DJI Knows Exactly What It's Doing

[bkushner]

So how it it I have the latest Mavic 3 Pro offering and the latest Air 3 offering yet I still don't have a complete drone? I'm sure DJI plans it this way.

I've been using both drones for a bit now and he's my conclusion. Mavic 3 Image Quality is better then Air3 especially at night. However Air 3 has better range and flight time. So if I want the best image quality I suffer with range and if I want the best range I suffer with image. How do I get a Mavic 3 Pro with Air 3 Range? Or an Air 3 with Mavic 3 camera and sensor?

Example: Want to do a night hyperlapse. Best bird for this is the 3 Pro in my opinion for the night footage. However, the Air 3 will get much futher down the line because of O4. Now you have a dilemma right? The 3Pro came out very close to the air 3. How come they couldn't have put O4 in the Mavic 3 Pro? Because they constantly want you buying drones chasing the specs. If they give you the perfect drone you'll stop buying thus we will never get the perfect drone.

 

[AlanL]

The secret sauce - always make sure there is room for improvement in any new product. That gives them a head start on what to put in the next one to make sure you will want it. Ka-ching...........

 

[shb]

So how it it I have the latest Mavic 3 Pro offering and the latest Air 3 offering yet I still don't have a complete drone? I'm sure DJI plans it this way.

I've been using both drones for a bit now and he's my conclusion. Mavic 3 Image Quality is better then Air3 especially at night. However Air 3 has better range and flight time. So if I want the best image quality I suffer with range and if I want the best range I suffer with image. How do I get a Mavic 3 Pro with Air 3 Range? Or an Air 3 with Mavic 3 camera and sensor?

Example: Want to do a night hyperlapse. Best bird for this is the 3 Pro in my opinion for the night footage. However, the Air 3 will get much futher down the line because of O4. Now you have a dilemma right? The 3Pro came out very close to the air 3. How come they couldn't have put O4 in the Mavic 3 Pro? Because they constantly want you buying drones chasing the specs. If they give you the perfect drone you'll stop buying thus we will never get the perfect drone.

I doubt they had O4 when the mavic 3 pro came out. How much further does O4 go than O3? Probably not that far in the real world. I don't think O3 goes that much further than the original occusync in an urban environment.

 

[MS Coast]

Mavic 3 Image Quality is better then Air3 especially at night. However Air 3 has better range and flight time. So if I want the best image quality I suffer with range and if I want the best range I suffer with image. How do I get a Mavic 3 Pro with Air 3 Range? Or an Air 3 with Mavic 3 camera and sensor?

As my section manager at General Electric said years ago, product design is all about compromise.

I've also been told that if you're designing a sailboat, you can optimize any two of the following:

• Speed
• Comfort
• Cost.

For drones, the list is different, but I think we still get only two.

• Flight time and range
• Camera capabilities
• Cost
• Weight

 

[GadgetGuy]

So how it it I have the latest Mavic 3 Pro offering and the latest Air 3 offering yet I still don't have a complete drone? I'm sure DJI plans it this way.

I've been using both drones for a bit now and he's my conclusion. Mavic 3 Image Quality is better then Air3 especially at night. However Air 3 has better range and flight time. So if I want the best image quality I suffer with range and if I want the best range I suffer with image. How do I get a Mavic 3 Pro with Air 3 Range? Or an Air 3 with Mavic 3 camera and sensor?

Example: Want to do a night hyperlapse. Best bird for this is the 3 Pro in my opinion for the night footage. However, the Air 3 will get much futher down the line because of O4. Now you have a dilemma right? The 3Pro came out very close to the air 3. How come they couldn't have put O4 in the Mavic 3 Pro? Because they constantly want you buying drones chasing the specs. If they give you the perfect drone you'll stop buying thus we will never get the perfect drone.

As @shb asked above, what is the difference in range and flight time that you are experiencing between the Mavic 3 Pro and the Air 3 where you are wanting to do your night hyperlapse?

