Will there be a Mavic air pro maybe?

I doubt it, it might be on its way out.  The air is a great drone and I do have one that I fly from time to time, but it does not compare to any other "Mavics".  Sorry to say.

Lucas775 Posted at 1-3 18:29
I doubt it, it might be on its way out.  The air is a great drone and I do have one that I fly from time to time, but it does not compare to any other "Mavics".  Sorry to say.

i doubt that they wont make a Mavic 2 Air.  they intentionally left a lot of room to grow, as seen by our fairly basic complaints with thing could be extremly easily solved with firmware updates just get ignored.  


here is a few examples of things i think DJi is ignoring for hardware/software in favor of keeping a gap for the Mav 2 Air.

1. much improved wireless connectivity.. even Wifi, DJI is ignoring all the endless scopes of methods to extract incredible reliability out of the signal currently like channel hopping simulcasting dual band connections, color coding, etc etc

2. little software issues we all wanted.. like instant camera down/up, splitting RC and AC wireless signals..etc etc..

3. landing lights, this is going to become a thing i think all future DJI drones.. i dont see why not either, LEDs arent expensive and cost very little energy as well..

4. probably an improved camera system with better encoding and better lenses.. or maybe even implementing a dual camera function for 2X zoom with digital zoom fill between?

5. H.265 encoding/transmission  not a new thing, just industry is extremely slow to adopt, no reason not to.

6. side sensors... IR or vision based, not sure. IR can work but limited range and cant see as well as a camera based vision system, but IR is smaller and can fit in existing shape and mold of Mav air currently..  however i doubting top firing IR system given size of the drone, they have to move the GPS  and already tight fit.  

7. quiet props.. no reason cant happen, may never be as quet as a mavic pro 1 and 2 but quieter is always welcome.

8. improved battery life...haven torn apart my mavic air, i believe could make room inside the drone to fit a 4 cell battery flush as it is currently.  my rough estimate is 1 cell = 1/4 inch could see 1/4 inch being make if nothing else a slightly thicker drone by 1/4 inch is possible and probably never know unless side by side.    i could see 4C battery increasing the life to ~25 minutes rated..every bit is awesome.

9.  wishful thinking here.. but are clues it maybe happening.. but DJi's new Air sense technology.  looks like all mavic 2 drones on hardware level have air sense tech but only activated officially on M2E drones.. and its a passive technology just listening for manned aircraft beacons/squawk boxes on known frequencies so implementing it isnt a huge challenge..  

Nah don't thinks so

I think Mavic Air was created in between Entry level and Pro or in between Spark and Mavic Pro.
Instead of having Mavic Air 2, I assume that Mavic 3 Pro for 2019 will have some 3 obstacle avoidance.
Mavic Air is a good choice for beginners who wanted to get the feel of pro while having a smaller size.

DJI is following in Apple's naming logic here.   

Mavic Pro = Macbook Pro:

Mavic Air = Macbook Air:   

that's my theory at-least.. and makes sense as well i think.  now as for will DJI make a new mavic air.. very likely..there is a honest market for it alot of things DJI is sandbagging with current mavic air that wouldnt be that hard for them to software toggle on or to fix on hardware level in a new drone.  

speaking with few people about this..  likely a handful of things DJI could do without dramatically changing anything and maximizing profit while making genuine improvements so this is a list of the most likely changes not wishful thinking.

1.   Landing lights, cant be that hard to put some bright LEDs on the belly of the drone for better landing/spotting.

2.   4 cell battery.. each cell takes up estimated 1/4 inch so it could definitely happen, or increase cell capacity per cell in current battery.  this increase responsiveness and runtime.

3.   Better wireless connectivity/next gen Wifi that can defeat interference more easily.  something like 802.11AX or something like that which is super capable of getitng around current issues of wifi more easily.. sadly i doubt DJI will put 802.11AX into mavic air as 802.11AX is much faster than Occusync 2.0  (AX can so 1148MB/Sec on 2.4Ghz and 4804Mb/Sec on 5.8Ghz and occusync 2.0 can only muster 140MB/Sec)

4.   some sort of side sensors..it will likely be IR based because cameras take up room and require more processing where as IR based distance meter can be processed in module and fed into existing systems.  while IR is limited, it could work or help.

5.   improved camera/dual camera system for the main camera.  so many phones using 2 cameras 1 for normal wider angle and other for x2 zoom and honestly simple software to digital zoom slider between it...DJI could definitely use that make a 2X zoom possible.   or at very least just improve current camera/lens and image signal proccessing a bit more.

