Mavic Pro 3 ? Any thoughts of when it will be announced ?

[scott rand]

Ok, pretty simple subject. I've heard several rumors on Youtube and the internet, that the Mavic 3 Pro will be announced very soon, some of the rumors even said it would be announced in January. Obviously, the odds of a January announcement seem pretty doubtful now.

What are your thoughts ? I am in the market for a new drone. Almost bought the Skydio 2, but seems backordered until the 3rd quarter (plus was worried about poor wifi results), then was thinking about the Mavic Mini, but never pulled the trigger. Then I saw the Autel Evo II, that has totally peaked my interest. Seems to have EVERYTHING I want in a drone, That thing looks like a beast, 8k video, which I probably would hardly use, 40 minute flight time, omnidirectional obstacle avoidance, incredible 5.5 miles flight distance. Just a monster. VERY tempted.

BUT, I'm waiting to see what DJI has up their sleeves with the DJI Mavic 3 Pro. Anyone hear any juicy rumors about any announcements coming up ?

 

[kloogee]

As far as I've seen, DroneDJ were the only ones speculating the "late January" timeline for the Mavic 3.

I think most people were a bit skeptical of that date, I certainly was... Then when the Skydio 2 was announced and then especially when the Evo II specs were leaked, I think DJI had to go back to the drawing board to make sure they would still be able to compete in the changed market that Skydio and Autel just created. I would guess mid-year at the earliest for the Mavic 3. There is some speculation they may actually release the Mavic Air 2 before the Mavic 3. If that happens, I would guess the Mavic 3 might actually be late in the year instead of mid-year.

All completely wild speculation on my part! But whatever happens, it is great to finally have some competition in the market with other companies innovating and pushing the technology ahead.

 

[Camino Ken]

Regardless of what you buy I would recommend that you wait about six months before buying a brand new model. It seems that the drone companies like to use the first batch of customers as beta testers to find all the problems.

 

[kloogee]

Regardless of what you buy I would recommend that you wait about six months before buying a brand new model. It seems that the drone companies like to use the first batch of customers as beta testers to find all the problems.

That's no fun! The unknown is part of the adventure!

 

[scott rand]

As far as I've seen, DroneDJ were the only ones speculating the "late January" timeline for the Mavic 3.

I think most people were a bit skeptical of that date, I certainly was... Then when the Skydio 2 was announced and then especially when the Evo II specs were leaked, I think DJI had to go back to the drawing board to make sure they would still be able to compete in the changed market that Skydio and Autel just created. I would guess mid-year at the earliest for the Mavic 3. There is some speculation they may actually release the Mavic Air 2 before the Mavic 3. If that happens, I would guess the Mavic 3 might actually be late in the year instead of mid-year.

All completely wild speculation on my part! But whatever happens, it is great to finally have some competition in the market with other companies innovating and pushing the technology ahead.

Thanks for the info. I agree with speculations. May just wait to see the reviews from the drone community on the Autel Evo II before I pull the trigger. I really enjoy your videos, Flytpath, Drone Valley, Dustin Dunhill (who also posts here), OriginaldoBo, Idaho Quadcopter, Billy Kyle, I respect all of you guys, you pull no punches. I'm sure I'm missing some more, but some of the people are basically YouTube stars who would never give a bad review. I saw Tom's Tech Time didn't give an overly glowing review of the Evo II, but he also was factually incorrect on some of the things he said.

Thanks again !

 

[kloogee]

Thanks for the kind words!

In regards to Tom's Tech Time, I'm sure he did the best with the info that he had at the time. It can be quite challenging to be one of the first to present something because of the limited information that can be available at the time. I've not been first with anything as big as the Evo II, but quite often additional info comes out after you've already recorded everything.

Best of luck figuring out what to get!

 

[scott rand]

Thanks for the kind words!

In regards to Tom's Tech Time, I'm sure he did the best with the info that he had at the time. It can be quite challenging to be one of the first to present something because of the limited information that can be available at the time. I've not been first with anything as big as the Evo II, but quite often additional info comes out after you've already recorded everything.

Best of luck figuring out what to get!

I didn't dislike Tom's review (his reviews are great), he seemed in a tough situation, he was in Iceland reviewing the drone, having extremely bad weather to deal with (and power outages). Don't know if that put him in a negative mood, it wasn't overly negative, some great comments about it as well. I suggest you watch it if you want to see what I'm talking about.

 

[kloogee]

I didn't dislike Tom's review (his reviews are great), he seemed in a tough situation, he was in Iceland reviewing the drone, having extremely bad weather to deal with (and power outages). Don't know if that put him in a negative mood, it wasn't overly negative, some great comments about it as well. I suggest you watch it if you want to see what I'm talking about.

