Looking at buy a Mavic Air.

[tmartin89]

So I’m in the market for my first drone and I’m stuck between the Air and the Pro Platinum. I like the features of the Air but my concern is the connection issues that a lot of people seem to have. I’m fine with the battery life as I’ll be getting the Fly More Combo. Should I be concerned with the connection issues that a lot of people have with the enhanced WiFi over the occusync?

 

[mquatrida]

Hi tmartin89,

IMHO Mavic Air is the best one. As soon as I've received mine, I've set up it to FCC, instead of CE and I've been able to fly 2.8 km far, without disconnection issues. I've been near villages, and among pines. Even if Occusync 2 seems to be better than Occusync 1, and WiFi, with a theoretical maximum distance of 8 km, I don't think you could be interested in flying so far, but it depends on how far you need to fly.
The great advantage of the Mavic Air is its compact design, and its weight… if those two features are of interest for you, it's definitely the best drone you can buy.

Have a nice weekend!
(I'm going to fly both days: Saturday and Sunday.)

 

[tmartin89]

Hi tmartin89,

IMHO Mavic Air is the best one. As soon as I've received mine, I've set up it to FCC, instead of CE and I've been able to fly 2.8 km far, without disconnection issues. I've been near villages, and among pines. Even if Occusync 2 seems to be better than Occusync 1, and WiFi, with a theoretical maximum distance of 8 km, I don't think you could be interested in flying so far, but it depends on how far you need to fly.
The great advantage of the Mavic Air is its compact design, and its weight… if those two features are of interest for you, it's definitely the best drone you can buy.

Have a nice weekend!
(I'm going to fly both days: Saturday and Sunday.)

Thanks for the reply!

I really have no need to fly that far, I’ve just watched some reviews where the connection has been poor even under 1000ft.

 

[Starz]

Don’t forget the noise difference.
If that’s a concern.

 

[Aikidoamigo]

So I’m in the market for my first drone and I’m stuck between the Air and the Pro Platinum. I like the features of the Air but my concern is the connection issues that a lot of people seem to have. I’m fine with the battery life as I’ll be getting the Fly More Combo. Should I be concerned with the connection issues that a lot of people have with the enhanced WiFi over the occusync?

So how do you fly almost 3km and still keep VLOS as per legal requirements.... or do you live somewhere that seeing your drone in flight is not important?

 

[msinger]

The connection has always been perfect on my Mavic Air. I'm able to fly as far as my eyes can see. I haven't tried flying in any densely populated Wi-Fi areas, so I'm not sure how it would perform in such an environment (if that's where you'll be flying).

 

[mquatrida]

Don’t forget the noise difference.
If that’s a concern.

MasterAirScrew propellers have solved that, and you gain up to 2.5' extra flight time…

 

[Starz]

Oops. You have been caught!

 

[Starz]

MasterAirScrew propellers have solved that, and you gain up to 2.5' extra flight time…

Not all get those results. And two or three decibels is not an earth shattering difference.

 

[Former Member]

Should I be concerned with the connection issues that a lot of people have with the enhanced WiFi over the occusync?

Im not going to dis any of my buddies who fly Airs, but connection problems have ALWAYS been an issue when I have flown one of my many Airs. I really get just as much range from my Sparkie as I do on any Air I have ever flown.

I love the idea of the Air, but they should have made it with Occusync. Losing connection on every flight gets old fast, especially when theres the superb MP and awesome MPP breathing down the neck of the Mavic Airs price range.

 

[Starz]

I have noticed that with the air, where you fly makes a difference. I’ll not say anything about distance so as not to get the scolding.

 

[Aikidoamigo]

... just keen to understand that’s all.

I’m new here and have just bought my first drone, my eyes aren’t great and so I really don’t know how anyone can see these tiny grey things at a distance of more than a couple of hundred feet.

 

[Starz]

Two factions. Those that see what they’re flying and those that fly beyond that point.

 

[mquatrida]

Not all get those results. And two or three decibels is not an earth shattering difference.

Three dB are a lot… it's a logarithmic scale. It means up to 50% less noisy.

 

[Starz]

Three dB are a lot… it's a logarithmic scale. It means up to 50% less noisy.

Glad you’re happy with your results. I’m not convinced.

 

[mquatrida]

Well! While hovering the noise is still a lot, however when you take altitude is much less noisy. Don't you have the same impression?

 

[Starz]

The noise that the air makes is not an issue to me, but some find it to be a bit much. I don’t fly it close enough to my ears that I matters.

 

[naiku]

The noise that the air makes is not an issue to me, but some find it to be a bit much. I don’t fly it close enough to my ears that I matters.

The noise from the Air doesn't bother me either, before I got one I had read all these things saying how noisy it is, got one, started it, shrugged my shoulders and wondered what all the fuss was about.



Back to the topic at hand, I've not experienced any connection issues (knock on wood) and have flown plenty far enough for anything I'll ever need to do with it.

 

[itsneedtokno]

I'd say the MA for sure.

The ONLY time I experience connection issues is over dense neighborhoods. Using a custom 5.8ghz channel has doubled my range to 2k over such neighborhoods, and sometimes 3k. Yeah, that's FAR less than advertised, but I've reached 10,007ft distance at 250ft AGL when over a water feature nearby.

So if you wanna fly over things that actually look great, it's awesome. If you want to fly over houses all the time (far away from your home point) then the MPP would be the way to go.


BUT! there are Range Boosters for the MA that are a perfect middle ground... As long as warranty means nothing to you.

 

[naiku]

Using a custom 5.8ghz channel has doubled my range to 2k over such neighborhoods, and sometimes 3k. Yeah, that's FAR less than advertised, but I've reached 10,007ft distance at 250ft AGL when over a water feature nearby.

2-3k is really impressive all things considered. I've taken mine out to right around 1k and lost video, but that was using whatever WiFi channel it decided to assign. I might try a 5.8ghz channel at some point, need to learn a little more about it before doing so. Longest single flight (a loop) has been around 4k.