So I've been flying drones for a really long time, and I tell this story not to complain
or rationalize my behavior.
I accept full responsibility for my actions.
But hopefully, me telling this story helps some of you in the future avoid the same situation.
I've been flying drones for a really long time, since way back in the day, I think I
had the original Phantom 1 with a GoPro attached to it.
I use drones because aerial footage is the frosting on top of the YouTube video cake.
And the story of how I got arrested was not with this little drone here but actually the
Mavic 3 Pro.
Long story short, I was filming in Germany about a self-driving taxi and I thought it
would be safe enough to toss my drone up behind a convention center.
No people, no crazy flying...just a simple, very short, overhead shot of a self-driving
car.
And it all went very great until I flew over a group of police officers who then took my
drone and detained me for 5 hours.
They were extremely professional.
Some of them said they did recognize my videos, which probably helped a little bit.
But they said the main reason they were holding me for so long is because my drone was not
registered, and because of its size it needed to be.
He said that if I was flying a much smaller drone, I would have much less problems....which
is where this guy comes in.
This is called the DJI Mini 3 Pro, and at 249 grams it falls 1 gram shy of needing to
be registered in a lot of different countries.
This is the drone I've been using to get all of my shots here in Kenya for our library
project and drilling a borehole, and you probably didn't notice the difference.
I'm a huge fan of this form factor and it takes up a lot less room in my bag.
But now that you know which drone it is, let me show you some more of the footage.
[Music playing]
Now when I say the drone is 249 grams and falls below some regulatory limits, that doesn't
mean it's free rein to fly anywhere.
For example, here in Kenya they don't care about the weight at all.
And every single drone needs to be registered and have a permit.
Every country is going to be different and it's important to be aware of the constantly
changing laws.
I think the best way to phrase it is the way DJI has it on their website.
Since it is sub 249 grams it doesn't require registration in most countries.
And of course, flying national parks, even with a small drone, is a huge no-no anyway.
From my own personal experience, I don't think I'll ever be buying the bigger drones ever
again.
This little guy films in 4K HDR and 60 frames per second and can stay up in the air for
about 34 minutes.
We were waiting for the shipment of books to arrive and I was able to park my drone
in the air about a mile away and just hover while waiting for that semi truck to show
up.
It has all the optical sensing, forward and backward, obstacle avoidance, and can even
actively track objects with no pilot needed...everything the bigger drones can do, just in a smaller,
quieter package.
So Philip has told me that this island out there in the middle of the lake has iguanas
sunbathing around the outside.
We're not going to take a boat over there but we're going to see if we can take a look
with this guy.
Not off to a good start.
One problem I did have with the drone, which was probably entirely my fault, was when taking
off at Lake Victoria I didn't quite launch correctly and the Mini 3 Pro did a little
hop and a skip straight into the sand.
It flew fine for a few minutes after that.
But I guess some sand got into the stabilizing gimbal, locking it into an above the horizon
position, making it very difficult to find my way back to the starting point.
I could have just used the return to home feature, but in the heat of battle and the
stress of flying over water, I forgot that feature existed.
Once I cleared out the gimbal though, it went back to working just fine.
With a clear line of sight, the remote works for about 7 kilometers (about 3 or 4 miles),
but add in a single obstacle like a building or trees, and that gets shortened up very
quickly.
And, of course, the drone would probably not enjoy landing in water very much.
Speaking of which, so right now we are in Napa Valley California filming with the Hummer
EV SUV.
And even though it's raining, I'm going to take this Mavic Mini 3 Pro and see if we can
get some cool shots going through the puddles that are here on the road.
There's a lot of rain and the drone has a water resistance rating of 0, so we'll see
if it works.
Probably shouldn't be doing this.
But testing technology to its limits is what we are all about.
Should be a fun shot.
[Music playing]
Extremely wet but it handled just fine.
I think those shots were amazing.
So far I'm really liking this drone.
I'm not, however, liking the rain.
Today I'm in sunny California playing again with the drone, filming the Aptera.
One cool feature of the Mavic Pro Mini is that this camera...instead of just filming
horizontally, can also flip vertically to do all the newfangled TikToks and Instagram
reels that the youngin's are doing these days.
And it's nice to have a camera sensor that can do both on the fly.
See what I did there?
And, of course, here on Oahu on this wide open golf course, we can test the top speed
of the Mini 3 Pro.
-[Drone] Take off.
-[Zack] We're here to film some b-roll of our off-road wheelchair called The Rig.
And while The Rig has a top speed of 13 miles an hour, the drone in normal mode with all
of its sensors engaged, can fly about 24 miles an hour.
However, switching to Sport mode, which turns off the sensors and makes the drone completely
wreckable, goes up to 34 miles an hour...at least right here on the island.
It's a pretty incredible and capable little machine.
And from now on I'm pretty excited about having this in my bag instead of the bigger one.
So out of all the drones I've used so far, this is probably my favorite form factor and
the one I will be using going forward.
This video is not sponsored, but I'll put a link down in the description so you can
check out the current pricing.
The smaller size and the much less regulatory issues I'll have going forward, the better.
Thanks a ton for watching, and I'll see you around.