Mavic 2 pro smart controller or crystal sky ultra 7.5

[Landspeed]

Hello
As the title says. I am getting a good deal on a crystal sky ultra for about 650usd with multiple. Battery's etc. Debating mentally if I should get that or get the new mavic pro smart controller. What do you guys suggest?

 

[Former Member]

If you have multiple drones, such as a Spark, Mavic Pro, and M2, the CS will work on any of them. The Smart controller will only work with M2.

 

[Landspeed]

If you have multiple drones, such as a Spark, Mavic Pro, and M2, the CS will work on any of them. The Smart controller will only work with M2.

I don't have multiple drones, what I am. Looking at is the price tag. Both are costing me 650 usd so what's a better option crystal sky ultra or mavic controller with screen.?

 

[Former Member]

I don't have multiple drones, what I am. Looking at is the price tag. Both are costing me 650 usd so what's a better option crystal sky ultra or mavic controller with screen.?

If you buy a Smart controller, you can sell the M2 controller and recoup some of your money that you spend on the Smart Controller,

 

[Former Member]

Just bear in mind that the Smart Controller is 5.5", which to me is small, compared to the CS which is 7.85".

 

[Captain Lou]

I sold my 5.5” CS, and all the things used to hook it up and charge it that needed its own bag, because of the new smart controller (witch is held up in customs)... no cables , batteries, mount etc..
The larger CS witch you are thinking about getting is probably great ... and probably heavy ... than you need a good mount and special charger (if it doesn’t come with one) and setting up when you go out to fly is timely... those are the reasons why I went with smart controller...

 

[Cpt.Barbossa1072]

I sold my 5.5” CS, and all the things used to hook it up and charge it that needed its own bag, because of the new smart controller (witch is held up in customs)... no cables , batteries, mount etc..
The larger CS witch you are thinking about getting is probably great ... and probably heavy ... than you need a good mount and special charger (if it doesn’t come with one) and setting up when you go out to fly is timely... those are the reasons why I went with smart controller...

 

[77ricco]

I would love having a all in one solution like the smart controller, though as I live in Brazil if I had the chance to get a good deal on a Cristalsky Ultra I would certainly go for it as it is 2 times brighter than the smart controller... Certainly you wouldn't enjoy looking on the screen and see nothing...

 

[DavidNDC]

The backlight on my CrystalSky Ultra-Bright fried itself on it's 5th use. Apparently a somewhat common occurrence with the 1st few batches. From what I understand that issue has been sorted now and you don't hear about it happening as much. Thankfully I purchased it from B&H so I returned it for a hassle free refund and went back to using an iPad with a Hoodman or phone with an anti-glare screen protector added to it. I actually prefer it even though it's not as bright as I can run other applications, such as DJI's own Ground Station Pro which still isn't supported on their own displays.

When it did work, the display was absolutely gorgeous even on the brightest of days, which was exactly why I bought it in the first place. However to be honest, I felt it was far too heavy - especially when used in combination with a mavmount on a small Mavic remote. I'd imagine it balances a bit better on a full size controller like the Phantom's.

I'm looking to purchase a Mavic Pro 2 as I've already sold my Mavic Pro but I've been holding out for some real world reviews on the Smart Controller as buying the Mavic Pro 2 bundled with the Smart Controller is a significant savings. Two things the Crystal Sky do have going for it IMHO is the fact that I can use it on other DJI platforms and that you can swap out batteries. Plus, if the smart remote display craps out like my CS did - you're not stuck with a remote with a failed display permanently attached to it.

TL;DR: I'm waiting on real world reviews on the new Smart Controller as I learned my lesson being an early adopter with the CS Ultra-Bright.

 

[Cpt.Barbossa1072]

The backlight on my CrystalSky Ultra-Bright fried itself on it's 5th use. Apparently a somewhat common occurrence with the 1st few batches. From what I understand that issue has been sorted now and you don't hear about it happening as much. Thankfully I purchased it from B&H so I returned it for a hassle free refund and went back to using an iPad with a Hoodman or phone with an anti-glare screen protector added to it. I actually prefer it even though it's not as bright as I can run other applications, such as DJI's own Ground Station Pro which still isn't supported on their own displays.

When it did work, the display was absolutely gorgeous even on the brightest of days, which was exactly why I bought it in the first place. However to be honest, I felt it was far too heavy - especially when used in combination with a mavmount on a small Mavic remote. I'd imagine it balances a bit better on a full size controller like the Phantom's.

