Hello all. I recently purchased the Mavic Pro Platinum (about 3 weeks ago) from owning the Spark for around and year and testing out the Mavic Air for about 2 days, and with the launch of the new Mavic 2 series I wanted to get some opinions from fellow Mavic 1 owners- do you personally think upgrading to the Mavic 2 Pro/Zoom would be worth it from a non-professional photographer's perspective? How long have you owned your Mavic 1 Pro and do you plan to upgrade to the either of the Mavic 2's at any point?
This is something I've been curious about, as after watching many YouTube videos and reading many forum posts people say that the Mavic 2 series is the best thing ever, and after watching many review videos about the Mavic 2's there seems to be a huge difference- but is the difference really that big?

I personally am in no financial position to upgrade or to purchase either of the drones in the Mavic 2 series- however I've been second guessing my recent decison on buying the Mavic 1 even though I think it's amazing and exceeds all of my photography needs/has exceeded all of my expectations.

I encourage all Mavic 1 and Mavic 2 owners to participate in this dicussion/share their thoughts! I'm curious to see whether or not my prediction for the outcome of this discussion has any ground to it. Thank you all in advance!

I just got the M2P few days back after dwelling in this forum for quite some time before biting the bullet. Just in time for my vacation tomorrow. Had the MP for a year and a half, already modded removing its limits, I still kept the MP though since it's a memorable birthday gift. IMHO it's worth the upgrade. At the same time I also got an extra batt on top of the fly more, some 6 piece filters (love how easy it is to change ND filters), sunhood for the AC, lanyard for the new RC and a 6-1 charger (still shipping, don't really fancy overnight charging).

Despite reports its not using the full sensor readout and somewhat softer images compared to a P4P, the images and videos differences especially in low light conditions is night and day. Even my wife who is not into "casual" photography/videography like me agrees when I showed her the footages and those that she saw was only the cache ones from the phone.

I like to record while in sports mode chasing objects low on the ground and I noticed the fast pan/yaw footage is much smoother compared to the MP with ND filters. And the gimbal stays horizontally levelled moving sideways in sports mode. It still does tilt downwards a little moving forward but can be compensated to some extend using the 30deg extra up tilt. With the MP I can never achieve this in sports mode, the gimbal stays tilted down or there goes the horizon.

The new RC also seems to solve my magnetic interference issues with my S9+. Samsung phones seems to have its gyro/gps/compass sensors located at the top left. Due to this, with the phone clamped to the RC (not a fan of external mount as I prefer everything compact), the AC compass will change direction whenever there's full input from the right stick.

The shoulder bag is also that little bigger compared to the MP's. I was able to fit everything from the fly more kit including the 6 piece ND filters case, the AC sunhood, the fourth batt and there's still a small space to fit my action cam.

Note that most above I'm referring to the Mavic 2 Pro with Hasselblad, not sure though about the Zoom which I wasn't interested upon hearing it has almost the same 1/2.3" as the MP.

If you ask me, I think almost everyone who bought and owns an M2P will say; "Yes, it's definitely worth it", whereas if you ask those who have bought and own an M(1)P, they will probably be more reluctant. Frankly, I do not think there's much to gain from buying an M2P if you already have an M(1)P. But if I personally had to choose between M2P and M(1)P and wanted to buy now, I would of course choose M2P.

I own mpp and i bought the mp2 one month ago. Definate worth the upgrade. Keep the mpp for back up

I own the Mavic Pro and just bought the Mavic 2 Zoom.   I'm no pro photographer, just a hobbyist who likes to bring a drone with me on my motorcycle travels.      I held off buying a Mavic 2 as from everything that I saw about it during it's initial release, I wasn't really going to use.  I find that I don't fly in tight places where more CA sensors would be useful.  I don't use a bunch of those Intelligent Flight modes either, the flight times of the Mavic Pro were just fine.   I post most of my images on "free" picture/video hosting websites, so image quality isn't a huge deal. So for me no real advantage to have upgraded immediately.

So for me, no, it wasn't really worth the upgrade.      

Ill make this sweet and short "YES"

I owned the MP1 for a year and it was an amazing drone right up till I sold it. The zoom that I have is even better. I have been amazed at the durability of this drone and the amazing rock solid signal strength when flying distances. I have done over 5.5km and only loose 1 bar of signal that is amazing. The picture quality of the zoom to me is way better then the pro 1. I had my first so called incident today with the zoom getting caught in a power line and the way that this drone recovered itself and stabilised is just amazing. Go for it.

For me personal, the upgrade is not (yet) worth the money.
I don't use my MP enough to justify those costs.

BUT, if budget was not an issue, I would probably go for the 'Zoom'.
Why?
Having that zoom gives a very versatile option that you won't get with any other DJI consumer drone.
But, as stated, the MP1 is still a very nice drone and the difference (for me) is not enough to justify for the expense.

