FIMI X8 Mini First Flight

Received my copy of FIMI X8 Mini yesterday. After charging both the standard battery and controller, I took it out for a spin. Weather was good without strong wind. The total flight time was slightly more than 12 minutes and about 45% battery power left. Therefore, in this not-so-windy condition at an altitude of around 100m, a full charge of this standard battery will last for about 26 minutes. Not bad.

The environment for this first flight was woody and hilly, and, as a result, WiFi transmission can be interrupted easily, During this 12-minute flight WiFi transmission (to the controller and my phone) was interrupted three times and was reconnected twice after I walked toward the location of the drone. The last interrupt triggered the FailSafe RTH, sending the drone back to its home point. Perhaps, the situation could be better if the home position was at an open rather than a woody area.

The drone flew smoothly and there responses were good and fast. The settings were all default except that saturation was set to vivid. My experience with the FIMI X8 SE 2020 tells me that FIMI's contrast could be high and its color rendition has been dull and a bit heavy in general. Consequently, I set the Mini to Vivid. Well, the result is way too vivid to my taste and not very realistic. Lens vignetting can be seen as I reported when I flew the X8 SE 2020. In general, its 4K video is good, but IMO not as pleasant as the ones from Mini 2.

In general, I believe the FIMI X8 Mini is a very capable drone. The down side is that FIMI supplied a standard battery with this Mini, making the total takeoff weight greater than 250g. We have to want until the Pro battery to reduce the takeoff weight below 250g. Why is FIMI doing this is odd. They claim that this is a sub-250g drone but sell it with a heavier battery. Would the potential buyers hold off until the Pro battery will become available in the future? Additionally, I dislike its controller. When my iPhone 12 Pro Max was mounted on the controller, I felt that the two handles for holding the controller is a bit too short. Holding Mini 2's controller is more comfortable. The "feature" I dislike the most is the microSD card slot. If a battery is installed in the battery chamber, its lock blocks the access of the microSD card slot. Thus, to insert or remove a microSD card, you have to remove the battery. The X8 SE 2020 has a similar problem. The microSD card slot is rather deep and you need long finger nails to pull it out or you may need some tool. For this Mini, FIMI may think that the battery lock adds a protection so that the card will not pop out of the slot. Maybe this is a good idea. On the other hand, Mini and Mini 2 also have the card slots below the battery and throughout the years I have never had card popping out issue.

Will do more flight tests in the near future when weather permits.