Why did you choose Air over Pro?

Rockin2climb · Jul 29, 2018

Mostly because of the weight/form factor. I'm a Avid outdoor Enthusiast and I always try to like to shed pounds/space whenever possible. The APAS is pretty nice technology as well as the rear facing sensors and spending just as much as the MP by itself, I could get the fly more battery and more flight time than the pro by itself. The 100mbps is also pretty nice. I am a previous MP owner as well.

AeroMirage · Jul 29, 2018

I have had 3 different Mavics and could not get a good picture out of any of them. One was even replaced by DJI under warranty.
Now I fly an Air and have no issues whatsoever.

Just_nick · Jul 30, 2018

Thankfully, with the vastly superior Mavic Pro 2 coming out soon, the ridiculous number of times that people will attempt to beat this dead horse into the ground will finally slow down because the only justification for the Air will be price.

Seriously, this topic is covered at least once a week. And I'm being nice, it's around 4-5 times a week.

Rockin2climb · Jul 30, 2018

Just_nick said:
Thankfully, with the vastly superior Mavic Pro 2 coming out soon, the ridiculous number of times that people will attempt to beat this dead horse into the ground will finally slow down because the only justification for the Air will be price.

And weight/size.

Just_nick said:
Seriously, this topic is covered at least once a week. And I'm being nice, it's around 4-5 times a week.

Toxic much?

Mavić_Legenda · Jul 30, 2018

For me, MA has noticeably better quality video quality, more accurate colours, less noise and much less of that **** flickering. I put it down to 100Mbps at 4K 30fps, very nice. That’s what most important for my use, so would never go back to MP. I do miss occusync though...

DesJardins · Jul 30, 2018

Just_nick said:
Thankfully, with the vastly superior Mavic Pro 2 coming out soon, the ridiculous number of times that people will attempt to beat this dead horse into the ground will finally slow down because the only justification for the Air will be price.

Seriously, this topic is covered at least once a week. And I'm being nice, it's around 4-5 times a week.

I know it’s tough to either give insight or not reply since it’s the internet...

I picked the Air on size & price combined & many others mention the quality as well

aokusman · Jul 30, 2018

Size, price, video quality.

CanadaDrone · Jul 30, 2018

Just_nick said:
Thankfully, with the vastly superior Mavic Pro 2 coming out soon, the ridiculous number of times that people will attempt to beat this dead horse into the ground will finally slow down because the only justification for the Air will be price.

Seriously, this topic is covered at least once a week. And I'm being nice, it's around 4-5 times a week.

Price is not the only reason. Size/weight is what draws a lot of (if not most) people to the Air and that isn't going to change with the Pro 2, if anything The Mavic 2 Zoom/Pro will probably get heavier and possibly bigger. The Pro has approximately 2X the body volume of the air, weighs almost double, and has bigger batteries & accessories. There is a huge difference in portability and that isn't going to change with the Mavic 2 Zoom / Mavic 2 Pro. The new Mavics do look great, though the square lens housing on the 1" sensor model is unusual and might be annoying for the third party filter manufacturers to work with, especially for circular polarizers. The Air is unbelievably portable, especially for light travelers or backpackers, the difference in size is very significant.

To answer the OP's question:

If size/price is not a concern --> Wait a few weeks for the Mavic 2 Pro (1" sensor) and Mavic 2 Zoom (1/1.7" sensor).

If size and/or price is a concern --> The Air will still be your best bet. I chose the Air over the existing Pro because of significantly better video quality, huge size/weight reduction, more compact remote, better obstacle avoidance and flight autonomy, and a better gimbal design. Distance doesn't matter to me because the ~4KM the Air can fly is well beyond legal line of sight and further than I will ever need to fly. More battery life is always better, but ~16 minutes is enough for 99% of my flights.

CanadaDrone · Jul 30, 2018

Ccase39 said:
Wonder how much the two is going to be and the release date. When Phantom 3 came out it was the same price as the two. With all the new features I doubt M2 will be comparable in price.

Probably no more than the Phantom 4 Pro (which the Mavic 2 Pro would effectively replace), and all rumor sites are reporting a release date within the next 1-2 months, if not earlier now that it has fully leaked haha. Apparently it has been in production since February.

I don't think it will be priced too high, look at how much cheaper the Air was than the original Pro and the Air bested it in most areas except battery life and range beyond 4km. I would guess $1500-1600 USD for the Pro 2 with the 1" sensor. The Pro 2 is basically adding all of the Air's features + a 1" sensor, which will be a great combo if the size/price works for you.

Rockin2climb · Jul 31, 2018

Being they it doesn't have occusync, do you ever have connection issues or issues with losing the drone?

