Odds you can even get your hands on one if you pre order? Especially after the mavic pro fiasco?

Commercial photographer and videographer here. I have the Phantom 4 Pro and love it. It meets all of my needs but is bulky when traveling - especially internationally. (Traveling to at least 5 countries this year.)

I didn't get the Mavic line because I felt that the camera wasn't good enough and had high hopes that within a year they would improve the camera. Now that they haven't (much - I know there are subtle improvements) I'm wondering if I should just bite the bullet and get the Air or find a Mavic Pro on sale?

My concerns are:
1. the WiFi flight (I already have trouble logging into the Go4 app before flying with the new requirements and am worried flight will be interrupted in remote locations.)
2. 12MP camera
3. Battery life

Anyone in similar shoes and just loving the Mavic Pro? If you didn't have the MP would you get the Air?

fans1af8394a Posted at 2018-1-24 14:29
Commercial photographer and videographer here. I have the Phantom 4 Pro and love it. It meets all of my needs but is bulky when traveling - especially internationally. (Traveling to at least 5 countries this year.)

I didn't get the Mavic line because I felt that the camera wasn't good enough and had high hopes that within a year they would improve the camera. Now that they haven't (much - I know there are subtle improvements) I'm wondering if I should just bite the bullet and get the Air or find a Mavic Pro on sale?

I've not long got the MPP an love it, I also have a Spark and P3P, the P3P is like my work horse drone image is awesome and so is the gimbal but not as portable unless on a deliberate trip out, the MPP has amazing stability and flight time so 3 batts is pretty good for most shots, I also like the spark just cos its kinda fun and any onlookers look at it as more of a toy so are less annoyed perhaps (except a guy in Hongkong who told me to stop!) The issue with the spark is the camera for me I'm in the UK and the light levels in winter are pretty poor and the spark suffers with this, I also do some indoor flights like building walk through's in tripod mode and the MPP is just a bit too big for this and also create way too much down draft so in an office paperwork tends to launch!

I'm thinking of upgrading the Spark to this for my always with me bit of kit and then use the MPP as my main bit of kit as its really quiet and seems to stay airborne for quite some time (also the Occusync is great and reliable, not sure the WIFI will be as reliable in areas of interference or large buildings or metal). P3P can just be my back up.

All that said if I hadn't have bought the spark I probably wouldn't be thinking about an addition to be fair but the spark is so light its easy to carry around al lday with additional batts where MPP is that bit heavier if carry it around just on the off chance.


PS not sure I could stand the pain of delivery issues on it if the MPP was anything to go by!

A CW Posted at 2018-1-24 10:13
Why didn't you buy the Spark?

Actually, because there wasn't a massive price disparity when I bought the Mavic Pro (small plug to camelcamelcamel for it's Amazon price tracking for cheap deals!), and the fact I couldn't fold up the Spark meant it lost a large part of its transport factor. Then a few other factors like very limited distance (can't recall what it reaches now?) without buying the controller.

My question is not so much justifying Spark vs Mavic. It's more: does the Air suit my needs EVEN more? I understand it's not possible to put yourself in my shoes fully, but just an insight into the value of the extra transmission range and battery and their influence on enjoyment and overall usability of the drone would be appreciated from those of you who have more experience in the drone world

Cheers!

So many people here are obsessed with flight time and range. Personally, I can work with that. It's not THAT much of a change. Plus, flying your drone 4+ miles away probably isn't the best... or safest idea. I NEED to keep a visual line of sight at all times when I fly. For higher bitrate video at 4K and 1080 with 120 fps!? That's amazing! Not to mention the additional piece of mind this drone gives me with the 3 directional obstacle avoidance AND APAS! Great for getting those tight shots. (I can see this working well with getting one of those "through the tree" shots.
8 GB of internal storage is handy too! I always either forget my SD cards to fill em up to the brim. Nice back up. Great all-around drone. Will be picking one up soon!

fans980d1304 Posted at 2018-1-24 08:00
Big question : are the style and color settings adjustable like the Mavic Pro? Does it have d-log?

Oh yes, to be honest, the answer to this question would make or break whether or not I will fully replace this over my Mavic Pro.

Debating if I should get the Mavic Air or the Mavic Pro. Any suggestions? Not sure if it's wise to get the Mavic Pro since it's been out for a while now, is it best to get the Air since it's the newer drone?

I’m wanting to buy a drone. Im interested in first person view. I see the air only transmits to the goggles in 720p not 1080 like the pro. I cancelled the air and bought the pro for thus reason. Have I made a mistake? My wife will be flying it and she can’t park a car... again have I made a mistake regarding safety features or will the pro protect her?

fansb3037112 Posted at 2018-1-24 15:32
Debating if I should get the Mavic Air or the Mavic Pro. Any suggestions? Not sure if it's wise to get the Mavic Pro since it's been out for a while now, is it best to get the Air since it's the newer drone?

