Your experience with the Mavic Air 2

[GadgetGuy]

Couple of notes on the @GadgetGuy review (which I appreciate)

I entered the 6 digit unlock code on an iphone without any issue, I did not need to use an ipad.

The low battery beep on the controller can be stopped by pushing the power button (according to the instructions, I didn't get that low). The below 5% critical battery can't be.

Decreased battery/flying time in wind is valid (of course) and I don't have comparisons with the Pro 2, so I can't comment on the comparison. However, I'll say that in my mind that doesn't mean it can't "handle" the wind. Flew into a 12.9 MPH headwind, and zig - zagged back across the wind and the drone does it just fine the video and photos are stabilized great. Only flew a short flight (8 minutes total - used 28% battery). Airdata estimates 28.3 minutes of battery for that flight, so obviously short of the 34 minutes estimated, but very reasonable considering wind. So, if "can't handle" the wind means decreased distance and battery-- then I'm sure that's correct. However, if "can't handle" means it isn't suitable for flying, taking pictures, or video, I disagree.


For those waiting, I don't think there is any doubt the Mavic Pro 3 (whenever it comes out) will top the Air 2 in every way except size and price or that the 2 Pro tops it in some ways and lags it in others. (Also have no doubt the Pro 4 will be better than the 3). Its just a matter of finding the one that fits what you are trying to do, at an approximate time you are ready to buy!

I concur with all of your further observations, and I was, indeed, only referring to effectiveness in flying into the wind (decreased distance due to slower speed and more battery consumption), and not stability in the wind, which is excellent. Glad the unlock code entry problem on the iPhone was limited to just me. Could be an iPhone iOS version issue. The user manual was not available at the time of my initial review, to know that the beeping between 5% and 10% can be silenced, by briefly pressing the power button. While the ergonomics of the new RC are pleasing, and the range and flight time are indeed comparable to the M2, the video quality of the buttery smooth 4K 60fps is missing the dynamic range of the M2P, and does not do well at dusk, where the M2P shines. Not surprising, given the difference in sensor sizes. Same for spherical panos, where the 20MP saved M2P originals stitched independently create a much higher quality result than an in camera stitch on the MA2 using 12MP originals that are deleted. Major upgrade from the Mavic Air. Not on a parity with the M2P. Eager to see what improvements to the M2P the Mavic 3 brings. Leaks of a longer battery life and 4K@60fps at 120mbps on a 1” sensor would be enough. M2P set the bar pretty high.

 

[GadgetGuy]

You should really break in thoghs new cells they will last a lot longer if you do.. And flying down to 7 and 5% is just bad practice.. Enjoy your new Aircraft man.

Been flying this way for four years. All batteries are still in service. Mildly reduced flight times are the only changes, after repeated flights to 5% or less. DJI no longer accurately reports flight percentages. 0% is actually still two minutes of remaining flight time.

 

[GadgetGuy]

The more people we hear from, the better. There will be lemons out there like every product has, particularly at launch, and different flight styles will affect performance.

True, but comparisons to other aircraft in the same environment provides a much more accurate understanding of what to expect in a relative sense. No evidence that my MA2 aircraft is a lemon. Once I understood that 27mph is the max speed in N mode, 18mph into a 10mph headwind was not unreasonable. Using Sport mode on the MA2 to maintain the 32mph I expect out of the M2, radically reduces range and flight time, and is not advised.

My 3rd flight at max throttle in N mode speed into the same 10mph wind lasted 27 minutes to 5% remaining battery and covered 10.6 miles. It's much slower into the wind, but coasts back downwind at full N max speed, making up for the inefficiency into the wind.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Just re-saw @GadgetGuy's note about the Pano and then tested-- No original files Yuck. The good news is, the drone stitches the photos to a pano much better than the original Air did, so having to restitch from the originals doesn't seem to be as necessary. Still would be much better to have the option to if need be and to work on the originals as needed.

DJI has done an excellent job improving the "in camera" stitch, complete with a cloned in ceiling. On the M2P, I use the "in camera" stitch as a proof of concept preview, to decide whether it is worth using the 26 original jpgs to create a 75MB pano. For most people, the MA2 "in camera" 360° pano stitch will be good enough for social media sharing, but if you have been spoiled by the M2P, it will disappoint that you cannot access the deleted originals to get more detail.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Everybody has their own priorities. For some it may be a kickass camera, but may not really care about flight time, for some it may be a long transmission distance.

