Is the Mavic for beginners?

[AlanTheBeast]

Yep.

Indeed, when you fire it up you can set it to beginner mode which will restrict range, height and speed until you build up some confidence.

 

[Robert Mitchell]

IMO, the only argument against it being a beginners drone is the price. A thousand dollars is a lot of money to "learn and experiment with.

If you do make a mistake, and eventually you will, it's gonna sting a lot more if it is an expensive machine, and be perhaps devastating if it is a total loss for some reason. Not trying to scare you but complete losses, due to pilot error, or other reasons do occur occasionally. I'm guessing it is very rare, statistically.

That said, if you can afford it, are patient and careful, and can handle the probability of a mishap, the Mavic is forgiving, easy to fly, and has a lot of safeguards.

 

[Johnmcl7]

I've had my Mavic for a few months and it's my first proper drone, I decided I wanted a drone that did everything I wanted from the start hence the choice of Mavic. As a few others have said it's worth reading up on the cause of crashes and taking the Mavic to a wide open area where there's nothing for it to crash into and you can spend time practicing with it.

I've been taking mine out with me when walking the dog, finding a nice open spot and just play with the Mavic for a while and do that regularly to get better at it.

John

 

[Hammer]

I put mine in beginner mode and pass the controls to my kids all the time. My 10 year old flew it on her maiden flight (it is that easy). The stability makes this thing the perfect beginner drone. A a lot of that has to do with how easy it is to ease into more advanced flight without much risk because all you have to do is let go of the sticks and she just stops, giving you time to regroup.

 

[FantasticMrF]

Thank you everyone for your correspondence and replies; you've all been extremely helpful! Hopefully shall be going to collect my drone today

 

[sekine12]

Its easy to fly when nothing goes wrong. The issue is knowing how to fly manually when you loose gps etc

All my friends that wanna learn I put them on a simulator then a hubsan x4 until they can take off land from a bar stool indoors, then I tell them go outside on a breezy day and practice, once you can nail that you can fly a mavic or phantom type bird.

Yes! This! Do this. You can get a Hubsan X4 (without camera) for dirt cheap. They make a perfect beginner drone and will teach you to fly manually (aka in atti mode). So the day your controller goes bleep and switches to Atti you'll know what to do to get your Mavic home safe.

 

[MavicMo]

I would say in one sense "Yes" and another "No". Can a beginner fly the Mavic? Yes. Is it a good first Drone? Probably not. There are many here that would say its their first drone and have no regrets. But I also see my share of posts on here from first time drone owners who have experienced problems or crashed their Mavics from inexperience.

I've done my preflight check, got my Mavic in the air and handed the remote over to my wife who had zero experience. She was able to fly it around. Sure she had some left/right orientation issues, but she was flying it.

If you are meticulous, read all the manuals, watch all the videos you can, understand how the DJI GO app works, understands functions on the remote, aren't afraid to do any of the calibrations and understand the limitations of any drone, you are probably a good candidate. If you are one of those that opens the box and immediately gets it in the air. Probably not a great idea.

 

[bakerboy]

Can a beginner push the mavic, or most dji products, around the sky with zero skill? Yes
Can a beginner fly it in atti mode confidently? No

If you want to push it around the sky and rely solely on the gps then yes, a beginner can fly it

If you want to know how to fly, to avoid accidents and not like an incompetent fool posting about a "flyaway" or a crash then grab a cheapo non gps drone, play around in the backyard or park then grab the mavic

 

[AlanTheBeast]

IMO, the only argument against it being a beginners drone is the price. A thousand dollars is a lot of money to "learn and experiment with.

If you do make a mistake, and eventually you will, it's gonna sting a lot more if it is an expensive machine, and be perhaps devastating if it is a total loss for some reason. Not trying to scare you but complete losses, due to pilot error, or other reasons do occur occasionally. I'm guessing it is very rare, statistically.

That said, if you can afford it, are patient and careful, and can handle the probability of a mishap, the Mavic is forgiving, easy to fly, and has a lot of safeguards.

The MP is my first drone and why I bought it was because I was confident in it from the many videos I watched. It's an excellent beginners drone because it is powerful and stable. It comes with settings that contain a beginner to a reasonable space. And it allows him or her to grow in skills quite rapidly. And it has a pretty good imperfect camera that gives the beginner a reward for his efforts.

I've had one mishap (landing in S-mode in a confined area) and all that cost me was a propeller and a slice of pride.

 

[Ebruce]

In all honesty, I dont believe that beyond the "racer" style drones there is much out there that couldn't be considered easy to fly from DJI...Of course the amount of monies you put into the hobby is completely up to you..But any GPS LOCK" enabled Drone is very simple to fly once the "nose in" flying is practiced for a bit.. Intimidating at first? sure! but altitude is your friend! and once you get some height the controls are simple to decipher. There are cheaper ways to start the hobby beyond Mavic like Robert posted above but, i have had a good time flying quite a few. They are all very easy to control in my opinion.
I don't want to lead you down the wrong path though....what do you guys think?

