I been putting off getting a Mavic Air for a little while, letting the platform mature more...  but I started wondering, will Dji price cut the Mavic Air anytime soon?   

I seen sales on the standard package for $770. But no real sales on the fly more bundle. I been thinking about it more.  

Personally I feel like the Mavic Air should be $550 for standard bundle maybe $600 and $800 for the flymore.  It isn’t a Mavic Pro and it’s barely a Mavic itself..  mavic Air is basically what the spark should have been.  And on price aspect the air is competing with the pro... which I think is stupid.  

Let me explain why I feel pricing the Mavic Air and Mavic Pro at same price point is stupid.  

1. Mavic Pro actually has pro level camera features, like manual camera functions like focus pulling, tons of color profiles, and just tons of options.

2. Mavic Pro has Occusync, which is vastly superior to WiFi, no matter how enhanced WiFi maybe, Occusync doesn’t comply with 802.11 standards that WiFi has to so it tends to be vastly superior in range and difficult interference zones.

3. Mavic Pro has noticeably better battery life... we are talking almost an additional half battery extra runtime over the Mavic Air.  

......

Mavic Air is closer to a Spark Pro than it is to a Mavic.. only thing that really says it’s a mavic is folding arms.. otherwise is it’s a feature rich spark..

I’m not knocking the Mavic Air, but my opinion is I feel like the Mavic Pro at its current price makes sense, but Mavic Air at its current price doesnt.  The pro still has a small edge for people who want pro features.. the air is more of a YouTube drone, it’s a really good drone with really good camera but it lacks the extra features and nuances that pro has that makes it a pro drone.


So say for MA, $600 for base and $800 for fly more I feel makes sense.. Pro can stay right where it is price wise or can come down $50-$100.. the spark can At $350-$400 for the fly more and $249 for base is unbeatable..

Some that I know especially A CW that has had the Mavic Pro and Mavic Pro Platinum and recently got the Mavic Air feels the MA is better especially the camera.  The camera on the MA is better, has less noise and smoother with the 100Mbps compared to the MP/MPP 60Mbps.  I do not own a MA so cannot say other than who has had/have both and prefer the MA.  

$1000 isn’t too much money for me to spend in one go, but I don’t feel like it’s justified when Mavic Pro costs the same sort of money.  And feature wise the pro is a better pro drone.  

Pros like having features and settings, even if the quality is subjectively questionable.  

Like a Pro photographer will much rather a DSLR over a point and shoot even if that point and shoot camera nails it every time and has subjectively better quality imagery out of the camera unedited, the pro will want manual settings and pro features and mess with it in post processing.

That’s why I call the Mavic Air the youtuber drone.  Out of the camera the quality is subjectively better untouched comparing Mavic Pro to Mavic Air, the Air is better right off the SD card untouched..   however if you know what you are doing the Mavic Pro offers far more versitility with its camera. specially someone who wants to shoot with slightly more shallow depth of field and wants to use LUTs and color and lighting correction, Mavic Pro is a better option vs the Mavic Air.  Also the lens on Mavic Pro is better with f/2.2 vs f/2.8 (technically faster lens) and less natural distortion on the pro (comparing non processed raw files more warping on the Air vs Pro)

TL;DR the Mavic Pro is still a better Pro drone than the Air is... and thus I feel like DJi should separate the price a bit more to make the Mavic Air more attractive and also differentiate its product better.

HereForTheBeer Posted at 2018-6-10 15:28
$1000 isn’t too much money for me to spend in one go, but I don’t feel like it’s justified when Mavic Pro costs the same sort of money.  And feature wise the pro is a better pro drone.  

Pros like having features and settings, even if the quality is subjectively questionable.  

The only thing that’s Pro about Mavic Pro is it’s name and serious aerial photographer will tell you the same.
And if you think Pro has a better camera than Air your delusional and you don’t know much about the camera on the air.
Yes longer battery better signal, but MavAir has plenty to make up for this. Mavic Pro was born to be portable it comes in a poor second to the air in this, it has a dated camera which is impossible to use unless you have really good light, it’s tap to focus is totally rubbish and it’s price New was almost twice the price of MavAir and now that it’s almost the same price that’s about right.
It flys like a dream but unfortunately that’s we’re it ends.

SparksBird Posted at 2018-6-10 14:32
Some that I know especially A CW that has had the Mavic Pro and Mavic Pro Platinum and recently got the Mavic Air feels the MA is better especially the camera.  The camera on the MA is better, has less noise and smoother with the 100Mbps compared to the MP/MPP 60Mbps.  I do not own a MA so cannot say other than who has had/have both and prefer the MA.

The comparison between Mavic Pro and Mavic Air of which drone is better overall depends on who you ask. There are some that have the Mavic Pro, Mavic Air, Spark, and the new Phantom 4 Pro V2.0. They've done comparisons on the cameras, the noise levels, portability, range, and video transmission.

You can purchase a drone today with OcuSync for the same price as you can with only Enhanced WiFi. To me, Mavic Air really doesn't compete with Mavic Pro. Only the new Phantom 4 Pro V2.0 and to a lesser extent the Inspires can compete with the Mavic Pro. The Spark and Mavic Air really go head to head, and with Spark's price coming down so low, one can make the case it's better to buy Mavic Pro and Spark than it's to buy just Mavic Air. You get a compact simple drone that only shoots 1080p with no complexity with camera settings. Plug-and-play. The Mavic Pro on the other hand gives you a pro-level drone with superior range and flight stability. The Mavic Air is a jack of all trades master of none.

davidmartingraf Posted at 2018-6-10 16:24
The comparison between Mavic Pro and Mavic Air of which drone is better overall depends on who you ask. There are some that have the Mavic Pro, Mavic Air, Spark, and the new Phantom 4 Pro V2.0. They've done comparisons on the cameras, the noise levels, portability, range, and video transmission.

