Buying Air used with 3 batteries vs new with 1...

Ghostyroasty · Dec 30, 2018

I have an opportunity to purchase an Air new using my ed discount and $10 off from dji or buying one used with 3 batteries and charger for the same price. The used one would be shipped to me and I can only judge from photos it's condition. It is stated as lightly used. This would also be my first DJI drone and first real drone. I did have a small parrot drone that I flew for fun in the past. I'm leaving towards buying new, but the prospect of 3 batteries and charger for longer flight times is a factor I can't ignore...

go-ahead-doubledown · Dec 30, 2018

You should (will) receive a charger with the new unit. Batteries can typically be found on Ebay for $60.00. I would do the math and see if the spread is greater than $120.00. Warranty is another consideration. That said I have (2) Mav pro's and a Phantom 4. All were purchased pre owned and all of them run flawlessly.

johnnybflyguy · Dec 30, 2018

I was in a similar situation when I bought my MA.
Ask the seller to send you a screen shot of the flight record, and providing the photos are of good enough quality you can see that there has been no damage to the Mavic Air.
Definitely three batteries is the way to go.

Ghostyroasty · Dec 30, 2018

I didn't take into consideration the warranty... That might be the decision maker. As of right now, they are about even in price at about 630 when shipping.

Ghostyroasty · Dec 30, 2018

Was doing a bit of research to see where I could fly in the area... I might want to hold off on buying. I'm in the purple area, and the best areas I wanted to film are all in no fly zones. I'm assuming that anytime I wanted to fly in my back yard, I would need to call the airport?

Bwoody321 · Dec 30, 2018

Ghostyroasty said:
Was doing a bit of research to see where I could fly in the area... I might want to hold off on buying. I'm in the purple area, and the best areas I wanted to film are all in no fly zones. I'm assuming that anytime I wanted to fly in my back yard, I would need to call the airport?View attachment 57265

Just pray it’s not Gatwick

DanMan32 · Dec 30, 2018

The used one might also have refresh purchased.

NAVMAV · Dec 30, 2018

TOUGH call!

Personally we lean toward 'NEW', with Warranty. Perhaps fiscal realities are the determining factor... can you afford to do EITHER one comfortably?

Rgds, NAVMAV

Ghostyroasty · Dec 31, 2018

NAVMAV said:
TOUGH call!

Personally we lean toward 'NEW', with Warranty. Perhaps fiscal realities are the determining factor... can you afford to do EITHER one comfortably?

Rgds, NAVMAV

I've been selling a bunch of things on eBay to get enough to buy one without affecting my budget (I sound like a kid now, ha!).. but with all of the restrictions in my area, I may not get one at all now.

macoman · Dec 31, 2018

Ghostyroasty said:
I've been selling a bunch of things on eBay to get enough to buy one without affecting my budget (I sound like a kid now, ha!).. but with all of the restrictions in my area, I may not get one at all now.

If you are flying in your property, you can do it without issues and not need to call the airport.

Ghostyroasty · Dec 31, 2018

macoman said:
If you are flying in your property, you can do it without issues and not need to call the airport.

That's good to know! I would practice in my back yard and close to the ground to get the hang of flying. It's still discouraging to see all of the restricted areas around here though (New River Gorge National Park) . For instance, my hometown has been completely taken over by the park service, so I can't do any filming there.

Ghostyroasty · Dec 31, 2018

I ended up ordering the Mavic Air this evening... I almost completely eliminated any thoughts of ordering it, but I took my old Parrot Mini drone out this evening (connects via bluetooth) and right after liftoff, it shot up to around 75 feet or so and then the wind caught it and blew it away. I went looking for it, but it was getting too dark. I may go look for it tomorrow, but I'm not too worried. It is nothing compared to what I'll be receiving soon!

NAVMAV · Dec 31, 2018

Good for You! As mentioned before, we do LOVE our Air, but Grass is Always Greener.

That was a really tough decision, but you did a terrific job wading thru the Alligators.

