Replacing Phantom 3 4K with Mavic Air / Pro?

[ludmilaex]

Hi all!

I've acquired a P3 4K two years ago, and am considering replacing it with a Mavic Air or a Mavic Pro.

I've read and watched many reviews on these drones, but I'm still not sure which of the Phantom or of the Mavics has the best video quality. Do you have any thoughts on that?

Thanks a lot for your advice!

Ludmila

 

[Colbymh]

The air is better than the pro slightly from what I can see having both. The problem
Is the Air has horrible battery life unless u like to land 14 minutes after take off. There is no way they get 21 mins flight time.

 

[JetStream]

I sold my Phantom 3 Advanced after 2.5 years of ownership a few weeks back and bought a Mavic Air. I read all the reviews and the two issues that concerned me were:

1) WiFi range compared to Lightbridge (P3 4K runs on WiFi so not an issue for you)
2) Battery life.

I live in the UK so my Mavic Air runs on CE WiFi power settings by default. I've done the CE to FCC modification and I'd say that the range of my Air is now similar or greater to my P3A on CE settings.

The battery life is definitely shorter. I ran my Air down to 13pct battery yesterday and the flight time recorded was 17 mins. This was mainly in Normal mode with just a little bit of flight time in Sport.

For me this is an acceptable compromise bearing in mind how small and light the air is. Remember that is weighs just 430g, which is 1/3 of the weight of your P3 4K. I love being able to chuck the Air into my normal backpack with my other stuff. The P3A had it's own large backpack. The portability is the biggest selling point of the Air in my opinion.

I'm also looking forward to taking my Mavic Air on my summer holiday this year. I did manage to take the P3A with me last year but I was a bit worried as the drone backpack that I used was actually slightly bigger than the hand luggage limits of the airline I flew with. It was fine in the end but I was concerned that they may make me put the drone in the hold.

I would say that if you're thinking about getting an Air then just factor in 1 more battery than perhaps you were expecting to buy.

 

[z28lt1]

The Phantom 4 Pro will be the best for video with its 1 inch sensor. After that, they are all pretty close, but the Air often comes out a little ahead in comparisons.

Here is a good Phantom 4 Pro, Mavic Pro, Mavic Air comparison. There are plenty of others.