You can purchase a drone today with OcuSync for the same price as you can with only Enhanced WiFi. To me, Mavic Air really doesn't compete with Mavic Pro. Only the new Phantom 4 Pro V2.0 and to a lesser extent the Inspires can compete with the Mavic Pro. The Spark and Mavic Air really go head to head, and with Spark's price coming down so low, one can make the case it's better to buy Mavic Pro and Spark than it's to buy just Mavic Air. You get a compact simple drone that only shoots 1080p with no complexity with camera settings. Plug-and-play. The Mavic Pro on the other hand gives you a pro-level drone with superior range and flight stability. The Mavic Air is a jack of all trades master of none.

I think you left out P4Pro , but if you didn’t then you made a mistake and to put a €1700 p4pro2 ahead of inspire2 with camera is the guts of 5k , shows a little lack of knowledge about these drones, only difference between P4Pro and P4Pro 2 is ocusync and lightbridge and quieter props but you rate the Mavic Pro above the P4Pro , not in a month of Sunday’s .

Has literally the same Sony Exemor IMX337 series sensor with only front end difference being slower lens on the Air at f/2.8 vs pro’s f/2.2. And a slightly wider FOV on the air (2MM effective wider).    The backend differences are down to the code.c and they do not compress the same way, meaning comparing 100Mbps vs 60Mbps is pointless venture since they handle imaging processing differently.. and a point of diminishing returns  with encoding bitrate.. for anyone knows 50Mbps could be the point where optimal quality already.. adding another 10-50Mbps doesn’t really do much for you other than add a lot of padded data.


I know neither mavic are ideal for pro level work... but that’s not the point the point is specifically between the two drones..  

What if someone wanted a travel drone, and this person happens to be a pro..?  I don’t think anyone wants to travel or fly with a. Phantom 4 pro or an inspire 2..  maybe it’s worth the f..ckery and awkwardness first few times.. but apart from that it’s an awkward hassle...  as great of camera platforms as they maybe, they suck at portability.  

HereForTheBeer Posted at 2018-6-10 16:35
Has literally the same Sony Exemor IMX337 series sensor with only front end difference being slower lens on the Air at f/2.8 vs pro’s f/2.2. And a slightly wider FOV on the air (2MM effective wider).    The backend differences are down to the code.c and they do not compress the same way, meaning comparing 100Mbps vs 60Mbps is pointless venture since they handle imaging processing differently.. and a point of diminishing returns  with encoding bitrate.. for anyone knows 50Mbps could be the point where optimal quality already.. adding another 10-50Mbps doesn’t really do much for you other than add a lot of padded data.

Any pro who has an inspire and a Mavic Pro going to work especially travel will almost certainly bring his inspire that’s why professionals buy them for work, I wonder what reaction turning up for filming in the south of France with your little Mavic Pro you would get from the producer.

HereForTheBeer Posted at 2018-6-10 16:35
Has literally the same Sony Exemor IMX337 series sensor with only front end difference being slower lens on the Air at f/2.8 vs pro’s f/2.2. And a slightly wider FOV on the air (2MM effective wider).    The backend differences are down to the code.c and they do not compress the same way, meaning comparing 100Mbps vs 60Mbps is pointless venture since they handle imaging processing differently.. and a point of diminishing returns  with encoding bitrate.. for anyone knows 50Mbps could be the point where optimal quality already.. adding another 10-50Mbps doesn’t really do much for you other than add a lot of padded data.

Any pro who has an inspire and a Mavic Pro going to work especially travel will almost certainly bring his inspire that’s why professionals buy them for work, I wonder what reaction turning up for filming in the south of France with your little Mavic Pro you would get from the producer.

you just missed a really good sale on ebay. you could of got $100 off the lowest price. dji always puts there drones on good sales come black friday also. if you can hold out and wait for that, i would!

hallmark007 Posted at 2018-6-10 15:53
The only thing that’s Pro about Mavic Pro is it’s name and serious aerial photographer will tell you the same.
And if you think Pro has a better camera than Air your delusional and you don’t know much about the camera on the air.
Yes longer battery better signal, but MavAir has plenty to make up for this. Mavic Pro was born to be portable it comes in a poor second to the air in this, it has a dated camera which is impossible to use unless you have really good light, it’s tap to focus is totally rubbish and it’s price New was almost twice the price of MavAir and now that it’s almost the same price that’s about right.

So first you go after me for supposedly rubbishing forum members, and yet here you are, out of the blue, calling someone delusional because you think the MA is superior to the MP/MPP???

Talk about being a hypocrite!

In case you didn't know, the MP/MPP camera still has some advantages over the MA, such as:

• Auto-focus instead of fixed focus
• Larger aperture for more light input and shallower DOF (f/2.2 vs MA's f/2.8)
• Slightly larger overall sensor MP (12.35MP vs 12MP); renders slightly better end-result in bright light, but a bit lower in dim light due to higher pixel density
  

And the MP/MPP itself has other advantages in terms of flight, speed (P-mode speed higher than MA, lower S-mode than MA), better battery life, and others.

The MA might have taken the lead in many areas from the MP/MPP, but not in all, and the MP/MPP is still a very solid drone.

In terms of the Mbit rating of the 4K data, yes there is a slight drop in the amount of resolved detail due to the added compression, as those extra 40Mbit/s do help to retain the finer details that otherwise can be destroyed by compression, but even compared the P4Pro with it's larger 1" CMOS 20MP sensor, in bright daylight conditions, the loss is neglegeble, and only becomes a factor in cloudy weather or flying at night, which in many countries is illegal, even with some classes of pilot permits/licenses.

And in reality, the advantage of the 1" CMOS on the P4Pro is not actually the amount of detail it can resolve, as much as the dynamic range it can capture. So if you're flying out over the ocean in golden hour without a polarizer, the P4Pro will just murder the MPP/MA's. But if you put a CPL onto the MPP or MA, even they can still give the P4Pro a run for it's money for dynamic range capture; the amount of blown out highlights wouldn't be much to write home about.

