If you're looking to buy a DJI drone or action camera, you may have been patiently waiting for the DJI Store Day sales, which start on October 10. But given the event's disappointing preview, which has just landed, you'll likely be better off waiting for this year's Black Friday deals instead.
DJI has now revealed the deals and discounts that'll be available during DJI Store Day. And unless you've recently received a DJI 'Golden Ticket' (which were handed out to some buyers of the DJI Avata and DJI Mini 3 Pro), this isn't a huge amount to get excited about.
When the event runs from October 10-11, the sole discount will be 40% off the DJI Action 2's Dual-Screen Combo, which is decent but not much bigger than the price cuts available right now at retailers like Amazon. For most action cam buyers, we'd also probably recommend the newer DJI Osmo Action 3.
For drone fans, the pickings will be even slimmer. During DJI Store Day, the DJI Mini 3 Pro (with DJI RC controller) will come with a slightly useless tote bag, while buyers of the DJI Air 2S and DJI Mavic 3 Fly More Combo will get a similarly puzzling DJI Toiletry Bag.
Some actual drone-related accessories, like ND filters or batteries, would have been nice, and that'll at least be the case for the DJI FPV Combo during the event. That drone will come with a free DJI FPV Battery Charging Hub or DJI FPV Car Charger if you order during DJI Store Day.
The event's best deals have been reserved for holders of DJI's 'Golden Tickets' (above), or those who are lucky enough to win some DJI Credit by sharing the DJI Store Day event page on Facebook or Twitter between October 3-8.
'Golden Tickets' were only handed out to early buyers of recent DJI drones this year, but if that includes you, there'll be some solid 30% off discounts on some accessories during the event. For example, you'll be able to apply that price cut to the DJI Mini 3 Pro's ND filters set, Mini 3 Pro two-way charging hub, and the DJI Avata's battery.
For those of us without Golden Tickets? Based on recent history, it looks likely that the Black Friday drone deals (officially starting on November 25) will be your better bet for bargains.
Hold or fold?
DJI usually prefers to run its own sales events to coincide with Amazon's ones, which is why DJI Store Day is taking place on almost identical dates to Amazon Prime Day 2 (which starts a day later on October 11).
The latter, officially called the Prime Early Access Sale, is expected to be a prelude to the bigger end-of-year sales period headlined by Black Friday 2022. Amazon's idea seems to be to spread out shopping demand during this busy period, perhaps to help the supply chains cope.
But it looks likely that Black Friday will give us the biggest variety of drone and action deals this year, and DJI is likely to run its own sales event again during November. Last year, it launched a Holiday Page on November 19 that served up giveaways and special bundles for products like the DJI Pocket 2.
If you want a discounted drone, though, then Black Friday is likely worth waiting for. Not everything in the sales event is a bargain, but last year we did see some record-low prices on some of the best DJI drones.
The headline deal was 20% off the DJI FPV Combo in both the US and UK. There were also some good savings to be made on older drones like the DJI Mavic Mini, which remains a good beginner drone and received a 10% price cut. Even better was the 37% discount on the DJI Mavic Air Fly More Combo.
So if you're prepared to go for a previous-generation DJI drone, and are happy to wait until November, it seems wise to skip DJI Store Day and wait to see what Black Friday 2022 brings this year.
Source: TechRadar