DJI Flip review | Honest, unbiased review: Best travel drone

Date reviewed: May 2025 | Tested by: John Milbank | Price: From £369 | dji-retail.co.uk

Like any action camera or drone, the DJI Flip on review here has had a huge amount of coverage, with plenty of videos on YouTube telling you why it’s the ‘best camera drone ever’ (and a couple that question whether it really is). On paper it’s ideal for a motorcyclist like me looking to capture quick clips for their videos, but despite wading through all the content, I still didn’t know if it was going to be right for me.

I’d recently sold my DJI Mini 3 Pro as its constant need for updates and self-depleting batteries made me question its value, but I missed having that high-up viewpoint, and hoped I could track myself while riding… so on a recent day out in London I bought myself one from the DJI Hasselblad store on Regent street. Big thanks to the excellent staff who put up with a lot of questions, but here’s what I still wished I’d known before buying…

Pros & Cons

Why you can trust this review

No manufacturers or distributors ever have any influence on the reviews I write or film, I won’t ever do any paid reviews, and I’ll never agree to affiliate links. All products are tested fairly and equally, and if anything changes over time, I will update the written reviews.

Your purchasing choices should always be your own – Bennetts BikeSocial is just here to help ensure they’re informed choices.

DJI Flip palm-launch modes

Intelligent Flight modes, shot at 4K 30fps, rendered on a 30fps timeline

You can get great shots from the DJI Flip without a controller

The automatic palm-launched ‘Intelligent Flight’ modes offered by the DJI Flip allow you to capture clips by just opening the drone’s rotors out, selecting the mode you want with the button on the side, then it automatically takes off, carries out the shot then comes back ready to land back in your hand.

There’s the option to make changes using the DJI Fly app on your smartphone, or you can control it within a short range using just your phone, with virtual control sticks on the screen. Be careful if you do this though – if it goes out of range, make sure you can get to it to gain control again… don’t go flying it off a cliff of over the sea this way, especially in a strong tail wind. This can be a useful method for grabbing quick, fairly close clips, but for the best control and range that’s way more than you need to keep within sight, use the supplied controller – either the RC-N3 that utilizes your phone as the screen and ‘brains’, or the RC 2, which has its own excellent screen built in and doesn’t need pairing to your phone.

Choosing the ‘best’ DJI Flip bundle

There are several options when it comes to investing in the DJI Flip, but the price ladder can mean you have to spend more than you might want…

Unfortunately, the only way to get the ‘Fly More Combo’, which includes an additional two batteries and the parallel charging hub that can charge up to four batteries at once, is to get it with the RC 2 controller, putting the price up to £659. You also get a shoulder bag with it, but it’s disappointing not to have this option with the RC-N3 controller.

Granted, the RC-N3 requires your phone to be attached so it’s far from as slick, but it is £180 cheaper than the RC 2, and for those just wanting to get started with drones, it’s a hefty outlay.

Each battery costs £59 and the Parallel Charging Hub is £39, so that’s £157 of value in the Fly More combo. The carry case is £69, taking the bundle up to £226 worth of extras. The RC 2 controller can be bought on its own for £323 (the RC-N3 is £105), so the Fly More combo is very good value if you do want all those bits.

I couldn’t afford it though, so went for the entry-level bundle. Do I regret it? Yes and no – the RC 2 controller would be nice to have, but my experience of the RC 1 with my Mini 3 Pro was that it was a faff to update in the field if I’d forgotten to do it at home. Maybe this one’s better, but it’s the extra batteries that are really missed.

I can pack my DJI Flip, the RC-N3 controller and a power bank into my SW Motech Day Pack

During testing, I had to go out on three separate evenings to capture the first set of clips as the battery kept going flat. Realistically, I was getting about 20 minutes of use before having to worry about getting the drone back to me. For close shots it’s less of a problem, but in follow modes it can want to go back to where you took off, raising alerts on the controller that it needs to return to ‘home’ while it has enough power, when it’s actually just behind you. Tapping the button to reset the home point sorts this, and it depends what you’re shooting, but remember that DJI’s claims of 28 minutes of hover time or 31 minutes of flight time are from 100% to 0%. In use, the drone will demand to land much earlier to avoid dropping out of the sky.

Once the initial novelty has worn off and the drone becomes more of a tool than a toy it’s less of a problem, but I will need to invest in at least one more battery.

The problem is that the batteries can only be charged in the drone, or in the charging hub, so unless you buy that as well you’ll need to charge the batteries one after the other.