HereForTheBeer Posted at 2018-6-10 16:35
Has literally the same Sony Exemor IMX337 series sensor with only front end difference being slower lens on the Air at f/2.8 vs pro’s f/2.2. And a slightly wider FOV on the air (2MM effective wider).    The backend differences are down to the code.c and they do not compress the same way, meaning comparing 100Mbps vs 60Mbps is pointless venture since they handle imaging processing differently.. and a point of diminishing returns  with encoding bitrate.. for anyone knows 50Mbps could be the point where optimal quality already.. adding another 10-50Mbps doesn’t really do much for you other than add a lot of padded data.

The big difference in my eyes between the two cameras are very clear and is the noise.  The MP has a ton of noise and even at 0 is very noticeable.  You can especially notice this with trees and water.  Also the noise reduction the MP uses is not the best either.  You can get much sharper images/videos with the MA compared to the MP.  I have and love my MP and love the long battery life and how far it can go but if I was strictly looking at the camera quality/ability then the MA is clearly better.  This video is good at showing this.  Fast forward to 6:15 to really see the difference.  

hallmark007 Posted at 2018-6-10 16:32
I think you left out P4Pro , but if you didn’t then you made a mistake and to put a €1700 p4pro2 ahead of inspire2 with camera is the guts of 5k , shows a little lack of knowledge about these drones, only difference between P4Pro and P4Pro 2 is ocusync and lightbridge and quieter props but you rate the Mavic Pro above the P4Pro , not in a month of Sunday’s .

I place a high premium on OcuSync as compared to Lightbridge and especially Enhanced WiFi. I'm not saying the Mavic Pro outperforms in all categories the Inspire 2, my opinion is based on several factors.

1) Mavic Pro has the best image transmission system of OcuSync
2) Mavic Pro has the best Remote Controller
3) Mavic Pro has the best flight range
4) Mavic Pro has the best bang for your buck

SparksBird Posted at 2018-6-10 17:23
The big difference in my eyes between the two cameras are very clear and is the noise.  The MP has a ton of noise and even at 0 is very noticeable.  You can especially notice this with trees and water.  Also the noise reduction the MP uses is not the best either.  You can get much sharper images/videos with the MA compared to the MP.  I have and love my MP and love the long battery life and how far it can go but if I was strictly looking at the camera quality/ability then the MA is clearly better.  This video is good at showing this.  Fast forward to 6:15 to really see the difference.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=469&v=5WDc9PKCDm0

That was a good comparison video.

The MP definitely is far more aggressive on noise reduction, applying it very heavily with even the slightest drop in ambient lighting.

However I did notice something odd about the MA video in bright light; it appears to be one of the units reported by owners to have soft areas in certain parts of the frame, as both the MA's I currently own (one main, one testing) are razor sharp across the entire frame and focal distances, whereas this MA seems exceedingly soft at infinity focus.

Also, I'm wondering if these were done just after the release of the MA, and which FW versions both units were at, and if DJI has since made any changes and/or improvements to the camera calibrations or noise reduction algorithms of the MP...

SparksBird Posted at 2018-6-10 17:23
The big difference in my eyes between the two cameras are very clear and is the noise.  The MP has a ton of noise and even at 0 is very noticeable.  You can especially notice this with trees and water.  Also the noise reduction the MP uses is not the best either.  You can get much sharper images/videos with the MA compared to the MP.  I have and love my MP and love the long battery life and how far it can go but if I was strictly looking at the camera quality/ability then the MA is clearly better.  This video is good at showing this.  Fast forward to 6:15 to really see the difference.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=469&v=5WDc9PKCDm0

And just as a side note, I have to say this...

The MA looks SO MUCH BETTER, damned sexy actually, compared to it's bigger, older brother

hallmark007 Posted at 2018-6-10 15:53
The only thing that’s Pro about Mavic Pro is it’s name and serious aerial photographer will tell you the same.
And if you think Pro has a better camera than Air your delusional and you don’t know much about the camera on the air.
Yes longer battery better signal, but MavAir has plenty to make up for this. Mavic Pro was born to be portable it comes in a poor second to the air in this, it has a dated camera which is impossible to use unless you have really good light, it’s tap to focus is totally rubbish and it’s price New was almost twice the price of MavAir and now that it’s almost the same price that’s about right.

Very true.
Marketing DJI: Yo engineers, design a superb flying drone with great portability. Around 700gr and about 30min. flight time.
Engineers DJI : Ok, we can do that.
Marketing DJI : Thanks, make it quick. GoPro might release something big soon.
Engineers DJI : Ok, we should be able to do that.
Marketing DJI : wait for it, GoPro is not ready.
Engineers DJI : Ok, we are ready, here it is.
Marketing DJI : HEY WHERE IS THE CAMERA
Engineers DJI : You did not specify that in the request...
Marketing DJI : WTF, we need a gimbal and a camera you.....
Engineers DJI : Ok, we will add it, but it is small, low bitrate and not too solid. And you will lose some minutes flight time.
Marketing DJI : That will do, people will still love it. We just send some to our influencers

hallmark007 Posted at 2018-6-10 15:53
The only thing that’s Pro about Mavic Pro is it’s name and serious aerial photographer will tell you the same.
And if you think Pro has a better camera than Air your delusional and you don’t know much about the camera on the air.
Yes longer battery better signal, but MavAir has plenty to make up for this. Mavic Pro was born to be portable it comes in a poor second to the air in this, it has a dated camera which is impossible to use unless you have really good light, it’s tap to focus is totally rubbish and it’s price New was almost twice the price of MavAir and now that it’s almost the same price that’s about right.

Still I went for a second hand MP.
Learn to fly.
Enjoy the nice features.
Wait for the MP2 to drop in price (whenever it is released)
Upgrade someday

MA has:

An upgraded Ambarella processor giving a video bitrate of 100MBPS in 4K @ 30p, 2.7K @ 60p, FHD @ 120p and has removed the NTSC and PAL switch. Having owned the Spark, Mavic Pro, Mavic Pro Alpine White, Mavic Pro Platinum, Phantom 3 Professional, Phantom 4 Pro and the Mavic Air - I place the image quality of the MA above the MP/P and below the P4P in my personal experience of actually flying these drones rather than any assumptions being fuelled by a specs sheet - the MA produces the second best image quality of any drone I have owned to date.

