Just got MA, very disappointed in range and noise.

z28lt1 · May 4, 2018

Well that's terrible news, but glad you can still return it and still have the MP to fly!

Seems there are cases where signal may really be an issue (or some defective birds). Even the flying off his roof in New York City got 1000 feet out of it, really odd you got no range, but obviously every situation is different. Thanks for updating us.

Benmoore1234 · May 4, 2018

When I fly my air it’s normally around 100 to 200 meters away. At that range I can hardly hear the drone and signal is solid. If the noise is an issue I’m sure your flying really close to your self. A solution would be a selfie stick with a cam on the end. Silent I. Sure.

For its size and price you have to happy with what you have.

SpyderSkeets · May 4, 2018

swooshdave said:
Not as much as it pains me to read that. At the distances you can easily reach with an Air you are no longer taking selfies.

According to DJI, the Air is, in fact, a selfie drone just as the Spark and the Pro are. (Perhaps all non-professional camera drones could be considered selfie drones)

Take Your Selfie Drone Game To The Next Level

But I agree that even the shortest range of the Air does exceed that of what you expect of a selfie drone and the capabilities of the Air are great, but (and I know Im beating a dead horse) with the exception of the other capabilities (4k, flight modes, gimbal, etc) what makes the Air THAT much better than a (long range?) selfie drone?

droneworx · May 4, 2018

Mavflyer said:
....sigh. Why don't you look up something if you don't know what it means?
an·ec·do·tal
ˌanəkˈdōdl/
adjective

(of an account) not necessarily true or reliable, because based on personal accounts rather than facts or research.

What you posted is the very definition of anecdotal evidence.

Sigh...as I said you seem to not really understand what “anecdotal evidence” is, or you don’t even really understand what you typed yourself huh. “Based on personal account rather than facts..” what part of video and picture evidence do you not understand as “fact?”

Done yet?

Mavflyer · May 4, 2018

droneworx said:
Sigh...as I said you seem to not really understand what “anecdotal evidence” is, or you don’t even really understand what you typed yourself huh. “Based on personal account rather than facts..” what part of video and picture evidence do you not understand as “fact?”

Done yet?

Because it is a personal experience, not shared by the vast majority of people here. Just because you experience the Air having better signal reliability ONE TIME, does not make it a fact that it is better in that regard.

hoi1486 · May 4, 2018

My mavic air is first drone ,my friend have proto,mvpp,air the sound is lound that MVP,and same to p4p

KangaAir · May 5, 2018

SolusCado said:
I see the Mavic Air as a "travel drone". It's compact size make it particularly useful for tossing into a backpack and going somewhere with it. Residential neighborhoods are not where one would expect to be using it, so the WiFi interference one would expect in such locations shouldn't be an issue for the vast majority of the drone uses.

Totally support your comments, this drone is a winner for travel, portability, range & reliability. I have moved between Australia, Austria and will be in Vietnam shortly. So far I have not been let down with the capability to control even in some very deep mountain corridors remote from 3-4G networks. GPS reception is outstanding!

Classic flyer · May 5, 2018

Marc Hufnagel said:
Just received a MA and first impressions are I'm rather disappointed.

I saw a few reviews on YT that actually mentioned that it was quieter than the MP and prior Phantoms.
It's not, it sounds almost as bad as a racing drone to me. My prior quads I fly around my neighborhood for several years and never a problem from anyone. This one I can see some trouble coming to be quiet honest - even my daughter said it was loud on the first flight and she mentioned about the YT videos as well.

The other concern is every darn one of the radio channels on the 2.4ghz range are showing them being cluttered with noise; to the point I start getting breakup even starting 300 feet out with VLOS.

The 5.8 channels are not available to me like the YT videos show on how to access them I use an IOS device

I really want to like this little guy, the noise is an issue but the wifi issues are even bigger for me.

MA is junk...pure and simple!!!!! That's my opinion based on what I read in this forum and I'm sticking with it.