===

I haven't ever wanted for additional range on the Mavic 3 Pro, so I can't imagine that the Air 3 could be that much better. Sure, at an advertised maximum of 20km, OS4 may be better than OS3+ at an advertised maximum of 15km, but if I have clear LOS, the battery and not the signal strength will always be the ultimate limiting factor, and the difference in quoted flight times is only 3 minutes, with the Mavic 3 Pro quoted at 43 minutes and the Air 3 quoted at 46 minutes, which is less than a 7% improvement.

As to the "perfect drone," that is a relative term. As the technology improves, perfect always moves up a notch! The original Phantom 1 only had a realistic 7 minute flight time, with a range of less than 1,000 feet, and didn't even come with a camera. You had to mount a GoPro on it! The "perfect drone," at that time, would have had a 20 minute flight time, with a range of 3 miles, and an included camera!

Look at where we are now, with included Hasselblad cameras, 43+ minute flight times, and ranges of 15-20 km, and we are still not "complete!"

Everything in photography is a series of compromises.
Nothing will ever be perfect for everything.

 

[bkushner]

Air 3 is Way Better then the 3 Pro. When I Say range, I mean keeping the signal. I fly around Philadelphia and there are massive amounts of issues out there. The air 3 can fly areas the Mavic 3 Loses signal and beyond. So It's not how far but how well it retains a signal. Even around building and over trees etc.

 

[bkushner]

I doubt they had O4 when the mavic 3 pro came out. How much further does O4 go than O3? Probably not that far in the real world. I don't think O3 goes that much further than the original occusync in an urban environment.

The 3 Pro came out a month or so before the Air 3. Surely they had O4 when they produced the M3P

 

[shb]

The 3 Pro came out a month or so before the Air 3. Surely they had O4 when they produced the M3P

Maybe that's true. But I'm glad I have the mavic 3 pro, because the DJI RC sucks for waypoint missions and I prefer to use my RC-N1 and 10 inch tablet most of the time, which I couldn't do with O4. Just having O4 not backward compatible with O3 is very bad.

 

[blackbirdsr72]

That is the general practice of every consumer electronics company. They will eventually come up with an RC Pro 2 and a Mavic 3 Pro refresh if not 4.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Air 3 is Way Better then the 3 Pro. When I Say range, I mean keeping the signal. I fly around Philadelphia and there are massive amounts of issues out there. The air 3 can fly areas the Mavic 3 Loses signal and beyond. So It's not how far but how well it retains a signal. Even around building and over trees etc.

I, too, enjoy urban night flights, and am looking to learn from your experience, as I have the Mavic 3 Pro, and am wondering how significantly better the Air 3 with its OS4 would be for my own use.

What do you perceive the massive urban "issues" that you are encountering to be?

Despite the fact that it isn't a distance issue, can you please provide an actual distance at which these signal losses are occurring on the Mavic 3 Pro?

You also haven't confirmed whether there is, in fact, clear line of sight for the control signals during your flights. I am able to maintain clear line of sight, but am often in between tall buildings while doing so, or just above them, and have had my own issues.

How badly are you blocking the LOS signals with intervening objects, if at all?

Is it the proximity to competing radio signals emanating from the buildings that you believe is the main cause of the Mavic 3 Signal signal instability and loss?

If you have clear line of sight, are you flying very low above, or in between occupied buildings that all radiating competing wifi signals?

Do you think that flying higher (and therefore farther away from the ground wifi) would improve the Mavic 3 Pro signal stability?

 

[yankfanp]

So how it it I have the latest Mavic 3 Pro offering and the latest Air 3 offering yet I still don't have a complete drone? I'm sure DJI plans it this way.

I've been using both drones for a bit now and he's my conclusion. Mavic 3 Image Quality is better then Air3 especially at night. However Air 3 has better range and flight time. So if I want the best image quality I suffer with range and if I want the best range I suffer with image. How do I get a Mavic 3 Pro with Air 3 Range? Or an Air 3 with Mavic 3 camera and sensor?

Example: Want to do a night hyperlapse. Best bird for this is the 3 Pro in my opinion for the night footage. However, the Air 3 will get much futher down the line because of O4. Now you have a dilemma right? The 3Pro came out very close to the air 3. How come they couldn't have put O4 in the Mavic 3 Pro? Because they constantly want you buying drones chasing the specs. If they give you the perfect drone you'll stop buying thus we will never get the perfect drone.