Montfrooij Posted at 11-20 07:42
For me personal, the upgrade is not (yet) worth the money.
I don't use my MP enough to justify those costs.

I totally agree! I personally use my Mavic Pro a lot, and it gets the job done with excellence. It's an amazing photography drone for my needs, and I don't see a reason to upgrade right now. Maybe when the Mavic 3 or 4 comes out I'll conder upgrading.
Thanks for sharing your take on this topic!

Suren Posted at 11-20 07:00
I owned the MP1 for a year and it was an amazing drone right up till I sold it. The zoom that I have is even better. I have been amazed at the durability of this drone and the amazing rock solid signal strength when flying distances. I have done over 5.5km and only loose 1 bar of signal that is amazing. The picture quality of the zoom to me is way better then the pro 1. I had my first so called incident today with the zoom getting caught in a power line and the way that this drone recovered itself and stabilised is just amazing. Go for it.

I'm glad that you're enjoying your Zoom! I think the Mavic 2's are amazing, however for the upgrade to justify the cost I would want to use my Mavic 1 for at least a year before upgrading- and by then the next best DJI drone will be released!
Thanks for your input! Safe flying.

Lucas775 Posted at 11-20 04:34
Ill make this sweet and short "YES"

Haha, thanks for your input!

QuadBart Posted at 11-20 04:23
I own the Mavic Pro and just bought the Mavic 2 Zoom.   I'm no pro photographer, just a hobbyist who likes to bring a drone with me on my motorcycle travels.      I held off buying a Mavic 2 as from everything that I saw about it during it's initial release, I wasn't really going to use.  I find that I don't fly in tight places where more CA sensors would be useful.  I don't use a bunch of those Intelligent Flight modes either, the flight times of the Mavic Pro were just fine.   I post most of my images on "free" picture/video hosting websites, so image quality isn't a huge deal. So for me no real advantage to have upgraded immediately.

So for me, no, it wasn't really worth the upgrade.

Thanks for your input! The upgrade being worth it definitely varies from person to person, situation to situation- and yours is a perfect example of this. Thanks again for sharing.
I wish you safe flying ahead!

dronybaloney Posted at 11-20 03:34
I own mpp and i bought the mp2 one month ago. Definate worth the upgrade. Keep the mpp for back up

Thanks for your input!

FlyDK Posted at 11-20 02:22
If you ask me, I think almost everyone who bought and owns an M2P will say; "Yes, it's definitely worth it", whereas if you ask those who have bought and own an M(1)P, they will probably be more reluctant. Frankly, I do not think there's much to gain from buying an M2P if you already have an M(1)P. But if I personally had to choose between M2P and M(1)P and wanted to buy now, I would of course choose M2P.

That was my prediction- it really just all comes down to individual needs.
Thanks for sharing your input! I appreciate it!

Nazar78 Posted at 11-20 01:01
I just got the M2P few days back after dwelling in this forum for quite some time before biting the bullet. Just in time for my vacation tomorrow. Had the MP for a year and a half, already modded removing its limits, I still kept the MP though since it's a memorable birthday gift. IMHO it's worth the upgrade. At the same time I also got an extra batt on top of the fly more, some 6 piece filters (love how easy it is to change ND filters), sunhood for the AC, lanyard for the new RC and a 6-1 charger (still shipping, don't really fancy overnight charging).

Despite reports its not using the full sensor readout and somewhat softer images compared to a P4P, the images and videos differences especially in low light conditions is night and day. Even my wife who is not into "casual" photography/videography like me agrees when I showed her the footages and those that she saw was only the cache ones from the phone.

Thanks for sharing! I appreciate your detailed description of your needs and what you typically use your MP(s) for. This is another great example of how the upgrade depends on personal needs/differences and things that would improve for this individual upon upgrade.
Safe flying, and enjoy your new Mavic 2!

Nordium Posted at 11-20 14:52
That was my prediction- it really just all comes down to individual needs.
Thanks for sharing your input! I appreciate it!

You're welcome.

I had 3 different Mavic Pros (One platinum) and couldn't get a decent picture out of any of them. DJI even replaced one under warranty which was no better. Focus was non existant. Couldn't even focus manually.
I now have the M2P and love it. Awesome camera and the bird is remarkably quiet.

Definitely worth the upgrade IMHO.

Aeromirage Posted at 11-20 15:44
I had 3 different Mavic Pros (One platinum) and couldn't get a decent picture out of any of them. DJI even replaced one under warranty which was no better. Focus was non existant. Couldn't even focus manually.
I now have the M2P and love it. Awesome camera and the bird is remarkably quiet.

Thanks for your input! Sorry to hear about your poor experience(s) with the original Mavic Pro.