Jameslavis · May 5, 2018

That’s fine. My first drone and have no issues at all. Flown some killer
Runs, no disconnects. Drop your 5 bills or 17 bills on another. Action instead
Of talk.

mapwd1702 · May 5, 2018

Marc Hufnagel said:
Just received a MA and first impressions are I'm rather disappointed.

I saw a few reviews on YT that actually mentioned that it was quieter than the MP and prior Phantoms.
It's not, it sounds almost as bad as a racing drone to me. My prior quads I fly around my neighborhood for several years and never a problem from anyone. This one I can see some trouble coming to be quiet honest - even my daughter said it was loud on the first flight and she mentioned about the YT videos as well.

The other concern is every darn one of the radio channels on the 2.4ghz range are showing them being cluttered with noise; to the point I start getting breakup even starting 300 feet out with VLOS.

The 5.8 channels are not available to me like the YT videos show on how to access them I use an IOS device

I really want to like this little guy, the noise is an issue but the wifi issues are even bigger for me.

Don’t know what videos you were finding, it’s a well known fact that the Air is about the loudest drone they make.

Mike Mas · May 5, 2018

It's hard to believe there is some guys crying because there Mavic is too BIG!

You guys don't know just how lucky you are to have a machine as small as the Mavic Pro yet provide the shots and dependability from this platform. The Air is just "Fake News" from DJI to make you think its a better and more compact drone when in fact its just a "Toy" drone with big advertising to hook new pilots. It's another effort from DJI to sell a $200 drone for $800 using DJI's advertising glitter to make you think it has magic abilities which will make you a better pilot.

Regards - Mike Mas

zwt100 · May 5, 2018

Low On Cash said:
It's hard to believe there is some guys crying because there Mavic is too BIG!

You guys don't know just how lucky you are to have a machine as small as the Mavic Pro yet provide the shots and dependability from this platform. The Air is just "Fake News" from DJI to make you think its a better and more compact drone when in fact its just a "Toy" drone with big advertising to hook new pilots. It's another effort from DJI to sell a $200 drone for $800 using DJI's advertising glitter to make you think it has magic abilities which will make you a better pilot.

Regards - Mike Mas

Do you really believe this? Because it uses WiFi instead of occusync it’s a “toy”? It’s the same as the Mavic Pro with less range pure and simple. Nothing more, nothing less. Other than distance and battery life it competes with and exceeds the MP in all categories.

Classic flyer · May 5, 2018

Low On Cash said:
It's hard to believe there is some guys crying because there Mavic is too BIG!

You guys don't know just how lucky you are to have a machine as small as the Mavic Pro yet provide the shots and dependability from this platform. The Air is just "Fake News" from DJI to make you think its a better and more compact drone when in fact its just a "Toy" drone with big advertising to hook new pilots. It's another effort from DJI to sell a $200 drone for $800 using DJI's advertising glitter to make you think it has magic abilities which will make you a better pilot.

Regards - Mike Mas

Tell it like it is BIG DAWG!!

NorthGADronePilot · May 5, 2018

Lake_Flyer said:
About noise; the Mavic Pro is really quite.[/QUOTE

Your Mavic Pro is really quite what? Quiet?

Bryan D · May 5, 2018

Marc Hufnagel said:
Just received a MA and first impressions are I'm rather disappointed.

I saw a few reviews on YT that actually mentioned that it was quieter than the MP and prior Phantoms.
It's not, it sounds almost as bad as a racing drone to me. My prior quads I fly around my neighborhood for several years and never a problem from anyone. This one I can see some trouble coming to be quiet honest - even my daughter said it was loud on the first flight and she mentioned about the YT videos as well.

The other concern is every darn one of the radio channels on the 2.4ghz range are showing them being cluttered with noise; to the point I start getting breakup even starting 300 feet out with VLOS.

The 5.8 channels are not available to me like the YT videos show on how to access them I use an IOS device

I really want to like this little guy, the noise is an issue but the wifi issues are even bigger for me.

Hi,

I got my MA a few weeks ago and had the same reaction. Like you, I live in a suburban area and was experiencing poor range.

I don’t know where you are based, but I would asssume you are not in the USA? A few days ago I just switched my MA to FCC mode (US transmission standard), and it is literally day and night compared to my previous experience.

