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After 1 year of ownership, some thoughts

Marko9219

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I'm 64 and I've been flying something or other since I was 10 years old . Over a half century of flying different aircraft. I've got to say, the Mavic Pro is absolutely the most boring flying I've ever done. Now, don't get riled up. That's meant in a good way. These things are stable, reliable and predictable. As a camera platform, they fill the need very well. Not perfectly, but very well. I am a photographer, so I bought it as a tool. Nothing more. No different than a good tripod (Yes, I've spent this much on a tripod and gimbal mount before) I would never say these things are fun to fly because they aren't particularly fun. Flying anything is fun in some ways, but these are just too danged advanced for me to call "fun". However, I've gotten footage of things I would NEVER have been able to without having that camera in the air. In that respect, I can't wait to see the next iteration from DJI. I'm hoping, above all other hopes, that it has a larger sensor for low-light performance. In the meanwhile, I'm flying lots of R/C models to remain proficient in the art of real stick flying, and they always give me a thrill.
 
I have to say I agree. I had another drone prior to the Mavic, which in sport mode was a blast to fly. It would bank turn and could even flip. Now my reasons for purchasing a Mavic was connection issues, and a better camera. Like you, I use it as a tool to capture video and stills. In that respect it’s all business and does it’s job very well. Now I am in no way disappointed by this, as like I said, the purpose of owning one is to capture views from an aerial perspective. I’ll even concede that the novelty of flying the other drone in sport mode would have probably worn off in time, but certainly the only thrill I get from flying the Mavic is when things line up and you get that “perfect” shot.
 
The MP is a very nice. You do tend to get bored with it though. Since I had purchased the inspire now that you never get bored of flying.
 
Well, I've had the Mavic Pro for a year and a half now, and two weeks ago I bought a Spark recently for my holidays. So naturally, I played with the novelty for the last two weeks, then yesterday flew the Mavic and the Spark after each other. I have to say that the total absence of stress wrt signal loss, etc with the Mavic made it really fun to fly again; for me the MAvic just performs when I want it to, it is my rock steady platform. The Spark on the other hand is so much less complicated (at least in my head, in reality there is not too much difference I think), that it makes it really fun to fly around with at close distance, goofing around, taking pictures just around the corner. I can already feel me keeping both, flying the Spark most often, and taking refuge to the Mavic whenever I really have something special to take pictures/footage of.
 
I'm 64 and I've been flying something or other since I was 10 years old . Over a half century of flying different aircraft. I've got to say, the Mavic Pro is absolutely the most boring flying I've ever done. Now, don't get riled up. That's meant in a good way. These things are stable, reliable and predictable. As a camera platform, they fill the need very well. Not perfectly, but very well. I am a photographer, so I bought it as a tool. Nothing more. No different than a good tripod (Yes, I've spent this much on a tripod and gimbal mount before) I would never say these things are fun to fly because they aren't particularly fun. Flying anything is fun in some ways, but these are just too danged advanced for me to call "fun". However, I've gotten footage of things I would NEVER have been able to without having that camera in the air. In that respect, I can't wait to see the next iteration from DJI. I'm hoping, above all other hopes, that it has a larger sensor for low-light performance. In the meanwhile, I'm flying lots of R/C models to remain proficient in the art of real stick flying, and they always give me a thrill.
Are you DLA Mark from UT?
 
To rekindle some excitement why not buy a pair of DJI's Goggles and put it in that model plane type mode .....

edit: and take it down to your local canal/river and fly under some bridges. That will get the adrenaline going or else you will go out in style !
 
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I think a big part of the reason these newer photography drones are made so easy to fly is you've got a lot on the line. Sure, it'd be fun to have a Mavic where you could turn off GPS and altitude hold, but people would be crashing those like crazy. And that's a big investment. That's why I have a super cheap drone I turned into my FPV quad. It's a ton of fun to fly, but no big deal when I crash. And I do crash a lot with it. I'd probably cry if I legitimately crashed my Mavic.
 
After owning my MP for over a year, looking back, I can really say that I'm glad that I stayed w/ my original FW (FW 400)when I got it. Flawless till to this very moment, just got home today after filming a nice scenery @ my local park. Sure I have some hiccups once in a while but 99% of the time I'm having fun w/ it every time I need it to do it's thing. Just saying.
 
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I hear what you're saying...

I like boring.
 
I rarely just fly around for fun like I do with my racing quad or fixed wing stuff. I think my of my MP as a unique camera platform that's capable of capturing stuff I can't get with my other gear. But I still get an exhilaration when shooting from spots where I know if my pro goes down, it's unrecoverable. Not sure that's fun or not. I'm probable gonna try FPV with my it one of these days.
 
I've also had mavic just over a year.....and still running early, although not original firmware. I've gotten super proficient with the aircraft and the software. Now-a-days i like to try to master each of the special flight modes. I also love coming up with new ideas to deliver things or drop things with my drop mechanism. I built a large parachute last week.......i've lifted ropes, life jackets, bottles of water, coke, walkie talkes, potatoes....even performed some rescue missions. I've flown indoors with cages.....It's been fun exploring the limits of what mavic can do.
 
Yeah, I've found myself a bit surprised at how boring flying DJI drones can be after a while. I actually have found myself thinking that the flight time on some of the newer models is just too long as I feel compelled to drain the battery to a low level to keep it healthy (but that is not too say that they should go and make it shorter)!

I've got to agree with the others that say boring is a good thing. I have a couple of micro-quads that I like to fly around for fun; deliberately flying them at full speed around obstacles or cutting the power at high altitude and seeing how long I can let it free fall without it crashing into the ground but I would NEVER do that with a DJI drone. Thing is, DJI markets their products primarily as flying cameras, not recreational flying machines, so if you are really just looking for the thrill of flying they are not really that great a choice. I'm personally more interested in the photography aspect, so I appreciate the simplicity and reliably that makes them seem boring for just flying around.
 
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Biggest adrenaline rush I have gotten so Far was taking off from a moving boat..... took off the first time and we were still moving so my spark drifted under the canopy. LOL. Threw my phone down and smashed the right joy stick forward to only find out I had removed the SD card the other day!!!! ON lake Tahoe class G airspace on some choppy water I hand caught my spark for the first time! gave my self a few to come back down, threw a SD in and got some footage on one of my 2 batteries at least.

lesson learned: have a back up landing site on the shore close if you want some Excitement in your drone life to learn a new skill.
 
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