Drone photography has been a completely unexpected hobby of mine in early retirement. I keep my DJI Mavic Air 2 in the back of my Jeep and have enjoyed taking it with me on road trips all over the Midwest.
It takes some amazing pictures. It flies 400’ up, has a 48 megapixel camera, and does video at 60 frames per second, just like Hollywood. It’s easy to fly and has built in FAA GPS to ensure you don’t fly too close to anything dangerous (airports, stadiums, power plants, courthouses, military sites, or Walt a Disney World).
Still, drones have been in the news as a military threat recently and both political parties have wanted to throttle Chinese-made DJI for some time. DJI has a huge market share of drones around the world because their technology is really exceptional. Word is that the Trump Administration may ban DJI sales in the USA shortly.
That being the case, I ordered a new Mini Pro 4 last night through Amazon. I’m not sure if I’ll get it or not. From DJI, shipping dates are 6/18-7/13 delivery. That’s a big shipping window, as I think a lot of people are stocking up on them right now and they are probably behind on production.
Why upgrade? My current drone (about 5 years old) doesn’t work with my new Apple iPhone (16 Pro). Apple apparently doesn’t support the old DJI app. I’ve been using my old cell phone (on Wi-Fi) to get it to work. The new DJI drone doesn’t even need your cell phone. It has a slick new controller with a built-in screen of its own.
Like guns, the threat of a ban on technology causes a spike in demand and prices. This top-rated model is already selling for 25-35% over list price on eBay, because of the threat of a ban. Hopefully I got my order in on time, if not, I guess I’ll get one on the secondary market, or wait for another brand to catch up to DJI.
Is there anything you’ve been interested in buying that is now in the crosshairs of a importation ban or heavy tariff?
Image: DJI
MrFireStation 
I haven’t noticed much of a change in goods bought from Amazon so far. However, I try to avoid buying Chinese goods as much as possible. Your drone example sounds like a niche they do well. One area of concern are several smart devices connected to my home network that are not FIS (Federal Information Systems) compliant, which could act as a gateway for CCP into your home network. I plan to setup an isolated subnet for these devices to assure that there is nothing for them to get to.
Two of the members of our household, including me, use Android and they other two use latest iPhones. I think Androids are much better working with third party apps. The only downside I see between the two platforms is that Androids were developed by a Search Engine Company, so I note that Android makes suggestions about goods and services.
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I recall from the Edward Snowden documentary that the government can use internet connection Ted devices to spy on people. I’m more concerned about our own government than the CCP, although both are a risk. At my age, there’s nothing I really do that should be too much of an interest to either of them.
Drones don’t connect in with my home network. I don’t think the CCP could gain any advantage looking at my lighthouse pictures. Anything I’m flying around is pretty well documented, I’m sure. Who knows?
I saw a John Stossel recently on device privacy and his “expert” suggested that Google is among the worst. I even dropped Chrome off my phone and picked up Brave instead. I also use Apple’s Safari. I still use G-Mail and have Google Maps on my phone (although I generally use Apple Maps).
Here’s the Stossel bit … https://youtu.be/jgoLkpc0PSo?si=jhQW7ZiAGHaQu9Ve
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Thanks.
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