First look at the M3

[Rchawks]

I picked up a package for my wife at Koles yesterday and dropped by Best Buy next door to have my first Live viewing of the M3 sitting in a glass enclosure. I was surprised to see how big the props were compared to the MA2S. But was caught my eye was how thin the out legs were. Looks to be all battery, lol. I have to admit though it was really tough not to whip out the credit card for that pretty bird.

 

[BethanyFerrell]

The battery is a big chunk of its weight — about 335g out of 900g. Like mine, its arms are thin but sufficient unto the task.

Your self-discipline is admirable. (… do I hear a clock ticking?)

 

[Starz]

Probably a good decision from the reading on this forum. Maybe after DJI gets the bugs worked out and some features added into this package, your wallet will get lighter.

 

[Deleted member 77603]

The used ones are starting to trickle back to Amazon

 

[Rchawks]

The used ones are starting to trickle back to Amazon

I'll have to take a look at that (for curiosity sake)..

 

[Starz]

I'll have to take a look at that (for curiosity sake)..

100.00 off new cost.(I peaked!)

 

[Rchawks]

Wow, that's a game changer there,

 

[Starz]

Wow, that's a game changer there,

100.00 off for a box of disappointment? (for more than too many people)

 

[Deleted member 77603]

I'm waiting until they hit $1500 or so....Feb/Mar

 

[BlairAir]

I'm waiting until they hit $1500 or so....Feb/Mar

I suspect you will still be waiting in February/March if that's a number you expect or ones at that price will be pretty beat up. Note of interest, those thin arms are aluminum or a similar alloy. Interesting approach to achieve strength. Of course we have seen crashes where they just break off at the hinge spring. They aren't indestructible. I just found it interesting that I hadn't seen any reviews that mention it

 

[cgmaxed]

The used ones are starting to trickle back to Amazon

Allready? Interesting. I won't get rid of mine because of its power, agility, range/ signal strength, responsiveness, flight time and speed. I'm not a film maker, so I find the camera more than adequate. Most people complain about the Tele lens, but I love it as a hobbyist. They also complain that the main camera lacks detail relative to drones like the Air2s with it's 5.4k cam and the Autel pro with it's 6k cam.

You won't see mine on E-bay or Amazon unless the Autel EVO3 really outperforms it. Autel's camera hardware is great, but they neglect making the camera and drone work together as one. Example, when you zoom in with a DJI the drone rotates slower and the camera pivots up and down slower. With Autel, the drone and camera response doesn't compensate for the zoomed in state of the camera, so when you turn the drone or move the camera , the subject gets lost easily.

 

[Smooth Rhythm]

100.00 off for a box of disappointment? (for more than too many people)

“box of disappointment”? You’re sounding pretty sour there. Did you buy a M3? And had some issues? What was your intended purpose for buying it? Did it not perform for those intended purposes? Are you saying that ALL / MOST M3s are trash? Maybe I’m one of the lucky ones but I haven’t had the problems that are being described, and I think the M3 is well worth every penny I originally paid (and so do a lot others). Enjoy safe and happy flying with whatever bird you have!

 

[TigersFan]

I agree with cgmaxed and Smooth Rhythm. I love my M3; it flies like a dream and the pictures/movies are so much cleaner than even my M2P. The colors are superb and the platform is very stable. I also haven't had the problems being described by others and would not sell it. Good job DJI, looking forward to the updates.

 

[Starz]

“box of disappointment”? You’re sounding pretty sour there. Did you buy a M3? And had some issues? What was your intended purpose for buying it? Did it not perform for those intended purposes? Are you saying that ALL / MOST M3s are trash? Maybe I’m one of the lucky ones but I haven’t had the problems that are being described, and I think the M3 is well worth every penny I originally paid (and so do a lot others). Enjoy safe and happy flying with whatever bird you have!

Not “ALL/MOST”. If you read again, it says “too many”. A bit of a difference. Not a sour note there. Just reality. Fly app is a no for my taste.
Lucky, no, there are plenty out there that are satisfied.