It uses DJI's latest tech: Flight Autonomy 2.0 (found on the P4P) with 3 directions of OA, APAS, 3D mapping it's environment, vision compass technology, failsafe RTH does not just work in straight lines but retraces the flight route. All of this is advanced over the 2016 tech of the MP. I've never had a compass error and RTH has worked perfectly, even at 1.98KM/1.231 miles from my position in a CE area. The enhanced WiFi is excellent in my experience.

If you like pano's then the MA is designed for it. 32mp spheres, auto stitching that is as good as anything media maker will give you. Asteroid is very cool too.

The drone is extremely stable even in winds of 20-30MPH. I have NEVER had to crop a single still image. Horizons are on point every time. The gimbal is vastly superior. The drone is also far more robust and this has been proven by those who have had quite serious knocks and just carried on flying. It even auto adjusts it's pitch angle in stronger winds to maintain it's air speed and I've hit 43.4MPH in Sport mode - never got close to that with any of my MP's.

Yeah, the MA is quite loud especially compared to the MPP but nobody has approached me given the fact 1. I don't fly in congested areas and 2. I'm 6' 4". It actually helps with visual orientation of the drone too.

It's more elegant, state of the art, lighter, smaller, more compact and easier to travel with. One of the things I love about the MA is just how damn easy it is to maintain - 50 minutes to fully recharge a battery and I have four batteries - I get around 1 hour, 10 minutes with the four - that's more than enough with over 17 minutes per battery. The bag it comes with is designed for four too and set up is a sinch!

It's no surprise that the people who have come onto this thread rubbishing the MA are those who have never owned one.

Bottom line, and I don't say this lightly, the MA is my favourite drone that I have ever owned. I never flew the MPP again after buying the MA and have since sold it for £1100 before it's price will massively drop. I think the original MP will be discontinued soon too, being a 2016 model it has clearly had it's day.

Hope this helps.

It annoys me when people say the Mavic Air is just a spark 2.

DJIs own naming convention states Mavics are foldable, 4K drones, which is exactly what the Air is.

EdisonW1979 Posted at 2018-6-10 17:21
So first you go after me for supposedly rubbishing forum members, and yet here you are, out of the blue, calling someone delusional because you think the MA is superior to the MP/MPP???

Talk about being a hypocrite!

Auto fo us tap focus incredibly slow and tap focus almost everyone who owns a MP hate this .
Speed the slowest in RTH of any dji aircraft except spark.
Speed MavAir is faster than MP/MPP in sports mode
Low light it’s by far the worse camera of all dji cameras including spark.
And it is by far the worst camera dji drone with the most noise and soft spot focus, this can easily be Born out of the sheer numbers returned to dji with camera problems.

Mavic Pro from its outset has had more technical problems than any other dji craft , more camera problems than any other dji aircraft and tenfold more problems than any other dji aircraft , if you think that MavAir has problems, you should have been around here for the first eight months of its release these boards where lit up everyday with compass failures mushy cameras aircraft being lost because they couldn’t RTH because they were to slow, battery failures and it went on and on.

As somebody who owns a Mavic Pro from its inception I can tell you it doesn’t have a better camera than MavAir no matter what you do with it , it’s extremely prone to tilted horizon and washed out video.
The problems with MavAir pale into significant to what we had with Mavic Pro.
I will say this MP is now a great flying machine but never recovered from the dreadful camera problems to this day.

For a drone that was twice the price of a MavAir it was probably the worse value for money of any dji drone.
When you get one I look forward to comparing your footage.

Montfrooij Posted at 2018-6-10 23:28
Very true.
Marketing DJI: Yo engineers, design a superb flying drone with great portability. Around 700gr and about 30min. flight time.
Engineers DJI : Ok, we can do that.

And it will take about three months to be received by the consumer but they'll wait - even if mould forms in the camera, the gimbal disconnects for no reason mid flight, the VPS is erratic and the odd fly away will be reported but it's all cool
Great summary Monty.

Amazing drone (if you're lucky to get one without bugs)

Average camera

Poor gimbal

Becoming dated

davidmartingraf Posted at 2018-6-10 18:28
I place a high premium on OcuSync as compared to Lightbridge and especially Enhanced WiFi. I'm not saying the Mavic Pro outperforms in all categories the Inspire 2, my opinion is based on several factors.

1) Mavic Pro has the best image transmission system of OcuSync

1/ ocusync in Mavic Pro is no better than lightbridge in P4Pro and transmission is both excellent in both machines but many more complaints about MP transmission.
2/again MP doesn’t have a better controller that P4Pro , I think the mere fact that it is half the price of a P4 Pro controller , you should check this out you will find your a long way off with this.
3/P4Pro has exactly same range as Mavic Pro , but with larger receivers and antennas I believe it out preforms MP easily. It is also a lot faster both in sport mode and p mode, that’s why very few are lost to the wind in RTH mode.
4/MP has dropped in price if that’s what you mean, but compare when they were both released and consider how much more P4Pro had to offer, I won’t include everything but with a far superior camera and after all camera is the biggest draw for these drones, then you might realize why MP has dropped so much in price, and I believe it will have little value if dji release MP2.

hallmark007 Posted at 2018-6-11 02:07
1/ ocusync in Mavic Pro is no better than lightbridge in P4Pro and transmission is both excellent in both machines but many more complaints about MP transmission.
2/again MP doesn’t have a better controller that P4Pro , I think the mere fact that it is half the price of a P4 Pro controller , you should check this out you will find your a long way off with this.
3/P4Pro has exactly same range as Mavic Pro , but with larger receivers and antennas I believe it out preforms MP easily

I'll add to that mate in that I believe the reason for the massive price drop in the MP is due to the product now being new-old-stock - Apple UK don't sell it anymore and a number of suppliers have 'limited stock left' with huge discounts. I actually believe the MP is discontinued behind closed doors in it's production and if you buy one 'brand new' now I suggest checking the serial number for it's production date - I strongly doubt your 'new MP' was even made in 2018...

