Real world performance, benchmarks and some thoughts about DJI RC Pro

[Mirko]

Hi guys,

there is a lot of talk about the new DJI RC Pro. While I definitely get where you are coming from, especially if you already own (like I do) the original Smart Controller, I'm thinking DJI has good reasons not to try to make the Smart Controller compatible with Mavic 3.

I'm using the RC Pro for a bit over 2 weeks now and I am blown away. It is like the Smart Controller should have been, but sadly wasn't. It may look identical on the outside, but inside it is really a totally different kind of beast.

Battery life is fantastical. I was using it outside in -8°C weather for hours and it never gave up. I easily installed Adobe Lightroom and with the help of a mobile AP, every picture I take gets synced to Creative Cloud without ever taking out my mobile phone. With WiFi 6 coming, I guess even the transfer of video files is feasible without taking out the SD Card.
Would I edit my picture on this device? Probably not. But I tried and it worked flawlessly.

Charging is equally impressive. If you use the right charging equipment (that means a USB-C PD with >=65W) the controller charges from 10% to 50% in less than 15 minutes and takes about 1:10h to full charge. And It works while plugged in. So, using power banks essentially gives you unlimited runtime.

The signal is as robust as I see it on the Matrice 300. Picture quality is great, fluid and everything feels snappy. And this is the FIRST Version of DJI Fly on this controller. As we know DJI, most of the time it just gets better from here on. Gone are the times where I had to rearrange the controller to get a picture.

But, let's see what the numbers tell us. I installed Geekbench 5 on the old Smart Controller and the new RC Pro and ran some benchmarks. I also ran benchmarks on my iPhone 13 Pro and the newest M1 iPad Pro. Just for comparison. Last on the list is the actual benchmark leader in Geekbench for Android devices and that is the Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G.

ID	Name	Platform	Architecture	Single-core Score	Multi-core Score
11369726	OLD DJI rm500ARM ARMv8 1416 MHz (6 cores)	Android 64	aarch64	248	602
11358618	NEW DJI DJI RC ProARM Qualcomm 1804 MHz (8 cores)	Android 64	aarch64	926	3265
11369473	iPhone 13 ProApple A15 Bionic 3230 MHz (6 cores)	iOS 64	aarch64	1036	4135
11369381	iPad Pro (11-inch 3rd generation)Apple M1 3190 MHz (8 cores)	iOS 64	aarch64	1700	7272
SAMSUNG S21	Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G			965	3044

I mean... there is a 4x single core and a 5.5x increase in Multicore-CPU performance, which puts the RC Pro in the realm of the insanely powerful iPhone 12. But, it even beats the fastest Android (Smartphone) on the market right now. These are not just numbers, you instantly feel it the moment the RC boots up. There is no loading time. DJI Fly app comes up in seconds, connects to your Mavic 3 and you are ready for take-off in under 30s.

So, the biggest problem the old Smart Controller had, was the subpar hardware they used. Even for the time the SC was released, the used hardware was outdated and slow. This time, it is different. There is a LOT of headroom to play with now. Even going into the future. I am not saying the RC Pro will be THE Remote controller you use for the next 10 years, but I think there is a pretty good chance you can use it a lot longer than the current SC. It's fast, built like a tank and usable in extreme temperatures and lighting conditions without a hitch.

Would it be great if we could use the RC Pro for our "old" drones? Yes of course it would. Will this be a priority for DJI? Probably not. But will new drones be compatible with the RC Pro? That is a profound YES from my side.

I hope this perspective helps some of you get a different view on what DJI had done and maybe has planed for the future of the Smart Controller Let me know what you think!

 

[DebianDog]

I get it but... I would at least would have liked the option to use a crappy controller with a disclaimer warning or have DJI give me some type of credit for the device.

It is not identical either. I went to swap my lanyard mount and the holes didn't match and I was POed all over again.

 

[Mirko]

Well, yes I hear you.

