Hello All.

One week ago I bought a Mavic Pro. I'm not a pro I just wanted to buy a camera with descent flying time and easy to use. I've chosen Mavic pro mostly because it can shoot raw images and have longer flyimg time compared to spark. And I realized that in a couole of days after my purchase DJI released Mavic Air which meets all my expectations. Since I'm new to this I wanted to have drone that will be safe to fly with more obstical avoidance sensers than only two in the front. With smart gesture control as in the spark but as good as Mavic pro. And there you go they released it so quick;). This is so dissapointing!!! I can't even express what I feel now. How can i change my mavic pro to air? Is there any way to do that officially? I flew ot for a couple of hours. Not sure if DJI somehow will take it back and change it to AIR.

Hello All.

One week ago I bought a Mavic Pro. I'm not a pro I just wanted to buy a camera with descent flying time and easy to use. I've chosen Mavic pro mostly because it can shoot raw images and have longer flyimg time compared to spark. And I realized that in a couple of days after my purchase DJI released Mavic Air which meets all my expectations. Since I'm new to this I wanted to have drone that will be safe to fly with more obstical avoidance sensers than only two in the front. With smart gesture control as in the spark but as good as Mavic pro. And there you go they released it so quick;). This is so dissapointing!!! I can't even express what I feel now. How can i change my mavic pro to air? Is there any way to do that officially? I flew it for a couple of hours. Not sure if DJI somehow will take it back and change it to AIR.

Mavic is better, keep what you got IMO

O purchassed it with DJI care

Stick with the MP you'll be able to fly longer. Enjoy it ! Don't feel so bad, I just purchased the Osmo and now the Osmo 2 just came out. Guess what, I'll be purchasing the Osmo 2.

Bulldog Posted at 2018-1-25 04:43
Mavic is better, keep what you got IMO

Which Mavic?;) I think AIR really what I was looking from the start when I desided to buy a drone but couldn't find what I wanted and stopped on Mavic Pro. And Now I'm just frusyrated that I haven't seen any commercials anywhere about it. That's the youtube and google search that looping you around one thing and you turn into a blind sheep having no idea about something else that out there

no chance, unfortunately you've flown it, just sell it on ebay for a massive loss and pick the inferior air

Buyer's remorse... I know this ain't easy. After you buy something, there will always be something better coming down the line. When you bought the Pro, it seemed to meet your needs. I think the only way you'll be unhappy with the Pro is if you decide to be unhappy because it's not an Air.

I don't think DJI will exchange it for an Air, especially since it's used. If you're really insistent on getting the Air, sell the Pro for whatever you can get and put that towards the Air.

Chalk it up to lesson learned.

I bet there is a person out there that has the opposite buyers remorse. Bought the air but now wants the pro. Maybe find that person and make a deal.

I somehow don't get what that mimimi (sorry for the expression). I am in more or less the same situation - bought the mavic pro about 1 month ago... (but i'm happy with it) :-)

1) At the moment you bought the drone you agreed to pay a certain amount of money for  very well known product - no strings attached. You got what you agreed to, stick to it...
2) The Mavic pro is still better than the air except it lacks some obstacle avoidance. If you wanted a drone with all around obstacle avoidance you should not have bought the mavic pro in the first place because it did not fulfill your need (and we are back to point 1). But you agreed to it, so again: stick to it...

If you really need to change I suggest you sell the mavic pro and buy a mavic air instead. Sure, you are going to lose a bit of money - again: it is a price you have to agree to. Is it worth for a bit more obstacle avoidance? Your decision.

The best way is to just buy the air. Unfortunately you will have to sell the pro. But why?

You bought it a week ago? Exactly how many days and where did you buy it?

I'm having difficulty seeing your problem, but understand you've regretted your purchase of Mavic Pro. It's probably neither the first nor the last time, you regret something you've done. If you want an Air instead of a Pro, then sell your Pro and buy an Air - The problem isn't bigger than that. I am convinced that many will still prefer a Pro, rather than an Air.

The only remorse I have is owning a Spark.  I'd gladly consider a trade-up offer on an Air or another Pro :-)

The only thing I'd be bummed about is it lacks radio transmission vs WiFi

The Pro is quiter, got more flight time, has a better signal transmission.... The gesture control is nice to have, but nothing you will use every day.
I would stay with the pro!

give it a week i am sure someone will trade you their Mavic air for your Pro

A CW Posted at 2018-1-25 05:29
You bought it a week ago? Exactly how many days and where did you buy it?

I bought it on January 15th in Hangzhou city, China from official dealer.

A CW Posted at 2018-1-25 05:29
You bought it a week ago? Exactly how many days and where did you buy it?

Sorry it's January 18th not 15th. Last Friday

Silverhammer92 Posted at 2018-1-25 05:25
I somehow don't get what that mimimi (sorry for the expression). I am in more or less the same situation - bought the mavic pro about 1 month ago... (but i'm happy with it) :-)

1) At the moment you bought the drone you agreed to pay a certain amount of money for  very well known product - no strings attached. You got what you agreed to, stick to it...

