Repurchase Mavic Pro 2 or wait until Mavic Pro 3

[tlap]

I had my drone for 3 months and loved it. Recently I had a weird electornics failure and since I was under warrenty, I returned it for a full refund. Now I'm in the position of wondering if I should wait until the Mavic Pro 3 is released or buy a Mavic Pro 2 replacement. Since my purpose for owning the drone is for my own enjoymentment, I feel I just probably just wait for a few months for the new release. Thoughts?

 

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

Why do you believe it will only be a few months?

(Pro Tip: this question gets asked sometimes once weekly -- if you find the threads with a search, you will see a wealth of responses already made.)

 

[tlap]

OK. I couldn't see it when I glanced that the list of issues. Hopefully, sysop will delete. Sorry.

 

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

Oh, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with this thread, just that you'll find some ready-made replies. And you may get more here. But if you don't get a lot here, you know why.

 

[Camino Ken]

I tend to agree with NASOC above. There is no way of knowing when a “Mavic 3” will be available. There is also no way of knowing what features, capabilities, or even what price it will be. I could be a very high end that costs twice as much as the M2, or whatever. On top of that, if a new drone comes out I would not recommend buying it right away because DJI has a history of releasing it before it is ready and then they issue a ton of firmware updates to fix all of the issues that come up. I personally would wait at least six months after release to buy it.

If it was me I would buy the M2P now.

 

[boblui]

If you want to get a fun drone, consider MA2. It can do quite a lot of things that M2P cannot. HDR video being just of of them. 1080p 240fps is really interesting :

 

[tlap]

Thank you all for your responses. The point about Mavic Air 2 is very reasonable. Of course, as Camino Ken said I would want to wait several months before getting the 3 anyways at which point I guess I could sell it and upgrade. Also Boblui, fabulous slow mo of the bird (pigeon?). I'm surprised it flew so close to your drone.

 

[Harro]

I would wait for Mavic5 Pro, its features will surpass those of Mavic 4 and 3. You can wait indefinitely for a "better" version, get the current Mavic 2 Pro now and enjoy it.

 

[Johnmcl7]

Personally if I lost or crashed my M2P I wouldn't hesitate to go out and buy another since it's still the best suited DJI drone for my use and I don't think the Mavic 3 Pro is going to offer any new features I'd want to upgrade for. However even if I did end up wanting to upgrade to the M3P I wouldn't regret the choice of the M2P because I agree with Ken's points that realistically even if the M3P is released around the same time of year as the M2P it's going to be some time before the drone and accessories are widely available and any issues have been found.

The popularity of drones means older models don't plummet in value so a second hand sale of the M2P wouldn't be too big a loss and crucially waiting for the M3P would mean losing any chance to fly the drone for at least the summer which is when I like flying it the most and probably autumn as well. My drone is just for enjoyment as well but I like the fact it encourages me to get out and find new spots to capture which is a great motivation for me to get out further on the bike.

Your requirements for a drone may be different though so it's up to you whether the M2P still suits you and how much you value being able to use a drone now instead of waiting.

 

[Rattydude77]

September 26th, 2020

The Mavic 3 release date will be on September 26th, 2020, at 10 a.m. EST according to two leaked photos of the DJI announcement that I received just this afternoon.7 days ago

 

[Meta4]

September 26th, 2020

The Mavic 3 release date will be on September 26th, 2020, at 10 a.m. EST according to two leaked photos of the DJI announcement that I received just this afternoon.7 days ago

Sorry to burst the bubble but it's not true.
Even the rumour spreading site that started that rumour has announced that they were wrong.

 

[Rattydude77]

Sorry to burst the bubble but it's not true.
Even the rumour spreading site that started that rumour has announced that they were wrong.

Really that sucks

 

[tlap]

Based on what I'm reading, I'll probably just order the Mavic Pro 2 again and then sell it if I find the new model (when it's released) compelling. I also own some accessories for the 2 that weigh into this decision. I really do appreciate everyone's insight. I also appreciate everyone's patience with me by responding even though the issue has been addressed more generally in other other threads.

