My Mavic Pro is scheduled to arrive today from apple. I orderd my Mavic October 11th 2016 if that helps anyone figure out when theres should be shipped. I had tried to cancel my order for the mavic almost 2 weeks ago thinking that I wouldnt see the drone before christmas at the earliest. I was told that the drone was preparing for shipment so I will have to send it back once it arrives to receive a refund. I got tired of all the run around and different answers from apple so I went out and bought a phantom 4 ten days ago. Now, DJI had to throw a huge wrench in my plan with the release of the phantom 4 pro not 10 days after I bought my phantom 4 and my Mavic is actually scheduled to arrive. What do you guys think? Should I keep my Mavic or should I preorder the Phantom 4 Pro? The Phantom 4 I purchased is my first high end drone and I have had zero problems with it. I have been watching and reading peoples problems with the mavic pro. I really like the idea of the mavic, but all the still to be worked out bugs really make me nervous. All the problems I have been reading were the biggest reason I was trying to cancel my preorder. I want to see people's opinions that have a mavic. Is it worth holding on to or if given your money back, would you order a P4P/P4P+? I willl be returning my phantom 4 today no matter what. I found out bestbuy is going to have them on a black friday special if anyone is in the market for a phantom 4. If anyone is tired of waiting for there Mavic Pro, I may be willing to sell it rather than sending it back to apple. Thank you for any advice you may have. Have a great day

I ordered mine on Oct 5th 2016 and haven't heard anything about it being shipped yet.  Considering canceling for now to let things die out a bit, but was thinking of waiting until the end of the week.  While the PS4 pro looks awesome, I do like the portability aspect of the Mavic.  Plus, were told it'll be shipping in 1-2 weeks...but isn't that what we heard with the Mavic.  So kind of torn at this point.  I think what upsets me most is the fact they already took my money, as opposed to waiting until it was shipped.  I normally don't order too many expensive things, but the last one I did was the Oculus Rift which I pre-ordered and they only actually took the money when I had a shipping notification.

I guess thats where I was a little luckier. Apple did not take my money until the Mavic actually shipped. I also like the portability of the Mavic, I am just nervous about the reliability of it. The phantom 4 I have been flying for the last week has been giving me no problems at all. If i knew i could same the same thing in a couple weeks with the Mavic, I would keep it. I agree with you that there is potential for the Phantom 4 Pro to be a repeat as far as shipping delays, but I think because it is not an entirely new drone, just a refresh of a current one, there shouldnt be too many delays. I also dont order too many expensive things. The mavic was supposed to by my birthday/Christmas present for the next couple years lol. If you had the mavic sitting in front of you and had the ability to return it for a full refund, would you return it or would you chance it and hope you would get lucky enough to get a mavic without problems?

TheCrimsonAmish Posted at 2016-11-16 08:52
I guess thats where I was a little luckier. Apple did not take my money until the Mavic actually shi ...

That is a tricky question.  Seems like there already is a firmware update for the Mavic.  The PS4 Pro is coming out with more sensors and sophistication - so it's most likely to encounter some of the same issue initially.  So in that respect, the Mavic is a little ahead.

This will be my first DJI drone, so I can't really talk about any previous experiences with one.  Although in the future I will use an Apple store instead of the DJI store to order mine.

I suppose that could be the case. What worries me about the Mavic pro is the lack of the ability to switch to manual flight mode. It seems most of the problems i have been reading about would be controllable if you could put it into manual mode like the phantom 4 I have. I guess I really have to figure out what I want to do. I like the added features of the Mavic, especially the occusync for extended range. I just wish i knew for sure I would have the same seamless experience as I have had with the Phantom 4.

TheCrimsonAmish Posted at 2016-11-16 14:06
I suppose that could be the case. What worries me about the Mavic pro is the lack of the ability to  ...

The ability to manually switch into ATTI mode is something which is definitely needed for this drone, especially if it is to be used in commercial manner. This could surely be done via the firmware and App. The drone goes into this mode if it loses GPS signal anyway! It would just be nice to be able to practice in this mode so that if/when it does occur in the middle of low level flight over a big lake somewhere you would be ready for it!

