DJI Mavic Air: The Ultimate Portable Drone with An Affordable Price Tag
Whenever we come across a great drone with rich features, manoeuvrability and photo-shooting abilities, we already assume it to be exorbitantly priced, and that’s just one reason for not buying drones. This is precisely why the new DJI’s Mavic Air looks like a credible option for people wanting to buy an affordable drone. Striking a chord between the entry-level DJI Spark and more pricey Mavic Pro, Mavic Air just fits the bill for most of us who want something advanced within a specific price range.
A quick glance at the specs
DJI Mavic Air comes loaded with the following specs:
- It has 168×83×49mm dimension in folded condition.
- It weighs 430g.
- It can run at a maximum speed of 42.5mph.
- It offers maximum flight time of 21 minutes.
- It comes with 12 MP camera with 1/2.3″ aperture.
- It can shoot 32MP Sphere panoramas.
- It is also capable to shoot 4K Video at 30fps and full HD video at 120 fps.
- It is loaded with 8 GB Internal storage.
- You can add more storage space via MicroSD.
- It offers a 3-Axis Gimbal.
- It can fly over a range of 4 km/2.4 mile.
- The drone comes with remote controller.
Exceptional design
Mavic Air as of now remains to be the smallest drone made by the DJI with a measurement of just 1.9 by 3.3 by 6.6 inches in a folded condition. It is really small to fit into any pocket while weighing just a little over an iPad. The drone comes in three distinct colours respectively as, Arctic White, Flame Red, or Onyx Black finish.
Remote control
Unlike its Spark model, the company included remote control within the package. But the fun element is it can be flown even without it. Just with hand gestures or with your smartphones you can fly a drone. But for extensive manual control, you can find the remote control really useful. With the remote control you can also fly the drone within a larger range of control that goes up to 2.5-mile while with smartphone app you can make it fly to a maximum 262 feet range.
Battery
The battery of the drone is installed at the bottom of the chassis. Unlike the cheaper Spark, it can be charged through USB. The same charger charges the battery of the remote as well. For extended hours of flying you may need an extra pack of batteries. The package consists of two extra batteries as well.
Storage
The Mavic Air comes with 8GB internal storage along with a USB-C port that allows offloading files to a computer. Apart from that, the drone comes with a standard microSD slot to expand the memory capacity with a microSD card.
Flight modes
Just like most DJI drones, the Air is also loaded with GPS and GLONASS satellite positioning features. Thanks to this the global locations on a map can be pinned, and this will further help you select the automated and semi-automated flight modes. The drone also offers steady hovering and a feature for safe return-to-base.
Video and imaging
Mavic Air can be a small and compact drone, but it boasted of a fully features video and imaging system that consists of a 4K camera atop the nose of the drone and stabilized through a three-axis gimbal. It also offers full HD video capturing capacity with 120fps. It can also shoot smooth and crisp still images with a 12MP camera and 1/2.3-inch CMOS sensor. It also offers a spherical imaging mode to capture lucid panoramic images.
Price and availability
According to the company, the product will be shipped from the end of this month with a price tag of $399 for the base model.
Final verdict
With the coming of Mavic Air, we are convinced that small drones can be as effective and efficient with all-round abilities as the large ones. Mavic Air even takes the capabilities of a feature-rich budget drone several strides further through a sophisticated form factor allowing great portability and ease of getting around with the drone tucked inside the pocket. This literally means you can carry an aircraft with a 4K camera inside your pocket. Among the down points, you can talk about the slightly compromising battery life that can last not more than half an hour.
Dhruvil is a Writer & Marketeer for Nimblechapps, joined in December 2014, based out of Sydney, Australia. He has worked briefly as a Branding and Digital Marketing Manager before moving to Australia. At Nimblechapps, he worked on Social Media Marketing, Branding, Email Marketing and Blogging. Dhruvil studies Business at University of Western Sydney, and also handles Operations for the company in Australia.