It is not possible to put Mavic Mini CE in FCC mode. When you buy Mavic Mini be careful: the CE model and the FCC model are different: here’s what you need to know
Know about Mavic Mini FCC and CE
A few days ago DJI officially presented its new small, light and compact drone , the Mavic Mini.
We have dedicated several in-depth articles to this fantastic travel drone, but today I want to bring your attention back to the Mavic Mini because an important aspect has not yet been taken into consideration, but it should not be underestimated.
Mavic Mini uses WiFi frequencies
As you will have read, the remote control you find in the Mavic Mini package uses the WiFi network to “talk” and send commands to the drone.
This, in a nutshell, means that in Italy and in Europe it will have to respect the CE frequencies , which unfortunately are:
- Much smaller than the American ones (also known as FCC)
- Decidedly less stable and reliable than the American ones (always the FCC)
- Concretely, all this means that the Mavic Mini will be able to fly less far than the 2 km promised by the company and, above all in areas where there is strong WiFi
- interference, there is the risk of losing the drone signal after only a few hundred meters (or even before).
These are all problems already seen with DJI Spark and with DJI Mavic Air, but they will surely also feature with Mavic Mini since the WiFi frequencies are the same.
FCC mode on DJI Mavic Mini: is it possible?
On Mavic Air and Spark, to get around the limitations and problems of the CE mode, users had found a hack that allowed them to switch to the FCC WiFi frequency, which was much more stable, powerful and reliable.
It was something unlawful, but it worked anyway and allowed the drone to fly with much more peace of mind and security than the CE mode.
How did DJI block this switch?
Simple: in Europe it only sells Mavic Mini with hardware that supports CE frequencies, while in America and Asia it only sells Mavic Mini with hardware that supports FCC frequencies.
So if you buy a Mavic Mini (from Amazon or official resellers), the drone will only be able to use CE frequencies since it does not physically have the hardware capable of supporting FCC frequencies.
Isn’t there an alternative?
Sure. Just buy Mavic Mini in the USA or China (from Gearbest , Banggood and similar sites) to have a Mavic Mini drone already set up in FCC.
Obviously you can fly your Mavic Mini bought in America or China without problems in Europe, even if at the time of take-off the drone will show you a warning message explaining that you are using unauthorized frequencies for your area.
Nothing too annoying, just ignore the message to fly anyway. And you will be guaranteed to be able to use much more stable and reliable frequencies than the CE ones, without having to waste time finding hack and changes to switch from CE mode to FCC. All much simpler, more convenient and faster.
Conclusions
In conclusion, if you want to buy Mavic Mini I suggest you do it from the USA or China. Those bought in Italy from official dealers, in fact, will be able to fly only in CE mode , with strong limitations on power and signal stability.