Advise on Buying a DJI Drone (or Similar)

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  pegaxs on 06/08/2019 - 22:37

  +6

  It all depends on what you want to do with them and how often you will use them.

  I have a Tello, Spark, Phantom 3 Pro and Phantom 3 Advanced, Mavic Pro and an Inspire 1. They all do what they do and do it very well, but without knowing what you are hoping to gain from it, it’s hard to recommend anything in particular. If you want a indoor hobby flyer, I’m not going to suggest a Mavic Pro. Likewise, if you want to take great outdoor footage, a Tello is garbage at that…

  The Tello is a great indoor, learn to fly, kids type quad, but it doesn’t have many features. Great to learn basic flying and is cheap.

  The Spark I use for roof inspections or getting into places I can’t or don’t want to climb up onto. It’s light weight, easy to carry and compact. Very easy to fly and does ok at photography and photos. It’s not to expensive and is good money vs features.

  Phantoms are just filming rigs I use to take photos and make videos. They are a large machine, but a super stable platform. Have great range and a heap of features. The 4K camera is great and does more than I could ever use it for.

  The Mavic Pro is on another level. It’s every bit as good at the Phantoms, but is a much smaller package. It’s range is outstanding in open areas and it’s quick. It’s almost double the airspeed of my Phantoms. It’s also a super stable platform with a great camera. It’s super easy to fly and with its shape and sensors, it’s much easier to fly in more confined spaces.

  The Inspire I was given. It is super big and is in a commercial class of quad. It’s on another planet and I have never flown it. I’ve seen it flown, but I just have no need for it… “yet”

  If you are new to flying, get something smaller and cheaper, ie; start with the Spark or the Mavic Air. They are nice, light, compact and easy to setup and fly. They are very easy to sling over your shoulder and take hiking or for a walk to the park. And as for crashing, unless you are bing a complete idiot and ignoring the warnings from the inflight app, they are pretty hard to crash. There is so much tech in these things now that they will fly themselves.

  The Mavic Air is a great stop gap model that is a little bigger than the Spark, but has a lot more of the Mavic Pro type features, ie; it folds up nice, has the 4K camera, but without that $2,500 price tag.

  If you are going to get one though, don’t cheap out and get the standalone kit. Unless there are deals for other parts separately, try and go with the “Fly More” kits where you get the extra stuff like spare batteries and the controller.

  But one last thing, while you are waiting on a sale to come up, make sure you learn the rules of flying and learn where and when you can fly it. Don’t be that guy who gives others a bad name by flying it where you shouldn’t. Oh, and before you fly, make sure to watch plenty of videos on what to do and take it slow. :)

  • 

    raiseyoursteaks on 06/08/2019 - 22:48

    +2

    thanks for sharing.

  • 

    squeeze on 06/08/2019 - 23:18

    appreciate the advice - I've owned a few different drones and I'm fairly confident at flying. I guess I want to get into aerial outdoor photography and have some fun exploring with it so I'm pretty drawn to the large ranges, longer flight times and quality cameras. Going off what you've said it sounds like the Air might be the right all-rounderwithin budget . I might do some more investigation into the mavic pro though. Whats your take on the difference in camera quality between the two? Thanks again mate

    • 

      pegaxs on 07/08/2019 - 06:52

      Don’t really know the difference in camera from the Mavic Pro to the Mavic Air. They are both 4K, so I would imagine the image quality would be the same or very similar.

      The only other thing to note would be size. The larger the quad, usually the more stable it is and less prone to wind conditions. My Phantoms are just rock steady in gusty conditions, where as the tiny little Spark has problems with holding still (a 3D gimbal vs the 2D gimbal also helps there as well)

      But yeah, I think the Mavic Air looks like a good midsize quad. Good camera, good size, loads of features, light weight, easy to pack and cheaper option.

• 

  wombat81 on 06/08/2019 - 23:03

  +2

  I have an air. If you have any questions, yell out. It was/is my first real drone. I take it on holidays camping, hiking etc and take some really nice shots with it. It really flies itself. The fly more kit is really worth having. I burn through all 3 batteries in a row pretty often. The bag it packs is really small and can go in a back pack with other gear easily, yet you still get super high quality results.
  You will get people knocking the air because of its wifi connection. I've never had an issue with range and enabling FCC is super easy, if you did run into range issues.

  Edit: and factor in the cost of DJI Care Refresh. It's really worth having imo.
  It's a really good little drone without the price tag of a pro. I reckon most people wouldn't be able to tell the difference in photo quality.

  • 

    squeeze on 06/08/2019 - 23:21

    Thanks for that. I didn't know about DJI care Refresh I'm having a look into it now. Seems like Air might be the one for me. How do you go on transmission range?

    • 

      wombat81 on 06/08/2019 - 23:54

      I've had it out to about 750m no problem. It's almost impossible to see at that distance, so I don't go any further, but plenty of people do. There is a facebook group for the Air and Spark. There have been a few discussions on there about range. Might be worth a read if it's an important factor for you. I know plenty of people just enable FCC. You'll never have range issues with that enabled, but it technically isn't legal in australia.

      https://www.facebook.com/groups/2008340892727509/