New DJI Mic Mini eschews some features, but is super tiny with a great price

DJI has a new portable microphone package on the market, and the goal is to be a small one-stop shop for audio. The Mini has a great battery life and all-round performance, plus its small size makes it really easy to attach to a lot of clothing.

The drawbacks are that you can’t easily record a backup audio track, attach a real lav mic or monitor your levels on the mic’s hardware itself. That said, if you’re looking for a easy to use nofrills audio solution that sounds better than your phone this model is hard to beat.

Each microphone is incredibly tiny and weighs only 10 grams. When I first unboxed them, I was blown away by how tiny and cute they were. You can also tap on the power button to turn on software noise reduction, which does help a tiny bit when filming outside, but it’s not as powerful as the vocal isolation features I normally use in Final Cut Pro 11. That said, I do think it helps Final Cut’s version sound more natural since it doesn’t need as much processing as before. You can turn on a basic noise reduction for cutting hums and subtle sounds indoors, followed by a second stage for cutting wind and crowd noises outside. Having said that, there is only a single visual indicator to tell which mode you’re in, so it can be a bit tricky to ensure you’re using the one you want.

The microphones also use automatic limiting to make it easy to just plug the receiver into a phone or camera and start recording. If you’re using a camera or a pro video app like Kino, you should be able to see the levels on your device’s screen as well to make sure it’s working as you want it. If you need to dial it in more than that, there is a nob on the receiver that will allow you to raise or lower the gain a bit.

Like the DJI Mic and Mic 2, the new option also uses a battery-carrying case. While I would have liked it to be a bit more compact, the large size allows you to quickly top up the mics/receivers on the go for around 48 hours of use. Since the case is so large, you can squeeze in the AUX cable and the wind socks, so you don’t need to put the case in a little bag to store the mics and all the accessories. It is worth noting that the carrying case that comes with this model is nice and includes small mesh pouches inside to securely hold all the accessories.

If you record using the DJI Mimo app you can also record a safety track (-6Db) just in case one of your subjects gets loud all of a sudden, but it would have been nice to have that option built right into the microphones like it is on the regional DJI Mic and the Mic 2.

The Mics will also continue to operate up to 400 meters away from the receiver. Granted, this will be shorter if you’re in a super dense area. Still, it’s pretty great to have this much flexibility to get cool shots without having to worry about the mics dropping connection.

The DJI Mic 1 vs the new Mic Mini.

On their own, the mics can last for around 11 hours, and the receiver will last for closer to 10. DJI says the devices will fully charge in around 100 minutes in the case. And if you really need to capture one more shot, the mics will get an hour of recording out of just five minutes in the case. The microphones will also enter sleep mode automatically once they no longer detect connection from the receiver. This allows you to keep the talent mic’d up so only the camera operator needs to shut down the receiver. The included TRS AUX cable that comes with the Mic Mini also supports synchronized power on/off with the camera it’s plugged into to make using the receiver as easy as possible.

The full set that includes two mics, the receiver and the charging case + pouch costs $169 USD (roughly $237 CAD). The DJI Mic 2 costs $350 USD, which is roughly $490 CAD, so this is a pretty great discount for anyone needing a simple audio solution. This combo only comes with a USB-C adapter, so if you need one with Apple’s old lightning port, you will need to pay an extra $20. If you only need one microphone, the set that includes one receiver and microphone is only $89 USD (roughly $125 CAD), but it doesn’t include a charging case, which does make these a little harder to use since you need to remember to charge them. You can also buy extra mics in black or white for $55 USD (roughly $77 CAD).