Can anyone please reply to this!

Walker106@aol.c Posted at 2018-1-23 13:35
I also have ben waiting on upgrading my P3P. Mavic Pro didnt do enough for me in terms of features and image quality. This ticks every box except the wifi is a killer! I can deal with the smaller battery life but the the wifi is an issue. Why couldnt they have just given it ocusync and made it the MP2?? Now its another product stuck in no mans land. DARN IT!!!! Id wait for the MP2 but i need a travel drone for the beginning of may.  So either way I have to sacrifice. The MP im loosing camera quality and really really useable flying features and sensors, that yes I will use. MA I get stuck with a serious concern of range and interference related to wifi, dont know what to do here.

Agree with the wifi. Defo a massive put off and waiting for my Air flew off and I lost it due to interference. I'm out.

Ben Marsden Posted at 2018-1-24 15:12
Actually, because there wasn't a massive price disparity when I bought the Mavic Pro (small plug to camelcamelcamel for it's Amazon price tracking for cheap deals!), and the fact I couldn't fold up the Spark meant it lost a large part of its transport factor. Then a few other factors like very limited distance (can't recall what it reaches now?) without buying the controller.

My question is not so much justifying Spark vs Mavic. It's more: does the Air suit my needs EVEN more? I understand it's not possible to put yourself in my shoes fully, but just an insight into the value of the extra transmission range and battery and their influence on enjoyment and overall usability of the drone would be appreciated from those of you who have more experience in the drone world

Transmission range is VERY important when flying drones - not to fly beyond VLOS but to have a stronger signal to more efficiently overcome electromagnetic interference to prevent signal breakage, lag issues, glitches etc in the live feed. I also like that the live feed can be recorded in FHD too on my MPP - with all the other drones only offering HD. In my experience of using lightbridge, lightbridge HD and enhanced WiFi - OcuSync is easily the best for the quality of the image projected and minimal signal breaks. In addition, for those with formal permission, the Mavic Pro has the longest range capability of any consumer grade drone on the market in CE compliant areas at 2.5 miles/4KM. Even my P4P is only 2.2 miles. The Spark would crash at around 300-500M using an enhanced WiFi only transmission.

Flight time speaks for itself. Quite simply the longer the flight time the more time you will have in the air, the longer the total flight distance and the more opportunity to capture those images - particularly important for time-lapse footage and waiting for that perfect image in a sun set or sun rise. If your drone can stay in the air 10 minutes longer then that is a clear advantage. I have achieved 28 minutes off of one battery with my MPP. The Air at 21 minutes will realistically be around 16-18 minutes in comparison which is not good enough for my needs but excellent for a mini drone.

As for OA - I always switch it off. It causes more interference and air speed restrictions. I like to cruise in p-mode at over 30MPH. Not sure what the cruise speed of the Air is but the Spark is 6.7MPH... Thats a huge difference when flying a drone and totally changes the dynamic of the flight.

As for the camera - this is the most important thing for me really and both use a 1/2.3" CMOS 12MP which is vastly inferior to the P4P. The Air has 100MBPS in UHD4K and can now achieve 60p in 2.7K and record FHD at 120p - these are significant improvements providing that the compression is good enough to support it. The Pro is capable of cinematic 4K (higher res) @ 24p though I mainly shoot in 2.7K on the MPP. I am impressed with the specs of the camera on the Air but will need to see the footage for myself before confirming a notable improvement.  

The rest is simply tech improvements (which I hope includes dual compass redundancy as with the MPP to help prevent fly aways) and impressive gimmicks - which I personally never used on my Spark after a few flights.   

Size, camera quality and range is the priority for me to choose the drone.
Mavic Pro has reasonable size and good range but poor camera quality.
Spark has the best size but poor performance for others
Mavic Air has the right size, a little bit improvement in camera quality, but only medium range

So in conclusion, I need a Mavic Pro 2 with much better camera!

A CW Posted at 2018-1-25 00:40
Transmission range is VERY important when flying drones - not to fly beyond VLOS but to have a stronger signal to more efficiently overcome electromagnetic interference to prevent signal breakage, lag issues, glitches etc in the live feed. I also like that the live feed can be recorded in FHD too on my MPP - with all the other drones only offering HD. In my experience of using lightbridge, lightbridge HD and enhanced WiFi - OcuSync is easily the best for the quality of the image projected and minimal signal breaks. In addition, for those with formal permission, the Mavic Pro has the longest range capability of any consumer grade drone on the market in CE compliant areas at 2.5 miles/4KM. Even my P4P is only 2.2 miles. The Spark would crash at around 300-500M using an enhanced WiFi only transmission.

