Complete Newbie in the UK

[StumpyBloke]

Hi all, first post here.

I have been contemplating whether to get the Mavic 2 Pro. I have never had a drone before, nor have any experience whatsoever in flying them.

Firstly, are there any recommended resellers in the United Kingdom where I could get one from, assuming I decide to go ahead with it?

Secondly, with all of your experience out there, would you say this device would be suitable for a complete amateur? I like the idea of having the obstacle detectors which this and the Zoom have. I checked your vendors list but nothing came up for here (unless I missed it of course).

Thanks in advance.

 

[Thomas B]

Welcome to the forum from the deserts of Arizona! Enjoy.
I went with the M2P because of the variable aperture. If you shoot with jpeg+DNG there is plenty of image to enlarge a section cropped out during postproduction.
Some brethren from the U.K. Hopefully will chime in.

 

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

My first full sized / expensive drone was the DJI Phantom Pro 3. I learned on it, I crashed it a lot. I spent a lot of money on repairs.

I have not crashed the M2P even once. I think it's partly due to my experience (learned to be more careful from the previous expensive crashes), but I'm pretty sure that the obstacle sensors have saved my butt on more than one occasion.

You might try learning how to fly on something much less expensive (under a couple hundred pounds) first, but if you did decide to go whole-hog on the first purchase, the M2P with obstacle avoidance is a good choice.

Chris

 

[StumpyBloke]

Welcome to the forum from the deserts of Arizona! Enjoy.
I went with the M2P because of the variable aperture. If you shoot with jpeg+DNG there is plenty of image to enlarge a section cropped out during postproduction.
Some brethren from the U.K. Hopefully will chime in.

Thank you very much.

With what you’ve just said there, I instantly feel completely out of my depth and maybe in the wrong place altogether [emoji1787][emoji23][emoji1787][emoji23]

I love gadgets, love to get the best I can afford but also don’t want to get into something that’s well out of my limits. Maybe I need to rethink this…[emoji16]

 

[Lastrexking]

Hi. Welcome to the forum.

Firstly - I'm not trying to ruin your day - just save you some cash!

I would strongly advise against buying a drone in the UK at the moment

The rules in the EU and UK are changing in July, and all of the current drones will be classed as 'legacy' craft. Whilst the impact won't be immediate - come 2022 the distances you can fly 'legacy' drones to people out of your influence and to buildings will increase even further.

At some point this year DJI are likely to release new drones that comply with the new rules. I was about to buy a new Mavic, but I've decided to hold off and keep what I have for now.

There's a thread here with further info Clarification of new rules in July for UK

Also, see this web page for more guidance on legacy drones and what will and won't work: Heliguy - Drone Experts - Supply, Support, Training and More

 

[Pablo]

Welcome StumpyBloke.

I think Heliguy comes highly recommended in terms of UK resellers.

I would probably say go for a Mavic Mini first ideally, as it's a lot cheaper if you do crash! The Mavic 2 is in a different league to the Mini of course but if you can master the Mini for a few months then trade it in/sell it and upgrade to the Mavic 2 Pro?

If you really want to go straight for the Mavic 2 though I would understand, it's an incredible drone. If you read up first and take it slowly you'll be fine.

Have fun!

 

[Pablo]

Hi. Welcome to the forum.

Firstly - I'm not trying to ruin your day - just save you some cash!

I would strongly advise against buying a drone in the UK at the moment

The rules in the EU and UK are changing in July, and all of the current drones will be classed as 'legacy' craft. Whilst the impact won't be immediate - come 2022 the distances you can fly 'legacy' drones to people out of your influence and to buildings will increase even further.

At some point this year DJI are likely to release new drones that comply with the new rules. I was about to buy a new Mavic, but I've decided to hold off and keep what I have for now.

There's a thread here with further info Clarification of new rules in July for UK

Also, see this web page for more guidance on legacy drones and what will and won't work: Heliguy - Drone Experts - Supply, Support, Training and More

Just to counter this, DJI's plan is to handle remote ID via firmware updates, which would mean existing drones would be remote ID compliant too. It might not happen, the whole thing is in flux at the moment so I'd personally say still go for it if you're willing to take the minor risk that your drone is worthless in 2 years time (that's a long way away).

It doesn't look like there'll be any new DJI drones in the imminent future, so unless you want to wait it out for an indeterminate amount of time, I'd say go for it.

 

[Camino Ken]

I bought the Mavic 2 Pro as my very first drone and have absolutely no regrets. It is very easy to master as a first time drone pilot. I would highly recommend it if you can afford it.

