Newbie - Air or Pro for first buy?

[UneBoleeDAir.fr]

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

To answer the range question, from my tests (automatic wifi in France, at 2.4GHz so the "shorter" one) : in great conditions like at the beach without interferences, I fly at 850m distance and 120m height without any real lag, no problem at all, no deconnection ; great !

In bad conditions, like in urban areas with lot of interferences, I experienced some lags and cuts at like 200m distance and 20m height but juste one time (my first fly with the Air, during which my remote controller fastly discharged, while now I don't have any trouble).
Coming from the Spark, the connection is definitively better with longer range !

 

[Aerial West]

I suppose if you bought a Mavic Air you would recommend that drone, if you bought a Mavic Pro you would recommend that drone etc etc.

I have flown both, and recommend the mavic pro.

 

[Scrivlings]

The Air and the Pro are basically identical in the imaging front. The Pro has a slightly (very slightly) better lens, but the Air does 100mbps 4k which is much more noticable. So basically if you want 4k get an Air, if you want 1080p or Photos... get an Air. There's no reason not to. Unless you really need 25mins of flight per battery, instead of 20minutes.

Also ignore people saying the Pro is more stable, the Air is solid and stable even in winds much higher than DJI have rated it for.

Air does have a shorter range though. Only about 2km instead of... I think it was about 6, depending on LOS. But in most countries going outside of sight is illegal, so you're really only limited to like 500 meters on both drones anyway. Not that I care if you want to break the law, I'm just pointing it out!

Air Cons - Shorter Flight Time, but still ample
- "Only" 2km of range

Air Pros - Smaller to fit in a bag
- 100mbps 4k
- Cheaper

Honestly can't see any reason to buy a Pro right now, unless you really need to be able to fly more than 2km. If the Air isn't good enough for your needs, then you're much better off waiting for the Pro2 to come out, or upgrade to a Phantom.

Edit - I will add (I'm tired) that for some people the longer airtime actually does matter a lot. I think for most people, 20 minutes of flight time per battery is pretty good, thought it does mean that you might want to plan your shots -before- you take off, just to save that time. If you really do use a lot of long shots though, then the bigger pro battery life might well be a winner. But if so, I would still suggest waiting for the Pro2, which will probably be much better on all fronts.

 

[Aerial West]

Mostly accurate, but I think airtime and connection strength are more important than represented here.

 

[Scrivlings]

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.

The Mavic Air camera is almost indistinguishable from the Mavic Pro camera though? In fact the only test I noticed a significant difference in, was the 4k test, where the Air was hugely better than the Pro.

Just did a quick search for a comparison. Photos are identical. Pro has a slight slight slight edge in situations were the moving focus comes into play... but on long range super wide angle shots (99.999% of all drone pictures) it's irrelevant.

I can only assume you flew an air, and it was faulty... or you forgot to remove the gimbal cover from in front of the lens.

 

[Scrivlings]

Mostly accurate, but I think airtime and connection strength are more important than represented here.

You have a point, I edited my post to add that. Sometimes you really do need to stay in the air a few minutes more to finish a shot. However I'd still say that if that's the case, you'd still be better off waiting for the Pro2, which will probably have even better battery life along with an actually better camera.

Edit - I'll also add that my points were based on retail prices, with the Air being a fair bit cheaper than the pro. If you can find a Pro for less than the Air though, and you don't need 4k much, then I'd say get the pro. They're basically the same. Except the Pro is a lot bigger in your bag.