This is long... Thanks in advance if you read it!
This takes me back
I remember that first drone, 11 years ago at Christmas, wandering through COSTCO with my wife and there was the
Phantom 4. Don't remember exactly how much the combo was but it was north of a kilobuck. Being an engineer and a toy geek, I consulted wife, she said it was up to me, I hemmed and hawed because it seemed like such an expensive toy with no actual purpose in my life, eventually gave in and pulled the trigger.
Now, how many of you were like this after the first: **** expensive toy, can't imagine ever buying another one,
why would you need to? Spend another thousand or more for another flying camera? Nuts! I thought this would be it.
Well, over ten years later, I've spent well over $15k on these "toys". The Mavic Pro came out, first folding drone, ****, had to have one. Then, as you learn more and more about the technical details of the cameras, flight characteristics, etc. you start to salivate with each new release. I've nearly had them all from DJI in the consumer space...
Phantom 4, Mavic Pro, Mavic 2P, Air,
Air 2,
Air 2S,
Air 3, Mini,
Mini 2, Mini 3P, Mini 4P,
Avata,
Avata 2,
Neo... I've had multiple copies of a few (Air,
Mini 2,
Avata,
Neo), and have sold a few (Mavic 2P,
Air 2,
Air 2S).
Most are simply on battery maintenance. I have a repeating reminder in my phone calendar that reminds me to charge everything every 3 months. I don't have a working battery for the
P4 any more. The drones that get flown regularly are the Mini Pro 4,
Avata 2, and
Neo.
I've skipped the
Mavic 3 and 4, too expensive with little to no benefit for my uses. The
Air 3 gets a flight now and then when the dual camera is useful, but this is rare. I plan to get my hands on a Mini 5 Pro when it comes out, and with a 1" sensor, it's hard to justify any of it's bigger brothers for nearly all my applications.
FPV has become my passion, whether flying angle or rate mode, so the
Avata 3, and
Neo 2 will certainly join the squadron.