Hello everyone,

Yesterday I sold my Mavic Pro, the original one after almost 3 years and purchased Mavic Air 2.
There is absolutely nothing on the internet when it comes to comparing those two drones so I read all the specs and took the plunge. It is strange that no one compared the two as some Mavic Pro owners could see Mavic Air 2 as an upgrade although those two do not cover the same segment.
First of all I upgraded because of my GAS that is for sure, but looking at specs I wanted a better camera, more stable reception, lighter and smaller drone, better battery life and a newer piece od gear as I was not sure for how long Mavic Pro will operate well together with its 50+ cycles batteries, although I suspect the last one is a little bit stupid from me.

I made just 3 flights but my initial impression looks like this:

Sturdier build quality
Image quality about the same
Reception little worse
Battery life noticeably better
New controller much better ergonomics, but missing LCD screen and exposure wheel
Fly App seems more solid than Go 4 App although it does not have all the options

Please share with me your opinions about those two drones, this is all very subjective of course as I just tested it, but I will keep flying and writing here as well.
For now I like it, I believe it is an upgrade in almost every sense, although just a little bit while the hype about it being perfect drone is just a marketing gimmicks, but we will see how things will hold in the future.

I agree with the points you make though in my experience the MA2 has a much better image quality and superior transmission - I don't get any glitches in the live feed with the MA2. I also find the MA2 far less buggy than the original Pro and an upgrade in practically every area. It also handles heavier wind speeds far more effectively too and is an all round more reliable platform. I have flown my MA2 >2 million feet since buying it in May and have not experienced a single error. The Pro was, however, very feature rich by comparison with more options but if presented with the two drones now I would choose the MA2 everyday of the week. In fact, I even prefer it to the Mavic 2 Pro that I have also owned.

I would be disappointed with the removal of the exposure wheel,  I use that a lot on the M2P.   

Thanks for sharing your experience!

A J Posted at 9-11 01:01
I agree with the points you make though in my experience the MA2 has a much better image quality and superior transmission - I don't get any glitches in the live feed with the MA2. I also find the MA2 far less buggy than the original Pro and an upgrade in practically every area. It also handles heavier wind speeds far more effectively too and is an all round more reliable platform. I have flown my MA2 >2 million feet since buying it in May and have not experienced a single error. The Pro was, however, very feature rich by comparison with more options but if presented with the two drones now I would choose the MA2 everyday of the week. In fact, I even prefer it to the Mavic 2 Pro that I have also owned.

Well, you are right the camera is better, maybe I used to D-LOG so the image does not look too flat now. Also I learned how to extract every bit of data from that sensor now I need to adapt.
I tested some footage before I decided to buy it and yes it is easier to grade as it has more data, there is also more noise in the shadows but less artifacts from noise reduction than Mavic Pro, I believe this D-Cinelike will be enough as D-LOG from Mavic Pro did not have more dynamic range really, just flatter image compared to D-Cinelike and much harder to grade highlights.

As for stability and signal strength, I noticed that it flies more stable and without drifting, Mavic Pro always drifted to one side. Maybe this is because the gimbal is better I am not sure.
I rarely loose the signal completely with Mavic Pro as it happened few times in 3 years, however in 3 flights I had 2 RTH because the drone lost the signal completely.
Still learning how to position this antenas, but there is not much that can be done, maybe to point them out to where the drone is.

Overall I am satisfied, still learning how to extract the best from it.

alfaholic Posted at 9-11 03:35
Well, you are right the camera is better, maybe I used to D-LOG so the image does not look too flat now. Also I learned how to extract every bit of data from that sensor now I need to adapt.
I tested some footage before I decided to buy it and yes it is easier to grade as it has more data, there is also more noise in the shadows but less artifacts from noise reduction than Mavic Pro, I believe this D-Cinelike will be enough as D-LOG from Mavic Pro did not have more dynamic range really, just flatter image compared to D-Cinelike and much harder to grade highlights.

Also note that the video bitrate of the MA2 is double the MP (120mbps vs 60) and you have the larger sensor on the MA2 (1/2" vs 1/2.3"). The sensor is also quad bayer so manipulates the 12mp sensor to produce 48mp stills and 8K hyper lapses - it is also the reason why you will not lose much detail when using the x2 Digital zoom in 4K.