If I’m out on a ride now, I tend to capture the odd clip when I’m somewhere great then pop the Flip back in my tank bag and plug it into a power bank to top the battery back up while I ride to the next location.

The DJI Flip’s batteries don’t discharge as quickly as others

DJI’s drone feature ‘Intelligent Flight Batteries’ that automatically discharge to maintain their best performance. Lithium batteries are best stored at about 75%, so to help them last longer, DJI has its packs deplete themselves after a set time when they’re left idle, depending on the drone. Fortunately, the DJI Flip is a lot better for occasional users like me than all of the other drones…

This means that your DJI Flip batteries should stay charged and ready to use for more than enough time to be ready to go when you want them. And while it’s annoying to have to charge them in the drone if you don’t have the hub, it doesn’t take too long to top them up.

DJI Flip video quality

Shot at 4K 25fps, rendered on a 25fps timeline

The DJI Flip’s video quality is excellent

The 4K footage out of the DJI Flip really is superb, and even in full auto ‘Intelligent Flight’ modes it’s great quality. For a lot of what most motorcycle tourers and adventures would want, full auto will be fine, but the manual mode is easy to set up and gives much better control of exposures, as shown in the clip above.

Switch to D-Log M and reduce the sharpness by one stop though and it’s even better once the DJI LUT is applied during editing (I use the Action 4 LUT and find it great), giving very good quality clips with a minimum amount of work.

D-Log M can also be used when flying the drone with the phone (no controller needed), and with palm launching as long as you’ve set it up in the DJI Fly phone app beforehand.

If you want to get more cinematic motion blur, ND filters are available for £45. I bought them for my Mini 3 Pro and they did give some great results, but I haven’t got them for the Flip so can’t share samples yet.

There’s no 25fps mode in auto intelligent flight modes

While DJI says that ‘whether you’re a professional photographer or just starting out’, ‘simply press the mode button on the side to select your desired shooting mode and Flip automatically does the rest to capture impressive footage’, there’s a very real problem for anyone who wants to shoot more than just standalone social media clips in the UK and Europe: the DJI Flip won’t allow you to shoot in 25fps in any of the ‘Intelligent Flight’ palm-launch modes.

If your content includes footage from other cameras shot indoors and you’re on a 50Hz mains power supply, unless you shoot with a frame rate of 25fps, 50fps or 100fps (or another multiple), you’ll likely see strobing caused by the lights (especially under LED lighting).

Almost all of my videos include footage shot in my garage, which has studio lights and overhead lights (all matched for colour), and that strobing can ruin a shoot, so I always use 25fps or a multiple of that for slow-motion. That means that with the only choice being 30fps on the DJI Flip when using the palm-launched modes, I either lose the huge value of being able to quickly pull over, take the drone out of my tank bag and launch it from my palm, or I have to adjust the clips in editing and potentially lose some of their impact.

The problem with 30fps

Shot at 4K 30fps, rendered on a 25fps timeline

Placing footage shot at 30fps on a 25fps timeline results in horribly jerky footage due to frames being dropped. One ‘solution’ in Premiere pro is to use ‘Optical Flow’ in the speed/duration box without changing the speed. This will blend the frames to remove the jerkiness, and in many cases it does a reasonable job, but anything moving through the frame (for instance a motorbike or car) can take on a smeary look that loses definition at the points where the frames are dropped. Check out the video above to see what I mean, making sure it’s full screen at 4K.

To maintain the quality, the only way around it is to reduce the speed of the footage to 83.42%, but then of course everything is that bit slower.

I’ve asked DJI why there’s no 25fps option when not using the controller and was told that “We consider that the majority of users operating the drone either without an RC or with the mobile app are primarily using the drone for daily recording and sharing and so we’ve tried to keep options in the app simple.”

However, I was asked for specific reasons why I want to use 25fps as DJI’s R&D team was said to be ‘quite interested’ and that it ‘may be considered for future developments’. Given that 25fps is now an option in the mobile phone manual control, I’m hopeful that a firmware update will bring 25fps to the palm-launch on the Flip too, as well as the DJI Neo, which other people are asking for.

The DJI Flip’s tracking is good, but limited

In some situations, tracking a motorcycle could be really helpful, for instance when riding off-road like in the video quality sample above. However, it’s worth noting that there are some real limitations.

For instance, up to about 20mph (depending on the wind), the Flip will follow you on a bike and keep up fairly well. Much over that though and it can lose you, giving up and hovering. While I’m not a good off-road rider at all, 20mph looks pretty slow, especially in open environments, as you’ll have seen from the previous videos.