But: the old Smart RC was sh**y to use with the Mavic 2, to begin with. And you can put up a dozen disclaimers, people will still complain and make YT-videos about how "this and that does not work!". I just don't think it would be worth it.

I bought the Smart Controller for the Mavic 2 Pro. And they said they would it make compatible with future drones. And they did. With the Mavic 2 Enterprise Advanced, with the Air 2, the Air 2S, and the Mini II. That is a lot of compatibility.

My guess is, with the upcoming updates for the Mavic 3 and the Fly app, the smart controller would just be overloaded and give you an even sh*****er user experience.

For the mounting holes, that are ever so slightly off, I have no clue why they did this. It's not like they are in a totally different spot. Just a few mm. That's probably just a bad design decision and not born out of any technical necessity.

And a credit would be nice. Or a price of under $2k for the new Mavic 3 Cine. That would also be REALLY NICE. But... that's just not how any of this works.

But for what it's worth, I think the Mavic 3 is a great drone right now and with the promised update in January bringing us (hopefully) Active Track 5.0 and a more feature-complete Fly app it could become a fantastic drone.

Only time will tell and in the end, it is just that: A drone. Not a cure for cancer

 

[globetrotterdrone]

Well, thanks for you insights.
I don't feel that the SC was that crappy, as you say, with the M2P ... in contrary, it is working, as intended.
Sure, 2 years have passed (Android version was nearly outdated when they released it) and there are faster devices, but solely using it for controlling the drone, it's more than enough for me. It's a tool and not everything needs to be faster or brighter or longer to run as long as it's working.

I don't need LR or other mapping things, just the pure DJ Go4 (and sometimes Litchi when it's coming to AEB and panoramas). Everything else is a bonus (because I primarily bought a RC to avoid smartphone/tablet + controller). It can be highly optimised to run even on limited hardware, as the purpose is mainly controlling.

My guess is, with the upcoming updates for the Mavic 3 and the Fly app, the smart controller would just be overloaded and give you an even sh*****er user experience.

As far as I know, all the processing is done in the drone, the SC is just your hub to control and sending telemetry. So, I wonder why it has to be so powerful.


So, while I fully understand, that the RC Pro feels more polished from a today's point of view, I likely reckon they could optimise their transmitting to a 1080p/30 12 MBit/s as with the SC and the hardware would still be sufficient with a Mavic 3. But DJI refuses to do so. And I feel, that with a new Mavic 4, they still would probably sell you another RC Pro II or so, with a 1,500 or 2,000 nits . People will buy it anyway.

Clearly, as you are already an owner of the M3, you are more on the positive side and expecting a good FW update in January. I am not sure about that but certainly feel glad for you, that the M3 is working nicely for you.

PS: Charging time with the SC is 1:40 h for mine, run time about 5 - 6 hours.
PPS: I feel like @DebianDog.

 

[DebianDog]

Yep I am with globetrotterdrone. I never really had issue with the old SC. I do like the extra range, a tad clear display, and quicker start but that is where my glee ends. Ah well.. it will not be the first (or hundredth) time I pissed away money on the latest-greatest.

 

[Mirko]

And with the last sentence from DebianDog, I guess we can all agree on at least something

 

[Coskier]

Battery life is fantastical. I was using it outside in -8°C weather for hours and it never gave up. I easily installed Adobe Lightroom and with the help of a mobile AP, every picture I take gets synced to Creative Cloud without ever taking out my mobile phone. With WiFi 6 coming, I guess even the transfer of video files is feasible without taking out the SD Card.
Would I edit my picture on this device? Probably not. But I tried and it worked flawlessly.

JPG, or RAW? If it is saving the raw files to the controller, that would be awesome.

 

[zeusfl]

@Mirko I can not agree more with you. I own both controllers. The old Smart Controller is a fantastic controller but sadly is under power from day 1. The CPU and GPU can not keep up flying the drone and screen recording at the same time. The screen recording ends up skipping frames and the flying experience is super laggy when is not freezing. It just can not keep up with the load.

