DJI Mavic 3 Classic offers lots of drone for less money
Slimmed-down feature list means a significant price drop
The DJI Mavic 3 is a fantastic camera drone. Just read our in-depth review to find out exactly why – but clearly DJI thinks that there’s still something of a gap in the market. Hence the release of the DJI Mavic 3 Classic, a (slightly) pared-back new edition of the quadcopter that’s a little cheaper than the standard Mavic 3 model: £1399 as opposed to £1729.
In many ways, the Classic is indistinguishable from the original. It features the same overall design and flight setup, with a fully charged battery supplying as much as 46 minutes of air time, an O3+ transmission system with up to 15km range, and an omnidirectional sensor suite for detecting and avoiding obstacles. It’s also compatible with the same battery chargers, propellers and controllers as the original model.
As far as we can see, the differences are mostly in a slightly downgraded camera. Don’t worry, though: the Classic has the same Hasselblad-branded 4/3 CMOS 20MP main sensor as the standard model, and can record 5.1K video at up to 50fps and 4K video at up to 60fps, plus slo-mo clips (4K/120fps and 1080p/200fps). It can capture up to 12.8 stops of dynamic range, record with either H.264 or H.265 compression and in three picture profiles: standard, HLG and D-log. All the same so far.
What you lose is the secondary zoom lens, which on the standard Mavic 3 model used a 12MP sensor and was overall a lot less impressive quality-wise than the main camera.
So there you have it: a little less drone for a little less money. You can buy the Mavic 3 Classic today from the DJI site in one of several packages (drone-only for £1309, with a standard controller for £1399, with a DJI-RC controller for £1529 or with a Fly More Kit that includes two additional batteries, charging hub, car charger, three pairs of propellers and a carrying bag for an extra £599).
Sam Kieldsen
Contributor