I have both a Mavic Air and a
Mavic 2 Pro. I have spent time with the Zoom as well and flown it many times. The
Mavic 2 Pro makes a much better compliment to the Air, in my opinion. You gain a lot more in return for the size/weight sacrifice. If you didn't have the Air already, then it would be more of a toss-up depending on your usage goals.
The
M2Z and Air use the same image sensor, and have all the same drawbacks of a tiny 1/2.3" low (12MP) resolution sensor. You aren't really upgrading the image quality in that case, mostly just the done body itself.
The
M2Z is definitely a better drone than the Air overall, provided size and weight are a non-issue (it is over twice as big and twice as heavy, doesn't fold up as nicely, and all the accessories are larger/heavier). The main things you are going to notice are Occusync 2.0 (1080P transmission at all distances), better range, longer flight times, lower pitched noise, and slightly better obstacle avoidance. If you aren't exceeding the Air's range or needing a lot more flight time per battery, you aren't going to be gaining a lot - that part is up to you though. The Air is still a much better design than the
Mavic 2's in my opinion - I was hoping the Mavic
2s would look like a big Mavic Air but maybe next time
The Zoom is not a lot but you give up a lot to get it - it is only a 2X zoom (24-48mm). The aperture is unfortunately not constant (and also not adjustable), so when you zoom mid-flight it drops from F2.8 to F3.8 and you need to return home to change your ND filter if you want to maintain your current exposure, which is a huge disadvantage and pain in the a$$ IMHO. If you don't want to swap ND filters, you need to change either the ISO or shutter speed by almost a full stop value which is often not ideal, and will create uneven footage during the exposure change if you zoom mid-shot.
If you already have an Air, I think the
M2P offers a lot more incremental value. Exact same 'chassis' as the
M2Z but you get a 1" 20MP Sony image sensor, constant & adjustable aperture, and 10-bit H265 DLog-M video capability. It also has another trick up it's sleeve regarding the 'zoom'. It has two 4K shooting modes, one called FOV (28mm equivalent) and one called HQ (40mm equivalent). In effect, this gives you a 1.43X zoom with no loss in quality (it actually gets better as it uses a 1:1 pixel readout). So it's not quite 2X, but you get close, with all the other benefits of the better camera/sensor and none of the disadvantages. If you are also into still photography, the difference is much greater in favor of the
M2P as well.
That is just my $0.02 after using all 3 drones and owning 2 of them. As always it depends on your budget and your personal usage goals / expectations.