There is a relatively simple way to do the switch using XCode as you’re on iOS. I’m typing on my mobile, so having trouble finding a l link but Google it, it’s easy to find.

Don’t give up on the MA. Switching to FCC has dramatically changed my opinion of it. Also, flying it in rural areas with good visibility in CE mode also yielded results according to specs (2 Km and even above, but conditions have to be ideal). Haven’t tried the advertised 4 km on FCC yet. But for my own use 1.5 km is usually enough, and I get that on FCC in my suburban neighbourhood.

Samphotom · May 5, 2018

z28lt1 said:
As noted on a ton of threads here, there is a bug in the current DJI app for IOS which is significantly limiting your range as you are not in FCC mode (if in the US) and probably not in CE mode if that is the proper one. If you can borrow and Android device for 5 minutes and connect it, it will fix the region, and then you can go back to the iOS device. The app for IOS should be fixed shortly, as rumors are early May.

Don't give upon the range yet, test it when you can get it into the proper region.

As noted on another post a few posts down, DB test have it really close to the sound level of the Pro with the standard props (some have it a tiny bit louder, some a tiny bit quieter) but it is higher pitched, which is more noticeable to your ears. Mine is way quieter than my Phantom though, and I'm thankful for that.

I completely agree with all of your statements. It isn't louder, it is a higher pitch so it is more annoying but not louder. As for the range, I've found an $8 range extender really helped and the $120 is supposed to be better but I'm trying to keep things compact.

Switching to 5.8 really helped me and I had to do the "Android first then Ipad" trick to make it work.

Mavflyer · May 5, 2018

Low On Cash said:
It's hard to believe there is some guys crying because there Mavic is too BIG!

You guys don't know just how lucky you are to have a machine as small as the Mavic Pro yet provide the shots and dependability from this platform. The Air is just "Fake News" from DJI to make you think its a better and more compact drone when in fact its just a "Toy" drone with big advertising to hook new pilots. It's another effort from DJI to sell a $200 drone for $800 using DJI's advertising glitter to make you think it has magic abilities which will make you a better pilot.

Regards - Mike Mas

I wouldn't call it a toy, or a $200 drone. All of DJIs products are overpriced, but when you are making the best products out there, people will pay extra for it. I don't even own the Air, just the MP, but I will say the Air is a very solid drone. It runs the same software as the MP and the P4P, so are those just toys as well? Or is it just a toy because it's not what you own?

Static8 · May 5, 2018

I am so surprised people bashing the MA. I’m a photographer and videographer and have both the MA and MP. I love my MP it offers but my first drone out the door these days is the MA. I can fit it with all my cameras easier than the MP but that’s not the reason I use it first..The quality of the video is far from being a toy , its 100mbs recording 4K makes all the difference and is better than the MP, most people will not appreciate it but videographers do. The MA is excellent, noise factor is not much louder than the MP if any at all, just a different pitch in sound., fact its smaller than the MP, It gets a lot less attention than the MP because people really think its just a toy drone and that suits me fine, no calls to the police. Lol...The technology is awesome and i state again the video quality is great. Even the photos...THis is also the best WIFI quad i’ve ever flown , the range is superb for what it is as I don’t need 2 miles..I get 1KM in congested WIFI area, somedays maybe just under...that was just for testing but I fly tops 500m but don’t get me wrong I love the MP , Occusync etc..if I had no choice and could only own 1 drone then it would be the MP but it would be a hard decision to make.

Bill Dunnuck · May 5, 2018

Lake_Flyer said:
Exactly my thoughts and you, as well as many others, confirm them. True radio control is always preferable to wifi and will get only worse every day with consumer super wifi routers now available.
About noise; the Mavic Pro is really quite. The platinum even more but that's only the props. You can get a great deal now for the Pro and get some Platinum props, although you don't need them as the Pro is already VERY silent. Maybe you can exchange your Air for a Pro?

I have a MP with platinum props. Very quiet. Can fly at 100 feet in a gated community without raising eyebrows. In line for an Evo.