EdisonW1979 Posted at 2018-6-10 18:33
That was a good comparison video.

The MP definitely is far more aggressive on noise reduction, applying it very heavily with even the slightest drop in ambient lighting.

The last improvement on the MP's camera performance via FW was August 2017.

hallmark007 Posted at 2018-6-11 02:07
1/ ocusync in Mavic Pro is no better than lightbridge in P4Pro and transmission is both excellent in both machines but many more complaints about MP transmission.
2/again MP doesn’t have a better controller that P4Pro , I think the mere fact that it is half the price of a P4 Pro controller , you should check this out you will find your a long way off with this.
3/P4Pro has exactly same range as Mavic Pro , but with larger receivers and antennas I believe it out preforms MP easily. It is also a lot faster both in sport mode and p mode, that’s why very few are lost to the wind in RTH mode.

4: that is exactly why I bought a second hand MP.
Lower investment for me and if I will sell it, I might get some money back for it.
But first enjoy the MP, make cool footage and wait for MPx to arrive and for it to drop in price

Montfrooij Posted at 2018-6-11 03:21
4: that is exactly why I bought a second hand MP.
Lower investment for me and if I will sell it, I might get some money back for it.
But first enjoy the MP, make cool footage and wait for MPx to arrive and for it to drop in price

The Mavic Pro is as I said now a great flying machine, having had it since day one the big problem for me was always the camera , it’s problems with focus particularly in low light and tilted horizon, means users have to work very hard to get the most out of it. Yes it can be done but can be frustrating it’s not simple and sometimes can mean having to change settings in the air a lot, so just as well it has a longer battery.
For me it’s best taking photographs not video, it’s safe in that it’s now with updates become much more reliable , it’s still very compact and filled with some great technology but becoming a bit dated, having said that I will not sell it I will keep it because I like flying it, and the challenge to get good photography from it appeals to me, as I sometimes see others get really nice photography from it, so it’s a good challenge for me.

hallmark007 Posted at 2018-6-11 04:05
The Mavic Pro is as I said now a great flying machine, having had it since day one the big problem for me was always the camera , it’s problems with focus particularly in low light and tilted horizon, means users have to work very hard to get the most out of it. Yes it can be done but can be frustrating it’s not simple and sometimes can mean having to change settings in the air a lot, so just as well it has a longer battery.
For me it’s best taking photographs not video, it’s safe in that it’s now with updates become much more reliable , it’s still very compact and filled with some great technology but becoming a bit dated, having said that I will not sell it I will keep it because I like flying it, and the challenge to get good photography from it appeals to me, as I sometimes see others get really nice photography from it, so it’s a good challenge for me.

Yes, very true.
It does remind me of my first photo camera.
I had to put real effort in getting most out of it....

A CW Posted at 2018-6-11 02:18
I'll add to that mate in that I believe the reason for the massive price drop in the MP is due to the product now being new-old-stock - Apple UK don't sell it anymore and a number of suppliers have 'limited stock left' with huge discounts. I actually believe the MP is discontinued behind closed doors in it's production and if you buy one 'brand new' now I suggest checking the serial number for it's production date - I strongly doubt your 'new MP' was even made in 2018...

I do think dji  will slowly let it die, but I think that MP2 might be something special to look forward to.

hallmark007 Posted at 2018-6-11 04:17
I do think dji  will slowly let it die, but I think that MP2 might be something special to look forward to.

I agree mate - the MP is practically iconic and is still relevant in the line up but as soon as the MP2 hits the market we will be saying goodbye to the MP and I think that will happen this year, especially with competitors coming out with some interesting alternatives next month...

I see the Mavic Air being around well into 2019 as their premier personal drone with the Spark as the entry level drone (though that too may come to end). Moving up to the MP2 for entry level compact, pro grade to the P5 for mid range pro to the Inspire 3 and Matrice for serious film makers and industrial platforms. It's all good!   

I can go on an on..

I’m not saying one camera is superior to the other camera.. Mavic Air camera targets a different audience than the Mavic Pro camera does.  

Pro photo/video people are wired differently from 99% of us.  They want settings and options...they want to edit in post.  That’s their thing!  Where as 99% of us would be happy with the camera on the Mavic Air jut doing a great job out of the box with not settings adjustments.

Same thing with the drone settings themselves... the Mavic Pro you can adjust all kinds of things from seemingly pointless like how long it takes for the battery to start to self discharge to the small fine details to how the drone reacts to inputs... Mavic Air it’s mostly just setup already..   it doesn’t make one better than the other, it just changes the target audience.  


I’m not calling either mavic ideal drones for pro drone work. The Mavic Pro has a slight edge for pros who decided to buy a travel drone because they can extract way more out of it than the 99% of us can or even care to.  Where as Mavic Air is targeted more at the YouTube exploration and vlogger crowd.. different targets

Occusync is superior to WiFi (of any type).  I’m not going to compare it to lightbridge, though I do find occusync to be superior to lightbridge in high interference zones.. that’s not the point.  

Mavic Air uses WiFi, which isn’t ideal for drones, having to comply with 802.11 standards means higher latency(thanks to it needing to be friendly to other WiFi devices), less range, and more lost signal when even small amount of shielding.. where as Occusync and lightbridge for that matter do not comply with 802.11 standards and thus both superior to WiFi for drone use because of that.    Thus I feel like WiFi, enhanced or not is vastly inferior to the other technologies Dji already has on offer.  And sets it backwards more.



To the people who dislike hearing that Mavic Air = Spark 2/Spark Pro.  I’m sorry but that’s how I feel and how some others feel to.  Here is why.

