Hi all
So DJI just announced the long awaited remote with the built in screen, the DJI Smart Controller, yay!



Flysafely
Alex

Awesome. I want one.

That's something cool. Want one too after buying Mavic Zoom

Way too expensive, has no benefits to the normal controller with smartphone in my opinion.

Two things put me off
1. £579
2. It's Android which as we know is not the best with DJI drones
That aside it looks great and the bright screen will come in handy but not for me - I'll just stand in the shade with my iPhone and enjoy a more reliable reception whilst I save myself several hundred quid

saviour Posted at 1-8 06:12
Way too expensive, has no benefits to the normal controller with smartphone in my opinion.

Where did you see the price

hallmark007 Posted at 1-8 06:22
Where did you see the price

https://store.dji.com/product/dji-smart-controller

Looks great, thanks for sharing Alex

the only convenient factor i see is not having to charge both a tablet and rc. and also the setup of turning on tablet, rc, and then installing and setting up. that time is all cut down since now you charge one unit and turn on one unit. but the $640 USD for a 5.5 screen is way too costly. and a downgrade from my 8in tablet i use now

Let's see what and when the next firmware and GO4/Pilot updates are bringing.
If they are handled like the Crystalsky units ... No, nothing for me - Have a look at the controller one year later from now on.

this thing should be an attachment to the existing remote or offered as an upgrade with the drone itself. they are making you pay the price of another controller just for a screen. Such a waste of money

ny300z Posted at 1-8 07:15
this thing should be an attachment to the existing remote or offered as an upgrade with the drone itself. they are making you pay the price of another controller just for a screen. Such a waste of money

I Agree.
Why not selling an attachable upgrade only?
Doing so would have kept the foldable form factor and be suitable for everyone at a lower cost.

ny300z Posted at 1-8 07:15
this thing should be an attachment to the existing remote or offered as an upgrade with the drone itself. they are making you pay the price of another controller just for a screen. Such a waste of money

look on the store. $1,899 for M2P with this RC and $1,649 for M2Z with this RC. they remove the stock RC and add this with $400 price raise over regular package

No thanks. There really aren’t enough benefits to warrant a purchase, and that price is ridiculous.

Nope.  $650 for an Android Tablet that you can't use without the remote control. Will it be woefully updated like CS? All my gripes basically are the cost and what you get for that.

TruGreen Posted at 1-8 07:25
look on the store. $1,899 for M2P with this RC and $1,649 for M2Z with this RC. they remove the stock RC and add this with $400 price raise over regular package

ok that is good and makes sense I didnt know they are selling it like that with the drone. BUT selling it for $650 alone is ridiculous and a huge ripoff especially considering you can only use it with the one drone. What are people just gonna put their working $300 RC in a drawer? what a waste

ny300z Posted at 1-8 08:22
ok that is good and makes sense I didnt know they are selling it like that with the drone. BUT selling it for $650 alone is ridiculous and a huge ripoff especially considering you can only use it with the one drone. What are people just gonna put their working $300 RC in a drawer? what a waste

Would be nice if you could use the other RC for a 2nd camera operator.

FlySD Posted at 1-8 08:41
Would be nice if you could use the other RC for a 2nd camera operator.

true, or would be nice if they did a trade in offer or something. The fact they expect you to just throw your expensive working RC to the side if you buy this new one says a lot about the company. Stuff like that makes me not buy something. Principal is worth more then the money sometimes

FlySD Posted at 1-8 08:41
Would be nice if you could use the other RC for a 2nd camera operator.

you could do that with a regular Mavic 1 Pro so i wonder if you can on the M2 series??
also i would try to sell my stock RC if i did decide to pick up the screen remote, but losing a 8in display for a 5.5 is a hard choice to make

Mgozer Posted at 1-8 07:23
Why not selling an attachable upgrade only?

attachable upgrade already available. It's called the crystalsky.

Aeromirage Posted at 1-8 09:20
attachable upgrade already available. It's called the crystalsky.

And it costs plenty of money as well, but at least it is much more universal - you can use crystalsky with any of drones!!!

TruGreen Posted at 1-8 08:51
you could do that with a regular Mavic 1 Pro so i wonder if you can on the M2 series??
also i would try to sell my stock RC if i did decide to pick up the screen remote, but losing a 8in display for a 5.5 is a hard choice to make

Dji have already said they would make available the use of two RC with M2 so I expect this will happen, regards the price , yes it is expensive, but when I compare to my phone @ €1000, yes it takes and makes phone calls and text messages, but apart from that it has a very expensive small camera and it does a few tricks, but I seem to think I need one every year or second year and I think it somehow is good value.

On the other hand RC for my drone cost €650 , it doesn’t take photos/videos , but my drone does, it doesn’t make phone calls but can be connected by hotspot to my phone. It completely frees up my phone to take receive calls notifications, it frees up space on my phone so stops clogging up my phone, it has a much better viewing screen can be used in direct sunlight, it has HDMI out which I paid €130 for a separate module for my P4Pro and is something I use frequently but cannot with Mavic controller, it can be used with future dji drones, I can set up and fly much quicker, I can instantly playback in high resolution , it has Bluetooth. So value wise when I compare it to my phone then it has some real value.

Yes I could use an iPad get bigger screen, but iPad also is not cheap, I have to get a mount I have to get xtra cable, it makes for a much more uncomfortable rig takes up more space, I tried an iPad and no matter what it’s not as comfortable as just using your phone.