 

[BlairAir]

Autel indeed has some great hardware. I'm not sure if it's their smaller size vs DJI, or resource management, and while both companies introduce bugs along with every update, Autel needs to do better.

Allready? Interesting. I won't get rid of mine because of its power, agility, range/ signal strength, responsiveness, flight time and speed. I'm not a film maker, so I find the camera more than adequate. Most people complain about the Tele lens, but I love it as a hobbyist. They also complain that the main camera lacks detail relative to drones like the Air2s with it's 5.4k cam and the Autel pro with it's 6k cam.

You won't see mine on E-bay or Amazon unless the Autel EVO3 really outperforms it. Autel's camera hardware is great, but they neglect making the camera and drone work together as one. Example, when you zoom in with a DJI the drone rotates slower and the camera pivots up and down slower. With Autel, the drone and camera response doesn't compensate for the zoomed in state of the camera, so when you turn the drone or move the camera , the subject gets lost easily.

Autel indeed has some great hardware. I'm not sure if it's their smaller size vs DJI, or resource management, or what.. Both companies introduce bugs along with every update, Autel needs to do better. They have tools that DJI doesn't offer, Mission Planning for example, but take forever to resolve issues, and updates are far between. It took over a year to get self stitching panoramas and even then, they drop video transmission during processing. There is no graduated, smooth zoom, and Android versions of their app lag in features to IOS. I love my great pumpkin, but it's frustrating at times. DJI is guilty of similar offenses, but generally quicker to put things right. I mostly don't compare these two beasts as much as try to utilize their individual strengths. Which are many.

I was playing with Point of Interest this morning on the M3, doing a really low Orbit around myself in close and fast. As I moved around it stuck like it was on a string. When I moved too close to it, it stopped.I thought "that's not good" but as soon as I took a step back, off it went again. This was repeatable and very cool. Safety first! The distance was around 2 meters. As long as I didn't intentionally run that close to it it was really impressive.

 

[Smooth Rhythm]

Autel indeed has some great hardware. I'm not sure if it's their smaller size vs DJI, or resource management, and while both companies introduce bugs along with every update, Autel needs to do better.

Autel indeed has some great hardware. I'm not sure if it's their smaller size vs DJI, or resource management, or what.. Both companies introduce bugs along with every update, Autel needs to do better. They have tools that DJI doesn't offer, Mission Planning for example, but take forever to resolve issues, and updates are far between. It took over a year to get self stitching panoramas and even then, they drop video transmission during processing. There is no graduated, smooth zoom, and Android versions of their app lag in features to IOS. I love my great pumpkin, but it's frustrating at times. DJI is guilty of similar offenses, but generally quicker to put things right. I mostly don't compare these two beasts as much as try to utilize their individual strengths. Which are many.

I was playing with Point of Interest this morning on the M3, doing a really low Orbit around myself in close and fast. As I moved around it stuck like it was on a string. When I moved too close to it, it stopped.I thought "that's not good" but as soon as I took a step back, off it went again. This was repeatable and very cool. Safety first! The distance was around 2 meters. As long as I didn't intentionally run that close to it it was really impressive.

Thanks for sharing those interesting and informative notes. Enjoy safe and happy flying!

 

[wardtom084]

Will wait until at least a year or until the general public works all of the bugs out for them.

 

[Rchawks]

My take on the box of disappointment wouldn't be the quality of the drone itself but rather the quality of a used returned drone being sold on amazon for only 100 dollars less than new.

 

[LA 2020]

I picked up a package for my wife at Koles yesterday and dropped by Best Buy next door to have my first Live viewing of the M3 sitting in a glass enclosure. I was surprised to see how big the props were compared to the MA2S. But was caught my eye was how thin the out legs were. Looks to be all battery, lol. I have to admit though it was really tough not to whip out the credit card for that pretty bird.

From all I've read your hesitation is likely correct. I'd wait until they fix the issues, there's just too many I see online. I bought an M2Pro about 9 months ago and have had 0 issues and beautiful video. I'm guessing they rushed the M3 to get it out before Christmas