1. Mavic Air lacks occusync.  Being occusync is how the mavic was introduced I feel it’s an important mavic feature.. separates it from other portable options. And makes it superior in wireless communication.. wifi is pretty meh compared.

2. Mavic Air has fewer camera options and settings. which again isnt a bad thing (dif target) but just feels too compromised comparitively..

3. Mavic Air lacks advanced flight settings... you cannot tweak how the Mavic Air reacts to things like you can with Mavic Pro.

Maybe Dji set the bar too high with the Mavic Pro.. but I feel like what makes a Mavic a Mavic is Lack of compromise. I feel like Mavic Air is too much of a comprise.. and feels closer to how the spark should have been.  

too much of a compromise to offer it at the same cost as a Mavic Pro atleast..
as for Mavic air's flight automy..it...well it sucks, super its better than 1.0..but you can polish a turd and still a turd. meaning 1.0 vs 2.0 isnt a huge differance and it isnt specifically better either, infact i think its equally annoying.

speaking of which, my mavic pro glitches out sometimes in the sun and swings left to right and right to left, so technically MP is capable of going around things (to seemingly large and panicky degrees), but for some dumb reason DJi soft locked it and it takes a glitch to trigger..  but ya 2.0 vs 1.0 on mavic pro vs air...thats terrible selling point.. OA is frusterating on both devices..

HereForTheBeer Posted at 2018-6-11 04:26
I can go on an on..

I’m not saying one camera is superior to the other camera.. Mavic Air camera targets a different audience than the Mavic Pro camera does.  

I think if you look at video above you will see the biggest compromise is the camera in the Mavic Pro , most professional users will almost fly within the limitations of the rules of flying so won’t worry about distance , so for their purpose MavAir will do this job fine. I don’t believe a professional photographer would fly 2 miles to see and take video / photographs of something he cannot see or image in his mind, and range of MavAir is 4K where your coming from.

Regarding ocusync nobody would deny that it is superior to enhanced WiFi , that’s why Mavic Pro cost almost twice the price almost 2 years ago, and I expect MP will also come in at similar prices.

Regarding camera settings you never mentioned any of real significance to professionals or hobbyists, and professionals will tend to use same settings except in different conditions, and believe me it’s much harder to get it right with Mavic Pro than MavAir.

Regarding bells and whistles they each have plenty but again MavAir’s are not so dated.

Mavic Pro has since its release been dogged with camera problems, so many returned for so many issues, and improvements have made very little difference and this cannot be denied.

Yes it’s a great flying aircraft since many many issues have been sorted over the last almost 2 years , but like everything it has become very dated and will become much more dated when we see MP2, that’s just the way tech works. It’s no surprise it has comedown so much in price since it’s first release.

hallmark007 Posted at 2018-6-11 04:53
I think if you look at video above you will see the biggest compromise is the camera in the Mavic Pro , most professional users will almost fly within the limitations of the rules of flying so won’t worry about distance , so for their purpose MavAir will do this job fine. I don’t believe a professional photographer would fly 2 miles to see and take video / photographs of something he cannot see or image in his mind, and range of MavAir is 4K where your coming from.

Regarding ocusync nobody would deny that it is superior to enhanced WiFi , that’s why Mavic Pro cost almost twice the price almost 2 years ago, and I expect MP will also come in at similar prices.

no regardless how far you may fly, occusync/lightbridge is better like what if you want to explore just beyond some woodlands few hundred yards away?  mavic air's wifi will chop out and turn to crap, mine as well go explore on foot at that point.  same thing if say flying around a large solid object hundreds of meters away, mavic air may lose signal just enough to trigger RTH and may crash into it if its at the wrong height. where as occusync or lightbridge would save the day with superior connection.

occusync at its launch would be worth extra price yes, but now its been out and about for a couple years just about... the price naturally comes down with time and maturity of the parts.

i dont feel like mavic pro vs mavic air either feel dated any differently...  am i missing something..? mavic air lacks a few option that pro has but overall they feel equally dated...

i agree, mavic pro around its launch time and from my research took around 6-9 months to sort most of the big issues out a bit longer for smaller issues, but mavic AIr has its own day 1 issues too... not everyone is getting a prime example of a product.  the difference is the mavic pro is now more mature and less prone to those day one issues.. where as mavic air, still plenty of bad examples out there because of its lack of maturity.  still plenty of day one new unopened boxes still floating around that are prone to early issues that require hands on fixes like slightly misaligned lens causing uneven focus for example.

obviously i expect the bar to be raised quite a bit with the Mavic Pro 2, and i think we all can hope for Mavic Pro 2 to be better in every way. but currently that is besides the point.   

right now comparing mavic pro (1) to the mavic air.. targeting 2 different crowds i feel like..but at the same price feels counter intuitive..

HereForTheBeer Posted at 2018-6-11 04:26
I can go on an on..

I’m not saying one camera is superior to the other camera.. Mavic Air camera targets a different audience than the Mavic Pro camera does.  

1. OcuSync takes far longer to regain signal in a failsafe situation and is not 100%. The enhanced WiFi techonology in the MA is four times more powerful than the Spark and the omnidirectional antenna makes the signal flawless in my experience when within VLOS and even up to a mile. I have reached nearly 1.25 miles as a one off range test as typically fly VLOS. OcuSync is only a real benefit if you use goggles, which I don't.

2. Colour profile options are more expansive on the MP but I found the colours to have more of an unnatural hue to them and only used normal or cinelike-D anyway - both are offered on the MA. The video bit rate and frame rate option are more important and tap to focus was totally unnecessary on the MP and almost as pointless as portrait mode.

3. The advanced flight settings are actually better on the MA. Tap fly free (better than course lock) and reverse are amazing, smart capture is so precise that I actually use it, active track works flawlessly for me and can track up to 16 people in the frame, cinematic mode and tripod mode are great and point of interest works albeit with a bug in the latest app version which affects both drones. I won't mention asteroid or the 32mp spheres which are the modes MP owners are still screaming out for...

