I own 2 Autel EVO2 Aircraft. One with a 6k 1inch camera and one with an 8k camera. I sold my
mavic 2 pro and
mavic 2 zoom and bought the EVO2 V1s because of the GEO fencing issue, lower altitude limit, 4k limit, no digital zoom and less battery life. With DJI, no internet equals no flying in restricted airspace because the DJI app needs to clear you first. And it's just plane annoying. The altitude restriction for DJI is1600ft versus the 2600ft autel allows. Mountainous regions require I higher altitude limit when starting from the bottom of the mountain and you want to fly up the side to the top. I also traded up my Mav
Air 2 to the
Air2S because I wanted the 1inch sensor for improved low light filming and the continued convenience of a smaller lighter drone for travel. The Autels take much better video than the MavPro2 and Zoom. They don't fly as stable, but they have flight modes that are very stable and the gimbals compensate making the video stability equal too that of a DJI.. The EVO2s flight time is at least 10 minutes longer than the
air2s and the Mav2 drones.
Unless the
Mavic 3 isn't significantly superior to the EVO2s I'm not going to buy one. The battery life would need to be a little longer, speed the same or greater, and they would have to shoot in 8k with a 1 inch or larger cmos sensor. Even if the Mav 3s have these things I will still hesitate to buy due to the altitude limit and the forced geofencing. I would wait for Autel's next thing. Even though that won't happen for years. But I heard from an executive announcement Autel wants to get into the Sub 250gram market and the gap between their EVO2s and the Dragon Fish, like DJI Inspire and Matrice.
Regarding the V1 and V2 chip issue, the chips are the same in power and capability, just made by a different manufacturer. Autel couldn't get enough V1 chips from the 1st manufacture so they went with a new manufacturer. The Smart Controllers Coming out will be Made with V1 chips and V2 chips. The buyer just has to match the drone chip to the controller chip. Since I have 2 V1s I might consider getting a V1
smart controller, but I want to see what the ever illusive
Mavic 3 will offer before I make any major drone or accessory purchases.
The other issue with having a v1 chip and a v2 chip: Autel wants their
Smart Controller to be compatible with future products. I have a suspicion only the V2 chips are going to be compatible with future products. That's another reason I may not buy a V1
smart controller, unless I hear otherwise.