Mavic Air 2 Controller vs SC - overheating, DronLink

[adrian2222]

Hi,

I'm going to buy new Mavic Air 2 and I have a problem deciding between bundle with Smart Controller or standard Air 2 controller with dedicated phone to flying.

Smart controller seems to be better in almost all aspects with exception of automatic flying. Looks like the only app that can be installed and has support for Air 2 is Dronlink, but I've found information on their site that the performance may be poor due to SC old spec.

Another option would be to buy dedicated phone, most likely IPhone XR, but when I did the research I've found few potential issues.

1) Do you have any experience with Dronlink and SC? Any problem with performance or isntallation?

2) Does the Fly app for iOS has option to disable charging from controller? I know it was removed at some point, but has it been restored?

3) With charging disabled, do you stil running into situation when iphone overheats and the screen goes dimer?

4) The clamp on Air 2 controller hold the phone only from top and bottom. How tight is it? Will it hold the phone if for example I hold the controller turned 90 degree? Or will it slip away?

Thanks

 

[manc54]

Drones direct uk selling mavic air2s fly more combo with smart controller for £1550

 

[hiflyer201]

The Air2s controller holds the phone very securely. Iphone's will dim out in severe heat. The iphone only charges when you command it and it is not defaulted to charging. Don't know about the rest. sorry

 

[tomkat flys]

Hi,

I'm going to buy new Mavic Air 2 and I have a problem deciding between bundle with Smart Controller or standard Air 2 controller with dedicated phone to flying.

Smart controller seems to be better in almost all aspects with exception of automatic flying. Looks like the only app that can be installed and has support for Air 2 is Dronlink, but I've found information on their site that the performance may be poor due to SC old spec.

Another option would be to buy dedicated phone, most likely IPhone XR, but when I did the research I've found few potential issues.

1) Do you have any experience with Dronlink and SC? Any problem with performance or isntallation?

2) Does the Fly app for iOS has option to disable charging from controller? I know it was removed at some point, but has it been restored?

3) With charging disabled, do you stil running into situation when iphone overheats and the screen goes dimer?

4) The clamp on Air 2 controller hold the phone only from top and bottom. How tight is it? Will it hold the phone if for example I hold the controller turned 90 degree? Or will it slip away?

Thanks

I can answer a part of your question…Dronelink doesn’t support the Air 2S yet. DJI has not released the SDK for it yet so no 3rd party apps that would need the access an SDK provides support it. Don’t buy it if mapping is your immediate goal. Buy an Air 2 which DroneLink does support. Or a Mavic 2 Pro or another supported drone.

I speak from experience. I just sold my nice fancy new Air 2S. I had hopes of using it for mapping which of course didn’t work because of the aforementioned missing SDK. If or when the SDK comes out, it’ll be a great drone for mapping.

I ended up going with a Phantom 4 Pro+ V2. Which consequently also sucks because you can’t easily load 3rd party mapping into the built in android device/screen controller. I’ll be looking for a basic controller now without the built in screen.

 

[eEridani]

I have the Air 2 plus Smart Controller bundle. Pretty happy with it. The Smart Controller is bright, and usable in full sun. I wish it were brighter and 7", but it is so much better than a phone there's no way to compare them.

But - I am pretty happy overall. The video and still quality of the Air 2 is quite good, especially if you need high res: the 48MP mode is surprisingly good, and visibly better/sharper than the 12MP mode. Smaller pixel tradeoffs of course (low light performance suffers). Here's an example of 48MP vs 12MP. Look at the edges of the bolt heads, the 4x pixel count really is helping, and useful.



The one down side to this package (or any drone package, really) users live with a flight time spec'd at 34 minutes, but in real life expect 29, and 20 of those minutes are reserved for nag forced return to home and nag forced landing. You get to fly about 10 to 15 minutes before the system is nagging you to return home and land. Three batteries are a minimum if you want to spend an hour out flying.

ps: I have the SC which I use 99.9% of the time, and purchased a standard controller as backup. The phone clip on the standard controller is secure, the only issue I've had with it is my phone case is a bit thick and doesn't quite fit the controllers ideal "thin phone" design. So it is most secure if I pop the phone out of the case, but I've never had the phone slip out of the controller's grip. Even with the phone case on.