Flight time speaks for itself. Quite simply the longer the flight time the more time you will have in the air, the longer the total flight distance and the more opportunity to capture those images - particularly important for time-lapse footage and waiting for that perfect image in a sun set or sun rise. If your drone can stay in the air 10 minutes longer then that is a clear advantage. I have achieved 28 minutes off of one battery with my MPP. The Air at 21 minutes will realistically be around 16-18 minutes in comparison which is not good enough for my needs but excellent for a mini drone.

Thanks for the comprehensive insight!

I've looked a bit into the difference here with OcuSync (Mavic Pro) and WiFi (Air) and it seems more significant that I thought (though I don't pretend to know the technical specifics of the OcuSync, really). At a basic overview, the Air seems to be more dependent on environment conditions, whereas the Mavic Pro is more flexible and won't lag/experience interference as easily etc. Perhaps not a deal breaker for me at this point, but good to know.

If you don't mind me asking, what makes you say the Air will only reach 16-18 minutes, given the fact that the Mavic exceeds its advertised time (27 versus your stated 28)? Is it simply the battery size leading to your belief or some other internals?

I think I should really consider how important video is to me. At the moment, photography is my main hobby, and so the advancements in the Air like 100MBPS in UHD4K aren't critical. But maybe in the future, after having some fun with drones, I'll feel otherwise. But then I guess if we worry about that kind of scenario I'll never be happy, right ;)? Especially in the tech world!

Again, thanks for your feedback, I really appreciate it! I'm leaning towards sticking with the Pro as I'm sure it already does far more than my beginner hands can appreciate, and the few perks it has seem like they could be the most influential in my enjoyment in the future. Maybe I'll care more about video later on, but as of 3 days ago the Mavic Pro seemed to have been the de facto for that, so I'm surely not in a bad position either way.

Overall I think it's incredible for us all to be in a position where we can struggle to choose between two brilliant, portable drones capable of all that they are, so we're all winning!

Cheers!

It is - the key is to own all of them LOL Thanks for your reply and glad mine helped. Good luck in your decision and have fun whatever you decide is right for you. The Air looks very impressive but does not replace the Pro in many regards and wasn’t designed for that purpose.

WernerD Posted at 2018-1-24 00:24
For downhill skiing, size is everything. Hence ordered.

Things I don't know yet - appreciate any input:

I asked them but not sure if they understood the question or just gave me a wide answer.
Here is a screenshot of communication.

fans799afcf3 Posted at 2018-1-25 01:40
Size, camera quality and range is the priority for me to choose the drone.
Mavic Pro has reasonable size and good range but poor camera quality.
Spark has the best size but poor performance for others

For me, if DJI put a 1" sensor and upgraded gimbal on the MPP I'll pay two grand for it today.

Highabove Posted at 2018-1-25 03:40
I asked them but not sure if they understood the question or just gave me a wide answer.
Here is a screenshot of communication.[view_image]

You are aware that follow me actually follows the RC in your hand by tethering to a GPS module in a cellular device - do you intend to snowboard whilst holding your remote controller and mobile?

A CW Posted at 2018-1-25 04:41
You are aware that follow me actually follows the RC in your hand by tethering to a GPS module in a cellular device - do you intend to snowboard whilst holding your remote controller and mobile?

If that is required I wouldn't mind putting remote and phone in the backpack. Question is will it descend with me since previous models would not.

Highabove Posted at 2018-1-25 04:49
If that is required I wouldn't mind putting remote and phone in the backpack. Question is will it descend with me since previous models would not.

You'd be better off using ActiveTrack for the that type of activity rather than follow me. ActiveTrack seems to have been improved on the Mavic Air.  

A CW Posted at 2018-1-25 04:51
You'd be better off using ActiveTrack for the that type of activity rather than follow me. ActiveTrack seems to have been improved on the Mavic Air.

We'll see, we'll see... So far active track would remain at the same altitude, not following downhill.

Highabove Posted at 2018-1-25 05:10
We'll see, we'll see... So far active track would remain at the same altitude, not following downhill.

Which drone are you using that remains at the same altitude in AT?

Hi guys does anyone here know if the spark also uses wi fi as a control radio signal.   i understand thathe mavic pro uses other system and not wifi.
thank you

A CW Posted at 2018-1-25 05:25
Which drone are you using that remains at the same altitude in AT?

@highabove: Thanks for taking it on.

@A CW: All drones, don't they? There is a terrain mode where it increases altitude if needed but active track follow mode I have not seen any signs of the drone descending with you downhill.  All videos show that the skier is filmed from higher and higher above.