Mavić_Legenda said:
For me, MA has noticeably better quality video quality, more accurate colours, less noise and much less of that **** flickering. I put it down to 100Mbps at 4K 30fps, very nice. That’s what most important for my use, so would never go back to MP. I do miss occusync though...

cgfw201 · Jul 31, 2018

I can fit the air in my cycling jersey pocket, not even a conversation to be had on that basis.

WayneMHK · Jul 31, 2018

Price, size, video, and the fact that the Pro is ugly as all he!!.

CanadaDrone · Jul 31, 2018

Ccase39 said:
Does the size effect stability?

In my experience flying them side by side, I would say not really. They both have exactly the same maximum wind resistance specification (29-38 KM/h). The Air is lighter but the Pro is far less aerodynamic and has more surface area for wind to catch.

In good conditions they are both very solid from a flight prospective. From a video perspective I'd say the Air slightly more so because the gimbal, ESCs and flight control software are better.

The Air is absolutely rock solid in good conditions and shockingly solid in some wind. Way better than it has any right to be given its size. I am very conservative in what wind I will fly any drone in though, but I have been caught off guard a couple times without incident. Personally I wouldn't factor stability into your decision, they are both good.

Rockin2climb said:
Being they it doesn't have occusync, do you ever have connection issues or issues with losing the drone?

I have been out well over 1KM in crowded urban areas and did not even lose a single bar of signal. I typically don't fly out much further than that though, especially since legal line of sight is normally a lot closer than that unless you have a spotter with binoculars or a spotting scope. Most of my flights are closer than that, but I have yet to see the signal drop from maximum with my Air in all its flights. For me it has been flawless in that regard. I wouldn't push the max range on any drone but that is just me. I suspect most people's flights are well under max range limits, and if that is the case you should not have any issues with connection unless there is something else unusual going on.

Rockin2climb · Jul 31, 2018

CanadaDrone said:
In my experience flying them side by side, I would say not really. They both have exactly the same maximum wind resistance specification (29-38 KM/h). The Air is lighter but the Pro is far less aerodynamic and has more surface area for wind to catch.

In good conditions they are both very solid from a flight prospective. From a video perspective I'd say the Air slightly more so because the gimbal, ESCs and flight control software are better.

The Air is absolutely rock solid in good conditions and shockingly solid in some wind. Way better than it has any right to be given its size. I am very conservative in what wind I will fly any drone in though, but I have been caught off guard a couple times without incident. Personally I wouldn't factor stability into your decision, they are both good.

Do you have any issues with connectivity bring that the MA is on a WiFi signal when the MP used occusync

CanadaDrone · Jul 31, 2018

Rockin2climb said:
Do you have any issues with connectivity bring that the MA is on a WiFi signal when the MP used occusync

See above - looks like you replied before I edited

If you are like most people and aren't bumping up against the drone's range limits, you should have no issues.

lmel2005 · Jul 31, 2018

My ma has connectivity issues, even in short distance, as my spark does, but I am in a CE country.

Mavic pro, is another class, another category. Ocusync makes a great difference, and not only for better connectivity and range. I can fly it without a device connected, all important information is on the screen of RC. I fly MP with two remotes, while teaching my son to fly, or while someone else handles gimbal and camera. In the same time, someone can watch the view via the goggles. All wireless, and all because of ocusync.

Talking about portability, yes, ma is smaller, but I carry my drones in the original fly more cases, and Mavic pro fits in a very small bag, maybe smaller than ma's bag.

Camera on Air has better dynamic range, but on the other hand is fixed focus.

The two drones are different, and a comparison maybe is not fair. For example, if ask someone to tell us, why he decided to buy air vs Inspire, if he says "because of its size" he is right, but this doesn't make air an overall better drone than Inspire.

And yes, I think air is way more good looking.

Juno · Aug 1, 2018

For me I chose the MA because of the design. To me, the design of the MA definitely feels a bit more refined and thought out (especially the gimbal, but also the design of the body and remote and even the various accessories) compared to the MP. The only real downside of the MA over the Pro, in my opinion, is the lack of Ocusync, but to its credit the WiFi transmission system on the MA is still pretty capable. Most countries now require you to maintain line of sight (in Canada you have to stay within 500m of yourself) and within those distances the differences between the various transmission systems aren't super noticeable. The biggest issue for me hasn't been range, but interference in populated areas (I've found I can usually remedy this by manually selecting a wifi channel that is relatively free of interference -- in my experience, the MA is not always that good at automatically selecting the best channel to use).

Flight time on the MA is more than sufficient for my needs and for the price of the MP only, you can get the fly more combo with 3 batteries which will give you more total flight time than the MP only. The inclusion of rear obstacle sensors is very useful for those backwards pull-away shots, and the additional quick shot modes (esp. the astroid) are very cool!