Mavic 4 Pro gear we actually recommend

Freewell All Day 8-Pack (ND + ND/PL)

The set most Mavic 4 Pro pilots should buy first. Covers ND4 through ND64 plus polarised versions, which means you are never grounded waiting for the light to match your one filter.

Freewell Split ND 4-Pack

Split filters — half ND8, half ND4 in a single element — so the bright sky and the darker ground expose closer to each other. A smaller, cheaper kit than the 8-pack if you mostly fly in even light.

Freewell Bright Day 4-Pack (ND/PL)

Polarised throughout. Worth it if you shoot over water, glass, or wet roads, where glare rather than brightness is the thing ruining the shot.

Freewell Split ND 4-Pack for Air 3S

Split densities in a single element, so a bright sky and darker ground land closer together. The sensible first filter purchase for an Air 3S doing landscape work.

Freewell Bright Day Split ND/PL for Air 3S

Polarised throughout. Worth it over water, glass and wet roads — but the polarisation shifts as you yaw, so check your sky mid-orbit before committing to a take.

K&F Concept ND/PL 4-Pack for Air 3S

The budget option. Optically fine for most work; coatings are less consistent than Freewell or PolarPro, which shows up as a colour cast you correct in the grade rather than as softness.

DJI Mavic 4 Pro Intelligent Flight Battery

The genuine DJI cell. Third-party Mavic 4 Pro batteries barely exist yet, and the ones that do will not report health data correctly to the aircraft. Two spares is the number most people settle on.

Tenergy Fire-Retardant LiPo Bags (2-pack)

Cheap insurance. Drone batteries are lithium polymer and they do occasionally vent; storing and charging them inside a fire-retardant bag costs about as much as a couple of coffees.

DJI Air 3S Intelligent Flight Battery

The genuine cell. Third-party packs will not report health and cycle data to the aircraft correctly, which on a battery that is also a structural part of a flying object is the wrong place to economise.

SanDisk Extreme 256GB microSDXC (V30)

V30 is the speed class you actually need — anything slower will drop frames on high-bitrate recording. 256GB is the sweet spot for a day of shooting.

SanDisk Extreme PRO 512GB microSDXC (V30)

For anyone recording in D-Log M or at the highest bitrates, where 256GB disappears faster than you expect. Buy this instead of two smaller cards you have to swap in the field.

Lekufee Waterproof Hard Case for Mavic 4 Pro

Moulded specifically for the Mavic 4 Pro and its combos, with room for the RC 2 or RC Pro 2. The right choice if the drone travels in a car boot or gets checked as luggage.

Smatree Professional Backpack for Mavic 4 Pro

Hard-case protection in a shape you can actually hike with. Pick this over the case if your flying involves walking to the spot rather than parking next to it.

Lykus Titan MA310 Hard Case for Air 3S

Moulded for the Air 3S and the RC 2 or RC-N3, with room for a Fly More Combo and up to four batteries. The choice if the drone travels in a car boot or gets checked as luggage.

Lekufee Waterproof Hard Case for Air 3S

The lighter, cheaper alternative to the Lykus. Takes the RC 2, RC-N3 or RC-N2 — check which controller you own before ordering, because the foam layouts differ.

Hoodman Weighted Trifold Landing Pad

Weighted, so it does not need stakes and will not fold itself up in prop wash — the failure mode that makes cheap landing pads useless. Keeps grit out of the gimbal and dust off the lens.

DJI RC 2 Tempered Glass Screen Protector

The RC 2 has a built-in screen and no replacement path if you scratch it. Comes with an alignment frame, which matters more than it sounds when you are applying glass to a controller.

VIFLY Drone Strobe Light

If you fly at night under Part 107, FAA rules require an anti-collision light visible for three statute miles. This is the one most US pilots end up with.

DJI Mavic 4 Pro Propellers

Genuine DJI props. Blades are a consumable — a nicked or stress-marked propeller should be replaced, not inspected optimistically before takeoff.

JKSafety Licenced Drone Pilot Reflective Safety Vest (JK100FAA)

ANSI Class 2 with nine pockets. The point is not the reflectivity so much as the wording on the back — it ends most of the conversations that otherwise interrupt a job on public ground.

Athlon Optics 8x42 Midas UHD Binoculars

Part 107 forbids ADS-B Out in transmit mode, so spotting manned traffic early is the mitigation you actually have. 8x42 is the standard compromise between magnification and a field of view wide enough to find something moving.

BT-100 Handheld Anemometer

107.49(a) makes local weather a mandatory preflight element. A forecast is regional; the wind at your take-off point is not, and the gap between them is usually the whole decision.

TopTes TS-301 Digital Anemometer

Bigger backlit screen than the BT-100, which matters if you are reading it at dusk with gloves on. Same job otherwise.