For me, it is the following:
1. Transmission range ( I flew MM and MA1 before, wasn't satisfied with Enhanced Wifi)
2. Battery life ( I was content with MM's battery life, but MA1 heavily shortened my aerial adventures)
3. Noise ( In a society that is growingly seeing drones as a nuisance, I wish to fly mine discreetly)
4. Decent cam ( I am not a pro photographer and only care about capturing some good scenery)

Luckily for me, the MA2 checked all boxes under a $1k price point. It is literally a dream come true.

I have a total of 4 recorded flights, and I must say that the experience is simply breathtaking.

It is much more responsive to controls, handles wind like a champ, the signal quality (live feed) feels like I am taking a peek outside an aeroplane's window, the transmission distance in Dallas's urban setup is around 3km before dropping (mind you, only dropping and not signal loss), the downward LED allows you to spot the drone from 2.5 kms away, stays in the air forever, is almost inaudible when 20m+ above you, captures much more information in the photos (thanks to 120Mbps).

The controller is a beauty in itself; it feels so much better in hand than any other stock Mavic controller.

My only gripe so far is the gimbal cover. Unlike the MM and MA1, this one holds the camera in 3D space! getting it out is pretty easy, but putting it on is nerve-wracking since there is a part of the cover always in contact with the back of the camera even before it snaps back on. You literally see the cover push the camera, bellows of the gimbal and other components while it is being snapped back on.

I hope DJI did enough tests to ensure that it does not kill the gimbal motors/components over time.

All in all, my friend, it is a dream! It is an engineering marvel!

Of course, if given an option, I would probably wait for the Mavic 3 or could have gotten a Mavic 2 now, but for the features I am looking for in a drone, this guy delivers a punch at a very comfortable price point.

EU guys, I know you feel left-off with DJI not including Air Sense. Honestly, I only had it on for the first flight and then turned it right off. As long as you are not flying in restricted airspace and are adhering to the 120m altitude limit, there is no real need to know about manned airplanes flying around you.

The presence of a single IMU and compass units seems like a little disheartening, but I don't think those components would fail midflight unless you have previously crashed the drone. Treating the little guy like a pet should prevent any problems. Handle him with care and he should be with you for a long long time.

ALSO, inside the DJI Fly App, I see an option that says "Remote ID". I guess DJI will make that option available soon when the govt regulations push for it. So this shouldn't really be only a 3-year investment before the tech turns obsolete because of a new law.

If you are thinking about it, just buy it! Unless you want more professional-level control over the cam.

Concur with all of your observations.

Remote ID is on by default, already broadcasting. If you prefer some privacy, toggle it off before every flight, as it is not a sticky setting. It resets back to ON at every battery change.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Did you guys have to pair your RC to your Air two before you could fly? I had to.

I did not need to.
Glad I didn't, as the new method is entirely different and unexpected!

 

[GadgetGuy]

As someone who has flown with long range navigation for a very long time and navigated by time and distance for much longer ..I can tell you that one mile of head wind will cost you one mile of Ground Speed. I'm pretty sure that even Wilbur and Orville would tell you that.

True, but some DJI drones compensate for it better than others by outputting more power to offset the loss. M2 does it best in P mode, without sacrificing too much flight time in the process.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Math Pause
Wind 11 MPH + 18 MPH = 28 MPH vs 27 MPH expected EXACTLY, what would be expected. It's basic math. You expect it to get FASTER? in the wind?

This is why our airline airspeed has nothing to do with your arrival time because you add or subtract the wind at altitude to the airspeed.
" Billy is on a plane with an airspeed of 500 MPH, he is traveling to grandma's house 1500 miles away. There is 200MPH headwind, when will he get to the airport near Grandma's house?" Hint, it's not 3 hours...
I am beginning to realize why the FAA wants Drone pilots to have some basic manned aircraft level training.

The Air 2 is amazing in the wind, Note I am coming from a Mavic Mini, but I would offer this video below as some proof.
Plus I was flying it around in 20 MPH gusts and the video was smooth and the handling is solid. No videos posted yet from me. Too much work to pay for this beast.
But I will admit compared to a Cessna 172 it is a bit light.

