Newbie - Air or Pro for first buy?

[Cl1nt71]

Hello. Im new to the group and ready to purchase my first "real" drone, previously only playing with the cheap ones in the yard. Looking for recommendations on the Air or the Pro. Looking at reviews online the biggest concerns I see are connection issues/drops with the Air, and read about focus issues on the Pro. Are these valid issues? I don't plan on doing anything extreme with it, just looking for using at beach, vacations, etc. I live in area with quite a lot of trees. My first thought was the Air, but I'm a bit worried about losing connection due to the WiFi link. Am I better to go with the Pro? Thanks

Clint

 

[go fast]

If you live around a lot of trees the Mavic pro 2.4 Ghz signal would be more reliable than wifi on the air and it's a better overall quad IMO...

 

[MiniPalourde]

So you're asking which one is better?

Honestly, it all depends of your use. Do you need portability? Or you want the better quad?

Mavic Air isn't as good as the Mavic Pro but it has more portability.

 

[Nastyman211]

Well... apparently I am a moron. I just received my Mavic Air!! Haha! But, opinions are like *** holes... I’m sure you all know the rest. For my intended use, it is exactly what I wanted. Portable with high quality video and a hell of a lot of options. There are pros and cons to each platform CI1nt71. Do yourself a solid and read thru the forums to make an educated decision. Continue to ask questions man, you’ll eventually get the answers you’re looking for.

 

[locoman]

Well... apparently I am a moron.

Don't listen to him.

 

[daisy-girl]

Hello. Im new to the group and ready to purchase my first "real" drone, previously only playing with the cheap ones in the yard. Looking for recommendations on the Air or the Pro. Looking at reviews online the biggest concerns I see are connection issues/drops with the Air, and read about focus issues on the Pro. Are these valid issues? I don't plan on doing anything extreme with it, just looking for using at beach, vacations, etc. I live in area with quite a lot of trees. My first thought was the Air, but I'm a bit worried about losing connection due to the WiFi link. Am I better to go with the Pro? Thanks

Clint

1) Go to the DJI website and read the very detailed side by side comparison
2) Consider purchasing from Amazon or some other vendor that allows returns if you discover you have made the wrong choice -- be aware that some allow returns only if not yet activated, i.e., you have not used it
3) No matter where you buy, also purchase DJI Care/Refresh within 10 days of activation

 

[newt2u]

It depends on your budget and use. I got the Air partly on price, partly on form. I wanted to be able to chuck it in a backpack and have it there in case. It is an excellent little machine. To be honest the range issue is not a problem for me as I rarely fly over 1Km away and as long as you keep line of sight, neither is the video link. Its solid and dependable.

 

[msinger]

Looking at reviews online the biggest concerns I see are connection issues/drops with the Air, and read about focus issues on the Pro. Are these valid issues?

I haven't run into those issues and they aren't commonly discussed issues in this forum. If you're only going to be flying within VLOS, then you likely won't have an issue with range when flying either of those drones.

I live in area with quite a lot of trees.

If trees (or other obstacles) come between the drone and remote controller, they will block the connection when flying any type of drone. You'll definitely want to make sure the drone is high enough above the trees to ensure the path is always clear between the drone and remote controller.

 

[btonetbone]

Don't listen to people who say the Mavic Air is worse than the Mavic Pro or that it is junk. The Air is a darn solid drone that is built extremely well for its purposes. Similarly, the Mavic Pro is a darn solid drone that is built extremely well for its purposes. Daisy-girl has some good advice. I'd also recommend watching some of the YouTube comparisons between the two (keeping some healthy skepticism toward the ones that came out immediately after the Air was released). It really depends on how you plan to use it and your preferences; there are pros and cons to each. One is not objectively better or worse, it's a subjective preference.

 

[Huge Bama Fan]

Flight time and the shakes with the air concern me

 

[MiniPalourde]

Don't listen to him.

He's right though.

 

[newt2u]

Flight time and the shakes with the air concern me

Flight time is slightly less than the pro but proportional to its range. Shakes... what is that? Never had any, except after a good night out

 

[Huge Bama Fan]

A lot of videos showing the air shaking while hovering if it was cold until the motors warmed up. May be nothing to it

 

[ftttu]

If you want a plug-and-play drone for casual visual line of site flying, the Mavic Air is your bird. It has a better camera/gimbal, more "fun" flight modes, is slightly more portable and you don't have to worry about focus.

If it had better flight time, better range, had a information screen on the controller AND it worked with Litchi waypoint missions, I would be on board with it.

 

[JoostGT3]

If you want a plug-and-play drone for casual visual line of site flying, the Mavic Air is your bird. It has a better camera/gimbal, more "fun" flight modes, is slightly more portable and you don't have to worry about focus.

If it had better flight time, better range, had a information screen on the controller AND it worked with Litchi waypoint missions, I would be on board with it.

What he said

 

[MiniPalourde]

If you want a plug-and-play drone for casual visual line of site flying, the Mavic Air is your bird. It has a better camera/gimbal, more "fun" flight modes, is slightly more portable and you don't have to worry about focus.

If it had better flight time, better range, had a information screen on the controller AND it worked with Litchi waypoint missions, I would be on board with it.

The Mavic Air arguably has a better gimbal because it is more sturdy but not a better camera. The Mavic Air camera can be great for the Instagram but that's pretty much it.

 

[shb]

if they were the same price, who would buy an air? yes, if your not going to ever use the extra range or battery then you can say the air is OK. but I want more range and flight time. not less. I would like a 1 hour flight time and 10 miles of real range.

 

[dewster]

I would go with the Mavic Pro if you can’t wait for Mavic Pro 2. Mavic Air looks sleek and has some nice tricks. The use of WiFi kills it for me.

 

[marnick]

New to the forum. I just bought the pro platinum over the air. Flight time, occusync, and more quiet operation were the deciding factors. I was going to wait for the pro-2 which is why I waited until last week to make the purchase. I couldn't wait any longer. Other than it taking longer than I expected to be set up and ready to fly (I did firmware updates and checked all settings first) it has been great so far. As most others have been saying, you can't go wrong with either one, it just depends on your criteria.

 

[MiniPalourde]

if they were the same price, who would buy an air? yes, if your not going to ever use the extra range or battery then you can say the air is OK. but I want more range and flight time. not less. I would like a 1 hour flight time and 10 miles of real range.

When portability is very important, the Air can be useful. The Air fits in a pocket.