Air 2 or Mavic 2 pro?

[mini_pilot14]

Hello everyone, I was wondering if I should purchase a Mavic air 2 , a Mavic air 2s, a Mavic 2 pro , or an original Mavic pro. Which one is the best and which drone is the best for the money? Thankyou

 

[Phantomrain.org]

Its really hard to beat the Air 2/S as you get a nice size and astounding quality for the price .
If you can get the Pro Rc with it you are nicely set up to get the Fleet with a saving on the Controller

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly your Air 2/S in the Rain. Float on the Water.

 

[vindibona1]

It's a semi-tough question. But get the Air2S or Mavic 2 Pro, but possibly for different reasons. Don't even consider the others you mentioned.

The Air2s is the best value and takes wonderful photographs and has some amazing features. But there are two drawbacks in comparison to the Mavic 2 pro: 1) It has a fixed aperture while the M2P has a variable aperture, so you're not so much a slave to ND filters to get the right FPS/shutter speed combination. You set the shutter speed, then dial in the aperture. And if the light changes you don't have to land it to change ND filters; you just adjust the aperture (f2.8-f11) 2) The Mavic 2 Pro has a MUCH more deluxe contoller. It has programmable C1 and C2 keys on the bottom, a programmable "5D" toggle switch, TWO scroll wheels and and LED readout. It is much more light weight, foldable and more transportable. The Air2S' controller is *very* basic. It is larger and heavier and you have to use your phone's screen to access features that you have in hand with the M2P controller. I have a Mini 2 as well with the same controller as the Air2s and find it annoying not to have the extra buttons that I've become accustomed to with the Mavic 2.

In the Air2s favor, I believe it can shoot at higher frame rates (does it have 5.4k rez?). DJI has been working hard on the DJI Fly app while the Mavic 2's Go4 app has more or less become a "legacy" app, but works great. The Air2s will be cheaper and is probably the best buy of the drone market today.

Here is a buying tip as far as the M2 is concerned... Locate a REFURBISHED unit. The DJI refurbs are 1st rate and absolutely indistinguishable from "new" even down to the packaging. I got lucky and found a deal with a referb M2P with flymore combo for $1500 including tax and shipping (not available any more at that price). Essentially I bought a new drone in every respect for a deeply discounted price. I believe that the Air2s may have referbs available now and would not hesitate for one moment to buy a refurbished model.

JMO

 

[Tufargon]

I own the MA2. I love it but if I were to buy again I'd go with the M2P. Because when using any third party apps like Litchi or Dronelink it will not be virtual sticks like all the newer drones being produced by DJI.

 

[millbah]

I bought the M3 in anticipation of the 3rd party apps, which hasn't happened. So I then went to the MA2 because of the apps I needed. I am happy with this arrangement. Consider what you want the drone to do, then check available apps & phone support. I even had to buy another phone to run Maven & Dronelink.
Initially looked at the M2P, but these are no supported as EOL.

 

[yankfanp]

Hello everyone, I was wondering if I should purchase a Mavic air 2 , a Mavic air 2s, a Mavic 2 pro , or an original Mavic pro. Which one is the best and which drone is the best for the money? Thankyou

The Mavic 2Pro for sure! I sold mine and ended up with the Air2S, though it is very good the M2P just has better color and good features.

 

[BigAl07]

The Air2S is the best bang for the buck but, depending on your intended usage it may not be the best aircraft for the job.

If you're fairly confident in "Manual Photography" you might benefit from the enhanced controls and such from the M2P. If you shoot everything in AUTO then you might just be better off with the Air2S.

 

[EpicFlight]

The Mavic 2Pro for sure! I sold mine and ended up with the Air2S, though it is very good the M2P just has better color and good features.

Same here, and regret it.

M2P supports onboard way points, and a few other features in firmware that will never be available again.

 

[VenomXts]

The Air2S is the best bang for the buck but, depending on your intended usage it may not be the best aircraft for the job.

If you're fairly confident in "Manual Photography" you might benefit from the enhanced controls and such from the M2P. If you shoot everything in AUTO then you might just be better off with the Air2S.

I wish more people would talk to this point.... I use auto more than anything else across all my drones..... if you really are a photographer and like all the bells and whistles it matters. But auto is there for a reason as well..... know what you want.