Also, direction track just doesn’t seem to keep up with a motorcycle, even at low speed, so I’ve been unable to get any footage tracking alongside me – every time it just swings back behind the bike and follows me. The same goes with trying to film in front… it swings around and follows from the rear again.

During testing (though on a clip where I forgot to hit record!), the Flip tracked me as I passed a cyclist going in the opposite direction, but it stayed with me no problems so it does a good job of keeping locked to its own subject.

The DJI Flip is only designed to track people, but fortunately that includes when they’re sat on a motorcycle (or bicycle). I’ve found it’s far more accurate and reliable than my Mini 3 Pro was, but it will not even try to track a car – to track anything other than a person you need the ActiveTrack featured on devices like the Mini 4 Pro, which also has a much more impressive top speed of 36mph.

Needless to say, you (or someone else if you’re riding) must always be in control of the drone, and be careful where tracking is used – it shouldn’t be near any other traffic.

The tracking can still give good results, especially in more enclosed areas…

DJI Flip tracking test

Shot at 4K 30fps, rendered on a 30fps timeline

The DJI Flip has limited obstacle avoidance

Where I was very impressed with the DJI Flip’s tracking was on a green lane in the woods. My speed was very limited, but the nearby trees keep it looking interesting. The clip above was shot from a palm-launch, demonstrating how practical the drone can be for grabbing a quick shot without faffing with the controller.

The video above initially shows the footage before I applied the DJI LUT, and as with all the clips in this review, there’s been no other post-processing. Look too how when it’s close to me it changes its focus – this isn’t just a basic camera. I also left in the fact that I confused the Flip at first, leaving it pointing in the wrong direction.

I deliberately rode close to trees for this test, and was really impressed with how the Flip avoided them.

The DJI Flip keeps its cost down by only having sensors on the bottom for landing, and on the front to sense things that are directly in front of it. This is very limited though, and this video from DC Rainmaker shows how the device can be fooled…

Exceeding the Flip’s limits

Testing from the excellent DC Rainmaker

The DJI Flip is not indestructible either – while the propellor guards do a very good job of keeping the props safe, it’s possible to hit something that fits between then and damage the gimbal.

Still, I find the propellor guards to be really useful, and I’ve had a few bumps already that damaged my Mini 3 Pro’s rotors when I did similar with that. My advice would be to of course use caution, and if you’re flying with any of the palm-launch modes, think about where the drone will go as a circle or helix flight could see it crash into something as it has sensors at all at the sides.

As the tracking test I did above was shot using a palm-launch mode, it was filmed at 30fps. If I wanted to use the clip in any of my videos shot at 25fps I’d either have to slow the footage down, or be left with the jerky output shown below…

That annoying 30fps limit

4K 30fps tracking test on 25fps timeline

The DJI Flip is great for photography too…

It’s easy to get wrapped up in all the video modes, but a drone like the DJI Flip can also give you access to superb stills taken from otherwise impossible to reach angles. Shooting from up to 120m above, looking back at yourself on the edge of a cliff, or just grabbing a shot from the treeline is fairly quick and easy with the Flip, and being able to shoot at 12Mp or 48MP in JPEG or RAW – with the option of auto exposure bracketing and full manual control of shutter speed, ISO, exposure compensation and colour temperature if you want it – means you can get some truly stunning images. The DJI Flip’s aperture is fixed at f1.7.

48MP images are only available in the single shot mode, but a very useful 12MP mode could be the timer option, which repeatedly shoots images at intervals of 2, 3, 5, 7, 10, 15, 20, 30 or 60 seconds, giving you time to get that perfect pose between frames. It’s like a countdown timer, but it takes a shot as soon as you press the shutter button, then again at the set interval until you stop it.

DJI Flip wind test

Shot at 4K 25fps, rendered on a 25fps timeline

The DJI Flip is not very good in the wind

The DJI Flip’s maximum speed is claimed to be 27mph, which is good for some cool shots but I found it couldn’t track me at that. Its maximum wind speed resistance is 24mph.

The video above was shot with a forecast windspeed of 18mph. It might have been higher than that, but you can see how it really struggled to carry out the motion I’d set on the very useful ‘autopilot’ feature, which allows you to tap the custom function button on the controller to lock in the direction and speed that you’ve got the drone set at.

The picture below also shows how the prop guards came into view in high wind when setting up for a shot looking down at the road.