I would defenately sell it if I could speak Chinese and new platform or a market where I can sell it. I have no idea where to sell and where to find people interested. I just thought that it could be a way to do it through DJI which is not likely to, but I just decided to ask.

I ask myself the same question.

Everyone here says the Pro is better, but WHY is it better? 7 mins more flight time doesnt make it overall better.
Please make some pros and cons.
Im owning the mavic pro and i want to sell mine for the Air aswell.
Its smaller, has 120fps Full HD recording for slowmotion. It hast the same speed etc.
It has OA on the back, two new flight modes.
Its 41% lighter and even more Compact while still having no issues to handle same wind conditions as the Pro.

- Everything is better on the air except for -7 min less flight time.

So WHAT makes the Pro better then????

Distance is better on pro. 7km vs 4km air

Serc. Posted at 2018-1-25 06:36
Everyone here says the Pro is better, but WHY is it better? 7 mins more flight time doesnt make it overall better.
Please make some pros and cons.
Im owning the mavic pro and i want to sell mine for the Air aswell.

The aperture of the lens, quieter, transmitter/receiver range. Depends on what you want it for whether it is better or not for you. They both have their advantages and disadvantages.

Get the air. Better camera

RussellPhotog Posted at 2018-1-25 06:22
Sorry it's January 18th not 15th. Last Friday

You say official dealer - if it was bought from Apple they have a 14 day refund for full money back on all products - no questions asked. Other dealers do the same up to 7 days. However, some (not Apple) require that the box has not been opened or at least the drone has not been activated. So your first step is to stop wasting time on here now and contact the dealer where you bought it immediately.

If they won't take it back (I doubt they will if not Apple and will have every right not to) then your next option would be to sell it privately via somewhere like Ebay - expect to take a loss if you do but you could then use that money to put towards downgrading your existing brand new drone for a mini version of it.

Serc. Posted at 2018-1-25 06:36
Everyone here says the Pro is better, but WHY is it better? 7 mins more flight time doesnt make it overall better.
Please make some pros and cons.
Im owning the mavic pro and i want to sell mine for the Air aswell.

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, latency 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 similar to the Mavic Air making flying near urban areas almost impossible and very frustrating.

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.
The MPP is also highly portable and much quieter making a more relaxing and enjoyable flight by not annoying passers-by with your drone as they simply can't hear it - the Mavic Air has louder motors and gen. 1 props that don't even fold.

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 - I doubt there is one.

The rest is simply tech improvements (which I hope includes dual compass redundancy as with the MPP to help prevent fly aways), impressive gimmicks - which I personally never used on my Spark after a few flights and marketing - because it's new and youtubers (who are given the drones to showcase BTW) say its the best ever after ONE flight LOL.

Serc. Posted at 2018-1-25 06:36
Everyone here says the Pro is better, but WHY is it better? 7 mins more flight time doesnt make it overall better.
Please make some pros and cons.
Im owning the mavic pro and i want to sell mine for the Air aswell.

So my first drone was the spark.  I really liked that little drone, but quickly ran into issues that had me looking at the MP.  During a holiday sale I picked up a MP (actually got it cheaper than the Mavic Air is now) and have been loving it.  When the Air was announced I was initially super bummed as it felt like a better drone than my newly purchased MP.  After the dust settled however,  the two biggest issues for me where the battery life and the quality of signal.  These are the two areas that the Mavic Air falls short imho.  

1. Video Transmission:
Choosing to use wifi over occusync is a huge downgrade as you will absolutely run into issues with the video transmission.  Even though you will likely not be hitting the max distance on any drone (due to local laws) the video transmission on the MP is stellar and does not get a lot of interference from wifi or bluetooth.  When I was flying my spark, I always had to turn all radios on my phone off (except wifi) or else the video would be complete garbage.  Since flying the MP I cannot imagine going back to a wifi based drone. Also a second minor point, the MP has a awesome little switch that lets you toggle RC/wifi control mode.  Spark (and likely Mavic Air) required a weird and confusing button push combination to switch between modes.

2. Battery life:
This cannot be understated.  While the Mavic air has a stated 21 minutes of flight, you can bet you are really only going to get around 18, if that.  The higher the ceiling the better.  Being able to put the MP up for nearly 20 minutes of solid shooting has been amazing.  I don't feel rushed to get the camera settings just right, and I always feel like I have a little extra battery to goof around and try some of the other modes.

Other notes:
It would not surprise me if the spark and MP get a bump in their OA (obstacle Avoidance)  capabilities.  OA is primarily software based on the input from the sensors available.  Aside from the two sensors in the back, the MP has the same forward/downward facing  sensors.  So in theory it should be able to benefit from the research that went into the APAS system of the Mavic Air.  Who knows if DJI will do that, but it is a possiblity

these are just my random thoughts from someone who also just bought a MP, take it for what it is worth

1px0ff Posted at 2018-1-25 08:02
So my first drone was the spark.  I really liked that little drone, but quickly ran into issues that had me looking at the MP.  During a holiday sale I picked up a MP (actually got it cheaper than the Mavic Air is now) and have been loving it.  When the Air was announced I was initially super bummed as it felt like a better drone than my newly purchased MP.  After the dust settled however,  the two biggest issues for me where the battery life and the quality of signal.  These are the two areas that the Mavic Air falls short imho.  

