Mavic Air - What Don’t You Like

[Skyler King III]

Sold my P3P and in the market for a Mavic Air. I’ve seen many YouTube vids and so far this is the one for me. The main reasons are: compact, APAS, Quick Shot modes, 4K. Except for 4K, those are things I didn’t have on my P3P. I know it’s loud, battery is not as efficient , wifi interference. Just wanted to hear from your first hand experience what don’t you like about it. Maybe there is something I don’t know about. Thanks.

Air Screw makes "quieter" Props for Mavic Air. I use them.

 

[Skyler King III]

Here are the things I didn’t like about the air:
1. Flight time - you need more than 1 battery to truly enjoy it
2. Compass Calibration - If you travel outside of your home area, expect to do the calibration every **** time. I think this annoyed me the most. I dont remember last time I had to do a calibration with my Mavic Pro.
3. Flight Distance - Yes mentioned many times.

Aesthetically though, it was the nicest drone I owned

I disagree on "ALWAYS: having to do compass calibration. For me, it's infrequent.

 

[dronepilotbob]

I disagree on "ALWAYS: having to do compass calibration. For me, it's infrequent.

I’ve had Mavic Pro for a while now, and I honestly think I’ve done maybe 1 possibly 2 calibrations, I actually cant remember how long ago I did one. Mavic Air on a single trip I would do about 2. For me Mavic Air was not a drone where if you drove out and wanted to fly right away, odds were high that it will require a calibration.

If you fly where you reside, then great, it wont bug you for a calibration, go out of your home area, a never ending headache.

Entire thread on this:

Compass calibration

Why do I have to calibrate my compass every time I fly my Mavic air

mavicpilots.com

 

[Clipper707]

I went from a P3P to a Mavic Pro. I got used to the range and flight time with the P3P and the MP improved on that in all ways.

A friend of mine went from P4 to MP to MA. Went back to MP and now has an M2P. The 14 minute flight times weren't cutting it for him. (There's a thread on the Mavic Air section about 14 being about the max.) Something to consider if flight time is important to you.

I'm currently flying an M2P and it's a great for signal strength, flight time, and noise.

If I was upgrading from a P3P, and budget was a factor, I'd stretch a few extra bucks and get a Mavic Pro Platinum.

I'm just not interested in the Air. Too many limitations and not that much smaller to make it worth my while.

 

[dewens]

I just bought a Mavic Air and I enjoy it. I bought the bundle because it was cost effective. The only thing I did was put low noise propellers on it and adjusted the gain on the Mavic Air. I like all the features of the Mavic Air.

Sold my P3P and in the market for a Mavic Air. I’ve seen many YouTube vids and so far this is the one for me. The main reasons are: compact, APAS, Quick Shot modes, 4K. Except for 4K, those are things I didn’t have on my P3P. I know it’s loud, battery is not as efficient , wifi interference. Just wanted to hear from your first hand experience what don’t you like about it. Maybe there is something I don’t know about. Thanks.

 

[dewens]

Get the Cfixer it is worth it. I have Mavic Air and a Phantom 3 SE.

I was about to suggest the same, it is worth trying.

 

[Happyexpat]

I’ve had an Air for just over two years. I don’t find range a problem having switched to 5.8, it’s great in wind, maybe better than the pro. I’m pleased with it BUT

The really frustrating and annoying issue is with the DJI goggles. It’s a bit of a pain having to connect the phone first and change over to the goggles to get over the 50m limit but not a game changer. DJI have really screwed it up.

I use Airdata for my logs or should I say I did. Using the goggles you can’t (well I’ve not found a way) upload your log to DJI and this is a game changer. If you want to use goggles I would recommend the pro not the Air.

 

[Dan AISCF]

Sold my P3P and in the market for a Mavic Air...

I recently picked up an Air to add to our little fleet, as a backup and also as our go to Fly-through machine. Flying it after flying the Phantoms is actually quite fun. Very responsive. I live in Orlando and, the only thing I think needs to be mentioned, as many have stated, my transmission signal breaks up a LOT earlier in the suburbs than my Phantom 4's. BUT, that isn't an issue, as I fly VLOS and keep it close to the properties I need to shoot.

Here's a vid I did with it in a less populated area, during golden hour. Flew like a champ. No color grading, just basic editing. Though we love it, I might be selling the whole package to get an Evo for our jobs where we get LAANC approval, but the DJI's still won't unlock

 

[Flipsonic]

BTW, from what we know (which isn't much) there are at least two manufactures that make batteries for the MA; SUNWOUDA and Dungan Ampierage (may have gotten the spelling wrong - will check later)

From several posts in this forum, batteries made by the later seem to be better. Mine definetly is. So if you have the chance to go in to a physical store and check the manufacturer of the battery (I assume it is written on the packaging but not sure) you may be better off in the end.

My batteries arrived and they are made by Sunwouda. There is no way to check this from the box as the manufacturer name is on the battery only. So I guess it’s the luck of the draw. I doubt sellers will open the box to tell you who made them.

 

[Deleted member 94047]

My batteries arrived and they are made by Sunwouda. There is no way to check this from the box as the manufacturer name is on the battery only. So I guess it’s the luck of the draw. I doubt sellers will open the box to tell you who made them.

It is indeed the luck of the draw, even if you could choose the manufacturer. There was another post on a battery failure just the other day and the battery was made by the other manufacturer I thought was better. So don't stress about this. Just take good care of your batteries and you will be fine.