6.  software improvements.. dji been ignoring us on software complaints for a good while. so probably they gathering up all our moaning and will throw much of it into new mavic air system

Smaller, lighter, faster, quieter, better, cheaper, ...

Hi, thanks for sharing your interest in the possible upgraded version of Mavic Air. As of the time being, we haven't received an update if there will be a new upcoming product. We would recommend paying attention to this forum or on our website for further updates. Thank you for continued support.

At least an improvement by quieter props.

They probably have a full list of items they can add to any drone that hasn't yet been deployed.

-Side sensors. Followed by full spherical sensing in all directions.
-360 cameras
-night vision and thermal imaging
-quiet props
-extended battery life

What they can most likely immediately implement for any future mavic air 2.0 is probably side sensors, but probably no top sensor. They can probably give it quieter propellers, but hopefully that can be an option for existing mavic airs as well. Then maybe extended batteries. The mavic air can carry extra payload. So it's very possible to give it a bigger battery to maybe gain a few more minutes of flight time, even despite the heavier payload.

Honestly, I think DJI needs to make drones that fly for an hour. This half hour to less than half hour flight time isn't great. I'd really love to see a drone that can stay in the air for an hour. Even the matrice can't stay in the air for an hour straight, and they are for industrial applications.

quaddron3 Posted at 1-4 16:21
They probably have a full list of items they can add to any drone that hasn't yet been deployed.

-Side sensors. Followed by full spherical sensing in all directions.

It’s incredible hard for a drone to stay in the air that long... point where crossover with battery weight and runtime and battery weights too much to provide sufficient runtime as well as efficiency issue..   limit generally speaking to scaling up.  

Also have to consider drones unlike fixed wing aircraft, have everything working against them... only way they generate lift is consuming power and spinning those props at intense speeds where as a fixed wing generating lift from the wings and the motor is only pushing it and accelerating it..

All things being equal if all DJI did was add another cell to the mavic air’s battery it would probably get a rated 25 minutes from current 21 minutes.   Now if you add in more effecent props, more efficient SoC uses less power for processing, and screamline the drone a bite more so less edges and flat surfaces, maybe use lower RPM motors with better props, and add in a 4S battery,  maybe they could squeeze 27 minutes rated maybe.

DJI Tony Posted at 1-4 14:12
Hi, thanks for sharing your interest in the possible upgraded version of Mavic Air. As of the time being, we haven't received an update if there will be a new upcoming product. We would recommend paying attention to this forum or on our website for further updates. Thank you for continued support.

That means "NO"

HereForTheBeer Posted at 1-4 17:12
It’s incredible hard for a drone to stay in the air that long... point where crossover with battery weight and runtime and battery weights too much to provide sufficient runtime as well as efficiency issue..   limit generally speaking to scaling up.  

Also have to consider drones unlike fixed wing aircraft, have everything working against them... only way they generate lift is consuming power and spinning those props at intense speeds where as a fixed wing generating lift from the wings and the motor is only pushing it and accelerating it..

I'm sure if they could offer better battery life, they would. But yes, obviously such efforts will involve some kind of optimization.

There are quadcopter drones out there which can purportedly last around an hour in the sky. The Aeryon drones for example, marketed for industrial applications, is touted to have up to almost an hour flight time. But the DJI Matrice 200 series, also for industrial applications, has around 1/2 an hour for example. So there are places where they can improve for sure. Surely it can't be a technology limitation.

Take the Mavic Air. They have a cooling fan that is running all the time. That uses a lot of power. Maybe they can start with that and finding another solution to cooling. Maybe the fact it even needs cooling, hence energy loss as heat, shows more room for improvement. Maybe they can improve weight and aerodynamic efficiencies. Just brainstorming. I'm sure they are looking into it, but the point is 1 hour is more ideal than these 1/2 hour drones they keep producing.

I've surveyed a property to make orthophotos where I had to fly the drone back for a battery change because I can't fit it in the meager 20min or so flight time that I can push it to. To survey the entire property at the image resolution I want, I'd need around 40 min of continuous flight time. So I do a battery change. But then the sun's position and the cloud coverage might change the longer I waste time. It will be great if the drone can just do 1 hour in the air.

If we will get new drone from DJI this year it will be Spark 2 or Phantom 5.