Nordium Posted at 11-20 14:43
I totally agree! I personally use my Mavic Pro a lot, and it gets the job done with excellence. It's an amazing photography drone for my needs, and I don't see a reason to upgrade right now. Maybe when the Mavic 3 or 4 comes out I'll conder upgrading.
Thanks for sharing your take on this topic!

Of course, MP has some shortcomings that are addressed by MP2, but not worth it for me yet.

100% worth it

- Active track is unbelievably functional now
- Stills no longer soft with artifacts, they actually look like 20MP photos clear and crisp
- mechanical shutter allows for much more flexibility
- Ocusync 2.0 1080p downstream is a game changer

I have both the M2P and zoom, and if I hadn't lost my Mavic air I would have not bought them. I kind of regret buying the M2P, as the camera quality is ok, and to get great picture quality you have to do a lot of post work. If your computer is old and does not have a GPU, ram and Processor powerful enough you will have problems. The 1" sensor is definitely great for night photography and evening videos, it's as if DJI just built the camera mainly for that. Day time videos are not much better than the original pro imho unless again you shoot in D-log H.265 and know what you're doing in post work. So the word PRO very much fits with the Mavic 2 pro owner. I still use it for evening and early morning shots to get that dynamic range, but for everything else I use the zoom. The zoom is great for your average youtube user, social media lover, and vloggers. The day videos are pretty good and evening are not that bad. I find the zoom feature very useful as you can get close without getting close, and that's security for me as my drone is not easily seen as a threat. I've shot videos or animals and they don't even know I'm there. If you have the Mavic pro keep it don't upgrade, if you have the Mavic air and are happy with the distance keep it however if you want better reception get the zoom. My two cents.

C_LUU Posted at 11-20 23:38
100% worth it

- Active track is unbelievably functional now

Thanks for your input! It all comes down to personal need and want at the end of the day, as you mentioned these things to be very worth it for you personally, but for me- I rarely use ActiveTrack, my stills look great with +1 focus sharpness, I use my original MP for personal/recreational use - so camera quality is not a huge issue for me, and I've flown 4km+ with perfect image transmission in a dense urban environment (which I don't do often - but the signal works great for me and I see no need for an upgrade).
I'm glad you're enjoying your MP2! Thanks again for sharing.

MagicRide Posted at 11-21 08:39
I have both the M2P and zoom, and if I hadn't lost my Mavic air I would have not bought them. I kind of regret buying the M2P, as the camera quality is ok, and to get great picture quality you have to do a lot of post work. If your computer is old and does not have a GPU, ram and Processor powerful enough you will have problems. The 1" sensor is definitely great for night photography and evening videos, it's as if DJI just built the camera mainly for that. Day time videos are not much better than the original pro imho unless again you shoot in D-log H.265 and know what you're doing in post work. So the word PRO very much fits with the Mavic 2 pro owner. I still use it for evening and early morning shots to get that dynamic range, but for everything else I use the zoom. The zoom is great for your average youtube user, social media lover, and vloggers. The day videos are pretty good and evening are not that bad. I find the zoom feature very useful as you can get close without getting close, and that's security for me as my drone is not easily seen as a threat. I've shot videos or animals and they don't even know I'm there. If you have the Mavic pro keep it don't upgrade, if you have the Mavic air and are happy with the distance keep it however if you want better reception get the zoom. My two cents.

Thank you very much for sharing your experience/thoughts on the M2 series! I appreciate the fact that you didn't completely drown out the possibility of keeping the original MP, but instead compared it.

FlyDK Posted at 11-20 02:22
If you ask me, I think almost everyone who bought and owns an M2P will say; "Yes, it's definitely worth it", whereas if you ask those who have bought and own an M(1)P, they will probably be more reluctant. Frankly, I do not think there's much to gain from buying an M2P if you already have an M(1)P. But if I personally had to choose between M2P and M(1)P and wanted to buy now, I would of course choose M2P.

Agreed totally.

I think it’s worth the upgrade, as an aircraft and with the latest tech that comes with it, value wise if you compare to Mavic Pro , with all the extras it has including brand new camera it is much better value than Mavic Pro was , you have to take into consideration when Mavic Pro was released two years ago it cost me €1200 new, Mavic 2 cost me €1449, so for €249 extra is the value better, it’s value is much better for what you get for your money. You also have the option of the Zoom which two years on costs €100 more than orignal Mavic Pro , and there is no question it has a much higher value than Mavic Pro when it was released.

I own both and I can tell you Mavic Pro is a great craft , but M2 is a far superior craft in every way, but you won’t know this until you fly it.

I'd say yes it is.

A CW Posted at 11-22 09:29
I'd say yes it is.

Thanks for your feedback - as always.

Nordium Posted at 11-22 11:52
Thanks for your feedback - as always.

You're welcome