Yep, I've seen it previously and noticed the same things you were referencing. I'm maybe just a bit sympathetic having been caught in situations with little information available at the time of creation. ?

 

[zocalo]

I wouldn't give DroneDJ much credibility, tbh. It seems like they aim to publish at least one article a day, but if they don't have anything else they'll go with any old random rumour off the 'net and often pitch it as "news" instead of the speculation/wishful thinking it really is. They also lap up anything OsitaLV cares to utter, despite the fact that OsitaLV has been shown to be off the mark more often than not (e.g. it's at best just slightly informed speculation).

As for potential announcement dates, CES would have been good but that's been and gone, so the next major events when a M3 might be announced are Japan's CP+ in late February and the UK's Photography Show in mid-March. For either of those, I'd expect an announcement mid-February to best take the wind out of Skydio's sails and let the media/public get a look shortly thereafter. If not then, then it'll be the classic "when it's done" (which seemed to be the case with the M2P/Z as well) because that would make it much more likely that DJI just doesn't feel whatever they have is ready even for a pre-announcement.

Personally, I'm quite happy for DJI to stick to the "when it's done" approach. It means less frequent umming and ahhing over whether to upgrade or not, less expense, and (hopefully) better products when they do ship. If you're desperate for the latest and greatest, then maybe wait until March to see if there's any more solid news, but otherwise you may as well be out flying with one of the perfectly capable drones that are available right now.

 

[scott rand]

I wouldn't give DroneDJ much credibility, tbh. It seems like they aim to publish at least one article a day, but if they don't have anything else they'll go with any old random rumour off the 'net and often pitch it as "news" instead of the speculation/wishful thinking it really is. They also lap up anything OsitaLV cares to utter, despite the fact that OsitaLV has been shown to be off the mark more often than not (e.g. it's at best just slightly informed speculation).

As for potential announcement dates, CES would have been good but that's been and gone, so the next major events when a M3 might be announced are Japan's CP+ in late February and the UK's Photography Show in mid-March. For either of those, I'd expect an announcement mid-February to best take the wind out of Skydio's sails and let the media/public get a look shortly thereafter. If not then, then it'll be the classic "when it's done" (which seemed to be the case with the M2P/Z as well) because that would make it much more likely that DJI just doesn't feel whatever they have is ready even for a pre-announcement.

Personally, I'm quite happy for DJI to stick to the "when it's done" approach. It means less frequent umming and ahhing over whether to upgrade or not, less expense, and (hopefully) better products when they do ship. If you're desperate for the latest and greatest, then maybe wait until March to see if there's any more solid news, but otherwise you may as well be out flying with one of the perfectly capable drones that are available right now.

I have both the original Mavic Pro, and the Mavic Air in my fleet, so I don't NEED to buy a drone, just WANT to (as most drone addicts do). I find myself flying the Mavic Pro more than the Air, due to it's sturdiness and the OcuSync, which gives me a decent amount of flight time and flight distance with a great connection. The Air's wifi drives me crazy, so prefer flying the Pro.

Was seduced by Skydio 2's obstacle avoidance and tracking, it's something I truly find amazing, and really wanted it. But once again, the wifi issues, and having to wait until the 3rd quarter to receive it just doesn't appeal to me. Mavic Mini appeals to me, because I can go buy it today if I wanted, the wifi seems better than the Air's (though they seem to be the same wifi), and the battery time really appeals to me. But the wind issues have me holding back. Finally the Autel Evo II, that drone is exactly what I'm looking for, and will be available soon. The price doesn't appeal to me, the most I've ever spent was $1000 on a drone.

It's a really tough decision, I'm a poor man in a rich man's hobby. $1500 for a drone sounds insane to me, but I guess that's the price I have to pay if I want the Autel Evo II or the Mavic 3 (when it's announced). I'm assuming the Mavic 3 will have some insane tech in it to compete with Skydio 2 and Evo II.

 

[pross]

Maybe the M3 will have an actual 8k camera.

 

[netsonic]

Hey Scott, I feel you my friend. I pulled the trigger on a Skydio 2 last year and am in Q2 batch, nevertheless got the Mini in November just for fun. I was also seduced by Skydio 2's obstacle avoidance and tracking, and when I had the chance, I said I want one. This January at CES I was looking forward for a possible Mavic 3 and hoped for the announcement, but it never came. The Skydio has a poor range, even less than the Mini, however if you use it in follow mode it never flies far away. This is why I believe that the Wifi range issue is way overrated. Obstacle avoidance is also not infallible and the pilot is always in command. Kloogee proved this when he crashed his.