See how the prob guards are in view here while the drone struggled to move sideways in the wind

Palm launch demo & noise test

This is how easy the DJI Flip can be to use

The DJI Flip isn’t as noisy as I feared

With its reputation for being quite loud, I was worried that the DJI Flip would draw unwanted attention and annoy anyone nearby, but while it does have a high-pitched whine that’s more irritating that the Mini 3 Pro I used to have, it’s soon lost as it moves away. I’ve tried to give you an idea in the footage below by turning off any wind noise reduction.

Make no mistake – anyone nearby will know you’re using it, but once it’s a few meters away the DJI Flip is not as bad as I’d feared.

In the footage above, note the jerkiness in the rotation of the rocket shot – my Insta360 X5 was shooting at 25fps and I set that as the video’s timeline. Please DJI, let us shoot at 25fps in the palm-launch modes!

The DJI Flip has a useful amount of internal storage

I use a micro SD card in the Flip, but if you forgot it you could still bag some footage thanks to approximately 1.8GB built in. A palm-launched dronie to 10m used a total of 324.7MB, while a 20m rocket used 500.3MB. You’re not going to fit a whole adventure in there, but it might get you out of trouble.

Being sub-250g makes life easier

If you’re going to buy any drone it’s very important to understand the law around their use. As rules change over time, I’d also recommend keeping an eye on channels like Geeksvana for updates, and the video below is a valuable insight:

Geeksvana’s guide to drone rules

Current UK laws (as of May 2025)

I strongly recommend a membership to FPVUK, which costs just £24.99 and includes £5,000,000 public liability insurance and optional automatic registration with the CAA (Civil Aviation Authority), along with other useful benefits. You can also get lots of advice here through the DroneHub forum. FPVUK also lobbies government for fair consumer drone rules, so is well worth supporting.

You MUST have an Operator ID, and that number must be stuck somewhere on the drone. I have it under the battery as it’s fine to put it somewhere that’s easily accessible without tools. This costs £11.79 per year and it’s worth setting it up to automatically renew through FPVUK. You don’t have to have a Flyer ID, but again, I’d strongly recommend it. It’s free, but you must take an online course to get it, which isn’t a chore and it helps you understand the laws and limitations.

Having a drone with a take-off weight of under 250g means there are fewer restrictions to where you can fly it, but you still must NOT fly in restricted airspace. For that reason it’s vital to also download the Drone Assist app on Android and on iOS, to understand where other aircraft may be flying, and where there are restrictions to airspace like prisons etc.

If you’re considering buying a drone I’d suggest first downloading the Drone Assist app as it’s free and gives you an idea of where you can and can’t fly in your local area.

Drones are fantastic tools and great fun to fly, but regardless of what size they are you can’t treat them as just a toy: it’s vitally important that you understand how and where to fly, as you could face prosecution for breaking the law.

If you’re planning to fly your drone in Europe, you need to register in the relevant country as the UK is no longer a member of the EU. Drone flights in Europe are governed by EASA (European Union Aviation Safety Agency), and you can register as a drone pilot in Europe at the EASA website here.

How to travel with your drone in Europe

A great guide from EASA

You have to sideload the Android DJI Fly app

It’s disappointing that, while the DJI Fly app is available from the Apple iOS app store, all of DJI’s apps have to be sideloaded on Android devices. This isn’t difficult, but it does mean turning off some security on your device while downloading the apps direct from the DJI website. I use several DJI devices and am pretty comfortable with this, but it’s not clear why it happens, and DJI still just stands by its official statement from back in January 2023:

"The compatibility between DJI apps and Google Play Store is changing. Therefore, you currently cannot download or update the Android versions of our apps using Google Play. DJI now provides the most current versions of its Android apps on DJI's website. To install or update the most recent Android version of a DJI app such as DJI Fly or DJI Mimo, users can visit dji.com/downloads and select the app they'd like to install. This is an easy-to-use and comfortable solution, and ensures that our customers can enjoy the full functionality and benefits of our Android app versions. Thank you for your understanding."

Note that there are scam DJI apps on the Google Play store that try to charge for features while masquerading as official DJI software. DJI apps DO NOT charge for features. There are no DJI apps available on the Play store for Android, so don’t download any dodgy ones from there by mistake.

Should you buy DJI Care refresh?

DJI Care Refresh allows you access to low-cost replacements if you crash the drone or lose it while flying. It costs £39 for a year’s cover, or £69 for two years, but you need to buy it within 48 hours of first activating a brand-new drone, or later by applying online with video verification of the condition of the drone, which you can do here.