Thanks to all.

 

[Deleted member 103366]

Boblui, blimey that guy doesn't like you. Those hooded crows are big beep beeps.

INCREDIBLE FOOTAGE!

 

[tlap]

I just ordered the Mavic pro 2 all. Deed is done. So, time to put it behind me.

 

[OliverDrool]

While many have given their input, I thought I'd share my perspective which I don't think is being talked about: with the current drone industry trajectory, no matter what you do you're going to be susceptible to buyers remorse. Because newer and newer technology is always going to be coming to the market as manufacturers leap frog each other every 3-4 months.

The Mavic 2 Pro is still a very solid device. And when it comes down to what you get out of them: are you yourself going to be able to tell between a 20MP image that you only look at a few times and a 48MP (or whatever they're throwing in there)?

I still love the 2. My vote is to go with what has been tested and works. And have fun.

 

[tlap]

Thanks OliverDrool. As I said, I did put in my order for the Mavic Pro 2. The site indicated that Mavic Pro 2 refurbished was short on stock. Whether or not this is any indication about the upcoming Mavic 3 is anyone's guess. Probably not. It could be that the Mavic 2 is just so popular that their supply ran out.

I also have read a lot of horror stories from readers who have received a refurbished Mavic. Actually, I was one of them. As I said in my first post, the electronics on mine failed after about 3 months of light use. It's for this reason that I also purchased the DJI refresh option alone with the Drone. I also decided to purchase a version with the smart controller included. Fingers crossed for a good experience.

 

[paulatkin73]

I had my drone for 3 months and loved it. Recently I had a weird electornics failure and since I was under warrenty, I returned it for a full refund. Now I'm in the position of wondering if I should wait until the Mavic Pro 3 is released or buy a Mavic Pro 2 replacement. Since my purpose for owning the drone is for my own enjoymentment, I feel I just probably just wait for a few months for the new release. Thoughts?

i also think it will be probably the next spring when we will see mavic 3.
if you want something cheaper - get a mavic 2 zoom. you may enjoy having it if you already decided upon getting mavic 3 - i think it will not have a zoom.

 

[MGVision]

If you want to get drone right now go for mavic air 2. If you can spend more money then i would wait for mavic 3.

 

[Johnmcl7]

While many have given their input, I thought I'd share my perspective which I don't think is being talked about: with the current drone industry trajectory, no matter what you do you're going to be susceptible to buyers remorse. Because newer and newer technology is always going to be coming to the market as manufacturers leap frog each other every 3-4 months.

The drone market has been slowing down for some time now (and the camera sensor market even more so) which is partially why I wouldn't be optimistic about significant upgrades for the Mavic 3. The original Mavic Pro was impressive in taking most of the Phantom 4's technology and putting it in a much smaller, lighter drone and then the Mavic 2 series was mostly a refinement with better flight time, more sensors and onboard storage but the main improvement was the camera module adding either a zoom or a larger 1in sensor over the original.

In terms of improving the pro I doubt they'd go up a size to a 4/3 sensor (although I'd very much liked to be proved wrong on that) because they're up against physics and while they could use the newer stacked version of the Sony 1in sensor which would offer better framerates but other than that has the same resolution and similar iso and dynamic range performance. They can't do much to significantly extend the flight time or speed either aside from incremental improvements and refinements.

There will of course be improvements in a Mavic 3 but I can't see them being game changing ones that are going to incite buyer's remorse apart from possibly much better flight automation, looking at your three to four month claim the original Mavic pro at four years old should be a complete dinosaur by now but it's not, its specs are only slightly behind current models. If it wasn't for the Mavic 2's much bigger 1in sensor I'd still be flying an original Mavic because while the other Mavic 2 improvements are welcome, they're nowhere near enough to justify the upgrade. When talking about feature wise I'm meaning genuine improvements and not marketing ones like the Mavic Air 2's 48MP sensor (which in reality is a 12MP sensor with some computational benefits) or the pointless 6K/8K video modes offered by the Autel series which are not beneficial on such limited hardware.