Reviews |DJI Mavic 2 Pro review

DJI Mavic 2 Pro review

Review

DJI Mavic 2 Pro Snap Verdict

At launch, the Mavic Pro had stiff competition from the GoPro Karma Drone and it looked set to be a colossal battle between the giants. In the end, the Karma crashed out and didn’t really make it past the starting line, while the Mavic Pro became a soaring success. Now there’s the Mavic 2 Pro.

This time there’s no competition, aside from the Mavic Pro, which it replaces, and the Phantom 4, also made by DJI. With no real competition you’d think that DJI could sit back and enjoy the ride, but no chance, the Mavic is from one of the worlds leading innovators and boy have they produced the ultimate drone.

Small, compact, ultra quality camera, stable flight like nothing I’ve seen before, and it’s built like a very elegant tank with a slight sharky look. It’s difficult to find or a pick fault.

I’ve been here before with the Ronin-S another DJI product – I’ve now bought one of those, now I’m looking at the Mavic with the same need.

Snap verdict on this one, want a drone? Buy the Mavic 2 Pro. Own a drone? Sell it, buy the Mavic 2 Pro. The rest of the hands-on review is below and sample images will be posted soon along with the rest of the review, once the batteries are flat.

For Mavic 2 Pro

  • Compact size
  • Intelligent flight modes
  • Hasselblad camera

Against Mavic 2 Pro

  • I need one
  • It costs £1299

How can you not be excited about the Mavic 2 Pro, it’s slicker more beautiful and smaller than any other consumer drone out there and it’s already causing me no end of issues.

Like the Ronin-S which I loved and then bought, the Mavic 2 Pro is in the same category of amazing. It makes my now rather dated Phantom 3 Pro look archaic, and the other drones I have stacked up in various states of disrepair now just look like junk. Admittedly they are.

I still want an Inspire, but they’re too big, the Mavic 2 Pro isn’t, it’s just right on size weight and flight times.

DJI sent me two batteries, that’s an hours flight time which is amazing, and it can film and take pictures at the same time. OK, other drones do that as well, but it’s just great fun.

Out of the box and a quick charge and a first quick flight around the garden is conducted. The Mavic beeped, squealed and told me that plants, walls, doors and the shed we’re all too close, my neighbour who has just been checking out the drone disappeared off to get naked in his garden knowing that this is the done thing.

An hour later and in a friends field, safely away from streakers, it was time to give the Mavic 2 Pro a true test. From the outset the manoeuvrability was outstanding, the control, pace and subtlety of movement all easy and you can really see the intelligent flight controller kick in. Or more so you can’t because it’s all so seamless.

Switching to some of the auto modes and the potential of this drone really starts to shine through.

Features

Let’s start with that camera. It’s a Hasselblad, albeit a small one, but still, it’s rather lovely and takes pride of place at the front.

The camera is something special, especially when you consider that this drone costs £1299 for camera, drone and controller.

As yet we don’t know the true ins and outs of the technology behind the camera, but what we do know it features a 20MP 1-inch CMOS sensor. That’s pretty big for a camera of this size.

Action cameras and the cameras that feature on many drones have fixed apertures, but here we see an adjustable aperture of between f/2.8 and f/11.

On a drone flying at a distance from its subjects aperture is going to make very little difference to the depth of field, but it will make a huge difference to the exposure control, especially in low light.

For film makes it features 10-bit Dlog-M colour profile which will make it easier to blend the footage in with that filmed on other drones or systems,.

HDR has been a buzz in photography for a few years and now that’s crossing over to video with 10-bit HDR video capture.

As the test goes on I’ll bring you more on the camera and quality.

Let’s take a look at the Mavic 2 Pro’s flight

Flight also see’s some interesting features, some I’ll be checking out and others I won’t due to UK flight restrictions.

The drone is capable of up to 8KM 1080p video transmission, unfortunately, in the UK this would break the law, so I’ll skip out on that test.

Flight times are 31 minutes per battery, which is impressive. Switching to sports mode and in the right conditions the Mavic will fly at up to 72 kph and the change in design means that it’s far quieter than the previous Mavic Pro. It still makes quite a bit of noise and is by no means silent.

A series of sensors dotted around the body enable omnidirectional object sensing and avoidance. An additional light on the underside of the drone also helps with the downward sensors for landing and other operations in low light.

The gimbal system has been overhauled and gives 3-axis stabilisation which enables the new impressive capture modes.

It also has a series on built-in flight modes such as Hyperlapse and ActiveTrack 2.0.

DJI Designers explain how they designed the Mavic Pro

Hyperlapse enables you to shoot stunning time-lapse sequences, capturing JPEG and RAW images. The mode has several options enabling you to follow pre-set routes such as Circle or follow a set course, waypoints or even free flight for the more experienced.

Task library enables you to save routes so you can scope out a venue and test the path at a convenient time and then return at Sunrise or sunset, recall the path and know that you’ll get the shot when the timing is critical.

The stability of the Mavic 2 enables new HDR features that see multiple shots blended to create stunning HDR vistas.

Mavic 2 also builds in new Panoramic features that enable the aerial capture of stunning landscapes and scenes. Modes for panoramas include Sphere, 180º, horizontal and vertical.

Other aerial photography modes include POI 2.0, Waypoint, Asteroid and boomerang.

Alongside the drone and camera is the new controller, again refined over the previous Mavic controller with a more solid build.

There’s also a host of accessories including the DJI goggles and ND Filters.

I’m in mid-test and will bring you more on the build and handling tomorrow.

If you want more details on the DJI Mavic 2 Pro or any other DJI products then check out Modus Brands – UK Distributors