[audioholic]

Pushing the Mavic Mini to some extreme limits again, tried it in the monsoon rain, at 1200ft above ground and with some decent amount of wind and it remains unscathed. Its control and stability is surreal. Rest of the pictures and videos will be a part of the thread it is intended to be in.

[Samfromindia]

Originally Posted by audioholic

Pushing the Mavic Mini to some extreme limits again, tried it in the monsoon rain, at 1200ft above ground and with some decent amount of wind and it remains unscathed.

A couple of weeks back went to Lavasa and the winds were so strong that I could barely take the drone above 40-50M. Was getting strong wind warning & RTH. Add to that the incessant rains, didn't dare to take off in those conditions. Managed to fly above resort and grab some footage.

https://youtu.be/8M0ZsjOD7Lk

[airguitar]

I have been using a DJI Tello for a long time, mostly to understand how it works, the dynamics and so on, never for serious good quality images. It was more to teach myself how to fly and understand the innards.

Now I want to move to decent intermediate/advanced drone. I'm referring to : https://www.space.com/best-drones : and no surprises there DJI has 9/10 slots. I'm looking at the DJI Mini 3.

1. What's the best place to buy in Bangalore ? I prefer a brick-and-mortar store, but if none, then online fine too. It just has to be a fully legal channel.
2. I see it's available on Amazon sold by K&J - is it a reliable vendor/seller?
3. Is there a better drone and costing a little less say < 1 lakh ?

[Samfromindia]

Originally Posted by airguitar

I prefer a brick-and-mortar store, but if none, then online fine too. It just has to be a fully legal channel.
2. I see it's available on Amazon sold by K&J - is it a reliable vendor/seller?
3. Is there a better drone and costing a little less say < 1 lakh ?

Import of consumer drone is banned in India, which is the reason why any DJI drone sold is not legal & from grey market. Before this ban Amazon authorized seller (Cloudtail) used to sell them at good prices, now you get highly marked up deals from 3rd party sellers online.

However they are readily available in any photography stores like Metro Gully @Kolkata, same must exist in Bangalore. Expect to pay a mark up of 30-50% of its international price while buying in India.

Mini 3 is a VFM entry level model which sits between Mini 2 SE and Mini 3 Pro. If you want to save $ you can request any of your contacts returning from abroad to carry the same else shop for one if you planned any international trips in future. Most of my fiends including me got great deals on our trip to UAE / Thailand.

https://youtu.be/noUtxfoEgi4

https://youtu.be/OzQICNpCYBQ

[procrj]

Originally Posted by airguitar

Is there a better drone and costing a little less say < 1 lakh ?

Originally Posted by Samfromindia

If you want to save $ you can request any of your contacts returning from abroad to carry the same else shop for one if you planned any international trips in future. Most of my fiends including me got great deals on our trip to UAE / Thailand.

+1 to Sam's recomendation of purchasing the same from USA/UAE/Thailand. With a budget of 1L, you can actually get the Air 2s flymore combo, which is a great drone and will really let you expand your horizons.
If your interest in drones is purely for personal use, then the mini 3 would be more than enough IMO.

[Slushmaster]

Finally the dreaded moment came! I have broken the front arm of my Mini 3 Pro. Trying to find a good repair option in Gurgaon, but unable to find any good vendor/mechanic. Let me know if anybody has any leads for a good repairing centre.

Thanks,
Slushmaster

[airguitar]

Originally Posted by Samfromindia

Import of consumer drone is banned in India, which is the reason why any DJI drone sold is not legal & from grey market. Before this ban Amazon authorized seller (Cloudtail) used to sell them at good prices, now you get highly marked up deals from 3rd party sellers online.

However they are readily available in any photography stores like Metro Gully @Kolkata, same must exist in Bangalore. Expect to pay a mark up of 30-50% of its international price while buying in India.


https://Youtu.be/noUtxfoEgi4

https://Youtu.be/OzQICNpCYBQ

Originally Posted by procrj

+1 to Sam's recomendation of purchasing the same from USA/UAE/Thailand. With a budget of 1L, you can actually get the Air 2s flymore combo, which is a great drone and will really let you expand your horizons.
If your interest in drones is purely for personal use, then the mini 3 would be more than enough IMO.

Thank you both. Pricing aside,

a. If I buy in Bangalore for markedup prices, is it still legal given that imports are banned?

b. If I buy myself abroad, what customs rules/laws apply to a drone/different drones?

[Samfromindia]

Originally Posted by Slushmaster

Finally the dreaded moment came! I have broken the front arm of my Mini 3 Pro. Trying to find a good repair option in Gurgaon, but unable to find any good vendor/mechanic. Let me know if anybody has any leads for a good repairing centre

Sorry to hear that. You can search on YouTube what local bloggers / photographers are doing for local drone repairs. Alternatively in case you don't find any local option, many repair outlets in different cities have the option of courier for getting it repaired. More details on my post above:

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/gadge...ml#post5551265 (The Drones Thread - Reviews, Tips, Advice)

https://youtu.be/9yu7RyFQgd4

Originally Posted by airguitar

Thank you both. Pricing aside,

a. If I buy in Bangalore for markedup prices, is it still legal given that imports are banned?

b. If I buy myself abroad, what customs rules/laws apply to a drone/different drones?

a: Its not legally procured in grey market. Situation is similar on how electronics / mobiles were imported 20yrs ago and grey market had a big share
Also flying drone in many public areas are not legal. If you think about legality, its better not to buy & fly in India, unless you want to be a professional drone pilot and follow up with local police before every flight for permission.

