Debating on a drone

[Firefighter90]

Hey guys. Yeah, its another one of those post.

I've been debating about a drone for a long time now. I have been thinking what I would need it for and figure I could use it on my land and possibly at work especially to keep an eye around. So, it will be used in the woods

I hate for it to just sit on my desk.

Im debating between the Mavic Air and Mavic Pro. Though i thought about something cheaper.

I don't want to spend a fortune though...I want my money to be well spent.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

 

[Skyflyer129]

Welcome to this forum! So specifically what would you use the drone for and what price range are you comfortable with spending on this sUAV? How often are you planning on flying it and over what kind of distance are you expected to monitor?
Blue skies from SoCal?

 

[deleted member 877]

Hey guys. Yeah, its another one of those post.

I've been debating about a drone for a long time now. I have been thinking what I would need it for and figure I could use it on my land and possibly at work especially to keep an eye around. So, it will be used in the woods

I hate for it to just sit on my desk.

Im debating between the Mavic Air and Mavic Pro. Though i thought about something cheaper.

I don't want to spend a fortune though...I want my money to be well spent.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

The new Mavic Mini is turning out to be a lot better than expected and is significantly less expensive than the Mavic Pro and Mavic Air. It doesn't do 4K video but 2.7K works well if you're not overly fussy. It also has a 30 minute battery life which is better than the Pro and Air.

Suggest you check out some of the Mavic Mini reviews on YouTube.

 

[msinger]

figure I could use it on my land and possibly at work especially to keep an eye around. So, it will be used in the woods

What exactly are you going to be doing with it? Some type of surveillance?

 

[THE CYBORG]

Its a bit of a catch 22 situation if yo don't know what you are going to use it for, you can buy Mavic Mini and have some great fun but then wish you had got a Pro or Pro2 for the camera, the other way also applies if you don't do a lot of filming / photography.

I can safely bet whatever you decide on will give you a lot of engoyment.

 

[Firefighter90]

I may get the drone and just go crazy with it and start taking photography and videos.

But I mainly wanted to get one to use basically as a surveillance. I live in the flatwoods of Georgia, so it is kind of hard to see what is going on unless you are right there with whatever is going on.

My work is supposedly getting a higher end DJI to use for our Forestry work, but it won't be here all the time.

But I looked at the Mini and being in the woods..I'd like something with obstacle avoidance.

I am leaning toward the Mavic Pro especially with what zoom it has.

Then again, I was thinking about the Parrot Anafi.

I need range too

 

[Dave Maine]

If you are thinking of flying in heavily wooded areas, bear in mind that all the ac to drone connunications will have problems penetrating tree and leaf cover. That is the nature of radio control technology.

 

[Firefighter90]

If you are thinking of flying in heavily wooded areas, bear in mind that all the ac to drone connunications will have problems penetrating tree and leaf cover. That is the nature of radio control technology.

That is true. But I figured with the more advanced radio communication the Mavic Pro has might do better than using a WiFi signal?

Looks like I could get a renewed Mavic Pro for around $659+tax.

 

[Dave Maine]

Not too likely. The laws of physics still hold. From signals eg 2.4 and 5 ghz signals do not penetrate steel, trees and branches etc. DJI‘s ocusync etc are all still based on the same baseband signals. They get their advantages with clever encodings of the signal. If the signal doesn’t get between source and receiver reliably, the encoding still will fail.

 

[Firefighter90]

? Well, I guess I can try it out and if its not working good...I can turn it back in before the cut off date for returning.

The Pro is better than the Mavic Air? Ive seen some say it is, but some prefer the Air.

 

[slup]

Trying to boil down your first initial requirements from what you have said so far ... forests, high trees, surveillance, perhaps not so much filming or photo shooting.

Coming from my own experience I know that a drone with enhanced wifi (like Mavic mini, Mavic Air, Spark & Parrot Anafi) are prone to connection difficulties when flying out of LOS (unobstructed line of sight, & I'm not meaning visual line of sight).

