version. your take sounds about right to me. the 3 Pro was already really good, which is kind of the problem for the 4 Pro's case