1. Video Transmission:

Excellent points and spoken by a person 'in the know'!

A CW Posted at 2018-1-25 08:00
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, latency 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 similar to the Mavic Air making flying near urban areas almost impossible and very frustrating.

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.

Quality comment right there

A CW Posted at 2018-1-25 08:00
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, latency 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 similar to the Mavic Air making flying near urban areas almost impossible and very frustrating.

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.

I forgot to mention the quietness of the MP vs the spark/Mavic Air.  While the spark wasn't really loud, it did have a high pitched "Swarm of bees" sound.  From what I can tell the MA has the same sound.  When I switched to the MP i immediately purchased some of the low-noise props.  This has been one of my favorite features by far.  I can comfortably fly the drone in my back yard, filming my kids without worrying about annoying the neighbors. My wife says she can't even tell if I am flying the MP while she is in the house.   This makes a huge difference out in the wild too, where you don't attract near as much attention

MiniPalourde Posted at 2018-1-25 08:35
Quality comment right there

Thanks very much.

If the OP gets his skates on he may be able to do the deal with the people her bought the MP from .... otherwise stop moaning ... you paid your money, you took the chance. Just enjoy the MP and wait for MP2 to come out and get far better features and benefits from this over the MA

as others have said sell it on ebay and you will get enough money to buy the air if that is what you want, also you might find someone here who will trade you?

I had the same doubt. But honestly I think i will stay with my Mavic Pro, it flies 7km vs 4km from Air, the battery time is better on the Pro, mavic air is wifi transmisition vs radio on the Pro. I bought my Mavic about 5 months ago and also kind of felt bad with the Air but honestly I prefer to stay with something which is already proven to fly good.  Size of both , its not an issue for me the Pro its still compact enough to travel.

Software updates could give the Pro all the software goodies the Air has. So I wouldn't worry about that. I feel you for the need of more sensors. But if you fly at about 50ft you are above most trees and there is really nothing to hit to really need the sensors. Also, the more experienced you get the more you will find yourself wanting them turned off to not interfere with complex close maneuvers. I would say stick with the Mavic Pro. It's still an amazing drone just as capable if not more capable than the Air.

Interesting that everybody saying that AIR is better camera because of bitrate, fps etc. But nobody saying anything about lens. I'm not sure how it works in video but in photography lens is what mainly affecting the quality and details of the photo. I thought it should be the same in video. Anyways I decided to stay with Mavic Pro. I called the store. If there're any issues they can only exchange it according to dji care warranty. The guy wanted to help me to sell it but not successfully. I'm not going to wait untill he finds someone interested, I'm just going to enjoy what I have.
Thanks a lot to everybody who adviced and took their time explaining me advantages and disadvantages of both products.

Russell, we appreciate your interest in our new product. Mavic Air has RAW and 4K video resolution on the camera. But Mavic Pro has more intelligent flight modes than Mavic Air, of course, Mavic Air has its special intelligent mode.
However, if you have activated the drone, you can only return the drone when it is within seven (7) calendar days of receiving a product if the product has no manufacturing defect, has not been activated and is still in new or like-new condition; or within seven (7) calendar days of receiving a product if the product has a manufacturing defect.
So for your case, if the drone performs properly, there might not be an official way for DJI to switch another module. Thank you for your understanding.

1px0ff Posted at 2018-1-25 08:02
So my first drone was the spark.  I really liked that little drone, but quickly ran into issues that had me looking at the MP.  During a holiday sale I picked up a MP (actually got it cheaper than the Mavic Air is now) and have been loving it.  When the Air was announced I was initially super bummed as it felt like a better drone than my newly purchased MP.  After the dust settled however,  the two biggest issues for me where the battery life and the quality of signal.  These are the two areas that the Mavic Air falls short imho.  

1. Video Transmission:

Well spoken. And don't forget the extra modes and configuration options you get with MP.
(course-, and home lock)
I have not used them so far, but they seem very nice.

RussellPhotog Posted at 2018-1-25 22:24
Interesting that everybody saying that AIR is better camera because of bitrate, fps etc. But nobody saying anything about lens. I'm not sure how it works in video but in photography lens is what mainly affecting the quality and details of the photo. I thought it should be the same in video. Anyways I decided to stay with Mavic Pro. I called the store. If there're any issues they can only exchange it according to dji care warranty. The guy wanted to help me to sell it but not successfully. I'm not going to wait untill he finds someone interested, I'm just going to enjoy what I have.
Thanks a lot to everybody who adviced and took their time explaining me advantages and disadvantages of both products.

I think that is a wise choice.
Mavic Pro might have a lower bitrate, but so far I have yet to see a couple of real world comparisons between the Air and the Pro to see the difference.