The concept of a
smart controller for the
Mavic 2 was a good one. DJI had already successfully integrated a display into the
Phantom 4 pro plus controller which worked very well. It had its limitations but over all I think it was a benefit to have one. As good as it was, I still preferred to use my own device versus the integrated display. Using my own device just offered me more flexibility, was larger and seemed like it booted up faster. I sold the integrated display in favor of a simple GL300F controller and never looked back.
Currently DJI offers the
smart controller for the
mavic 2 pro and zoom series. It was long awaited and anticipated and when it finally arrived some people were happy with it and others were not so excited. I fell into the latter group.
Without going into too much detail, the things that I liked about it were that it is integrated, you only need to carry one device with you instead of a controller and a phone, it was faster, and the display was quite well lit. Battery life is good and very few glitches (After the initial firmware problems.)
Now for what I didn't like about it. The 1st thing is I never really liked the idea of having to rely on one controller as your display and as a controller. If something happens to either the display or controller, you are down until the integrated unit gets repaired. With a phone, if the phone breaks, you could always use diffetent phone. With the normal controller, if that breaks you could just buy another controller. But with the
smart controller you have to send the whole thing in for service.
A big complaint I had was the position of the display. With the phantoms, I always enjoyed the display being right out in front of me. In the
Smart Controller, I don't like the display being below the controller, it's not a natural position for me. Even for my Mavic, I have a display extender that brings my phone closer to my eyes. It's also right out in front of me above the controller which is a natural position for me.
The last thing I'm going to say is that I wish they had just made the display size bigger. Everyone is complaining that it should have been at least 7" may be 8". It is being sold with their flagship consumer drone, so I think they should have just put more effort into making it a larger display to begin with. Now, everyone is waiting for the next DJI announcement hoping that this
Smart Controller will be offered with a larger display, but I don't have much hope for that quite yet. DJI should have realized that most people use I pads or tablets to fly. No one is going to want to go back to a small display once they have experienced the ease of using a larger display.
Thanks for reading and if you like this post please click like at the bottom.
Best regards,
Rob
