Drones (originally DJI Mavic Pro Announced)

[simo]

Looks pretty neat.

http://www.dji.com/mavic

Or are you more for the GoPro Karma

https://shop.gopro.com/karma

[Tyler]

It seems like GoPro is a little late to the quad-copter party, but that removable gimbal is very slick. The screen built into the controller is also a nice feature.

$999 for the Mavic seems like a good price point. It is hard to compare it to the Phantom because they have so many skews, but the specs seem as good as the Phantom 4. I wonder what you are giving up to gain the portability, my guess is the main compromise is durability.

[simo]

The Karma lacks in battery life, compact size, and range. I don't like the size of the Karma controller, its only slightly smaller than the phantom controllers and people hate the size of those. Also, with the Mavic the collision avoidance, gesture support, and ability to draw a box around your subject and have it follow are superior features. Not to mention the Mavic has no optical distortion whereas the Karma has to software correct (GoPro fish-eye appearance).

The removable camera and gimbal on the Karma is cool. If I had to choose though, I'd be going with a company that's been around the block with quadcopters. Plus DJI's camera, which lagged with first gen drones, has met or exceeded that of GoPro with the latest gen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sw4jDjYnR0U

[Tyler]

Source of the post Also, with the Mavic the collision avoidance, gesture support, and ability to draw a box around your subject and have it follow are superior features.

Are you saying those are not included in the $999 price? Or that they are are and that makes it superior. If the Mavic has all those bells and whistles then it is a better project than their Phantom.

Collision avoidance sounds neat, but I think it has a pretty small FOV and only for straight ahead. Most people crash their quads when they are flying any direction but forward.

[simo]

Source of the post
Are you saying those are not included in the $999 price? Or that they are are and that makes it superior. If the Mavic has all those bells and whistles then it is a better project than their Phantom.

Collision avoidance sounds neat, but I think it has a pretty small FOV and only for straight ahead. Most people crash their quads when they are flying any direction but forward.

Those features are included with the Mavic. Personally I think the Mavic is a better platform than the Phantom 4 although if you watch the video above his chart is a pretty good explanation on the fact that the Phantom 4 has a slightly better picture.

It does collision avoidance to the front and below, it's just nice to have at least one direction covered and its even more crucial when using the automatic follow modes where it is doing the flying control and usually flying forward. I'm not terribly worried about me, I've flown plenty of quads to this point.

[Tyler]

Source of the post I'm not terribly worried about me, I've flown plenty of quads to this point.

Are you going to get one!? What is your highest end quad right now?

[simo]

I may have pre-ordered one....

My highest end quad right now is this: https://www.amazon.com/Hubsan-Channel-2-4GHz-Copter-Camera/dp/B00P79ZQIA

At the time of purchase it was probably closer to $70, and I built it myself from parts because I ordered spares for my smaller Hubsan and accidentally ordered h107c which is the larger camera enabled one so I bought the rest of the parts and built it.

Neighbor has some more mid range ones that he's let me fly as well.

[Tyler]

Huge upgrade for you! Have you flown one with GPS? My neighbor also let me fly his before. He has the DJI Phantom 2. It is amazing to let go of the controls and have it automatically hold its own position. Or to only hold the up stick, fly up hundreds of feet, hold down, and it lands right where it took off from. Not to mention if it loses connection it will go land where it was last on the ground.

What is the expected ship date for the Mavic?

[simo]

Source of the postHave you flown one with GPS?
What is the expected ship date for the Mavic?

I have not flown one with a GPS. Expected ship is Oct. 15th first come first served. Their site crashed several times the day it was announced so I have no idea how big their queue is but they are trying to be in stores by 11/2 so they must have the capacity.

[Tyler]

Awesome, we will be waiting for a full review.

Don't worry, Boise's airport isn't considered a no fly zone. Not sure how close you live to it, but some airports don't allow people to fly up to 6 miles from it.
http://www.dji.com/fly-safe/category-mc?www=v1

[simo]

I also had to register this time around as it will be my first over 8oz.

I did it yesterday because I wasn't sure how involved of a process it would be. Turns out it's easy and costs $5 for 3 years.

[Tyler]

Dang, you are legit! That is for the flyer, not the device, right? So if you had multiple quads you would put the same ID on all of them?
What if I am flying your device without you and the cops stop me, am I okay?

We all should have done it earlier this year, I think it was free up until February - granted $5 is nothing for that.

[simo]

Source of the post Dang, you are legit! That is for the flyer, not the device, right? So if you had multiple quads you would put the same ID on all of them?
What if I am flying your device without you and the cops stop me, am I okay?

Yea for the flyer/pilot, you just have to put the ID number somewhere on the craft that doesn't require tools to access. They recommend the battery compartment. I would put the same ID on each drone if I had multiple.

If the cops stop you with my device I'm not sure what the situation would be. It would probably depend on how you came across the device whether I lent it to you or you stole it. At the end of the day they wouldn't even bother you, I think the registration numbers are for if you do something bad and they find the drone they can trace it back to someone.

[Tyler]

Source of the post At the end of the day they wouldn't even bother you

I think you are right. I wouldn't be surprised if most cops aren't even aware of the registration law. When we were flying the Phantom a cop drove by and saw the quad, but he didn't even slow down to check it out.

It makes sense the ID is only going to be used if your crashed quad shows up somewhere it doesn't belong.

[Tyler]

Source of the post I wonder what you are giving up to gain the portability, my guess is the main compromise is durability.

Simo, start around 35 minutes. They get into the "cons"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zs4DjDa_45I

[simo]

None of what they said for cons are really all that bad. The 78 degree field of view limitation is probably the worst and it will mean next to nothing to me. Once people have figured out how to focus the camera they say its great with nearly identical performance to the P4. Obviously hinging the arms makes them seemingly less durable than the Phantom series but its also less weight to crash at nearly half. The compactness just makes it so much more appealing to actually use in situations. I plan to take it hiking among other outdoor activities.

[Tyler]

Source of the post The compactness just makes it so much more appealing to actually use in situations. I plan to take it hiking among other outdoor activities.

Makes total sense for you. It would be a blast to have a quad where you live. I can see portability being a huge benefit.

[Tyler]

Since Simo is online...how's the Mavic?!

[simo]

Zomg, give me a minute lol

I've had it for about a week. Very kick ass. I'll try to post up some video at some point. The 4K is incredible. I launched from my house and flew to a park over a half mile away and just tooled around and came back.

[Tyler]

Source of the post I'll try to post up some video at some point. The 4K is incredible.

I'll have no way to view this
What do you watch it on?