So ... assume a clearing in the forrest with 100 feet radius, 160 feet tall pine trees all around & the drone on the maximum allowed altitude of 400 feet. Then you will already loose the LOS approx. 240 feet horizontal away from were you are standing & connection cutouts can start to occur. So your surveillance area will be rather small.

If my assumptions are somewhat correct I would go for a drone with Occusync connection (Mavic 2 Pro/Zoom or Mavic Pro) just to get the perhaps more reliable of the two..

Camera wise you could generalize a bit and say that It's kind of 3 levels spaced rather far from each other ...

Mavic Mini + Spark:

Beginner level with several missing things/functions or a quality level (of pic or video) that will make you wish that you bought something better if you have a camera interest and want to grow.

Mavic Air + Mavic Pro + think Parrot Anafi is comparable here also:

Medium level with good enough camera result level with some room to grow, nearly full chart of functionality like 4k video, RAW stills & a lot more. All this spiced with tons of autonomous flight modes assisting you to get that cinematic & smooth look.

Mavic 2 Pro/Zoom:

Pro level with a even more refined camera quality, lower noice levels & wider dynamic range.

Battery or flight time capability ...

Well more is always better but what's enough? In practice (generalizing a bit again...) you can stay airborn for approx.10 minutes with the Spark, 15 with the Mavic Air & Anafi, 20 with the Mavic Pro & Mavic 2Pro/Zoom and then 25 with the Mavic Mini.

For instance so have I 4 batteries for my Air which is more then sufficient ... of course it depends on if a return for battery swop is an obstacle or not.

Sensors:

First of all ... you can never fully trust them, they aren't fail safe. Small thin branches can be missed & you crash anyway.

Both Mavic Air & Mavic 2 Pro/Zoom are full of them ... but you should always go the extra mile to ensure that the flight path is free anyway.
Mavic Pro & Spark have them to a lesser degree, and the Mavic Mini are free of them (don't know how the Parrot are equipped).

Portability:

Pretty easy ... the smaller the better. But it has some drawbacks like how well they take high winds. Mainly up to you how of a compact package you like to carry.

So in the end ... no one are the best of everything, you have to pick that which tick the most of your "must" needs" & a few of your good to have's.

 

[Firefighter90]

Trying to boil down your first initial requirements from what you have said so far ... forests, high trees, surveillance, perhaps not so much filming or photo shooting.

Coming from my own experience I know that a drone with enhanced wifi (like Mavic mini, Mavic Air, Spark & Parrot Anafi) are prone to connection difficulties when flying out of LOS (unobstructed line of sight, & I'm not meaning visual line of sight).

So ... assume a clearing in the forrest with 100 feet radius, 160 feet tall pine trees all around & the drone on the maximum allowed altitude of 400 feet. Then you will already loose the LOS approx. 240 feet horizontal away from were you are standing & connection cutouts can start to occur. So your surveillance area will be rather small.

If my assumptions are somewhat correct I would go for a drone with Occusync connection (Mavic 2 Pro/Zoom or Mavic Pro) just to get the perhaps more reliable of the two..

Camera wise you could generalize a bit and say that It's kind of 3 levels spaced rather far from each other ...

Mavic Mini + Spark:

Beginner level with several missing things/functions or a quality level (of pic or video) that will make you wish that you bought something better if you have a camera interest and want to grow.

Mavic Air + Mavic Pro + think Parrot Anafi is comparable here also:

Medium level with good enough camera result level with some room to grow, nearly full chart of functionality like 4k video, RAW stills & a lot more. All this spiced with tons of autonomous flight modes assisting you to get that cinematic & smooth look.

Mavic 2 Pro/Zoom:

Pro level with a even more refined camera quality, lower noice levels & wider dynamic range.

Battery or flight time capability ...

Well more is always better but what's enough? In practice (generalizing a bit again...) you can stay airborn for approx.10 minutes with the Spark, 15 with the Mavic Air & Anafi, 20 with the Mavic Pro & Mavic 2Pro/Zoom and then 25 with the Mavic Mini.