Another point: there are guys on this Forum who can pinpoint exactly where your Drone is lying - honest! One name coming to mind is 'Sar'; he's amazing, given enough background info.

Good luck finding your Drone, you'll enjoy the Mavic Air.

Rgds, NAVMAV

Bigbird48 · Dec 31, 2018

Funny I have a MA have friends with a pro 4 a mav pro and a mav 2 zoom and I have never wanted anything else my air is fine

JMF · Dec 31, 2018

DanMan32 · Dec 31, 2018

macoman said:
If you are flying in your property, you can do it without issues and not need to call the airport.

From a practical position that might be true, but not necessarily from a legal position. Even at 4.5 miles from a regional airport, airmap and B4UFly reports 0ft ceiling over my house because of the runway glide slope.
Of course a plane would run into high tension power lines before I'd be a problem.

Ghostyroasty · Jan 1, 2019

NAVMAV said:
Good for You! As mentioned before, we do LOVE our Air, but Grass is Always Greener.

That was a really tough decision, but you did a terrific job wading thru the Alligators.

Another point: there are guys on this Forum who can pinpoint exactly where your Drone is lying - honest! One name coming to mind is 'Sar'; he's amazing, given enough background info.

Good luck finding your Drone, you'll enjoy the Mavic Air.

Rgds, NAVMAV

Thanks! The drone had no gps, so I have to get out binoculars when the sun comes up a bit more to go look for it. I have an idea of where it went, but it was just too dark to really look for it.

Ghostyroasty · Jan 1, 2019

Bigbird48 said:
Funny I have a MA have friends with a pro 4 a mav pro and a mav 2 zoom and I have never wanted anything else my air is fine

When I originally started looking at drones the Mav 2 zoom was my ideal drone... But it is just too costly for me. Then I was going to get the Spark, but I really want to have something that I can grow in to and possibly do some video work.

DanMc · Jan 1, 2019

Losing the Parrot Mini may be the best thing that ever happened to you. You will love the MA.

I bought my MA about a month ago. It is positively amazing: Put it up in the air and it will stay parked where you put it. You could take off, park it in the air, go get a cup of coffee and use the bathroom. When you get back it will still be there. If you took too much time in the latrine, it will be resting at the home point waiting for you. I have explored the terrain around our property and used it for group photos with friends several times now. It is so amazingly stable. It's super easy to bring in and then grab it (avoiding the down-facing cameras) from below while it hovers nearby, or bring it in and set it down on a picnic table.
I still have my Parrot ARDrone. It was so much work to keep that thing in one spot, it drifted and wandered all over the place. I bought the GPS add-on, and that seemed to help, but it still was a handful to fly with a phone. Just about every other flight ended up in a minor crash. It was useless in any kind of breeze.

Ghostyroasty · Jan 1, 2019

DanMc said:
Losing the Parrot Mini may be the best thing that ever happened to you. You will love the MA.

I bought my MA about a month ago. It is positively amazing: Put it up in the air and it will stay parked where you put it. You could take off, park it in the air, go get a cup of coffee and use the bathroom. When you get back it will still be there. If you took too much time in the latrine, it will be resting at the home point waiting for you. I have explored the terrain around our property and used it for group photos with friends several times now. It is so amazingly stable. It's super easy to bring in and then grab it (avoiding the down-facing cameras) from below while it hovers nearby, or bring it in and set it down on a picnic table.
I still have my Parrot ARDrone. It was so much work to keep that thing in one spot, it drifted and wandered all over the place. I bought the GPS add-on, and that seemed to help, but it still was a handful to fly with a phone. Just about every other flight ended up in a minor crash. It was useless in any kind of breeze.

As of right now my wife thinks it is going to be another toy and was against me getting it. She had heard of many others getting them and just crashing them, but they weren't high quality drones with the safety features that are built in to the Air. I'm looking forward to use it with my kids while they are outside playing and then eventually finding a few places in the area to do more cinematic filming.