Newby Decision: Which Mavic to Buy

[DavidRansier]

I have flown a bunch of “toy” drones, no cameras. I am a still photographer thinking that adding Drone photography would be a lot of fun. Actually, we will be doing a lot of RVing in the next few years and I thought it would be great to chronical our trips with aerial video. Also thinking I could do some aerial projects for my website clients.

So my question is, which drone should I buy. I have enough money to buy a new Mavic Air Combo, but I see there are used Pro’s and Platinum’s in the Classified section.

Should I buy a new Air, or search out one of the used drones? Is the Air enough for now, or should I get a Pro or Pro Platinum?

Thanks for any suggestions you may have.

 

[cornz]

Well I had a blade 350 qx (still do) and its a good quad. But I could never get good video from it. I tried the ebay gimbals, better props etc etc but all to no avail. So I did my research and narrowed it down to 3. The air, pro or pro2.
Further research concluded that the mavic pro was within budget, had good flight time, had been more or less beta tested and didn't suffer random flyaway's. On the down side, DJI quads (I detest the word drone, it conjures up images of the death machines used in warfare and they have negative public connotations anyway) are not easy to repair at home.
So that's the one I settled with. Im a few weeks into it and the more I fly it, the more confident I am with it and that camera.......... Video is ROCK steady. Exactly what I wanted.
Well chuffed. You wont be disappointed with any of them.
The mavic pro has a very very good digital zoom as well.

 

[DavidRansier]

Well I had a blade 350 qx (still do) and its a good quad. But I could never get good video from it. I tried the ebay gimbals, better props etc etc but all to no avail. So I did my research and narrowed it down to 3. The air, pro or pro2.
Further research concluded that the mavic pro was within budget, had good flight time, had been more or less beta tested and didn't suffer random flyaway's. On the down side, DJI quads (I detest the word drone, it conjures up images of the death machines used in warfare and they have negative public connotations anyway) are not easy to repair at home.
So that's the one I settled with. Im a few weeks into it and the more I fly it, the more confident I am with it and that camera.......... Video is ROCK steady. Exactly what I wanted.
Well chuffed. You wont be disappointed with any of them.
The mavic pro has a very very good digital zoom as well.

Thanks for the info.

 

[mad monkey]

There's a million threads of people asking the same questions. If I were you I'd look through them and pick out the information provided by the members.

I'm the end honestly it comes down to personal choice.

 

[DavidRansier]

There's a million threads of people asking the same questions. If I were you I'd look through them and pick out the information provided by the members.

I'm the end honestly it comes down to personal choice.

Thanks. I will dig through the posts. Mostly I was hoping for some comment about why a choice was made.

 

[mad monkey]

Thanks. I will dig through the posts. Mostly I was hoping for some comment about why a choice was made.

There's lots of those too

 

[microlinux]

Especially since this your first camera drone, I would highly suggest you purchase new, or certified refurbished, through an authorized reseller (this party is critical, DJI only honors warranties from authorized resellers). The certified refurbs are an excellent way to save money, they're like new and carry the exact same warranty.

I personally would not buy a used drone from an individual. This is complex technology, you might get lucky, you might not. I have yet to see any third-party used price that makes that risk worthwhile to me.

 

[DavidRansier]

Especially since this your first camera drone, I would highly suggest you purchase new, or certified refurbished, through an authorized reseller (this party is critical, DJI only honors warranties from authorized resellers). The certified refurbs are an excellent way to save money, they're like new and carry the exact same warranty.

I personally would not buy a used drone from an individual. This is complex technology, you might get lucky, you might not. I have yet to see any third-party used price that makes that risk worthwhile to me.

Thanks for that tip. I’ve even the refurbished drones-for-sale on the DJI site. No Mavic Air or Platinums appear to be available, Are there other resellers that offer discounts? I’ll check B&H

 

[Lake_Flyer]

Air or Pro is entirely up to you. Both are great. Air has a slightly better camera but is still not entirely where it is supposed to be in terms of firmware. The Pro and Platinum are a bit more capable in terms of flight time and control range, and have a better video transmission. The Platinum is only a very minor upgrade to the Pro, most people wouldn't even notice, not really worth the extra money. The Pro's have come down in price considerably some time ago and are the best bang for the buck, compared to any other drone out there at the moment. You can always add the 'silent' platinum props if you want, but a lot of folks even prefer the original pro props (I do).
The Pro's also still suffer from the many new Go updates, however there are proven combinations of Go and FW that really work well and could be freezed forever IMO.

 

[DavidRansier]

Air or Pro is entirely up to you. Both are great. Air has a slightly better camera but is still not entirely where it is supposed to be in terms of firmware. The Pro and Platinum are a bit more capable in terms of flight time and control range, and have a better video transmission. The Platinum is only a very minor upgrade to the Pro, most people wouldn't even notice, not really worth the extra money. The Pro's have come down in price considerably some time ago and are the best bang for the buck, compared to any other drone out there at the moment. You can always add the 'silent' platinum props if you want, but a lot of folks even prefer the original pro props (I do).
The Pro's also still suffer from the many new Go updates, however there are proven combinations of Go and FW that really work well and could be freezed forever IMO.

Awesome info. Thanks. I’ve discovered a Drone Meetup group so I’m going to learn more there.

 

[PandaCheese]

Many people will say it depends on your use case...well, for the price you probably want something that offers maximum flexibility, which to me means the Pro or Platinum. Believe me once you've gotten up there and taken a look around you will want the longest flight time and most stable transmission method (OccuSync vs. wifi). The marginally better video encoding on the Air or the rear sensors were not worth the trade off to me.

 

[sleebus.jones]

Believe me once you've gotten up there and taken a look around you will want the longest flight time and most stable transmission method (OccuSync vs. wifi). The marginally better video encoding on the Air or the rear sensors were not worth the trade off to me.

I feel the same way and that's why I went with the Pro over the Air.

 

[microlinux]

Are there other resellers that offer discounts? I’ll check B&H

The prices from authorized dealers tend to be pretty close to each other. When one has deal, generally most of them do. There are sales from time-to-time, I've seen official refurb MPs for around $650 before.

 

[DavidRansier]

Thanks for all the info. It sounds like the Pro is the best way to go, with the Platinum being a smidge better but maybe not when an MP can be had at a Refurb price but not the MPP. I’m definitely leaning towards a refurbished MP.

 

[mrwagdog]

I went with the Pro back in April. Glad I did. The video is rock solid, flight time is long and I've been very happy.

If you have a .edu email address, you can get a 10% discount from dji.

There is a major product announcement from dji coming up shortly. Many think it's the Mavic 2. If so, I would suspect that prices on the Pro/Platinum will fall. Waiting a few weeks may be a good plan at this point.

 

[Storyline]

I agonised over whether to get the Pro or Platinum but in the end Amazon had an amazing deal one day on the Pro Fly More combo which made the Platinum dramatically more expensive so the choice was made for me. I was so glad I got the Pro because it is amazingly quiet compared to the original Phantom Vision I used to have. I flew the Pro a few weeks ago on a remote island in Scotland and with the wind blowing away from me I could hardly hear it when it was just a hundred feet up and the same distance away from me. It is a very acceptable sound level imo and the Platinum must be incredibly quiet. The other reason I have come to love the Pro in a short space of time is that it is amazingly stable and coming from my Phantom which had no gimbal I find the video footage buttery smooth.