The processor in the MA2 is also far more advanced and the footage, especially in 4K, is less compressed. It is sometimes difficult to tell the difference between the images take with two different drones in a similar class but the MA2 and MP is definitely noticeable in my experience.

The new MA2 RC uses a patch antenna - the black device holder on the top of the RC is actually the antenna and the top of that must be pointed directly at the drone at all times in flight to maximise the transmission signal. It is also important to ensure that there is no obstructions in the LOS between the AC and RC.

My only criticism of the MA2 is that the flight times are heavily impacted by variables such as wind speed and using Sport mode etc. When I state flight times vary from 15 to 30 minutes I am not exaggerating. Also the charge times are very long. Six hours to fully recharge 4 batteries! Other than that I find the MA2 to be an excellent all round drone and for £949 as a FMC one can't really complain, especially as the original MP FMC was £1,369 four years ago when that was released but four years is a very long time in this game which is why you are finding it difficult to come across comparisons of these two specific drones. It's like comparing the Phantom 4 with the Phantom 2. The MA2 is the successor to the MA and not the Mavic Pro models - not that you'd think it.

A J Posted at 9-11 03:57
Also note that the video bitrate of the MA2 is double the MP (120mbps vs 60) and you have the larger sensor on the MA2 (1/2" vs 1/2.3"). The sensor is also quad bayer so manipulates the 12mp sensor to produce 48mp stills and 8K hyper lapses - it is also the reason why you will not lose much detail when using the x2 Digital zoom in 4K.

The processor in the MA2 is also far more advanced and the footage, especially in 4K, is less compressed. It is sometimes difficult to tell the difference between the images take with two different drones in a similar class but the MA2 and MP is definitely noticeable in my experience.

I noticed longer charging times as well. Maybe DJI wanted to address those issues with M2P batteries swelling often without obvious reason so they use more conservative voltage charger.

As I can see there is no option to set auto-discharge timer, also there is no battery health info. I believe they will ad more to this app as time goes, I personally find those camera settings little bit hidden and small.

That’s my belief too given the numerous M2P swollen batteries.

Hi. Thank you for creating this informative post and sharing your feedback with your new DJI Mavic Air 2. These will be a great help to new DJI Mavic Air 2 pilots. Thank you for your valued support.

I made 6 more flights today and I am now positive the signal was much, much more stable with MP. I need to investigate more, but the phone is the same, locations are the same, I always turn Airplane Mode on and remove all other apps from the background. Air2 losses the signal abruptly, however MP was always gradual and even the image freezes I still have control, while with Air 2 things happen very fast.
Today I lost the connection with the drone more than 10 times in one hour within a 500 meters. I believe MP did not disconnect more in almost three years. Not a nice feeling though waiting for the image to show up.

Maybe I am doing something wrong, need to check my workflow.

There is a few comparisons between mavic pro 1 and mavic air 2, but not enough, and I had a different experience going from my mavic pro to mavic air 2, video quality yes, it is better (just a bit), but I miss all the features from the dji go 4 app

With the photos I’m getting more noise with mavic air 2, I don’t know why .-.

I’m getting almost the same flying time (sometimes less, sometimes more) as my mavic pro, like some of you say it can fly for around 15 to 28 depending on the wind and how you are flying (I didn’t experience this with my mavic pro)

I miss the screen and the exposure wheel too, but the new remote is more ergonomic and its battery last a lot more

Dji fly app heats my phone a lot! And after 15min of flying my phone starts to freeze because the high temps

I didn’t have a bad connection with my mavic pro, but Mavic air 2 connection is a lot better, at least in my situation I can fly easily 2miles away  without loosing connection

You can buy a cable from eBay that does not have power connected so the phone will not charge. Also on Android you can have an app that stops charging.
As for the battery, I noticed that as well the other day it was very strong wind and the battery went from 100 to 30 percent in 15 minutes, which is understandable I suppose.

I made few more flights in few different locations as I did few jobs with Air 2, and still the signal get lost if there is anything between the controller and the drone. I noticed it is much more stable than MP, it does not drift and it flies much more precise. But it may be because of the better gimbal, not sure about that.
I like this new app, after few important updates it does not miss much compared to DJI GO4.

When you wrote your original post, there may not have been any comparisons out there but here are three for anyone looking:

Thanks. Only the first one is with the original MP, others are comparing MA2 with MP2. The first video is all in auto mode without any grading so not very useful really of anyone who wants to extract everything from this sensor.