My wishes for AIR 2 are:

-Better connection stability if we get it close to ocusync it would be great
-Better battery life
- more safety features

Im intrested if DJI is thinking about having flying wing drone like Parrot Disco that would be nice as well

A more reliable cooling fan would be an improvement as I have read many tales of woe on these forums regarding overheating Mavic Air's due to a cooling fan failure and overheat messages so holding off buying one until it's fixed.

there must be a surprise from dji
HP Driver

Lucas775 Posted at 1-4 19:48
That means "NO"

Hi, thanks for your notification. Rest assured that we will keep providing new DJI products for better experiences here in DJI. Thank you for continued support.

If we get anything new for the Mavic Air this soon I bet it'll be like the Mavic Pro Platinum upgrade.  Good enough to be better, not good enough to replace the original for the cost.

quaddron3 Posted at 1-4 22:54
I'm sure if they could offer better battery life, they would. But yes, obviously such efforts will involve some kind of optimization.

There are quadcopter drones out there which can purportedly last around an hour in the sky. The Aeryon drones for example, marketed for industrial applications, is touted to have up to almost an hour flight time. But the DJI Matrice 200 series, also for industrial applications, has around 1/2 an hour for example. So there are places where they can improve for sure. Surely it can't be a technology limitation.

not that hard in a fixed wing to get  +10 minutes from optimizations like lighter body, larger wings,  more aerodynamic and stuff like that because again the things generating lift does not require the battery to power it, its passive its the wings, the losses are from the drag of the air.  

but with drones getting over the 30 minute hump is incredibly difficult not impossible, just currently impractical.  have to consider batteries dont get lighter as they get drained so drawing same amperage at 100% and 10% battery but its alot harder for those battery cells to delivery same amps as gets weaker without voltage sag and heat from internal resistance, plus on top of that it has to deal with that weight of the drone still which more batteries = more weight = more work those batteries have to do.     

people look at this like tesla cars i think who put more batteries in it and goes further, kinda true, however gravy isn't as big of an effect and drag coefficient isnt as still because the body of the car and speed of the vehicles.. where as with drone, gravy is always against you, and harder and faster have to spin those props the thicker and heavier air becomes..turns from being of little resistance to being like water or even honey depending how fast props are whipping around... and a tesla you can drive it slower if need to or battery is weak the motors and vehical works at whatever speeds you want.... drone has to keep the props spinning fast and hard or it falls like a stone..


as for the fan in mavic air,m doesnt draw much energy, the wires way to light and thin small gauge to carry much current.   its loud because the fan is whipping air and being shoved down a blower style cooling system by some shielding thats why its so loud.... the blades arent really biting the air and throwing it a direction like a proper blower fan.    i think yes they could optimize the SoC (system on Chip) a bit more so not as hot and doesnt draw as much power.. but i dont think the idel power useage of the mavic air is very high compared to drones like the spark, spark has really terrible idel power usage and by the time your airbourne with sat lock, you drained like 5-10% power...

Maybe there won't be Mavic air 2 in 2019, but I think there will be Mavic 2 pro platinum.

CharlieZ Posted at 1-5 12:36
Maybe there won't be Mavic air 2 in 2019, but I think there will be Mavic 2 pro platinum.

thinking about the idea of a plat model..  i think too early for mavic 2 plat but ....given dji does new generation drones every other year in recent times... mavic air plat is a possibility to fill the gap.  

my MA would sometimes snap or jerk a few degrees to the left and drift for 2-3 seconds before I can control it again.  They've been ignoring this issue as well.

HereForTheBeer Posted at 1-5 12:49
thinking about the idea of a plat model..  i think too early for mavic 2 plat but ....given dji does new generation drones every other year in recent times... mavic air plat is a possibility to fill the gap.

It's possible. However, DJI doesn't seem to care a lot about the Mavic air. There are tons of issues are on Mavic air are not fixed yet.

Fixing the annoying oversensitive compass would be a start + quieter props so people don't think there is a swarm of killer bees heading their way.

HereForTheBeer Posted at 1-4 08:50
DJI is following in Apple's naming logic here.   

Mavic Pro = Macbook Pro:

Those would be nice improvements.  I'd pay extra for a nice little compact drone with pro features.

quaddron3 Posted at 1-4 16:21
They probably have a full list of items they can add to any drone that hasn't yet been deployed.

-Side sensors. Followed by full spherical sensing in all directions.

I'd be satisfied with just extended battery life.

HereForTheBeer Posted at 1-4 17:12
It’s incredible hard for a drone to stay in the air that long... point where crossover with battery weight and runtime and battery weights too much to provide sufficient runtime as well as efficiency issue..   limit generally speaking to scaling up.  

Also have to consider drones unlike fixed wing aircraft, have everything working against them... only way they generate lift is consuming power and spinning those props at intense speeds where as a fixed wing generating lift from the wings and the motor is only pushing it and accelerating it..

