Looking to buy Air or Pro. Mostly for FPV and occasional stills

[Fendbass22]

New to forum. Searched a few times but didn't find much for my two main concerns:

Which will be best for:
- Still pictures
- Windy conditions (not crazy wind, but few days in the northeast are without wind)

Looking for those who may have owned both. Right now Best Buy selling Pro for $865 so they are pretty similar in price now.

A few posts said wait for announcement on the 18th but I feel whatever is revealed will be out of my price range.

Great forum, been lurking for weeks.

 

[drone_video]

I own both the pro and air plus an inspire

I think I would buy the pro over the air especially if the price was the same or very similar.

After owning the air for a while now I don’t like the radio system it uses. The mavic pro is a really nice aircraft for keeping signal strength high even if you don’t fly far.

But I will say the mavic air camera seems better for video at least. The mavic air gimbal is better built also. The mavic pro gimbal is a little too sensitive and seems to not as durable. But keep in mind the mavic air has not been around long enough to get some good flight time behind it to know any better, it just appears to be built better

The July 18 announcement will be either a spark or mavic 2 or airframe similar to these two machines. I don’t think there is any harm in waiting to see what it is then decide. If it is a spark update it may be in your price range. If it’s a mavic 2 it’s likely going to be considerable more than the current sell price of the pro, but the pro is not likely to go back up in price unless the announcement is not a mavic 2, if it’s not people might stop selling at a lower price because they are only dumping the price so they are not stuck with an old model. Or you could buy a mavic pro from some place with a return policy within the announcement window and not open the box until you know your keeping..

Lots of choices...

Hard choice too. I love the mavic air, but that wifi radio system limits me more than I thought it would. The perfect air craft would be a mavic pro with the camera system and gimbal from the mavic air.

 

[drone_video]

Forgot to mention that the mavic pro has that airplane mode which is kinda neat for flying FPV, I dint even check to see if the air has that mode...

But the FPV for these two aircraft is nothing like an FPV purpose build drone. So keep that in mind. It’s a camera platform first... and it never takes that suit off even in sport mode Which is just more speed.

 

[Fendbass22]

I own both the pro and air plus an inspire

I think I would buy the pro over the air especially if the price was the same or very similar.

After owning the air for a while now I don’t like the radio system it uses. The mavic pro is a really nice aircraft for keeping signal strength high even if you don’t fly far.

But I will say the mavic air camera seems better for video at least. The mavic air gimbal is better built also. The mavic pro gimbal is a little too sensitive and seems to not as durable. But keep in mind the mavic air has not been around long enough to get some good flight time behind it to know any better, it just appears to be built better

The July 18 announcement will be either a spark or mavic 2 or airframe similar to these two machines. I don’t think there is any harm in waiting to see what it is then decide. If it is a spark update it may be in your price range. If it’s a mavic 2 it’s likely going to be considerable more than the current sell price of the pro, but the pro is not likely to go back up in price unless the announcement is not a mavic 2, if it’s not people might stop selling at a lower price because they are only dumping the price so they are not stuck with an old model. Or you could buy a mavic pro from some place with a return policy within the announcement window and not open the box until you know your keeping..

Lots of choices...

Hard choice too. I love the mavic air, but that wifi radio system limits me more than I thought it would. The perfect air craft would be a mavic pro with the camera system and gimbal from the mavic air.

Thanks for the reply and detailed information. I think most people agree with you. I will probably go Pro just for the signal alone. I'd rather have it more robust than not.

Friend had one at local flying field and I ran through 3 batteries. It was awesome. I know it's not an primarily an FPV flyer but I love all the control information on the screen and how it works well. Pretty much why I want to buy a mavic over building or buying another brand.

 

[MiniPalourde]

New to forum. Searched a few times but didn't find much for my two main concerns:

Which will be best for:
- Still pictures
- Windy conditions (not crazy wind, but few days in the northeast are without wind)

Looking for those who may have owned both. Right now Best Buy selling Pro for $865 so they are pretty similar in price now.

A few posts said wait for announcement on the 18th but I feel whatever is revealed will be out of my price range.

Great forum, been lurking for weeks.

The Mavic is not ideal to fly FPV. It's a camera platform with a high resolution live-feed which causes delays and lags.

For half the price, you can get an incredibly good racing quad. RTF or not.

But if you absolutely want to buy a Mavic, then I think that you should go with the Pro. The Mavic Air uses some kind of enhanced WIFI which is not as good as the Pro's Occusync. People can say whatever they want, but range is a big deal when flying a quad. It gets boring real quick if you can't get far from your home point, and you often need to go farther away to get the best shots.

If a Mavic 2 come out on the 18th, I predict that it will be in the 1300-1500 USD price range.

 

[Fendbass22]

The Mavic is not ideal to fly FPV. It's a camera platform with a high resolution live-feed which causes delays and lags.

For half the price, you can get an incredibly good racing quad. RTF or not.

But if you absolutely want to buy a Mavic, then I think that you should go with the Pro. The Mavic Air uses some kind of enhanced WIFI which is not as good as the Pro's Occusync. People can say whatever they want, but range is a big deal when flying a quad. It gets boring real quick if you can't get far from your home point, and you often need to go farther away to get the best shots.

If a Mavic 2 come out on the 18th, I predict that it will be in the 1300-1500 USD price range.

Thanks for the input. Snagged a new Pro for $819. Can't complain.

 

[MiniPalourde]

Thanks for the input. Snagged a new Pro for $819. Can't complain.

You probably already bought it, but DJI sells refurbished Mavics for 699 USD on Newegg. I can give you the link if you're interested.