Just got an email from Amazon about the DJI Mavic Air 2 Fly More Combo. Price has dropped to $1,604.72 (compared with $1,700 during Black Friday/Cyber Monday).
CamelCamelCamel.
You must have read my post !
I also got it for $1700 included Care.
This is normal price on amazon. I suggest to just wait for a few days for the $1700 = fly more combo+dji care.
Ah, where are you thinking that will appear?
usually twice a month
What are the actual benefits of mini 2 over air 2?
Don't have to register? You don't have to register air 2 either, at least until 2022, at least in Australia. You only need to register it if you are making money and the registration is free (at least the first year).
Smaller size? Well, the drone itself is smaller, but the bag with remote and batteries will occupy the same space in your backpack as the one from air 2.
I only can see three benefits:
1. Smaller weight (which is critical when you travel and need to pass 7kg limit)
2. Cheaper price
3. Fewer problems with registration in other countries which may be more strict than Australia
You will need to register if flying overseas in the US, EU or Japan with the air 2. In fact, the mini 2 over here actually exceeds the weight limit in Japan as well - they get a version that has a lighter battery.
Carry weight isn't that big a deal to be honest as its less than 1kg extra.
Where the air 2 excels is being able to fight stronger winds, easier to see(for line of sight rules) and better collision avoidance.
don't forget active track or track active or whatever that tracking feature is. never used that before, but looks amazing.
I upgraded from Mini to Air 2 because of the Active Track .
Need it for shooting a moving target.
Since travel is sort of banned until 2022 then mini 2 doesn't make much sense in Australia. It is better to buy mini 3 once borders are open.
There's probably 3 big advantages to the Mini 2 that I can think of (including one that most don't realise):
It's obviously a lot smaller and therefore easier to pack.
It can be recharged via USB, meaning you can recharge it on a hike or camping trip without needing a car and specialised charger. No AC charger also makes it even smaller when travelling.
By being <250g, the Mini 2 is legal (by Australian regulations) to fly within 5.5km (3 nautical miles) of an airport (without requiring licensing and explicit permission from ATC, etc). This means that (using Sydney as an example) you would be permitted to fly in (at least some of) the red zones shown here: https://i.imgur.com/z4LMsJM.png
In some towns with no tower-controlled airspace, or airports way outside of town this isn't an issue, but for other towns you'll find that a lot of neighbourhoods fall within 5.5km (noting too that the distance is measured from the nearest edge of the airport). To be clear, yes right now the chance of you being caught and fined is pretty low, but around the world, airports are upgrading their radars for detecting drones, and companies like DJI are working to provide regulators and ATC with live tracks of your drone's location (to provide a sort of virtual ADS-B), which (combined with registration being mandatory soon) will make the possibility of being fined a lot more likely in the near future.
Edit:
But to be clear, by getting the Mini 2 you are also giving up the 48MP photo capability of the Air 2 and getting a smaller sensor size - though at the same time, the Mini 2's camera sensor specs are basically identical to the original Mavic Pro from 2016 (which still shoots great video).
I didn't realise the rules had been relaxed for flying near airports. It used to be 100g within 5.5km and now it seems to be 250g
Old:
https://www.choice.com.au/electronics-and-technology/gadgets…
"Recreational drones weighing more than 100g can't get any closer than 5.5km to a towered airfield or other high-security area."
New:
https://www.casa.gov.au/knowyourdrone/drone-rules
"If your drone weighs more than 250 grams, you must fly at least 5.5 kilometres away from a controlled airport, which generally have a control tower at them."
Does it mean you can fly mini on a runway?
@JS1 - that's great information.
Just a word of caution though - even though you can fly a drone < 250g within 5.5kms of an airport, you are still prohibited from flying over the "movement area" itself, or in the "departure and approach paths".
In my opinion though - the biggest obstacle to flying a drone recreationally, is the requirement to keep at least 30m away from other people.
Just wondering if flymore worth $350 more? Just a hobbyist.. Anyone here who bought ma2 only and regret not paying extra for flymore?
Very yes if you're travelling. You will need at the very least an extra battery to get most out of your shooting location, unless it's somewhere you can return to daily.
Two extra batteries..
It's worth it.
You get TWO extra batteries (3 all up), Multi-charger for all the batteries, sling bag for everything and more replacement propellers.
https://store.dji.com/guides/mavic-air-2-fly-more-combo-wort…
Batteries itself are $199 RRP
https://store.dji.com/au/product/mavic-air-2-intelligent-fli…
So you do the math if it is worth or not. lol.
haha you make me regret now getting the ma2 only few days ago. 🥲 used to have the first ma flymore before and never have the urge to get back up flying again with second battery
Lol.. I learnt this lesson well with my Spark and always tell everyone not to go tight on the Flymore Pack. Only way to make up for this mistake is to look for 20% off or more sales on the battery / accessories. Even with these discounts, still not as good as Flymore pack in value.
Yesterday it was 1529 @ Goodguys with the code BF10. JB was price matching and if one had the 15% GC, it would have been 1300$.
Interesting! Must have been some post-Cyber Monday flash deal? Is there any way you can 'watch' certain items at Good Guys, JB, HN etc to get notified when the price changes on a specified item?
Doh.. I must have missed this.. otherwise would have pulled the trigger. Was hoping it goes to around or below $1500.. damn
@bchliu - Me too! Gotta work out how to flag an item to get notified of good deals.
Type your keywords in the top right search box and search. On the subsequent results page click Create Alert. Simples.
Showing as $1,693.96 now. Am I missing something?
No, that is the same item (I still had it open and refreshed the page)… the price has risen to that now it seems :(
And this is now $1878 at Amazon… barely cheaper than stores. Black Friday / Cyber Monday is well and truly in the past. I wonder what we should expect Boxing Day / New Years?
Just as an FYI, this is pretty much the same price as Black Friday As I purchased one then….. the $1700 price on Black Friday included the DJI care (normally $158)., which is currently $1799 (so $99 more than Friday)