I'm looking to purchase a Mavic Pro 2 as I've already sold my Mavic Pro but I've been holding out for some real world reviews on the Smart Controller as buying the Mavic Pro 2 bundled with the Smart Controller is a significant savings. Two things the Crystal Sky do have going for it IMHO is the fact that I can use it on other DJI platforms and that you can swap out batteries. Plus, if the smart remote display craps out like my CS did - you're not stuck with a remote with a failed display permanently attached to it.

TL;DR: I'm waiting on real world reviews on the new Smart Controller as I learned my lesson being an early adopter with the CS Ultra-Bright.

sorry to hear about your CS issue, question; what was the manufactured date of that CS?

 

[DavidNDC]

sorry to hear about your CS issue, question; what was the manufactured date of that CS?

Don't recall the manufacturer date but it was purchased/returned last February.

Pretty sure whatever issue they had with them was resolved as everyone in my local drone group that has them loves them. But it was a pretty wide spread issue last year.

 

[Cpt.Barbossa1072]

Don't recall the manufacturer date but it was purchased/returned last February.

Pretty sure whatever issue they had with them was resolved as everyone in my local drone group that has them loves them. But it was a pretty wide spread issue last year.

reason i ask, i just got one for xmas,the CS/UB model with a mfg.date of 2018/4 and its been really laggy,seems the firmware/software is about 8 versions behind... now this new Smart Controller comes out & CS isnt compatible"up to speed" with current versions, im startn to feel i bought into an $1100 paperweight...! i reached out to DJi several times, & im just getn run arounds...!

 

[DavidNDC]

Sorry to hear that.

Yeah, I too am all too familiar with DJI support and getting the run around. Ask the same question to three different reps in chat and you’re almost guaranteed to get three different answers.

I did have at least one or two firmware updates with my brief time with the CS UB, one was reported to prevent the backlight from blowing out, which happened two flights after said update. While I experienced a few lockups which required me to pull the battery (always fun when you’re a couple hundred feet over a lake) and I never could get the HDMI output to work, I don’t recall any laggyness when it was functional.

I personally know at least four other guys that still have theirs and love ‘em, never having any issues aside from a random lockup here and there.

Hope you’re able to get the issue sorted out with yours. Like I said, when it worked it was gorgeous and the brightness was amazing. It was just too unreliable, heavy and expensive for my taste.

 

[crlmjohnson]

I don't have multiple drones, what I am. Looking at is the price tag. Both are costing me 650 usd so what's a better option crystal sky ultra or mavic controller with screen.?

I love my Crystal sky 7.85 Ultra bright

 

[SIT]

The backlight on my CrystalSky Ultra-Bright fried itself on it's 5th use. Apparently a somewhat common occurrence with the 1st few batches. From what I understand that issue has been sorted now and you don't hear about it happening as much. Thankfully I purchased it from B&H so I returned it for a hassle free refund and went back to using an iPad with a Hoodman or phone with an anti-glare screen protector added to it. I actually prefer it even though it's not as bright as I can run other applications, such as DJI's own Ground Station Pro which still isn't supported on their own displays.

When it did work, the display was absolutely gorgeous even on the brightest of days, which was exactly why I bought it in the first place. However to be honest, I felt it was far too heavy - especially when used in combination with a mavmount on a small Mavic remote. I'd imagine it balances a bit better on a full size controller like the Phantom's.

I'm looking to purchase a Mavic Pro 2 as I've already sold my Mavic Pro but I've been holding out for some real world reviews on the Smart Controller as buying the Mavic Pro 2 bundled with the Smart Controller is a significant savings. Two things the Crystal Sky do have going for it IMHO is the fact that I can use it on other DJI platforms and that you can swap out batteries. Plus, if the smart remote display craps out like my CS did - you're not stuck with a remote with a failed display permanently attached to it.

TL;DR: I'm waiting on real world reviews on the new Smart Controller as I learned my lesson being an early adopter with the CS Ultra-Bright.

I have about 18 hours of flight time with the smart controller and M2P. I am happy and would recommend it. Set up/start up time is really fast.
Only complaint is a very occasional lag in camera controls via touch screen input. I’ve noticed this 2-3 times in 18 hours of flight logs. I am now mostly using the multifunction joystick thing to manage aperture and shutter speed, happy days.

 

[DanMan32]

Problem with CS is that DJI has not updated the OS in some time and is now below specs for Fly app.