Hey everyone, Richard here. Welcome back to the channel. This isn’t a typical review. This is a real user test of the DJI Osmo Nano that I paid for with my own money. No early samples, no sponsorship. After several days of testing, I’m breaking down exactly what it’s like to live with, including the brilliant image quality and a few quirks you need to know about before buying.
The Verdict: A Brilliant but Slightly Rushed Camera
Let’s cut to the chase: For £240 to £260, the DJI Osmo Nano is fantastic value. The footage is stable, the colours look great straight out of the camera, and the detachable, waterproof body is a genius feature. However, it feels like DJI rushed the software. There are bugs, and one specific design choice is genuinely frustrating.
I’m confident most software issues will be fixed, but let’s get into the specifics.
What’s GREAT – The Reasons to Buy
- Image & Stabilization: The 4K footage is brilliant. It’s sharp, stable, and for 95% of users, the standard 8 or 10-bit colour profiles are perfect. You don’t need to mess with DLOG-M. It holds up perfectly against my Action 4 and Action 5.
- Versatility & Value: This is a perfect first action camera. The magnetic lanyard is incredibly useful for hands-free shooting, and the fact the core camera is waterproof opens up a lot of creative possibilities. It’s a great gift or a tool to get started with content creation.
- The Ecosystem: As a DJI convert from GoPro, I love the ecosystem. It just works… mostly.
The QUIRKS – What You Need to Know
- Software Bugs: The most obvious bug occurs when using the DJI Mic 2. If you connect the mic while recording, the Vision Dock’s screen freezes and your audio can go out of sync. You have to start recording after the mic is connected. This is 100% a software issue that needs a firmware update.
- Storage Design Flaw: You cannot record directly to the SD card slot on the Vision Dock. It’s only for offloading footage from the camera’s internal storage. This is a baffling design choice. DJI needs to enable direct SD card recording via an update.
- Incompatible Mounts: Here’s a physical problem: The mounting claws on the Nano and its Vision Dock are about half a millimeter wider than the standard DJI/GoPro mount. This means it’s fiddly and sometimes difficult to attach to third-party mounts or older DJI accessories. It doesn’t “snap on” as easily as it should.
Who Should Buy This?
If you’re entering the action camera world or want a incredibly versatile pocket camera for vlogging, the Osmo Nano is an easy recommendation. Despite the quirks, the core product—the image quality and stabilization—is excellent.
However, if you rely heavily on external microphones and need a 100% polished experience today, you might want to wait a month or two for DJI to roll out more firmware updates.
Final Thoughts
The DJI Osmo Nano feels like a camera with a 10/10 hardware foundation let down by 7/10 software and a couple of odd design choices. But because I believe in DJI’s ability to fix software, I still think it’s a great buy.
The pros massively outweigh the cons, and for the price, it’s a steal. I’ll be keeping mine, mounting it on my motorbike, and I’m excited to see how it improves.
Links to purchase the Osmo Nano are in the description below. If you use them, I get a small commission which helps support the website at no extra cost to you. If you found this real-world test helpful,