Maybe someone will make an aftermarket super battery.  

Needless to say given it’s comparable price tag difference, I’ve been the least happy with my Air. Although newer than my Mav Pro 1 it just isn’t as complete. Video recording is better yes and it has Asteroid quick shot but the MP1 is still better. Then my recent treat, Mav Pro 2 - wow, just wow!

quaddron3 Posted at 1-4 22:54
I'm sure if they could offer better battery life, they would. But yes, obviously such efforts will involve some kind of optimization.

There are quadcopter drones out there which can purportedly last around an hour in the sky. The Aeryon drones for example, marketed for industrial applications, is touted to have up to almost an hour flight time. But the DJI Matrice 200 series, also for industrial applications, has around 1/2 an hour for example. So there are places where they can improve for sure. Surely it can't be a technology limitation.

I've been thinking of ways to maybe piggy back an extra battery.   I'm sure it can be done.  

Help. Who knows when it will be possible to buy the latest model in Spain (Canary Islands)?

Be nice if there were a few firmware updates to fix some of the missing options and tech, this would be a start  and to be fair its not that old so not really much need to release a new version, maybe this time round they could offer some upgrades such as better tech batteries, quieter props, maybe esc's and have a bundle  where repair house or themselves could offer the upgrades for a fee  ad the air frame  is pretty good.

The spark is still being sold so not sure why that hasnt been updated to spark 2 probably as there is no need as its entry level and if you want something better you go for the air, and then the mavic's
the MA is pretty good out of the box to be fair the camera could be better but then if it was why would you buy the Mavic pro?

Definitely a software update is in order to address some of the issues that have been raised!

Maybe they will kill off the spark and make the current MA the entry level and then bring out  the MA2 with all the features we wanted but not all the feature of the Mavic 2, let face it they are still selling the P4P just with better internals  so not sure why you would re-design the wheel so to speak on the little guy when its clearly a winner with not much competition.

But who knows im sure thee will be a few sites out there speculating on specs along with the Phantom 5 or Phantom X  

Mavic Air - one of the best technology drones on the planet. The new Mavic Air 2019 is a super perfect new innovation. We are all waiting to see and feel the Mavic Air 2019. I think everything will come true soon. We wait...

First of all, I completely disagree with putting Mavic Air into mid/low-something category considering the price as it is comparable to standard Mavic. I use it mostly in the mountains as a photography/videography tool, so my primary requirements are 1) light 2) silent 3) stable connection. Number (1) is solved, now let's see about the others.

replacement mavic air dated 21dec2018 has micro sized battery presence mechanical springloaded depression switches located in battery bay up forward bulkhead to the sides, port and starboard. when battery is fully installed these two tiny depression switches are pressed in. take a look and see?  for what purpose do these tiny sized springloaded depress switches exist for? battery can not come out once secured by red buckles external

Yeah we have new props for the mavic air in 2019 - Master Air Screw quiet props so far.

Occusync, and better battery

Fixing firmware update

Lucas775 Posted at 1-3 18:29
I doubt it, it might be on its way out.  The air is a great drone and I do have one that I fly from time to time, but it does not compare to any other "Mavics".  Sorry to say.

It's also cheaper than the other Mavic's. There's a large gap between the Spark and the Mavic 2 Zoom, both in regards to price and features; the Air fills this gap well, and I see no reason it wouldn't be upgraded.

OneDoesNotSimply Posted at 1-6 08:46
Fixing the annoying oversensitive compass would be a start + quieter props so people don't think there is a swarm of killer bees heading their way.

Goodness yes, the compass is so finicky. I took off today with no issue, landed maybe 10 feet away, moved back to the original takeoff spot to fly it again, and the compass needed to be calibrated! I had just flown from this spot without needing calibration, why does it need it now?

Stormageddons Posted at 4-25 21:36
Goodness yes, the compass is so finicky. I took off today with no issue, landed maybe 10 feet away, moved back to the original takeoff spot to fly it again, and the compass needed to be calibrated! I had just flown from this spot without needing calibration, why does it need it now?

Strange thing about it is , no matter how far you go calibrating compass won’t change anything in your craft, and while it won’t do any harm calibrating, there is no need unless there is something wrong with your compass.
The only reason of calibrating your compass is to measure the components of the aircraft's magnetic field so that they can be subtracted from the total measured magnetic field. Assuming no metal components like a tracking device metallic skin have been added or removed from the Mavic those compass values or measurements won't change after moving to a new location.

There’s nothing wrong if you want to calibrate, just do it correctly .