 

[macfawlty]

That's actually a pretty tough question. The biggest plus for the M2P is the aperture control. If you're filming out and back with very different exposures, you can't change ND filters mid-flight. You're stuck with ISO control only. The video image quality is better on the M2P if you're good at color grading, but better straight off the card with the A2S. Photo quality isn't as big a differentiation. The biggest negative with the M2P is that it's a clumsy flyer with the Go4 app. Very limiting. Spotlight mode is awesome for videographers.

 

[vindibona1]

I wish more people would talk to this point.... I use auto more than anything else across all my drones..... if you really are a photographer and like all the bells and whistles it matters. But auto is there for a reason as well..... know what you want.

One of the real advantages of the M2P is the controller's 2nd scroll wheel. With that wheel you can bump exposure up and down without taking your hands off the controller. Also, with two "shutter" buttons, one for video and one for stills, you can alternate modes without taking your hands off the controller. The M2 controller has C1, C2 and 5D programmable buttons which keeps you from having to touch the screen for many changes, which I find annoying. Interestingly with the M3 they give you those features back on the smart controller- but for an additional $1200. Other than the screen, you got these programmable features on the M2 as part of the basic cost. Dumbing down the controls on their "flagship" drone (M3) makes no sense, except for a company that is trying to build margin without providing much in return for extraordinary additional costs.

 

[FLDave]

Amazon has an amazing price for an Air 2 Fly More Combo: $789 with immediate shipment. My guess is that it is to clear out inventory. The Air 2s is more recennt.

 

[macfawlty]

Amazon has an amazing price for an Air 2 Fly More Combo: $789 with immediate shipment. My guess is that it is to clear out inventory. The Air 2s is more recennt.

Pretty cheap price on the Air 2 Fly More. I bought one as a spare to my M2P just before the A2S was released. It's decent and flies well if you're really trying to save $$. But, I think the A2S is the way to go for most pilots. The M2P, while it has a better camera, is not better enough to make up for the outdated Go4 app's limited flying abilities. Spotlight mode on the A2/A2s/M3 is a game-changer for videographers. It allows for a lot more sophisticated cinematic moves with little effort. Lack of aperture control on the A2s is the only deal breaker for me as primarily a cinematographer.

 

[BigAl07]

Pretty cheap price on the Air 2 Fly More. I bought one as a spare to my M2P just before the A2S was released. It's decent and flies well if you're really trying to save $$. But, I think the A2S is the way to go for most pilots. The M2P, while it has a better camera, is not better enough to make up for the outdated Go4 app's limited flying abilities. Spotlight mode on the A2/A2s/M3 is a game-changer for videographers. It allows for a lot more sophisticated cinematic moves with little effort. Lack of aperture control on the A2s is the only deal breaker for me as primarily a cinematographer.

You're the first person I've seen (take that for what you paid for it lol) that praises the newer DJIFly App over Go4. For me I see it as a huge downgrade and ridiculous. They should have kept Go4 and added new features instead of downgrading to the DJIFly App.

After reading it a bit more it seems you're fixated on the new Spotlight Mode itself rather than that entirely of the new App. Still, you're the fist person I've seen go to bat for the "New" App.

 

[macfawlty]

You're the first person I've seen (take that for what you paid for it lol) that praises the newer DJIFly App over Go4. For me I see it as a huge downgrade and ridiculous. They should have kept Go4 and added new features instead of downgrading to the DJIFly App.

After reading it a bit more it seems you're fixated on the new Spotlight Mode itself rather than that entirely of the new App. Still, you're the fist person I've seen go to bat for the "New" App.

Allow me to backtrack and say that I wish DJI added Spotlight and other flight modes to Go4 in a firmware upgrade. Other than that, I think DJIFly is a pain, particularly camera and advanced settings. I never understand why developers feel the need to radically change software, GUI's and menus, but my biggest annoyance is not updating firmware for previous generation models to include new flight features when you're pretty sure they could if not for intentional obsolescence. I value your judgement on this topic more than mine. I guess I just get complacent in my criticism and deal with the constant annoyance.

 

[mini_pilot14]

You're the first person I've seen (take that for what you paid for it lol) that praises the newer DJIFly App over Go4. For me I see it as a huge downgrade and ridiculous. They should have kept Go4 and added new features instead of downgrading to the DJIFly App.

After reading it a bit more it seems you're fixated on the new Spotlight Mode itself rather than that entirely of the new App. Still, you're the fist person I've seen go to bat for the "New" App.

Thank you for your feed back, I personally do not know what the go4 app is like since I only have a Mavic Mini, but the fly app seems to work fine.