But not finding the information is not a proof of not working - hence we asked. Do you have a pointer or a video how active track follows downhill?

To some degree it is logical that GPS follow is the only working option but it is not perfect either with the current implementation - 1Hz position update, latency, altitude information not reliable with GPS - needs a barometric sensor.
For active track, how should the drone visually recognize how much lower the rider is?
But still, active track is promoted and it is nowhere said this works on flat surfaces only.

And if you have an input regarding active track and a stationary drone, that would be brilliant, too.

A CW Posted at 2018-1-25 05:25
Which drone are you using that remains at the same altitude in AT?

mavic pro, it remains on the same altitude, it doesn't descend

Highabove Posted at 2018-1-25 09:55
mavic pro, it remains on the same altitude, it doesn't descend

No it doesnt but the Phantom 4 Pro does.

I have a Spark and consider to upgrade to the Mavic Air. I have the fly more combo to the Spark, does anyone knows if it will be possible to use the Spark remote controller to the Mavic Air?

Looks Awesome! Just my Mavic Pro on New Year's Eve, any chance I can swap it? lol... (no really?)

method007 Posted at 2018-1-23 07:38
It takes multiple pictures and splices them together, effectively making it 32mp.

You can name it in any way, the sensor is a 12 Mp and can't get more resolution because simply is lacking the required pixels...
12Mp is poor in 2018. The cheapest smartphones have now 13 Mp which is not very much up, but it gives a glimpse on how much the camera sensor costs...and gives.
As for photocameras, all are above 16Mp or even 20Mp.

Looks awesome. With all this chat about a mavic pro 2 in march I might hold off until then

Mavic Air looks like a really good package.Some would say 'Goldilocks... not too big, not too small, just right.'

Mavic Air looks like a really good package.
Some would say 'Goldilocks... not too big, not too small, just right.'

According to that video the Mavic Air has no GPS based FollowMe mode - not useful for most anyhow - and it does not decent with you when going downhill. See also the video description.
Doesn't the MAvic Air have everything to enable that? It knows its hight above ground via dual cameras and has obstacle avoidance. Would be great if that can be enabled.
@DJI: Care to comment?

Walker106@aol.c Posted at 2018-1-23 13:35
I also have ben waiting on upgrading my P3P. Mavic Pro didnt do enough for me in terms of features and image quality. This ticks every box except the wifi is a killer! I can deal with the smaller battery life but the the wifi is an issue. Why couldnt they have just given it ocusync and made it the MP2?? Now its another product stuck in no mans land. DARN IT!!!! Id wait for the MP2 but i need a travel drone for the beginning of may.  So either way I have to sacrifice. The MP im loosing camera quality and really really useable flying features and sensors, that yes I will use. MA I get stuck with a serious concern of range and interference related to wifi, dont know what to do here.

The enhanced wifi on the Air seems to be pretty good for me.  I never go very far anyways, I never have the need to go more than 1,000-1,500 feet.  On my Spark, due to wifi interence, I am able to only go 500-1,000 feet before I completely lose signal to the controller, but this is with a lot of interference.  On the Air, under the same conditions, I am able to go 1,500 feet before the image transmission begins to degrade and have more lag, but I can go 2,000+ feet before it begins to lose signal (once again, that is with very very heavy interference).  I was also very concerned that the wifi on the Air would be a lot like the Spark's wifi, but it isn't.  If you need to always go farther than that, then absolutely go with the Pro.  

thevolvoguy35 Posted at 2018-2-13 05:08
The enhanced wifi on the Air seems to be pretty good for me.  I never go very far anyways, I never have the need to go more than 1,000-1,500 feet.  On my Spark, due to wifi interence, I am able to only go 500-1,000 feet before I completely lose signal to the controller, but this is with a lot of interference.  On the Air, under the same conditions, I am able to go 1,500 feet before the image transmission begins to degrade and have more lag, but I can go 2,000+ feet before it begins to lose signal (once again, that is with very very heavy interference).  I was also very concerned that the wifi on the Air would be a lot like the Spark's wifi, but it isn't.  If you need to always go farther than that, then absolutely go with the Pro.

Are you using 2.4 or 5.8Ghz?  5.8 should clean up your video TX but will reduce range a little bit.

Mini-G Posted at 2018-1-26 04:16
Looks Awesome! Just my Mavic Pro on New Year's Eve, any chance I can swap it? lol... (no really?)

The Mavic Air has it's own controller, but even though the Spark's controller is not compatible with the Air, I still would rather use the Air's controller because it has a much more solid connection and also allows it to go much much farther away than the Spark's controller lets me go.The controller for the Air also has the removeable sticks, so it is more compact than the Spark's controller.