Well part of my reasoning for getting the drone was to develop some apps for it for my own use.  So in theory maybe I could look into coding a manual mode that would work.  No promises, since I'm still knee deep in the SDK manuals and without an actual drone I can't write any code yet.

Btw, where in the US do you live?  Because I'm in SE PA and we got plenty of Amish west of here.  Was curious because of the name.  And if you are Amish, isn't owning a drone prohibited?

Lol I live in Northeastern PA close to the PA NY border. I am not Amish but I do have some family that are conservative Mennonite. My name comes from my beard. The way it grows, I have had a LOT of people ask me if I was Amish. My beard is also really red and my hair is brown hence the "crimson" amish. I decided to embrace the look and take the name. I have been hoping DJI would release an update that would allow you to program the c1 or c2 buttons to turn on ATTI mode. That would be one feature I would miss if I decided to drop the phantom line for the Mavic

TheCrimsonAmish Posted at 2016-11-16 09:26
Lol I live in Northeastern PA close to the PA NY border. I am not Amish but I do have some family th ...

Very cool.  That area is really nice with the Poconos mountains up there.  Bet you get some amazing footage.

Apparently, they are set to release an update allowing the C2 button to call the horse and buggy

I heard that rumor as well lol. Pretty nice of DJI to cater to the Amish community lol. There are definitely places around me to get some beautiful shots. I have to get more flying under my belt before I go hunting for the best shots. So, any more opinions on keeping the Mavic pro vs. Pre-ordering the phantom 4 Pro?

TheCrimsonAmish Posted at 2016-11-16 08:05
I heard that rumor as well lol. Pretty nice of DJI to cater to the Amish community lol. There are de ...

I, like many people, bought the Mavic for one main reason.  Size and portability.  Your choice is clear - if portability is not a big deal to you, and you don't mind spending 50% more, then the P4P may be what you want.

TheCrimsonAmish Posted at 2016-11-16 10:05
I heard that rumor as well lol. Pretty nice of DJI to cater to the Amish community lol. There are de ...

Well can you afford both?  For me carrying the PS4 Pro would be a issue since I have a herniated disc and I'm not suppose to carry anything too heavy.  So for me the Mavic is ideal.  But if your using the drone for professional uses, then the PS4 would be a better choice.

My eventual plan is to help my Father do wedding photography. I may do a little cinematography as well for advertising, that is after I got a commercial license. My main concern is reliability and second would be image quality. The portability of the mavic is awesome for sure, but when doing wedding photos, there is a lot of equipment to carry and set up anyway. Is it worth sacrificing image quality, flight time, and reliability for portability? Thats what I am trying to decide. Right now, I have been carrying my P4 in a DJI backpack anytime I go out. I would agree it would be way nicer to deal with the Mavic pro, but would the still shots have good enough quality for someone to pay for or to put in someones wedding album?

TheCrimsonAmish Posted at 2016-11-16 08:33
My eventual plan is to help my Father do wedding photography. I may do a little cinematography as we ...

This thread was just posted where the P4P and Mavic are compared for picture quality.  It might help you decide.

http://forum.dji.com/thread-72309-1-1.html

TheCrimsonAmish Posted at 2016-11-16 10:33
My eventual plan is to help my Father do wedding photography. I may do a little cinematography as we ...

I think on a professional level, the Mavic doesn't look the part.  I think the P4 Pro would look more the part and get you more work later.

Did you have to get your FAA written test for a commercial license?  Was thinking about it as a long term goal but wasn't really sure on how to proceed.

I have not started down the road to acquiring my commercial license yet. I will be helping with a couple weddings next year and offering my services free of charge. I want to make sure I can perform my role and get the required shots before I start dedicating most of my time to drone photography. I will agree that the Mavic looks more like a toy despite the fact that it is a very capable machine. I like the looks of it, but it does not look like a couple thousand dollar machine that would get amazing shots. I will be headed to bestbuy tonight to return my phantom 4 and I will find out if they can take preorders for the phantom 4 pro yet. My Mavic will be waiting for me when i get home. Decisions decisions

TheCrimsonAmish Posted at 2016-11-16 10:59
I have not started down the road to acquiring my commercial license yet. I will be helping with a co ...

