DJI Firmware Roulette: One Controller, Two Drones, Zero Sanity

Hello dear readers. It’s Rafael again, reporting from the front lines of daily drone flying, where batteries are always charging, SD cards are always full, and firmware updates are always waiting like unpaid parking tickets.

As you know, I fly almost every single day. Not metaphorically. Literally. If a drone has propellers and DJI’s logo on it, I probably want it, need it, or already bought it at 2 a.m. “for testing purposes.”

The latest addition to my growing aerial family is the gorgeous DJI Neo 2, specifically the Motion Fly More Combo, which sounds less like a drone package and more like a Marvel movie subtitle.

The Neo 2 Motion Fly More Combo

Inside the box you get the Neo 2, three batteries, a charging hub, the N3 Goggles, and the Motion Controller 3. That’s everything you need to fly FPV and feel like a futuristic hummingbird with trust issues. It’s a fantastic little setup, dangerously fun, and capable of turning a casual test flight into a “wait, why is the sun setting already?” situation.

But here’s the thing. The Neo 2 is a control freak’s dream. You can fly it with hand gestures, your phone, the RC2, the RCN3, the FPV RC3, motion controllers, goggles, and probably telepathy in a future firmware update. DJI gave us options. Lots of them. Almost too many.

Now, if you want to use the Neo 2 as more than a toy, maybe for work, maybe for precise shots, maybe because your thumbs prefer sticks over interpretive dance, you need a proper controller.

Naturally, I reached for the RCN3. A solid controller. Reliable. Familiar. It came with my Mini 5 Pro. And in my innocent, optimistic mind, one controller for two drones felt like a perfectly reasonable expectation in the year we allegedly live in.

Surely this would work. Surely.

Isn’t it?
Isn’t it.
ISN’T IT?

A Big Nope

Cue the imaginary DJI Support voice inside my head, calm, polite, and emotionally unavailable.

“Hello. DJI here. No, you can’t do that. The RCN3 uses different firmware versions depending on whether you’re flying the Neo 2 or the Mini 5 Pro. So every single time you switch drones, you must update the controller firmware. From version 01.00.0100 to 01.00.0200. Then back again. There is no workaround. There is no shortcut. Have a great day.”

This conversation never happened, but it might as well have been tattooed on my soul.

And this, dear readers, has been my life for the past few weeks. Every YouTube recording session. Every comparison test. Every “I’ll just fly for five minutes before dinner” moment.

I power up a drone, grab the controller, and boom. Firmware mismatch. Eight minutes of my life disappear into a progress bar while I stare at the screen, reflecting on my choices and wondering who exactly benefits from this design decision.

Eight minutes may not sound like much. But eight minutes multiplied by multiple flights, multiple drones, multiple days turns into hours. Hours of watching a controller update itself like it’s preparing for a space launch, all because I dared to own more than one DJI drone.

At this point, I’ve started asking myself dangerous questions. Should I buy an RC2 Pro just for the Neo 2? Another controller for the Mini 5 Pro? One controller per drone, like they’re emotional support devices that cannot be shared? Should I label them with names and never let them interact?

Or maybe, just maybe, DJI could look at this and say, “Hey, maybe one controller can remember two firmwares and switch automatically like every other smart device on Earth.”

Wild idea, I know.

DroneXL’s Take

So here I am, throwing this into the digital void. Have you dealt with this firmware juggling act yourself? Did you surrender and buy another controller? Did you accept it as part of the DJI lifestyle, like ND filters and compulsory firmware updates before critical jobs?

Let me know in the comments. And if you happen to have an extra RC2 Pro lying around and feel like sending it to Ecuador, I promise I’ll give it a loving home and update it responsibly.

Photo credit: A frustrated owner