Need advice before buying an Air.

[Marcburden]

Hi all!
I really want a mavic air im just about to buy one but hovering over the pay button.
I wondered if anyone could help with some questions before i commit.
Im in the UK.I would be buying the fly more combo

1. i am worried about the overall cost. not the drone itself, but the insurance, public liability etc. how much am i looking at? im guessing it would be benifical to have the DJI refresh aswell. overall this looks quite expensive, with DJI refresh and insurance covering all above quick searches suggest somewhere around £300 -£400 a year. Can anyone shed any light ?

2. Where do you fly yours? i live in a village with 2 or so big parks, but parks are surrounded by houses so in reality i cant fly over the houses, so im a bit concerened.

3. I wanted it to take to Thailand, but after looking into it, its not that simple and seems more hassle than its worth, Anybody done this recently as it looks as though new regs have come in.

4. Also seen a lot of posts lately about fly aways, is this something to worry about.

As i said i really want one but dont know yet if i can justify the overall costs involved and hassle. There seems to be loads of second hand ones for sale and it makes me wonder why.

Any advice for a would be newbie would be appreciated,

Thanks in advance.
Marc,

 

[Marcburden]

Nothing?

 

[Trickydicky]

I flew my mavic air for six minutes and it flew away. Don't go anywhere near them. DJI were next to useless.

 

[Andy.]

I flew my mavic air for six minutes and it flew away. Don't go anywhere near them. DJI were next to useless.

I’ve got about two hours under my belt now, only flying it in a park in my village, surrounded by houses. No problems here, it’s a joy to fly! I do make sure that the drone has found at least 13 satellites and secured its home point before I take off, just to be safe.


Im feeling more and more confident in its (and my) ability so will take it slightly further afield soon.
If you’ve got the budget for it, do it! If the worst comes to the worst, you use it a few months and sell it on if it’s not your thing.

I did the care refresh as this is my first (proper) drone. It’s very different to the small scale toys I’ve been buzzing around my living room with. I have a yearly liability insurance anyway so was already covered on that front.
Good luck making a decision!

 

[mad monkey]

Without throughly answering I'm going to say yes to all your questions.

Don't read too much into the fly away comments etc. You're in a concentrated pool of people, mostly with issues. Rarely does someone join a forum to say how awesome something is.

 

[Strgazr1967]

I flew my mavic air for six minutes and it flew away. Don't go anywhere near them. DJI were next to useless.

I’ve got over 100 flights on mine and not a single issue. Did you provide DJI with flight logs? Post them on here asking for any help to figure out what happened? Making a blanket statement based on your loss with nothing to back it up does nothing to help the OP or the community.

 

[AnzacJack]

The air is a good bird that is very reliable and a solid platform. As mad_monkey has said, the negatives here are not really a true indication of the 1000s of units being flown with no problem. Sure you may get the odd lemon that should be a simple warranty issue, and DJI customer support is not great, but if you purchase from a reputable source you are generally fine. I never go with the DJI refresh, as I think over the years I have had all my brain fart moments and made the silly mistakes. I would be very surprised if I did something now that would cause any major damage. Having said that, when I started out 10 or so years ago, the refresh may have been a good thing.
I’m not sure about your local conditions, rules, regs etc are, but liability insurance isn’t something I would be concerned about as a casual flyer that isn’t flying for profit. However each to their own with that.

At the end of the day, if you thoroughly familiarise yourself with all of the systems, and fly slow and easy to build up your skills, you won’t have a problem.
If you are planning on jumping straight into trying to set range and endurance records and flying BVLOS, then maybe you will run into issues.

 

[AnzacJack]

I’ve got over 100 flights on mine and not a single issue. Did you provide DJI with flight logs? Post them on here asking for any help to figure out what happened? Making a blanket statement based on your loss with nothing to back it up does nothing to help the OP or the community.

He did submit his logs, but claims the interpretation of them by some pro’s here are wrong. If what he claims happened to his drone are true, then this would be the only case I have seen. Therefor hardly a case that can be applied to all mavic airs