I see your point although I find my Mavic 3 classic exceptional in regards to range and flight time.

 

[BetterBizWorks]

So how it it I have the latest Mavic 3 Pro offering and the latest Air 3 offering yet I still don't have a complete drone? I'm sure DJI plans it this way.

I've been using both drones for a bit now and he's my conclusion. Mavic 3 Image Quality is better then Air3 especially at night. However Air 3 has better range and flight time. So if I want the best image quality I suffer with range and if I want the best range I suffer with image. How do I get a Mavic 3 Pro with Air 3 Range? Or an Air 3 with Mavic 3 camera and sensor?

Example: Want to do a night hyperlapse. Best bird for this is the 3 Pro in my opinion for the night footage. However, the Air 3 will get much futher down the line because of O4. Now you have a dilemma right? The 3Pro came out very close to the air 3. How come they couldn't have put O4 in the Mavic 3 Pro? Because they constantly want you buying drones chasing the specs. If they give you the perfect drone you'll stop buying thus we will never get the perfect drone.

It seems like every drone is missing something on purpose, so you need a fleet.

 

[Phantomrain.org]

This really brings new importance to what we refer to a back up drone.
My first reason for a back up drone was because when I was out in the field and one Drone had an update I could switch out.
My Second Reason for a back up drone was for if the birds took me down
My Third Reason for a back up drone was getting the longest flights an best Night Footage as the OP.

So im kind of happy that we can have it all with just Two Drones. Two Camera , Two cars. , 2 Phones and last but not least for Stock guys 2 Computers , mac and windows and guns EDC and Home Invasion.

If we get to the point where I need 3 Im done. lolllll

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain. Land on the Water, an buy Two of everything.

 

[umanbean]

DJI Knows Exactly What It's Doing

Bet they hope so

I just wish they had started a better naming convention for their RC's

 

[PAW]

I just wish they had started a better naming convention for their RC's

Amen...

 

[Ridgeback65]

As my section manager at General Electric said years ago, product design is all about compromise.

I've also been told that if you're designing a sailboat, you can optimize any two of the following:

• Speed
• Comfort
• Cost.

For drones, the list is different, but I think we still get only two.

• Flight time and range
• Camera capabilities
• Cost
• Weight

Yes, that's like the old one that applies to almost anything. You can have it fast, cheap or well done. Pick 2.

 

[Ridgeback65]

As my section manager at General Electric said years ago, product design is all about compromise.

I've also been told that if you're designing a sailboat, you can optimize any two of the following:

• Speed
• Comfort
• Cost.

For drones, the list is different, but I think we still get only two.

• Flight time and range
• Camera capabilities
• Cost
  
  • Weig

As my section manager at General Electric said years ago, product design is all about compromise.

I've also been told that if you're designing a sailboat, you can optimize any two of the following:

• Speed
• Comfort
• Cost.

For drones, the list is different, but I think we still get only two.

• Flight time and range
• Camera capabilities
• Cost
• Weight

We might only *get 2 but DJI could allow those 2 to be flight time/range and camera but ATM they are not.

 

[mavic3usa]

The 3 Pro came out a month or so before the Air 3. Surely they had O4 when they produced the M3P

I think you hae to go by the drone was developed, not when it ultimately launched. Maybe the Air 3 originally had O3 but the launch was so delayed that they decided to go back and make it O4.

 

[umanbean]

Maybe the Air 3 originally had O3 but the launch was so delayed that they decided to go back and make it O4.

Or maybe, surely, they had 04 before they finalized development of the 3 Pro. But putting it in the 3 pro would have severely crippled the upgrade allure of the air 3?

 

[MS Coast]

I think you hae to go by the drone was developed, not when it ultimately launched. Maybe the Air 3 originally had O3 but the launch was so delayed that they decided to go back and make it O4.

The Mavic 3 Pro was just a camera change on a design released in November 2021. Changing the drone and controllers to use a new and incompatible version of Occusync would have been much more involved than swapping cameras.