You get up to two replacements of damaged drones and one replacement of a drone that’s flown away and got lost. If you have the broken device, sending it back will see it replaced for £29. If you’ve lost the drone altogether, it costs £149 for another one.

This is good value, especially if you’re new to drones, though the Flip is a pretty robust device. It’s a shame that it’s not available to buy as a standalone unit (as is the case with other DJI drones), meaning you can’t get one without a controller to save money or to upgrade from your existing model. If you could buy the Mini 4 Pro on its own, for instance, I might have been more tempted to get the Flip with the RC 2 as there’d have been a better upgrade path.

Three alternatives to the DJI Flip

I spent a long time researching what to buy before investing in the DJI Flip, and I’m generally very happy with my choice, but here are some others to consider…

• DJI Neo (135g), from £169 | I was very tempted by this, but it’s not actually smaller than the Flip (when folded), and the image quality isn’t as good (though it’s not bad). It struggles even more in wind than the Flip, but it is very cheap and a great entry point. At its cheapest it’s just got the palm launch modes (with the same frustrating 30fps limitations) and smartphone control of the Flip, or it’s £299 with the RC-N3 controller and two extra batteries. £449 gets you the FPV package, which has a controller that tracks the movement of your hand and some great-looking FPV googles. It seems like a lot of fun, but don’t get this if you suffer from motion sickness. Find out more about the DJI Neo here.

• DJI Mini 5 Pro (249g), estimated from £689 | It appears that the existing Mini 4 Pro will be superseded very soon, but it’s a very high-quality drone as it is with outstanding omnidirectional obstacle sensing and great tracking abilities. The Mini 4 Pro has a top speed of 36mph, and I’d expect the Mini 5 Pro to be the same. It’ll be interesting to see what features the new device has… Find out more about the DJI Mini 4 Pro here.

• Hover Air X1 Pro (192g), from £459 | It’s hard to know just how suitable the 8K Hover Air X1 Pro (or the Pro Max) is for motorcycle adventures. On paper its compact form and simple operation could make it ideal, and the optional beacon and joystick seem to have real potential, but ultimately I couldn’t find anything that convinced me it was the best option for motorcycling. Find out more about the Hover Air X1 Pro and Pro Max here.

These are just three of many alternatives – you can find all the action cameras and other tech we've tested here and be sure to regularly check for any discounts available through Bikesocial membership.

DJI Flip review: Verdict

The DJI Flip has superb image quality and it’s pretty easy to get some truly stunning cinematic footage, especially if you’re happy to dabble in the manual exposure modes.

It does have its limitations compared to the sub-250g Mini 4 Pro, which has 360° obstacle avoidance as well as up AND down, but that’s not got the automatic palm-launch modes or smartphone control so it can take a little more time to grab those special moments. And of course, when I bought the Flip the Mini 4 Pro was £320 more with the entry-level RC-N2 controller, £500 more with the RC 2 and £610 more as the Fly More Combo. At the time of writing it’s reduced in what’s likely to be preparation for the heavily rumoured Mini 5 Pro, but it’s still a big investment for anyone new to drones.

Ultimately, the DJI Flip is almost the perfect drone to carry along on a motorcycle adventure. It’s relatively affordable, it gives superb video and stills quality, and folded up it tucks easily into a tank bag. It’s such a shame then that DJI doesn’t give the 25fps option from the quick-access palm-launch mode, but it still comes highly recommended if you want to capture some amazing angles.

 If you’d like to chat about this article or anything else biking related, join us and thousands of other riders at the Bennetts BikeSocial Facebook page or at bikeclub.bennetts.co.uk.

Second opinion: Robert Sheppard

"I bought the DJI Flip and RC-N3 controller package, then went off and bought the charging hub, an extra battery and the case so I can fling it all in my bike’s top-box. I already had a 65W charger that helps keep charging times to a minimum so the setup is now just what I need. Another extra battery might help, but that will have to wait for now. And the battery life is very good to be fair.

“I'm very happy with the Flip as it’s perfect for my limited use, especially as the image quality is very important to me. My wife and I ride a BMW R1250GSA all over Europe, including Normandy, Valencia, the Alps, Italy, over to Croatia and back this year in three separate trips.

“The DJI Flip will definitely be part of my touring kit from now on!”

Robert Sheppard’s sample footage

Robert kindly shared some clips of him testing his drone after buying it