Air vs platinum

shb · Jan 23, 2018

I just bought a platinum to replace my lost pro. When I heard about the air coming out I wondered if I had made a mistake. After watching the mavic air program from ny I feel better. The main problem with the air is the 21 minute battery life. That means real world flights of 15 minutes or less. That's going in the wrong direction.
Apparently dji thinks it's important to make it so small that you can take it every where you go, like your wallet or smart phone. To me the mavic is small enough.
I don't want to sacrifice 9 minutes of flight time for a smaller drone.
I don't care about the forward down backward cameras because I keep my
Obstacle avoidance turned off anyway. The 100 mb video rate is better as well as the 8 gig built in storage and the new asteroid and boomerang modes. I think the
Range of 2.5 miles is less than the platinum. The lower price is good. To summarize the 21 minute flight time is the deal killer. If it had 30 minutes it would be a no brainer. Steve

WilliamG · Jan 23, 2018

shb said:
I just bought a platinum to replace my lost pro. When I heard about the air coming out I wondered if I had made a mistake. After watching the mavic air program from ny I feel better. The main problem with the air is the 21 minute battery life. That means real world flights of 15 minutes or less. That's going in the wrong direction.
Apparently dji thinks it's important to make it so small that you can take it every where you go, like your wallet or smart phone. To me the mavic is small enough.
I don't want to sacrifice 9 minutes of flight time for a smaller drone.
I don't care about the forward down backward cameras because I keep my
Obstacle avoidance turned off anyway. The 100 mb video rate is better as well as the 8 gig built in storage and the new asteroid and boomerang modes. I think the
Range of 2.5 miles is less than the platinum. The lower price is good. To summarize the 21 minute flight time is the deal killer. If it had 30 minutes it would be a no brainer. Steve

The deal killer is actually Wi-Fi, not OcuSync.

maven4336 · Jan 23, 2018

Mavic got her beat hands down, WiFi is **** everyone knows that, to bad dji isn’t trying to make longer flight times and focus on a 1” sensor

brandy234 · Jan 23, 2018

I think people are misunderstanding the target market of the Mavic Air - it's basically an upgrade from the Spark, not an upgrade from the Mavic Pro.

For some people it's important to have a small drone which can be carried anywhere, even if the battery life is less. If you aren't one of those people, this drone isn't targeted at you.

mikewired · Jan 23, 2018

Platinum!

Mitch · Jan 23, 2018

brandy234 said:
I think people are misunderstanding the target market of the Mavic Air - it's basically an upgrade from the Spark, not an upgrade from the Mavic Pro.

For some people it's important to have a small drone which can be carried anywhere, even if the battery life is less. If you aren't one of those people, this drone isn't targeted at you.

Spark Air, Spark Pro or something other than the Mavic name would have caused less confusion. Just because it folds does not mean it has to have a Mavic related name.

WilliamG · Jan 24, 2018

Mitch said:
Spark Air, Spark Pro or something other than the Mavic name would have caused less confusion. Just because it folds does not mean it has to have a Mavic related name.

I don't get all the craziness about calling it a Mavic. I mean, when the MacBook Air came out people weren't going OMG DEY BE USIN DA MACBOOX NAME! IT AINT NO MACBUK!

It's not a Mavic Pro. It's a Mavic Air. And quite frankly it deserves the name. Because why not? I mean yes it sucks because it's not OcuSync, but Mavic Pro sucks because it doesn't have rear obstacle sensors etc.

You see? It's a different Mavic, but it's a Mavic. It folds like a Mavic, it flies like a Mavic. It's a Mavic.

ronk · Jan 24, 2018

I see this as an upgraded Spark. They should have called it Spark Pro IMO. It is targeted to a specific set of folks. I personally do not feel comfortable flying with WIFI.

I will be waiting for the Mavic Pro II - and it is going to be awesome!

WilliamG · Jan 24, 2018

ronk said:
I see this as an upgraded Spark. They should have called it Spark Pro IMO. It is targeted to a specific set of folks. I personally do not feel comfortable flying with WIFI.

I will be waiting for the Mavic Pro II - and it is going to be awesome!

