Mavic Air Range

[Srcrain]

The MP case left, and the Spark FM bag on right. Pretty much a close package size, just different shape.

I wish they had made a pocket with a zipper or flap big enough for the iPad mini. The back of the bag would’ve been the perfect spot.

Don't forget that you can also put the Mavic with remote and 2 extra batteries (3 total) in the Spark bag. I do that all the time. So the carry size is essentially the same, but more fly time.

 

[MichiganMavic]

Don't forget that you can also put the Mavic with remote and 2 extra batteries (3 total) in the Spark bag. I do that all the time. So the carry size is essentially the same, but more fly time.

The netted sides in the MP bag hold a better in each side too for 3 total. I get what you’re saying about the bag interchanging though I use a metal case that holds everything in one. I pulled away the foam on the top and put my iPad between the layer of cushion.

 

[dari_017]

Flew my Mavic Air for the first time this morning. Flew over golf course in an area with quite a bit of wifi congestion. With my Spark the furthest I could get it to go before losing video feed was 1100ft. Mavic Air initially would not go past 300ft but remote defaulted to 2.4 which was very congested. After manually changing to 5.8 the range improved to 2400 ft at which point it lost connection and auto returned to home. The signal did cut out several times for 1-2 seconds at a time and several instances of slight video lag were observed. When the signal was strong it was very responsive, slightly better than Spark with OTG. For reference, when flying my Spark in more remote area, I was able to get out to 6000 feet before the signal was lost. I have no experience with a Mavic Pro to compare it to.

Quick question since you have it already, is the tail light on the drone flashing while flying ? And have you upgraded to the latest firmware ? Thanks in advance

 

[Turnerm]

I somehow missed that the MA was wifi only. Bummer. But I can still see the usefulness of this drone as a supplement to my MP. Not sure if I'll buy one or not but I think they've given us some compelling options.

 

[JGF21]

I somehow missed that the MA was wifi only. Bummer. But I can still see the usefulness of this drone as a supplement to my MP. Not sure if I'll buy one or not but I think they've given us some compelling options.

I'm glad they announced when they did. Was going to get the spark as a little brother to my inspire. Something fun. Now I have something fun and capable.

 

[Mc39]

Flew it in a different city, slightly less populated but still a lot of homes with wifi. Managed to get 4000' at 400' altitude with clear line of sight. Solid connection to about 3500' then video started to cut out frequently. Although the wifi does seem improved over the Spark distance is still is fairly limited and greatly impacted by nearby wifi. And yes, the green taillight blinks when flying and it has the latest firmware.

 

[dari_017]

Flew it in a different city, slightly less populated but still a lot of homes with wifi. Managed to get 4000' at 400' altitude with clear line of sight. Solid connection to about 3500' then video started to cut out frequently. Although the wifi does seem improved over the Spark distance is still is fairly limited and greatly impacted by nearby wifi. And yes, the green taillight blinks when flying and it has the latest firmware.

Ok hopefully my taillight led didn't get fried during firmware update, that I was forced to do with DJI GO 4 because the current version of dji assistant 2 does not yet supports the Mavic Air, I'll have to wait for a new version of assistant to refresh the firmware and see if i can get my taillight to work properly again, thanks for the answer.

 

[dcpmark]

Flew my Mavic Air for the first time this morning. Flew over golf course in an area with quite a bit of wifi congestion. With my Spark the furthest I could get it to go before losing video feed was 1100ft. Mavic Air initially would not go past 300ft but remote defaulted to 2.4 which was very congested. After manually changing to 5.8 the range improved to 2400 ft at which point it lost connection and auto returned to home. The signal did cut out several times for 1-2 seconds at a time and several instances of slight video lag were observed. When the signal was strong it was very responsive, slightly better than Spark with OTG. For reference, when flying my Spark in more remote area, I was able to get out to 6000 feet before the signal was lost. I have no experience with a Mavic Pro to compare it to.

How did you manually change the wifi from 2.4 to 5.8? I remember going back and forth with the Spark, but it didn't seem to give me the choice in the Air.

 

[dcpmark]

Just finished my first short Air test flights on Auto at 2.4ghz....at 200ft I only got 1300 feet away before the video got choppy and 1800 feet before the remote started losing connection. With my Mavic Pro the video feed didn't start to lose frames until 3200ft.

 

[Mc39]

I was confused by that too since there is no 5.8 button. Choose custom and when you select the higher 100 channels it switches to 5.8.

 

[giroyac]

Just finished my first short Air test flights on Auto at 2.4ghz....at 200ft I only got 1300 feet away before the video got choppy and 1800 feet before the remote started losing connection. With my Mavic Pro the video feed didn't start to lose frames until 3200ft.

Wonder if 5.8 will extend the range by a bit ... Did you feel that you wanted more range ? I had the mp which i sold and i cant for the hell of me put 1800m in perspective to remember how far that is lool ... Im waiting to pull the trigger on the air, only thing holding me off is the range

 

[dcpmark]

I was confused by that too since there is no 5.8 button. Choose custom and when you select the higher 100 channels it switches to 5.8.

Thanks! Will give the range another test.

 

[mascot]

 

[DefaultIT]

So...half-ish. Unless he wasn't misspeaking when he said "Oculus"

 

[dari_017]

I was confused by that too since there is no 5.8 button. Choose custom and when you select the higher 100 channels it switches to 5.8.

Thanks for this I just finished flying my 3 batteries and could not find 5.8 anywhere , DJI needs to implement a firmware where the air switches between them according to what it needs like what the Spark does, mine was on 2.4ghz all the time while flying. When testing the Air around my neighborhood I was able to go 1300m , the video feed stutters a little when you start getting away, but it felt more solid than the Spark. Now what I need is for DJI to release a new version of assistant 2 compatible with the air, I want to refresh the firmware and Go 4 doesn't let me do that.

 

[zezrum]

You can see impact of wifi interference from the very beginning on the MA where the wifi signal strength only shows 3 bars.

 

[Mc39]

Dari_017 - mine did that too at first and kept giving me a "regional wlan" warning upon starting dji Go4. Deleting and reinstalling the app fixed the issue and "auto" now selects 5.8 like it does with the Spark.

 

[Akimba]

 

[dari_017]

Dari_017 - mine did that too at first and kept giving me a "regional wlan" warning upon starting dji Go4. Deleting and reinstalling the app fixed the issue and "auto" now selects 5.8 like it does with the Spark.

I did uninstall and reinstalled go 4 between batteries , but my problem did not go away.

 

[dari_017]

Dari_017 - mine did that too at first and kept giving me a "regional wlan" warning upon starting dji Go4. Deleting and reinstalling the app fixed the issue and "auto" now selects 5.8 like it does with the Spark.

Saw your post about going into custom and selecting the higher channels to get 5.8 working will try that tomorrow, thanks !