I suggest you buy one, fly it many times, compare your footage (one camera is better than the other - the MA) and see how you get on with it before judging it. I actually thought the same as you when it came out then I decided to see what the hype was about and well, the rest is history - it's my favourite drone.  

HereForTheBeer Posted at 2018-6-11 05:15
no regardless how far you may fly, occusync/lightbridge is better like what if you want to explore just beyond some woodlands few hundred yards away?  mavic air's wifi will chop out and turn to crap, mine as well go explore on foot at that point.  same thing if say flying around a large solid object hundreds of meters away, mavic air may lose signal just enough to trigger RTH and may crash into it if its at the wrong height. where as occusync or lightbridge would save the day with superior connection.

occusync at its launch would be worth extra price yes, but now its been out and about for a couple years just about... the price naturally comes down with time and maturity of the parts.

You might post some of the great photography you can get from MP that can’t be got on MavAir, but as someone who owns and flys both IMO MavAir camera is better than Mavic Pro. And I use these aircraft mainly because of the Camera and I suspect most do and quality of camera and price are probably the two main deal breakers for most people, I think if you look around many many more more Mavic Pro lost to both crashes and it’s incompetence to RTH in the wind, caused by serious lack of pitch and speed. Although a rookie mistake many lost Mavics due to this lack of tech . So I still would say dated

A CW Posted at 2018-6-11 05:22
1. OcuSync takes far longer to regain signal in a failsafe situation and not 100%. The enhanced WiFi techonology in the MA is four times more powerful than the Spark and the omnidirectional antenna makes the signal flawless in my experience when within VLOS and even up to a mile. I have reached nearly 1.25 miles as a one off range test as typically fly VLOS. OcuSync is only a real benefit if you use goggles, which I don't.

2. Colour profile options are more expansive on the MP but I found the colours to have more of an unnatural hue to them and only used normal or cinelike-D anyway - both are offered on the MA. The video bit rate and frame rate option are more important and tap to focus was totally unnecessary on the MP and almost as pointless as portrait mode.

i have flown a mavic air recently.  i only got 3 batteries worth before i returned it to a buddy's kid  down the road. he was getting antsy about it and worries since he paid $1000 for fly more and he saved up.

occusync for me doesn't take longer to reacquire  but when i completely lost signal on my mavic pro if it is within 1-1..5 miles it tends to near instantly regain signal. but obviously if its 2-3 miles away it sometimes stumbles for a bit taking a 3 or so seconds when its really out there 3 miles or more.. my experience with occusync on mavic pro been pretty solid..i wouldn't say any slower requiring than wifi/lightbridge unless you hauled the drone way far out there..

i didn't fully try active track out, i only did a brief trial and it derped out on me same as my mavic pro does. i only tried it twice. both times i encountered issues. decided i dont want to crash someone else's drone it was twitchy.  

obstacle avoidance on the mavic air was equally infuriating to me as it is on the mavic pro.. either too panicky to its blind, so ..meh?  it is better because it can see behind, and possibly more accurate at identifying obstacles.... but overall it was equally frustrating.. didn't want to go through door ways, it didn't want to go between parked cars, it panics when sunlight hit the sensors..

color profiles, i agree with some of them being wrong... but i found atleast on my mavic pro D-Log is very very flat, and doesn't have a odd color tint/hue.  and if i was into color/luminance grading myself, i would prefer using LOG files like D-Log..   i need to get the videos i shot off of his mavic air to compare more closely.. im usually not a fan of Cinelike if im color grading, it allows "hot data" to get encoded like if your sensor picks up reds too strongly and shifts them a bit, cinelike isn't idea for that and can encode that data making correcting for it slightly more tedious.  where as log tends to be very flat and neutral..


as for the rest, its all cool i agree! some work surprisingly well.. but at same time, hardware level the mavic pro could handle most if not all of that extra stuff, just dji decided to separate it, probably in a vain attempt at justifying its price.. which makes it a bit gimmicky for alot of it.  

hallmark007 Posted at 2018-6-11 05:31
You might post some of the great photography you can get from MP that can’t be got on MavAir, but as someone who owns and flys both IMO MavAir camera is better than Mavic Pro. And I use these aircraft mainly because of the Camera and I suspect most do and quality of camera and price are probably the two main deal breakers for most people, I think if you look around many many more more Mavic Pro lost to both crashes and it’s incompetence to RTH in the wind, caused by serious lack of pitch and speed. Although a rookie mistake many lost Mavics due to this lack of tech . So I still would say dated

im not doubting you that mavic air out of the box looks better, im backing that up!  i agree.. its just targeting different people.    the people who cant function without options on their camera and feel they need to edit every photo and video wont like that though... like i said.. protog's are wired differently from 99% of us.. but thats what makes them so special and capable as Protogs.. they know how to extract more out of a mavic pro and they will and they dont mind spending few hundred $$ extra to get that.  where as the 99% of us will be happy with and even prefer the mavic air just doing it for us mostly..

the lack of pitch is due to OA..  for some reason with OA enabled mavic pro refuses to exceed 16 degrees of angle..  however disabling OA on RTH fixes that (usually) at the risk of hitting something flying back.  dji should fix that if high winds  to disables briefly to allow it to fight better...    and we both can agree probably pilot error and poor judgement.   

that doesn't really make it dated that it cannot exceed 16 degrees of angle, just an odd choice really.. and one dji should have been addressing.. since simple fix is turning OA off..

HereForTheBeer Posted at 2018-6-11 05:59
im not doubting you that mavic air out of the box looks better, im backing that up!  i agree.. its just targeting different people.    the people who cant function without options on their camera and feel they need to edit every photo and video wont like that though... like i said.. protog's are wired differently from 99% of us.. but thats what makes them so special and capable as Protogs.. they know how to extract more out of a mavic pro and they will and they dont mind spending few hundred $$ extra to get that.  where as the 99% of us will be happy with and even prefer the mavic air just doing it for us mostly..

the lack of pitch is due to OA..  for some reason with OA enabled mavic pro refuses to exceed 16 degrees of angle..  however disabling OA on RTH fixes that (usually) at the risk of hitting something flying back.  dji should fix that if high winds  to disables briefly to allow it to fight better...    and we both can agree probably pilot error and poor judgement.   