Remember 34 minutes is continuous fight at an optimum speed probably with the camera at the lowest power setting etc. You compare it to other perfect ratings and you find it will be 25-29. in real-world flights. Vs say a Mini which is 23-26.
See Mavic Air 2 in the Wind!!! >>> Air 2 - Insane Wind test

I stand by my comparisons of the MA2 to the Mavic 2 in the same headwind. All math in the world won't change the empirical results. The M2P advertised flight time is 31 minutes. The advertised flight time of the MA2 is 34 minutes. MA2 control range is advertised as a mile longer. I was hoping for an extra 10% of flight time while covering the same 10 mile circuit, currently covered by the M2P. It is not possible with the MA2. I naively assumed the MA2 max N speed would be the same as the P mode on the M2 and P4 series. It's not. Instead of 31mph, it's only 27mph. It remains to be seen what the most efficient speed is that the MA2 needs to be flown at, to cover the longest distance per battery. It has been 31-34mph on most other DJI aircraft. 34 minutes flying at 11mph with no wind won't even cover 6 miles in total. So far, the MA2 flight time has to be longer because it is significantly slower, while covering the same distance, but that leaves no extra 10% of flight time, over the M2P, for panos along the way, and the MA2 panos are vastly inferior to the M2P, with no saved 26 original images.

 

[Brockrock]

Those flying the Air 2, does DJI Fly maintain your RTH altitude setting between flights? I recall a discussion regarding the Mini where RTH altitude needed to be set each flight as the app did not retain the last setting entered.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Those flying the Air 2, does DJI Fly maintain your RTH altitude setting between flights? I recall a discussion regarding the Mini where RTH altitude needed to be set each flight as the app did not retain the last setting entered.

RTH setting does survive a reboot, but the Remote ID setting to OFF does not!

 

[Brockrock]

RTH setting does survive a reboot, but the Remote ID setting to OFF does not!

Very good. Thanks for the quick reply! I'm looking forward to getting mine and giving it a go.

 

[aokusman]

Those flying the Air 2, does DJI Fly maintain your RTH altitude setting between flights? I recall a discussion regarding the Mini where RTH altitude needed to be set each flight as the app did not retain the last setting entered.

Always smart to check it before each flight.

 

[kidroc]

Absolutely. I did copy all pics from the drone's SD card to a Gaming Laptop. The shakiness is present even on the downloaded images.

Have you seen a gimbal overload message if you have when it happens if it happens touch the gimbal and see if it'd buzzing at all. I have to send mine back got it yesterday and the gimbal is bad..

 

[SlushFlight]

I am more than qualified to answer the performance question.
My comparisons are in the same environment over four years with the P3P, P4, P4P, MP, M2P, M2Z, MA, and now the MA2.
If you don't like my results, then I suggest you perform your own tests to satisfy yourself.

View attachment 101396

Wow! You really are a master of the skys.... Still I do not care. I will follow the folks who show it in real time on youtube.

 

[Deleted member 94047]

Wow! You really are a master of the skys.... Still I do not care. I will follow the folks who show it in real time on youtube.

You are free to follow whoever you please; but your attempt at humor (and I am hoping that was what it was) is a bit lacking. It is rather derisive.

 

[LHDUK]

UK BASED Mine MA2 COMBO eventually arrived on Wednesday.....went for a test flight yesterday .....very quiet...flight time 30 mins....excellent all round for a first flight ....but as I also have a Smart Controller.....but NOOOO...Software to pair with the MA2....so had to use the basic remote with a phone a FPV......although this worked well, I was in the car so I could view the screen....all a bit messy.....but it was OK....just need to have 2 items in the pouch...Drone and SC....SO DJI JUST WHEN WILL WE GET THIS SOFTWARE PATCH PLEASE...Thanks

 

[swooshdave]

UK BASED Mine MA2 COMBO eventually arrived on Wednesday.....went for a test flight yesterday .....very quiet...flight time 30 mins....excellent all round for a first flight ....but as I also have a Smart Controller.....but NOOOO...Software to pair with the MA2....so had to use the basic remote with a phone a FPV......although this worked well, I was in the car so I could view the screen....all a bit messy.....but it was OK....just need to have 2 items in the pouch...Drone and SC....SO DJI JUST WHEN WILL WE GET THIS SOFTWARE PATCH PLEASE...Thanks

What does the smart controller add that the “basic remote” doesn’t have?

 

[aokusman]

What does the smart controller add that the “basic remote” doesn’t have?

An expensive bright display.

 

[baldeagle-us]

I had my first flights yesterday and they were...amazing! The MA2 is my first drone and I was concerned about how challenging it would be to control it. I discovered that the MA2 is both powerful and responsive and MUCH easier to control than I expected. I was able to try several of the modes, including the Quickshots.

Everything worked well except Asteroid. I couldn’t set the altitude and, while it rose to my the overall max altitude i had set, it didn’t take the multiple photos, etc. or return to the starting point. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I’m looking forward to some DJI Fly updates, like gimbal settings, waypoints outside of the one in hyperlapse (fingers crossed), and shutter/iso settings for video.

Waiting for better weather to go out again!

 

[Ice_2k]

*VERY* expensive bright display