 

[MavicCF]

I have been flying FPV racers for a couple of years and I think a good cheap learning drone can be a major help to getting the controls down. Now obviously the Mavic is way easier to pilot than a racer but just getting the basic reflexes down to where you respond instinctively to everything is a big help especially if something goes wrong and you end up needing your skills. Beginner mode on the Mavic is a good option, but learning to fly for the first time on a $1000 drone vs a $40 drone may not be the best option. Kinda like learning to drive on a Ferrari vs a Honda. -CF

 

[Rbruz]

I have been flying FPV racers for a couple of years and I think a good cheap learning drone can be a major help to getting the controls down. Now obviously the Mavic is way easier to pilot than a racer but just getting the basic reflexes down to where you respond instinctively to everything is a big help especially if something goes wrong and you end up needing your skills. Beginner mode on the Mavic is a good option, but learning to fly for the first time on a $1000 drone vs a $40 drone may not be the best option. Kinda like learning to drive on a Ferrari vs a Honda. -CF

Yeah I have to laugh at all the peeps posting that mav is a great starter, sure I was at my pals house a couple weeks ago and let him fly mine at the huge wide open beach also let a 12 yr kid fly it they did ok. But will gurantee the min it has an issue not one person will be able to save it. The part people forget is things change while flying, your big wideopen space might all the sudden have some random group of people show up and murphies law kicks in and bam ya crash into someone hurting them cause atti kicked in or what not. Promoting to people to only know how to fly gps is horrid and asking for problems. Ever seen the loads of idiots that can't backup a vehicle or work a four way stop sign, yup we just need a few million clowns that only know how to gps fly to help the sport [emoji23]

 

[aringhof]

Mavic is an excellent first drone for someone. I'd never bought or even flown one before. I bought the Mavic and it works well right out of the box. I do recommend you read the manual several times to learn about all the functionality the drone has. Also spend time perusing this forum for other "best practices". Finally, when you get your Mavic, you'll want to start slow. Your first couple flights should be in beginner mode on the controller. Then slowly expand your height and distance over time learning how everything works. Worry about the video/photos later as you go along. After about 4-5 flights, you'll be cruising at hundreds of feet in altitude and at thousands of feet away in distance. Good luck!

 

[regdawg]

DJI drones pretty much fly themselves if you think about it. When it hovers its basically waiting for you to tell it what to do. All you need to do is point it in the direction you want to go. Learning the tech of it (camera options, sensors, caliberations, etc.) is what will take you some time.

 

[Ebruce]

If you learn the controls in GPS mode then you will certainly be that more in the " know" on how to respond in ATTI mode. I agree ATTI is obviously the best way to learn as well.. but hardly necessary to get started flying a DJI drone...you can hurt someone just as good with a 40 dollar drone as a 1000 dollar one. That said the 40 dollar is a better springboard, but honestly the Mavic can be flown by any patient and timid flier period..

 

[Ebruce]

I have been flying FPV racers for a couple of years and I think a good cheap learning drone can be a major help to getting the controls down. Now obviously the Mavic is way easier to pilot than a racer but just getting the basic reflexes down to where you respond instinctively to everything is a big help especially if something goes wrong and you end up needing your skills. Beginner mode on the Mavic is a good option, but learning to fly for the first time on a $1000 drone vs a $40 drone may not be the best option. Kinda like learning to drive on a Ferrari vs a Honda. -CF

Agreed -- 40 dollar drone is the better springboard, good point!

 

[Big Fil]

I feel like being able to fly in ATTI mode should almost be mandatory before flying in GPS mode. At some point your going to be in a situation where GPS lock drops out and your put into ATTI mode. I think a good solution would be for DJI to build in a pre-flight test into the simulator where you show a certain level of competence controlling the sim in ATTI mode before being able to spin up the props for real. Or at the very least it wouldn't allow them to get out of beginner mode before getting through the test. It could be an obstacle course that an experienced pilot could breeze through in a few minutes but keep newbs out of the air til they could manuever and hold position in the wind. I think that would go a long way to prepare for the time when they here "ATTI mode" in the beginning of the flight.

 

[Ebruce]

I feel like being able to fly in ATTI mode should almost be mandatory before flying in GPS mode. At some point your going to be in a situation where GPS lock drops out and your put into ATTI mode. I think a good solution would be for DJI to build in a pre-flight test into the simulator where you show a certain level of competence controlling the sim in ATTI mode before being able to spin up the props for real. Or at the very least it wouldn't allow them to get out of beginner mode before getting through the test. It could be an obstacle course that an experienced pilot could breeze through in a few minutes but keep newbs out of the air til they could manuever and hold position in the wind. I think that would go a long way to prepare for the time when they here "ATTI mode" in the beginning of the flight.

Well Put-

 

[newnan3]

I learned on a Syma X11 then moved to racers then bought a MP a month or so ago. I just bought my gf a X11 for her to learn on and so i could fly too (I gave my X11 away and regretted it ever since)

IMO I would say the Mavic is not a beginner drone bc its so expensive and so reliant on technology to stay up.

But hey if you got the money and patience to start with one of these go for it!

 

[Johnmcl7]

I feel like being able to fly in ATTI mode should almost be mandatory before flying in GPS mode. At some point your going to be in a situation where GPS lock drops out and your put into ATTI mode. I think a good solution would be for DJI to build in a pre-flight test into the simulator where you show a certain level of competence controlling the sim in ATTI mode before being able to spin up the props for real. Or at the very least it wouldn't allow them to get out of beginner mode before getting through the test. It could be an obstacle course that an experienced pilot could breeze through in a few minutes but keep newbs out of the air til they could manuever and hold position in the wind. I think that would go a long way to prepare for the time when they here "ATTI mode" in the beginning of the flight.

In theory this makes sense but not in reality for the Mavic - the problem is this sudden switching to ATTI mode when the drone appears to be in good GPS reception seems to be a bug and people frequently report when this happens the Mavic does not respond normally even allowing for it not having GPS, in some cases it barely responds at all. There's also the question of why DJI don't allow users to switch the Mavic manually to ATTI mode unlike other models, there's no official reason but there's been quite a few suggestions it's because the Mavic is unstable in ATTI mode and even those who are experienced with drones seem to get caught out by the severe and unpredictable drifting when the Mavic switches to ATTI mode suddenly. Hence I'm not that convinced that experience is any use if the Mavic does suddenly switch to ATTI mode beyond experience solely with the Mavic.

John