Then I come to the problem of using my phone IPhone XR , have you tried putting into Mavic RC holder, it has face detection but cannot detect my face when in holder, at opposite end I cannot use slide up to open phone because slide up is also blocked, so extremely fidgety and RC doesn’t suit new iPhones .

Drawbacks I see is what do I do with spare RC, can I sell it, I mean how many people lose a RC, will dji be updating the controller keeping pace with up to date app.

I will mull it over but weighing all up on paper, I don’t feel it is as expensive as some of the Stuff I buy.

OMG, 649 € for screen and electronics!  CostPrise ~ 100 euro`s, i think they use the same over-price logic as Apple     but Apple is slowly loosing customers.....

cheers
JJB

As far as supporting future drones...?  Where was that stated?    That wouldn’t be like DJI’s MO at all.  My bet, it will work with the M2 series, that will be it.  Ideally it would have worked with Spark, MA, MP, and M2, then it would have possibly been a purchase for me, but it doesn’t even work with P2P v2.0 which is also Sync 2.0.  DJI missed the mark here.

Oracle Miata Posted at 1-8 09:43
As far as supporting future drones...?  Where was that stated?    That wouldn’t be like DJI’s MO at all.  My bet, it will work with the M2 series, that will be it.  Ideally it would have worked with Spark, MA, MP, and M2, then it would have possibly been a purchase for me, but it doesn’t even work with P2P v2.0 which is also Sync 2.0.  DJI missed the mark here.

You will hear it mentioned here, there are also other reviews that state the same.

With all due respect, that’s a review.  We shall see, time will tell.

Looks good, but very expensive for what it is.

Oracle Miata Posted at 1-8 10:08
With all due respect, that’s a review.  We shall see, time will tell.

I understand it’s a review , but it seems all reviewers are talking from the same hymn sheet, but yes we will have to wait for confirmation.
I think the fact it can also playback in 4K 60fps might be a clue.

ill stick with my $49 dedicated samsung device and find a tree if I need shade. DJI dropped the ball on this one

I think the lack of LCD on the remote is actually a downgrade. I like the Mavic 2 remote LCD as it's 'emergency backup data' if my iPad dies or the Go app crashes.

I don't like using my iPad mini with the drone, it's fiddly, I don't really like my mount, I have to put the sunshade on it, it's something else to charge ... BUT ... it works, it didn't cost £600 and it's IOS which by all accounts is a more reliable platform for GO4.

mavic2zoom-ch Posted at 1-8 12:42
I think the lack of LCD on the remote is actually a downgrade. I like the Mavic 2 remote LCD as it's 'emergency backup data' if my iPad dies or the Go app crashes.

I don't like using my iPad mini with the drone, it's fiddly, I don't really like my mount, I have to put the sunshade on it, it's something else to charge ... BUT ... it works, it didn't cost £600 and it's IOS which by all accounts is a more reliable platform for GO4.

oh wow I didn't even notice that it doesn't have a telemetry screen! haha garbage. I would've lost my drone a few times due to app crashes if I didn't have the telemetry to get it back.

hallmark007 Posted at 1-8 09:30
Dji have already said they would make available the use of two RC with M2 so I expect this will happen, regards the price , yes it is expensive, but when I compare to my phone @ €1000, yes it takes and makes phone calls and text messages, but apart from that it has a very expensive small camera and it does a few tricks, but I seem to think I need one every year or second year and I think it somehow is good value.

On the other hand RC for my drone cost €650 , it doesn’t take photos/videos , but my drone does, it doesn’t make phone calls but can be connected by hotspot to my phone. It completely frees up my phone to take receive calls notifications, it frees up space on my phone so stops clogging up my phone, it has a much better viewing screen can be used in direct sunlight, it has HDMI out which I paid €130 for a separate module for my P4Pro and is something I use frequently but cannot with Mavic controller, it can be used with future dji drones, I can set up and fly much quicker, I can instantly playback in high resolution , it has Bluetooth. So value wise when I compare it to my phone then it has some real value.

the ipad mini fits into the rc with no mount needed. tae used to holding but i currently fly that way with my 8in tab s2. which if i havent stated would be a huge downgrade going from 8in screen to a 5.5in
and selling old RC someone might buy it to do the dual RC operation as right now DJI doesnt list the RC alone for the regular model

Sky Carrier Posted at 1-8 06:43
Looks great, thanks for sharing Alex

You are welcome!

Fly safely
Alex

Personally I think it’s 200 € overpriced.

Fly safely
Alex

Aeromirage Posted at 1-8 09:20
attachable upgrade already available. It's called the crystalsky.

I know, but crystalsky does not integrate with the remote shape.
I meant something that could have fit into the remote as a mobile, but, rather then a mobile, a smaller crystalsky.

Why the output power of the new Smart controller lower than the original one ? How about the range performance will be the same ?

Mgozer Posted at 1-8 23:58
I know, but crystalsky does not integrate with the remote shape.
I meant something that could have fit into the remote as a mobile, but, rather then a mobile, a smaller crystalsky.

Some people just put velcro on RC handles and that simple adjust CrystalSky - so it practically is imtegrated with remote

Android???, good job, easy to mod !!

Well I’m not gonna get one, 1.no small screen in case of app crash, 2. Too expensive 3. Too small, I have an 9.7 inch iPad Air 2, so I don’t wanna go smaller, I’m used to the big screen now
It’s such a pleasure to fly with the iPad compared to the small phone

Fly safely
Alex

A CW Posted at 1-8 06:14
Two things put me off
1. £579
2. It's Android which as we know is not the best with DJI drones

If price hadn’t stopped me then knowing it’s Android based certainly has. I’m 100% out on this one. Nothing could temp me!