b: You don't disclose it to customs, if they find out it will be confiscated. There is a separate thread on this, please go through it -
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/gadge...ket-india.html (Purchasing drones from overseas (vs buying from the grey market in India))

[airguitar]

Originally Posted by Samfromindia

a: Its not legally procured in grey market. Situation is similar on how electronics / mobiles were imported 20yrs ago and grey market had a big share
Also flying drone in many public areas are not legal. If you think about legality, its better not to buy & fly in India, unless you want to be a professional drone pilot and follow up with local police before every flight for permission.

b: You don't disclose it to customs, if they find out it will be confiscated. There is a separate thread on this, please go through it -
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/gadge...ket-india.html (Purchasing drones from overseas (vs buying from the grey market in India))

Thanks, just as I suspected. Now, given bringing in drones any which way is not legal, and especially when there are absolutely no local manufacturers, what is the deal here ? Is it one of those things that the govt errs on the safe side ? Is it protectionism so as to build a local drone manufacturer ecosystem ( I see nothing promising? ). Why make it difficult for hobbyists that would fly drones in permitted areas?

[Samfromindia]

Originally Posted by airguitar

Thanks, just as I suspected. Now, given bringing in drones any which way is not legal, and especially when there are absolutely no local manufacturers, what is the deal here ? Is it one of those things that the govt errs on the safe side ? Is it protectionism so as to build a local drone manufacturer ecosystem ( I see nothing promising? ). Why make it difficult for hobbyists that would fly drones in permitted areas?

Its not difficult, just the law is not defined properly / on the hobbyist user's side. Don't think so much, just buy / import a drone, fly it and make videos

There are so many things which are not legal but that doesn't prevent people from doing it. Few examples I can think of are smoking pot, visiting red light areas and so on. Unless you cross the line (Like flying over airport, defense and restricted areas) & use it for anything other than hobby no one is going to take steps against you.

If you are risk averse then don't buy / fly it. I know friends who don't ride 2W for the fear of having bad accidents. However that doesn't stop so many of us from enjoying the ride. Same in this case.

[jaganm]

So after years of lurking and looking at drones from afar, I decided to jump in and take the plunge. The trigger was a friend who has had a drone for over 2 years but makes a huge fuss about flying them and we missed a great opportunity on our recent trip due to that.

I had a cousin coming from the US and started looking at both buying it there and checking locally through olx. he found a deal on Costco for around 840 $ for the mini 3 with the fly more combo and regular remote, with tax and exchange it would come out to around 80K INR. However, I was looking locally and found a few mini 2 for around 50K (2 years old but claimed to be flown very less. Researching it some more, I realised that the mini 3 pro is a far better option for a newbie due to its obstacle avoidance and the far better optics.

I was in a quandary my cousin had already lost an AirPods Max that he had brought for me on his previous trip and the stories of confiscation by customs worried us. In the meantime, I came across an ad on olx a person had bought a mini 3 pro a month ago and was selling it. I arranged to meet him , the drone looked brand new and all the batteries had a recharge count of 3-5 cycles. The best part was that it came with the RC remote. We finally struck a deal at a little over 1lakh (around 20K more than the Costco version but with the RC remote).

I flew it today and it performed extremely well, the camera quality is just fantastic and though I took the drone way beyond my sight I had enough confidence that it wouldn't get lost. There were a few eagles flying around the area and a few did fly close by to check it out but luckily it ended well.

[Samfromindia]

Originally Posted by jaganm

There were a few eagles flying around the area and a few did fly close by to check it out but luckily it ended well.

The issue with drones is that its very easy to lose them due to various factors (electrical malfunction, collision etc.), so buy something which you can afford to lose. The best way to avoid bird collision is to fly vertically upward rather that forward/backward as birds are unable to move up vertically in a straight line like drones do. Mini 3 is comparable to Mini 2. Mini 3 Pro is in a league of its own in comparison to performance / price.

[gutsy]

Originally Posted by Slushmaster

Finally the dreaded moment came! I have broken the front arm of my Mini 3 Pro. Trying to find a good repair option in Gurgaon, but unable to find any good vendor/mechanic. Let me know if anybody has any leads for a good repairing centre.

Thanks,
Slushmaster

While searching on google, I found this company - https://jetayugadgets.com

I have no experience with them and not sure how much legit they are. You may check out the same.

[Samfromindia]

Originally Posted by gutsy

While searching on google, I found this company - https://jetayugadgets.com

I have no experience with them and not sure how much legit they are. You may check out the same.

The website has good prices among regular online sellers however I think local grey market camera stores may give a better deal. They also stock accessories like replacement batteries, controllers which many will find useful if cannot be procured locally. If this website is legit then this is definitely a good source for drones and accessories.

[gypsyFreak]

Guys,

Anyone thought about buying in our neighbouring countries and bringing into India via road.
Especially curios about Nepal & Bhutan. I am planning a motorcycle ride next year to Nepal/Bhutan. Driving in my Scorpio is also an option.
Can we buy a drone in Nepal/Bhutan and bring it back to India as our personal item. Some questions i have:

1. How feasible it is to get a genuine drone in Nepal/Bhutan, are there DJI brandstores or any well known resellers?
2. Any customs/security issues while entering back via road.
3. Service & Spares in India for such drones?
4. Any other issues?

All your help is greatly appreciated and TIA.