RoadHero 28in Collapsible Traffic Safety Cones (4-pack)

The 107.49 surface survey works out where people should not be. Cones are how you tell them. Collapsible, so they live in a case rather than filling the boot.

Mini First Aid Kit, 150-piece waterproof hard shell

Nothing in Part 107 requires one. 107.17 covers fitness to fly and stops there — the rest of crew welfare on a remote site is entirely yours.

EGUKU Rechargeable LED Headlamp (2-pack)

Two, because your visual observer is inside 107.17 as well and fumbling in the dark is a fitness problem in everything but name.

Ground Control Point Markers, 24in (6-pack)

High-contrast aerial targets with a center eyelet, for mapping and survey work. Placing and surveying GCPs is what turns a photogrammetry model from a nice picture into something with real-world accuracy you can defend to a client.

Ground Control Point Markers, numbered (10-pack)

The numbered version, which matters more than it sounds — identifying which target is which across a few hundred images is tedious enough without having to work it out from position alone.

Scotch Thermal Laminator (TL901X)

The default for a reason: two rollers rather than one, so pages come out flat instead of rippled, and it takes both 3 and 5 mil pouches. A 9-inch entry, which is exactly a letter pouch — fine for Scotch pouches at 8.9 in, tight for brands that run a full 9.0.

Scotch Laminating Pouches, letter, 3 mil (100)

Flexible enough to bend into a binder or a pocket without cracking, and about a third the price of 5 mil. This is the one for pages that live in a binder.

Scotch Laminating Pouches, letter, 5 mil (100)

Stiff enough to stand on its own and very hard to crease permanently. For a card that lives loose in the case and gets handled at the field with cold hands, this is the right weight.

Oregon Lamination Pouches, 6 x 9 in, 5 mil (100)

Half-page pouches for the kneeboard edition. Rated to a 5.75 x 8.75 in insert, which swallows a 5.5 x 8.5 page with sealing margin all round.

Scotch Self-Seal Laminating Pouches, letter (25)

No machine needed — peel and press. Costs more per sheet, but it removes the only real objection to laminating, which is not owning a laminator.

Avery Mini 3-Ring Binder, holds 5.5 x 8.5 in

Takes the kneeboard edition directly, with a split-resistant cover and two pockets. Cheap, always in stock, and it needs no adjustable punch or ring-size guesswork.

Half-size Sheet Protectors, 5.5 x 8.5 in (200)

Punched in a 7-hole pattern that spans both mini 3-ring and 6-ring binders, so they fit whichever binder you already own. Cheaper than laminating and reversible.

Avery Heavyweight Sheet Protectors, letter (200)

Heavyweight gauge for the full-size edition. Side-loading and non-stick, so the pages come out again without tearing.

ASA VFR Kneeboard (KB-1)

A real aviation kneeboard, in production for decades. The crossover most drone pilots never think of: strap it to your thigh and the reference card is readable with both hands on the sticks. Takes a 5.5 x 8.5 page with room to spare.

ASA Tri-Fold VFR Kneeboard (KB-3-A)

The tri-fold version, with a clear map pocket that happens to be the perfect home for a laminated card. Buy this one if you want the guide protected and attached in the same object.

Kadomaru Pro Corner Rounder

Three corner radii in one small body. Rounding the corners of a laminated card stops them catching and peeling in a bag, and it is the difference between something that looks printed and something that looks made.

Rite in the Rain Weatherproof Copier Paper, letter (200)

The honest alternative to laminating: print straight onto synthetic stock and skip the machine entirely. Survives rain, sweat and being sat on. Laser and copier stock — inkjet users need the inkjet-rated version.

The Standard UAS Operator Logbook (ASA-SP-UAS1)

Part 107 does not require a logbook. It does give you a 24-month recency clock under 107.65, and a written record of your last recurrent training is the cheapest way to never be caught short.

Amazon Basics Aluminium Storage Clipboard, two-tier

No rule requires a written preflight. Keeping one is how you still have it a month later when somebody asks what you assessed before the flight.

Propeller guards.They add weight, cut flight time, and disturb the airflow the Mavic 4 Pro’s obstacle sensing relies on. Useful indoors or around children; a downgrade everywhere else.

Range extenders and signal boosters. The Mavic 4 Pro already transmits further than you can legally fly it. In most countries you must keep the aircraft in visual line of sight, which you will lose long before the signal does.

Lens filters sold as “UV protection”.A holdover from film cameras. The Mavic 4 Pro’s sensor is not UV-sensitive in a way that matters, and you are adding a sheet of glass in front of a Hasselblad lens for no optical gain.

Gimbal “upgrade” guards. The supplied gimbal cover does the job. Aftermarket versions are mostly a way to sell you plastic.