I was planning to buy a Mavic Air in Tokyo and I thought transmission range was 4,000m, but it says 2,000 in the Japanese paperwork. Is the Japanese Mavic Air different than USA Mavic Air?

They have a special version of the Mini for Japan so makes sense if other models are different too.

As far as I'm aware you can't have 5.8ghz in Japan, so the Japanese version would only have access to 2.4, which would make sense if the max range is half, who knows what else is different.

when the drone powers up it checks its location and adjusts the transmission power / frequency accordingly.

As a result your US drone in Japan will have a reduced range assuming you allow it to change mode.  They are all the same* but the actually power is controlled by the hardware depending on location



*QC can vary from intended region to region which is why grey imports won't have a warranty in a different location.

The other issue is warranty

DJI doesn't have a international warranty system, so the MA will need to go back to Japan for a warranty claim

During the warranty period,  not a problem if you live in Japan, but if you're only visiting, this could be a factor later when you return to your home country

Hi. Thank you for reaching out to DJI Forum. With regards to this inquiry. Once you use the DJI Mavic Air in  a CE region the DJI Go 4 will notify you and use the appropriate frequency for that region. In addition, I will be posting an image for more details regarding this matter. Thank you.

Ridg Posted at 1-8 04:08
when the drone powers up it checks its location and adjusts the transmission power / frequency accordingly.

As a result your US drone in Japan will have a reduced range assuming you allow it to change mode.  They are all the same* but the actually power is controlled by the hardware depending on location

So when I go back to the USA, it will automatically change frequency and range limits?

That is correct.

BK2320 Posted at 1-8 15:02
So when I go back to the USA, it will automatically change frequency and range limits?

Frankly, you are better off buying the aircraft in the US, especially with regard to warranty. You will have a huge problem once you get home if you try to access the warranty.

BK2320 Posted at 1-8 15:02
So when I go back to the USA, it will automatically change frequency and range limits?

yeah, but your warranty will be for Japan so you'd have to send it there for warranty work.