No it doesn’t make it dated but it makes it risky as we have seen, I think you should realize that from day one Mavic Pro was €600 more expensive two years ago than MavAir today, and when you take that into account and the problems with its camera and gimbal you will find it’s dated , but that’s how it goes , I wouldn’t buy one ahead of a MavAir today as it has very little to offer more than a MavAir unless your looking for range and I find that I get much more pleasure seeing my drone than looking at a screen just to see the ground underneath it . I do also think that a MavAir and a Mavic Pro will be a lot better combination when we see MP2 and this will only make Mavic Pro seem like Noah brought two of them to the ark, which takes me to style it looks like a giant spider crab another reason I believe it’s dated. But it still flys well, I think Mavic pro owners are a little envious because dji made Air with a superior camera I know I felt that way myself bought one and was hugely impressed that a much cheaper drone could have a better camera and for me much better bang for my buck.

I am really enjoying this thread.  Some great info here that is for sure.  I will agree though that why downgrade from OcuSync to Wifi?  I mean it is not only about the range which we know OS is far superior but like mentioned far harder to lose connection say going through trees or other obstacles.  Man I have flown my MP countless times that I thought how the heck did I not lose connection where I can guarantee with WiFi would of been lost without a doubt.  I have seen SO many threads here where many have lost connection not even far away with their MA and have seen FAR less for MP owners.  Just saying if they would of made the MA with OcuSync there would be no doubt how superior the MA would be.  

Keep it up guys this thread is really interesting

hallmark007 Posted at 2018-6-11 06:20
No it doesn’t make it dated but it makes it risky as we have seen, I think you should realize that from day one Mavic Pro was €600 more expensive two years ago than MavAir today, and when you take that into account and the problems with its camera and gimbal you will find it’s dated , but that’s how it goes , I wouldn’t buy one ahead of a MavAir today as it has very little to offer more than a MavAir unless your looking for range and I find that I get much more pleasure seeing my drone than looking at a screen just to see the ground underneath it . I do also think that a MavAir and a Mavic Pro will be a lot better combination when we see MP2 and this will only make Mavic Pro seem like Noah brought two of them to the ark, which takes me to style it looks like a giant spider crab another reason I believe it’s dated. But it still flys well, I think Mavic pro owners are a little envious because dji made Air with a superior camera I know I felt that way myself bought one and was hugely impressed that a much cheaper drone could have a better camera and for me much better bang for my buck.

when the Mavic Pro was launched it was bit of a silly price specially given its early adopter issues absolutely! However it has since matured into a stable platform for the most part, nearly 2 years into it (or has it been 2 years already..?) they come along way with the Mavic Pro.

I personally am not envious of the camera, Yes it’s a good camera on the Mavic Air.  But also a good camera on the Mavic Pro you just need to know what your doing with it in the moment and after the fact to extract the most out of it.

What I am
Envious of with the Mavic Air is the size.  To me it’s the thing that turns me onto the Mavic Air is that it’s a very decent platform and it’s small about the size of a spark (well a bit bigger actually and heavier) or about half the foot print of Mavic Pro folded and unfolded... I like that!  

But for me the Mavic Air doesn’t feel like a Mavic nearly as much as it should.  Maybe Dji set the bar too high with Mavic Pro like I said..

Mavic to me means Uncompromised.. tons of features and options in folding body.

Battery life on the Mavic Air is acceptable but not exceptional. iRL battery life is about 13-16 minutes, which is acceptable but not exceptional.. vs Pro can easily get you 22-24 minutes if flight if your gentle and 17-20 of bit more intense..

Range/signal quality of Mavic Air is okay I guess..?  Not exceptionally good.  But if trying to explore beyond the woodlands or something, WiFi is just tragically bad for that.  

Camera on the Mavic Air is great.. arguably better than mavic pro’s camera.. but lacks options and features that can really set it apart.  

Mavic air’s OA system is polishing a turd as I said.. it’s better but it’s still sh.t ya know..

Then you got the more gimmicky options that sure their good, but not reason that one should have these gimmicks over the other.. just Dji segmenting the market so they try to justify matching pro and air prices (I think).

Arguably the controller is gimmicky too but Pro controller is useful say your phone dies while flying or crashes .. having that screen on controller is actually useful to getting your drone back, lot less guessing involved. Vs the Mavic Air controller if your phone takes a dump and your in the field.. more or less guessing at that stage specially if you lost visual of it in the field.  

But I think if you are a pro and for whatever reason decide you need a mavic drone for your film work(anything is possible I guess).. I think Mavic Pro is more appropriate given its options and settings and fining tuning you can do.  It’s the fine details like occusync and battery life and options you are given, that set it apart and justify the Mavic Pro still costing $800-$1000 (new) today about 2 years out..

But I think if you are an aspiring youtuber, the better drone is the Mavic Air, it’s a fantastic platform. But it lacks that fine detail and settings and the camera, you don’t need to know very much to get the most out of it..  but I feel in same vain it should cost $600-$800 not $800-$1000.  

It would be more attractive for aspiring youtuber and travelers on a budget and would lock the down more for Dji as well.  Because right now Djinis a wide open section. Of the market at $500-$800 and it’s not unimaginable a drone maker could maybe split in a Mavic Air competitor at that price point.  Reguardless if we buy it or not, some portion of the market will buy into it.. and Dji is leaving the doors open for exploitation..

The air is superior in every way-Period? I don't need 4 mile range. There is a reason DJI is selling 200,000 units a QTR. I have flown up to 1.75 miles away and have never had any issues with disconnects.