 

[Lastrexking]

Just to counter this, DJI's plan is to handle remote ID via firmware updates, which would mean existing drones would be remote ID compliant too. It might not happen, the whole thing is in flux at the moment so I'd personally say still go for it if you're willing to take the minor risk that your drone is worthless in 2 years time (that's a long way away).

It doesn't look like there'll be any new DJI drones in the imminent future, so unless you want to wait it out for an indeterminate amount of time, I'd say go for it.

That’s not right mate. The drones have to be marked by the manufacturer as compliant with the regulations and what category they fall within. That’s a physical change to the craft.

And, it definitely will happen. Companies have built and sold whole training courses based on the changes, and people (like me) have paid for the A2 CotC to ensure I can still operate legally using the legacy craft and new craft when compliant versions hit the market.

Everything is in place. Follow the links in my post above, and read the info. Companies like Heliguy and UAV Hub wouldn’t be telling people this if it wasn’t happening.

 

[old man mavic]

welcome to the forum, drones direct in the UK are a good source of DJI drones they also do refurbished if cash is tight

 

[Congoblue]

If you are not so much into photography but just want to have fun flying it, the Mavic 2 zoom is a great choice. In fact the original Mavic 1 or Mavic 1 Pro Platinum is still a really good drone and quite cheap if you can find a refurb one. The new Mavic Mini is a lot cheaper but is prone to getting blown away if the wind is anything above a light breeze. Personally I wouldn't wait to see what happens with the rules, they are always changing and you'll wait forever...

That’s not right mate. The drones have to be marked by the manufacturer as compliant with the regulations and what category they fall within. That’s a physical change to the craft.

And, it definitely will happen. Companies have built and sold whole training courses based on the changes, and people (like me) have paid for the A2 CotC to ensure I can still operate legally using the legacy craft and new craft when compliant versions hit the market.

Everything is in place. Follow the links in my post above, and read the info. Companies like Heliguy and UAV Hub wouldn’t be telling people this if it wasn’t happening.

Where are you getting that from, in those links? There are new rules coming about where you can fly, but I don't think you are correct about not being able to fly older drones because they are not marked. In fact the EASA website says "From 1 July 2022 onwards, Open category unmanned aircraft that are placed on the EU market (i.e. new products introduced for sale in Europe) must comply with the product standards and be marked with the appropriate class Number (C0 to C4) ". It goes on to say that unmarked/uncompliant drones will be OK to fly in A3 (far from people) zone which is pretty much the distances currently in the drone code.

 

[Lastrexking]

If you are not so much into photography but just want to have fun flying it, the Mavic 2 zoom is a great choice. In fact the original Mavic 1 or Mavic 1 Pro Platinum is still a really good drone and quite cheap if you can find a refurb one. The new Mavic Mini is a lot cheaper but is prone to getting blown away if the wind is anything above a light breeze. Personally I wouldn't wait to see what happens with the rules, they are always changing and you'll wait forever...




Where are you getting that from, in those links? There are new rules coming about where you can fly, but I don't think you are correct about not being able to fly older drones because they are not marked. In fact the EASA website says "From 1 July 2022 onwards, Open category unmanned aircraft that are placed on the EU market (i.e. new products introduced for sale in Europe) must comply with the product standards and be marked with the appropriate class Number (C0 to C4) ". It goes on to say that unmarked/uncompliant drones will be OK to fly in A3 (far from people) zone which is pretty much the distances currently in the drone code.

I didn’t say you can’t fly them. I said the distances you can fly them in relation to people and buildings will be increased. After July 2022 you will only be able to fly legacy aircraft in the A3 ‘far from people’ category which means you’ve got to stay 150m away from residential, industrial, business and recreational areas and a minimum of 50m from uninvolved people. Source; A2 CofC Drone Course (A2 Certificate of Competency)

 

[DuffMog]

Welcome to the Forum good advice here Mavic 2 pro worth every penny an easy drone to fly & as you get more confident will do everything you require.

 

[DavidJL39]

Hi all, first post here.

I have been contemplating whether to get the Mavic 2 Pro. I have never had a drone before, nor have any experience whatsoever in flying them.

Firstly, are there any recommended resellers in the United Kingdom where I could get one from, assuming I decide to go ahead with it?

Secondly, with all of your experience out there, would you say this device would be suitable for a complete amateur? I like the idea of having the obstacle detectors which this and the Zoom have. I checked your vendors list but nothing came up for here (unless I missed it of course).

Thanks in advance.

Hive would be worth a look. hivedronestore.com|| Specialist drone store | Authorised DJI retailer
They sell both new and pre-owned Drones

The Mavic Air also has obstacle avoiding sensors.

