DJI Mini 5 Pro Weight Issue Resolved

The Problem

The Mini 5 Pro is truly a work of art. DJI managed to pack a ton of tech into a super lightweight drone. But DJI really shit the bed on one thing: weight. Every 'mini' drone prior to this iteration had a weight that came in under the magical 250 gram mark. This is a key figure, as most countries have lax regulations on a sub 250g drone. After all the hoopla of this drone having a "manufacturing tolerance" of -/+ 4g, Transport Canada has made it clear that there is no tolerance in the weight, which means this drone is not classified as a micro drone in Canada and requires registration to fly. I have my pilot license, so that's not an issue, but the entire point of this drone is to be fun and carefree.

Weigh Scale Calibration

We all know that pretty much every Mini 5 weight post shows these drones are consistently 252/253g depending on the scale used. I decided to purchase a lab scale along with some calibration weights with an accuracy tested to the standards set by OIML. Here's some calibration weights showing that even a precision scale is off:


100g weight, off by 0.13g.


200g total weight, off by 0.29g.

So with this scale, anything under 250.36g should be classified as a micro drone. This accounts for my scale being approximately 0.13g per 100g over estimating. This should show you how incredibly challenging it would be to accurately measure a drone in the field.

Reference Weights

A standard MicroSD card, 0.27g.


Standard size battery: 69.68g.


Standard size battery: 70.40g.


Standard size battery: 70.43g.


Stock drone weight, including a MicroSD card.

Modifications

I was curious to see what it would take to modify the drone to get it under 250. Here's what I did. First, I removed all accessible stickers, including the C0 sticker, and several inside the battery bay. I also removed 2 battery bumper pads on the roof of the battery bay. Next, I used a Dremel and removed as much of the battery casing as I felt would be reasonably safe. It's worth noting, I chose to modify the lightest battery I had, which was already coming in at 69.68g.


Modifiications (Reference A)


Modifiications (Reference B)


After removing a significant amount of the lower casing, the battery is now 67.49g, down from 69.68, so a total weight savings of 2.19g.


Now the drone weighs 249.87g! Woohoo! Given the inaccuracy of my scale, this means my drone is approximately 0.49g under the 250g limit.

Conclusion

Do not modify your drones, it's not worth it. I, like many others, agree that it's just too small of a weight difference to matter. I will not be modifying the remaining batteries, as I just don't think it is worth it.