You put it very nice, we have an expensive hobby. For now I'm just waiting to see what happens.

 

[scott rand]

Hey Scott, I feel you my friend. I pulled the trigger on a Skydio 2 last year and am in Q2 batch, nevertheless got the Mini in November just for fun. I was also seduced by Skydio 2's obstacle avoidance and tracking, and when I had the chance, I said I want one. This January at CES I was looking forward for a possible Mavic 3 and hoped for the announcement, but it never came. The Skydio has a poor range, even less than the Mini, however if you use it in follow mode it never flies far away. This is why I believe that the Wifi range issue is way overrated. Obstacle avoidance is also not infallible and the pilot is always in command. Kloogee proved this when he crashed his.

You put it very nice, we have an expensive hobby. For now I'm just waiting to see what happens.

I believe Kloogee's crash was due to the time of day ? It was getting pretty dark, or was first getting light, I can't remember, (

Or was it loss of signal ?) ​

but watched that video and felt so bad for Kloogee.The first part of that video was classic, it was doing a good job on that bridge.

 

[scott rand]

Maybe the M3 will have an actual 8k camera.

That's not really a concern of mine. I'm not a professional drone pilot, so I don't really care too much about that. I never edit or show my videos to anyone other than friends and family. That being said, it never hurts to have a really great camera on your drone. Though my first drone (way back in 2016) was the Yuneec Q500+, and it was 1080p, I was plenty happy with it.

 

[Johnmcl7]

I wouldn't give DroneDJ much credibility, tbh. It seems like they aim to publish at least one article a day, but if they don't have anything else they'll go with any old random rumour off the 'net and often pitch it as "news" instead of the speculation/wishful thinking it really is. They also lap up anything OsitaLV cares to utter, despite the fact that OsitaLV has been shown to be off the mark more often than not (e.g. it's at best just slightly informed speculation).

This the fundamental problem with rumour sites that they need to get visitors regularly to keep the sites going but most of the time there are no genuine rumours or leaks so they have to keep making up information much of the time. Generally the only rumours I pay attention are when there are leaked shots of the new drone and when there's certification documents that have been registered but I find it frustrating even much faith is placed in these rumours despite the fact they're mostly wrong.

 

[RayOZ]

You should realize as soon as a new model is released, the rumor mill for the next model starts a short time later. Some of these websites, after they release their reviews of new model, wait a few days then start with rumors for the next model’s release to get the clicks to their website going.

 

[Rojillio Santoro]

M3 already? They just released the M2. I went with the M1 because it has an establised track record (and $1500 is a lot to spend for a guy who's lost 3 drones). The M2 sounded like a confused product concept to me. I mean who would buy a terrestrial 2X zoom camera vs. Hasalblad (do the Xs go further in the air?). That left me scratching my head.

The Evo II sounds impressive. But 8K. Does that mean the $3K+ iMac tha I've been thinking of buying to edit 4K videos is already obsolete?

 

[TJXdroneography]

throwing this out there for the anxious: I found out the hard way that being an early adopter of DJI stuff to be a big mistake. I got the M2P as soon as it came out and had major warranty issues with multiple aspects of the package.

It seems to be common in the drone world that companies rush to release. My next purchase I will definitely wait 6 months or so for them to work out some of the kinks on whatever model.

 

[GerdS]

throwing this out there for the anxious: I found out the hard way that being an early adopter of DJI stuff to be a big mistake. I got the M2P as soon as it came out and had major warranty issues with multiple aspects of the package.

It seems to be common in the drone world that companies rush to release. My next purchase I will definitely wait 6 months or so for them to work out some of the kinks on whatever model.

There is never a guarantee that you'll get the perfect product. I got my Mavic Pro Fly More package in early december 2016 and it worked perfectly without any issues. Few months later the forums were full of complaints about the Mavic compass, with compass warnings showing up in sports mode. So I guess, the series my Mavic is part of was monitored by the developers during assembly while the succeeding series have been left to just production personel, leading to "simplifications" such as changed cable routing, causing compass interference.

 

[Johnmcl7]

throwing this out there for the anxious: I found out the hard way that being an early adopter of DJI stuff to be a big mistake. I got the M2P as soon as it came out and had major warranty issues with multiple aspects of the package.

It seems to be common in the drone world that companies rush to release. My next purchase I will definitely wait 6 months or so for them to work out some of the kinks on whatever model.

Those aren't early adopter issues though, the drones are complex systems and the issues you've encountered still exist on the drones sold today. I've had a Mavic 2 Pro since launch without a single issue whereas there are products that do have genuine early adopter issues where functions do not work at all and are fixed in firmware or never fixed.