For instance so have I 4 batteries for my Air which is more then sufficient ... of course it depends on if a return for battery swop is an obstacle or not.

Sensors:

First of all ... you can never fully trust them, they aren't fail safe. Small thin branches can be missed & you crash anyway.

Both Mavic Air & Mavic 2 Pro/Zoom are full of them ... but you should always go the extra mile to ensure that the flight path is free anyway.
Mavic Pro & Spark have them to a lesser degree, and the Mavic Mini are free of them (don't know how the Parrot are equipped).

Portability:

Pretty easy ... the smaller the better. But it has some drawbacks like how well they take high winds. Mainly up to you how of a compact package you like to carry.

So in the end ... no one are the best of everything, you have to pick that which tick the most of your "must" needs" & a few of your good to have's.

I think price wise..I might just be better to go with the DJI Mavic Pro. I can't really justify spending over $1000 on something that I potentially will never use all the time.

Can the Mavic Pro camera be upgraded any?

 

[Mavic Mac]

Just a thought - Check the Cyber Monday sales and the classifieds here - you may be able to buy a higher end drone and stay within your budget.

 

[slup]

I think price wise..I might just be better to go with the DJI Mavic Pro. I can't really justify spending over $1000 on something that I potentially will never use all the time.

Can the Mavic Pro camera be upgraded any?

Yeah ... the price are important in the end. Would say that you probably will be equal satisfied with them both. If I haven't stumbled onto a nice second hand Air with Fly More Combo + filters & other goddies for only $630 (only 5 hours flight time) I also should have a hard time to choose between the two.

Both have pretty much the same photo/video quality ... Air is really much more portable without actually loosing the wind resistance, and have a much more protected gimbal. The pro have a more reliable communication to the RC ( say more reliable because the Air can do slightly more than 1,5 mile flights on regular basis in semi to sub-urban areas which should be enough). And have a couple more minutes battery flight time.

So in the end the $ will decide ... as usual

Haven't heard of any camera upgrade for the pro ... don't think that's possible.

 

[Firefighter90]

Yeah ... the price are important in the end. Would say that you probably will be equal satisfied with them both. If I haven't stumbled onto a nice second hand Air with Fly More Combo + filters & other goddies for only $630 (only 5 hours flight time) I also should have a hard time to choose between the two.

Both have pretty much the same photo/video quality ... Air is really much more portable without actually loosing the wind resistance, and have a much more protected gimbal. The pro have a more reliable communication to the RC ( say more reliable because the Air can do slightly more than 1,5 mile flights on regular basis in semi to sub-urban areas which should be enough). And have a couple more minutes battery flight time.

So in the end the $ will decide ... as usual

Haven't heard of any camera upgrade for the pro ... don't think that's possible.

I thought the pro had a more protected gimbal?

 

[slup]

I thought the pro had a more protected gimbal?

Don't think so ... by just looking at the design around the gimbal you can tell, then add what you see in youtube clips. The gimbal is really fragile on the Mavic Pro.

And the result from a search in this forum comes up with ...
Search results for query: broken gimbal

... the Mavic Pro & 2 Pro/Zoom with similar design have the edge.

 

[Bigbird48]

The air has a well protected gimble. I use mine to check my property. Its a small area just 5 acres but the air is perfect for it. Stable in the high winds I often have, sure I don't have tall trees to contend with but you get around that with altitude somewhat.

 

[Firefighter90]

This is a hard decision. Half of me is like buy one...the other half is like..why do I need a drone? Lol

I guess I could always sell the drone.

Im to the point of just going ahead and get the mavic 2....pay as I go. Amazon has a good policy on returning.

 

[bebbe]

If you could spend the money. Get the Dji Mavic 2 Zoom [emoji106]

 

[Firefighter90]

If you could spend the money. Get the Dji Mavic 2 Zoom [emoji106]

Dont these cameras already zoom? I thought i saw where the mavic pro1 can zoom 2x?