Updating firmware was another nightmare because the controller was or is still running out of memory when doing so, workaround? reset everything to factory and update in the computer because if you try again updating by wifi and download the big file it runs out of space.

Again, is a great controller but with hardware limitations. Also, the OccuSync chipset is old, the one used for OccuSync 2.0.

The new RC-Pro controller on the other side of course the new kid from the block has much more power and can screen record in 1080 and surprising 60fps without any lag or problem (So far).

The fan is very loud when is installing firmware upgrades or I assume will be whenever is under heavy load (like installing firmware) The feel is almost the same as the first one. The battery lasts probably twice or more than the old one and the charging time is impressively fast.

What I don't like?

• The sticks are very thin compared with the old one
• The stick falls very easily from the back storage compartment of the controller. I almost lost one because of that.
• DJI Promised LTE connection without getting a permit first from the US and now they find out they will have no approval to do so at least as of today. (This was a marketing move)
• DJI does not provide a hard case for storage included. Is a $1200 controller !!!
• The controller is not a registered device in the Google PlayStore. The old one either.

I am sure DJI will make it backward compatible in the future once they sold out all the first-generation smart controllers in their inventory and authorized retailers.

 

[wco81]

So its faster.

Is it worth $1200?

 

[zeusfl]

So its faster.

Is it worth $1200?

Well..... Coming from the Smart Controller where the price was $750 sounds expensive.
Now, if you think about it, they give them an excellent bump in CPU and GPU, also internal memory.
Smartphones are in that range and are only phones.

The Smart Controller has as well 1000 constant nits + Remote control.

IFFFFFFF they make it backward compatible, YESSS it is worth it.

 

[Mirko]

So its faster.

Is it worth $1200?

I guess that's a question only you can answer.

For me, it most definitely is, but I have the feeling you don't really wanna get an answer to this question. A lot was posted in this thread about the RC Pro. And that should enable you to decide for yourself.

This whole "it's just faster" is a bit misguided in my opinion.

It's not just faster, it's snappier. It feels nicer, more responsive, simply a lot more like "it should be". I like it for the same reason I like using iPhones and iPads and Macs. They get out of my way to just DO stuff. But trying to "sell you on this" without having used it by yourself, is like describing color to a blind man.

It all boils down to how much is $1200 for you personally. That could be a lot of money, but could also be a normal Thursday evening browsing through Amazon ordering some **** And if you make money with it in any capacity, that's a totally different story.

 

[bheiser1]

My RC Pro arrived a few days ago, and with so many negative reviews out there I seriously considered returning it without opening it. But I decided to try it for myself, and so far I'm glad I did. The first thing that struck me was the display. Then the snappiness. Then the general "feel" of operating it (especially compared to the RC-N1). IMO it feels like a major improvement over the original Smart Controller I got with my Mavic 2 Pro. As with the Mavic 3 I'm really looking forward to even more improvements in the coming months.

In terms of downsides the main one so far is that as I've been using an iPhone 13 Pro Max with the RC-N1, it's disappointing to now be moving to a smaller screen. The RC Pro display is about the same height but much narrower (held horizontally).

 

[RocketBrew]

All the reviews and comments on the RC Pro seem to be from those flying previous Mavic aircraft. I seem to be the odd man out, having flown Phantom aircraft for the past six years, with the Mavic 3 being my first.

Compared to the toy-like standard controller, the RC Pro is the only choice for the Mavic 3. However, the tiny screen makes composing photos a real pain, especially when combined with the woeful Fly-less app.

What is really needed is the RC Pro form-factor and functionality in a controller that can use a tablet rather than a phone to replace the sub-standard controller. Mabe that will appear with the SDK

The longer battery life has me using the Mavic 3 on most jobs, but I still have to use the P4P for orthomosaic and other tasks requiring an SDK for third-party apps. And that makes me miss the iPad 5 on the M3 even more!