Keep us posted.  Not sure how the weather is up at your location, but it's starting to get a lot colder here.  Was hoping to the able to fly the Mavic before the snow hit.

The Phantom 4 Pro doesn't cost all the much more and is a more capable drone. Keeping the Phantom 4 doesn't make much sense to me. I'd return it while the return policy still allows it. Why not give the Mavic a shot. You probably pull it out of the box and be amazed.  If it turns out to be a lemon, return it back to Apple. They won't give you any trouble. Or, let's say it flies like a dream, but the video quality (which most will find amazing) isn't as good as you would like... return it back to Apple and buy the P4Pro. Remember though while you will get better video quality on the P4Pro you will still have much more trouble with the props being in the footage than the Mavic. I wouldn't want to deal with that if I was on a professional level.  I think if you are considering doing this on a pro level you would want the Mavic as your "pocketable point and shoot" so to speak and the Inspire 2 as your "DSLR".

I have been thinking about doing exactly that. i just checked out apple's return policy and it is pretty much the same as BestBuy's. Its a 14 day return policy except for orders shipped between November 10th and December 25th. If you receive your ordered items between those dates, you have until January 8th to return them. My order will fall within that window. I think I will give the Mavic a try. Fingers crossed that I don't lose or crash it within that window.

It depends what your primary use of your drone is for...if you are just looking for a fun compact drone that you can take anywhere and set up very fast to fly then I suggest keeping your mavic. If you are looking for a more professional photography type of hobby or using it for business purposes that I recommend sticking with the Phantom 4.

     I myself am using the Mavic because i go on alot of road trips on my days off and sometimes i just want sometime compact and fast to set up so i can record my trips. Took me 6-8 minutes to set up my old Phantom 3 Advanced compared to the 1 1/2 minutes it takes to take the Mavic out of the bag and start flying. But again its up to what works best for you

TheCrimsonAmish Posted at 2016-11-16 09:26
Lol I live in Northeastern PA close to the PA NY border. I am not Amish but I do have some family th ...

Nice I'm here on the MA/NY border myself and i already have some places in mind to visit in PA to record with my Mavic such as Centralia PA or the abandoned PA Turnpike in Western Pennsylvania. I went there in June to scope out the area with my P3A but it was too much equipment to carry while hiking the old Turnpike. I will have better luck with the Mavic when i go back Spring 2017.

I think what im going to do is verify with apple that i have until January to return the Mavic. If that is true, I will spend some time flying it if I do not have any problems. Within the month or so, if the shipping of the phantom 4 pro goes well and apple or bestbuy decide to sell it, I will send my Mavic back and buy the Phantom 4 Pro. Maybe I will end up really liking the mavic and forget about the P4P. If I had the money, I would just get the Inspire 2, but I am no Donald Trump lol.

If you dont mind doing a little hiking, there are definitely a lot of placed around northeaster and central PA to get really nice photos/video.

I will never again order directly from DJI. Orders from Apple are being delivered before earlier orders from DJI, and if you need to return it you will probably have an easier time going through apple.

dotfiles Posted at 2016-11-16 13:29
I will never again order directly from DJI. Orders from Apple are being delivered before earlier ord ...

You will be better off buying from a local vendor.

Crimson, did you order from apple?

fans3da5b38c Posted at 2016-11-17 09:11
Crimson, did you order from apple?

Yeah, I ordered from Apple.com. Well, I finally got a chance today on my lunch break to fly my Mavic. So far, so good. I updated the Mavic and the RC, I calibrated the compass and the sticks on the remote. My first flight went without a hitch. I took a few pictures, I recorded some 4k video, and I did a few minutes of active track without any hiccups. The mavic flys very well. I am trying not to get too excited as some people didnt have any issues until there 4th or 5th flight. I will have to wait until I get home to check out the quality of the video and photos. If the quality is as good as the Phantom 4 and the flying continues to go without problems, I may keep my Mavic.