The UK law on drones is about to change so within the next few years there is a risk that models which do no to carry a CE certification may not legally be flown. So far as I know, there no drones currently on sale which have such a certification! It’s possible that the CAA ( the UK Regulator) will make some provision allowing existing drones to continue to fly. Alternatively retailers might be willing offer a replacement package.

 

[Lastrexking]

The UK law on drones is about to change so within the next few years there is a risk that models which do no to carry a CE certification may not legally be flown.

That's not quite correct. You'll still be able to fly them, but the distances you can fly them relating to people and buildings will be greater than it is now.

 

[StumpyBloke]

Hi all.

Firstly, thank you for the welcomes.

And thank you for all the information. Really, really useful and much appreciated. The new laws coming into place, for me at least, are quite confusing. But as I mentioned above, all this is new to me anyway. I have a feeling I would be better waiting until the revised models come out hopefully in July.

If I do go for one, I would only be flying it for recreational use and not in cities but certainly over and around housing estates and maybe little towns. And of course in open countryside.

I don’t know, maybe I should just wait.

But, thanks again.

Richard

 

[DavidJL39]

That's not quite correct. You'll still be able to fly them, but the distances you can fly them relating to people and buildings will be greater than it is now.

What bit of the CAA proposals do you have in mind? There is a change coming this June which greatly simplifies the present rules (provided the Pilot has registered) but the proposals from 2022 seem to bar all except drones marked as CE.

 

[Lastrexking]

What bit of the CAA proposals do you have in mind? There is a change coming this June which greatly simplifies the present rules (provided the Pilot has registered) but the proposals from 2022 seem to bar all except drones marked as CE.

The 2022 rules don't bar all drones marked with the new CE Categories. All they do is make the distances from people and buildings greater:

'You will be able to fly these ‘legacy’ aircraft under these permissions with an A2 CofC between 1st July 2020 and 30th June 2022. After this point, you will only be able to fly these aircraft in the A3 ‘far from people’ category which means you’ve got to stay 150m away from residential, industrial, business and recreational areas and a minimum of 50m from uninvolved people.'

Source - my training provider at the UAVHUb: A2 CofC Drone Course (A2 Certificate of Competency)

Edit - the distances above only apply to people with an A2 CotC, but you can still fly 'legacy' craft after 2022, but at bigger distances than those quote above.

 

[Carl36]

Hi all, first post here.

I have been contemplating whether to get the Mavic 2 Pro. I have never had a drone before, nor have any experience whatsoever in flying them.

Firstly, are there any recommended resellers in the United Kingdom where I could get one from, assuming I decide to go ahead with it?

Secondly, with all of your experience out there, would you say this device would be suitable for a complete amateur? I like the idea of having the obstacle detectors which this and the Zoom have. I checked your vendors list but nothing came up for here (unless I missed it of course).

Thanks in advance.

Hi I'm in Norfolk UK and have a Mavic Pro, had never flown a drone before and was very worried about crashing or losing it (£1200) for that's a lot whizzing around in the sky. I contacted a guy in local area who owned Drones and he visited my home and assisted in my first flight plus always available for advice. That was 2 years ago and although I don't fly to often I've enjoyed every minute.

 

[Desertjock]

Hi all, first post here.

I have been contemplating whether to get the Mavic 2 Pro. I have never had a drone before, nor have any experience whatsoever in flying them.

Firstly, are there any recommended resellers in the United Kingdom where I could get one from, assuming I decide to go ahead with it?

Secondly, with all of your experience out there, would you say this device would be suitable for a complete amateur? I like the idea of having the obstacle detectors which this and the Zoom have. I checked your vendors list but nothing came up for here (unless I missed it of course).

Thanks in advance.

Hi StumpyBloke,
Welcome. I’m in the UK, complete novice to drones and bought myself the Mavic 2 Pro for xmas. It’s a fantastic drone, very forgiving and easy to fly. You won’t regret buying it. As for the rule changes, well, Brexit is the prime example. If you want it, just buy it. You only live once. Why do without enjoyment at the expense of the Eurocrats

Hi all, first post here.

I have been contemplating whether to get the Mavic 2 Pro. I have never had a drone before, nor have any experience whatsoever in flying them.

Firstly, are there any recommended resellers in the United Kingdom where I could get one from, assuming I decide to go ahead with it?

Secondly, with all of your experience out there, would you say this device would be suitable for a complete amateur? I like the idea of having the obstacle detectors which this and the Zoom have. I checked your vendors list but nothing came up for here (unless I missed it of course).

Thanks in advance.

!!