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Parrot Anafi was the original lightweight consumer drone that was dominating this niche until recently when the Mavic Mini was released. Both of these have a similar price point and both of them have similar specifications so which should you buy? I’m gonna give you my summarised thoughts and opinions on these two drones so stick around.
Today, we’re talking about these two drones: the Parrot anafi vs Mavic Mini. Both of these drones like I said are very similar as they both operate over a Wi-Fi connection, they both have compact sensors while neither one of them have any sort of obstacle avoidance. They both sport similar prop designs and they are both incredibly light: 320 grams for Parrot Anafi vs 249 Grams for Mavic Mini.
Yes you still have to register Parrot Anafi but you don’t have to register Mavic Mini.
DJI Mavic Mini
| Dji Mavic Mini | Parrot Anafi | |
| Maximum Horizontal Speed | 42.7 ft/s / 13 m/s | 33 mph / 53.1 km/h (Sport) |
| Weight | 249 gram | 320 gram |
| Flight Ceiling | 1 mi / 3000 m | 14,255′ / 4345 m |
| Maximum Flight Time | 30 Minutes | 17 Minutes |
| Maximum Operating Distance | 2.49 mi / 4 km | 2.50 mi / 4023 m |
| Battery Capacity | 2600 mAh | 2500 mAh |
| Effective Pixels | 12 MP | 21 MP |
| Photo Resolution | 4:3: 4000 x 3000 16:9: 4000 x 2250 | 4:3: 5344 x 4016 4:3: 4608 x 3456 |
| Recording Media | microSD (up to 256 GB) | microSD (up to 128 GB) |
| Overall Dimensions | 3.2 x 2.2 x 5.5″ / 82.0 x 57.0 x 140.0 mm (Folded) 8.0 x 2.2 x 6.3″ / 202.0 x 55.0 x 160.0 mm (Unfolded) | 2.6 x 2.5 x 9.6″ / 6.6 x 6.3 x 24.4 cm (Folded) 6.9 x 2.5 x 9.4″ / 17.5 x 6.3 x 23.9 cm (Unfolded) |
| Check price | Check price |
Differences
- Mavic has geofencing while Anafi has no Geofencing.
- Anafi though has a 4k camera while Mavic Mini has no 4k.
- Mavic Mini sports 30 minutes of flight time while Anafi can do only about 17 minutes of flight time.
- Mini has a 3 axis gimbal while Anafi has 2 axis gimbal with stabilization.
- Mini has a 12 megapixel camera while Anafi has a 21 megapixel camera with lossless zoom which is pretty cool.
So those are some of the stark differences and similarities between these two drones, but which would you buy?
Well if you don’t want to take in any more of this article I’ll just tell you right away to buy the Mavic mini as it is going to be the better purchase. It is also going to be a little bit more future-proof and there’s also a better value right at acquisition over the Parrot Anafi.
Price
Parrot anafi is also over a year old and at a 599 dollar average price tag, it’s becoming a harder recommendation. Anafi has a sort of a coolness factor ot it and just the way it looks, it doesn’t look like your average drone.
It’s been said before that this sort of resembles some sort of insect and it really does.
Anafi is just a neat drone and it’s also very quiet and unobtrusive and a lot of people will really appreciate that battery life.
Flight time
I said Parrot Anafi has about 17 minutes of flight time which is pretty decent and it also folds up which makes it pretty small and easy to travel with.
The Mavic mini as well has a great battery life with 30 minutes of battery life. It also folds up to where you can literally fit it into your pocket.
Camera and video resolution
Mavic Mini does not have 4k but the 2.7 K is more than adequate. Anafi has a 4K video resolution with a 21 MP camera. Mini features a 12 MP camera.
One benefit to the Parrot Anafi is the fact that you are going to get raw photo capture so if you like to push your colors in post you can do that more with the Parrot Anafi then you could with the Mavic mini.
Flying app
Overall flight characteristics and the app – winner is Mavic Mini. Mavic mini app is clear and concise that an idiot can use it. The parrot app is a little bit more detailed and there’s a lot more configurations in different settings that you can really dial in and make it your own. If you are a new flyer you may find that a little bit overwhelming.
Parrot does give you a little bit more bang for your buck in the configurations department as you can choose for different resolutions and you can also manually control the camera.
The Mavic mini is a little bit more dumbed down as it’s just meant really for automatic shooting. It does really well at things automatically. There are some flight modes but there’s not as many as you will find on the Parrot but that’s okay because what the Mavic mini does, it does it really well. With DJ eyes support it just feels very familiar and easy to use.
DJI Mavic Mini
Controllers
The controllers on both of these drones are very different and it’s going to be personal preference as to which one you like more. The Anafi controller feels really comfortable in the hand and you can just flip it up and it turns on automatically, you connect the phone and off you go.
The Mavic mini controller is a little bit more fiddly as you have to connect the sticks each time.
Durability
Mavic Mini is a little bit more robust of a drone as far as durability goes and just overall size and support, plus its newer so you’re going to get longer software updates than you would with the Parrot anafi.
Registration
That and the fact that you don’t have to register Mavic Mini is a big plus in a lot of different countries. Both of these look equally as well and I think the photos looked great as well.
Conclusion
Even with all that being said because of the price point of Anafi and how long it’s been out, it’s really hard for me to recommend this drone. Also I found that the Wi-Fi connection wasn’t as good as the Mavic minis – I just feel like the connection on the mini is so much better than the anafi.
I don’t think you can really go wrong with any of these two models.
Anafi could definitely be a great choice as there are a lot more things for the advanced user then the Mavic mini but it’s really really hard to argue this price of Mavic Mini.