Maybe they do an Apple and just call it the Mavic Pro (2018)? Either way, don't blame you.

shb · Jan 24, 2018

I didn't know the air didn't have occusync. I wonder why they did that. Must be cheaper. I also didn't know the air rc doesn't have a display. That's a real big deal to me. The other day I was flying with litche and it was saying the mavic was 2000 feet away but the controller knew it was only 2 feet away. The app crashes all the time. I would of given the mavic air a different name. How hard is it to make up a name. I always thought the spark should of had foldable wings. Smaller is always better. Steve

Lake_Flyer · Jan 24, 2018

brandy234 said:
I think people are misunderstanding the target market of the Mavic Air - it's basically an upgrade from the Spark, not an upgrade from the Mavic Pro.

For some people it's important to have a small drone which can be carried anywhere, even if the battery life is less. If you aren't one of those people, this drone isn't targeted at you.

DJI will attract a whole new load of newbies who would never think of ever flying a drone.
Introducing even more nannying and limitations in the GO app. Experienced MP pilots will suffer from the way DJI will try to keep it 'safe' for that new segment.
A lot of GO4 App updates are on the horizon for us.

Chris12 · Jan 24, 2018

It's Spark Air and leave it like that!

Pedro · Jan 24, 2018

shb said:
Smaller is always better.

Not sure that's always true..

Snoopy3d · Jan 24, 2018

Seriously guys, marketing drives the product, with the obvious success of both the Mavic and the Spark the Mavic Air makes sense to keep the competition at bay. Walkera has already cloned the Spark adding a 3 axis gimbal and 4K video. As far as the flight time you can be assured DJI is putting in every effort to maximize battery life, smaller size means smaller battery less flight time the Spark only has 15 min on a good day. If the 21 min flight time is a deal breaker for you then buy one of the other Mavic models price is similar.

Speedy 2 · Jan 27, 2018

@Snoopy3d
You have absolutely right;

First : Mavic Air is marking driven
Second: Mavic name is on the market an well known name and an product with perfect quality/ performance
Third: the price difference between Spark and Mavic is high( like 1000.- different)
Fourth: the need an new drone between Spark an Mavic for the customer which is not so expensive as the Mavic ( for new beginners in drone hobby)
Fifth: the competition brought the 3 axis gimbal, which is missing in the Spark

Result: DJI take the famous name Mavic and bring a down size Mavic due to price reasons !
So Mavic Air was born!

And of course there is no need to change from my perfect Mavic Platinum to the Mavic Air !!!
Waiting for the Mavic Pro 2 , in the hope that DJI will improve the camera ( bigger camera sensor) , the other technical items on the Platinum and there quality is outstanding to the competition firms.
May be for better protection of the drone to install more optical sensors ( left & right) as the Vitus ab may be an Sensor backwards and in the top of the drone ( like Inspire) to avoid crashing in the roof , if you fly indoor

Thanks my thinking
I own an Mavic Pro , an Mavic Platinum and a Inspire 2 with Cendence Controller and the big hight intensity Crystal Sky Monitor,
And believe me I am so happy with these DJI Products! I love them

Speedy

Speedy 2 · Jan 27, 2018

My drones: lnspire 2 Black Widow

Bosco · Jan 27, 2018

Since the MA came out, there have been a lot of DJI bashing by MP owners that are "pissed off" that DJI came out with a new model. I believe these people would feel that way if DJI came out with a bigger Mavic that had better features and longer flight time. I find it hilarious that they can let advancements in technology turn their world upside down.

People need to do their homework, because the MA is no MP, and certainly no MPP. Now if I was a Spark owner, I would be selling my Spark to get the MA; as it is clearly the better drone, but so what?

If we were to all have the attitude of "no drone can come out better than mine for the next couple of years", we would be slowing down these advancements. All of these drones have their "bugs", so I look forward to manufacturers coming out with new drones with new features, even though they too will come with their own "bugs".

Congratulations DJI on coming out with another fine product. I look forward to seeing all of the new models you come out with, and hopefully I'll see a foldable (fits in small backpack) model with 45 minute flight time and a 1" sensor with more advanced tracking features (top/bottom/side/rear/front sensors) in the future.