The all-new DJI Mavic Air - Adventure Unfolds

We got our hands on two pairs of DJI Goggles Racing Edition, so we thought what better way to put these First Person View (FPV) Goggles to the test than to take them to the Lime Rock Park Racetrack and fly the DJI Mavic Air against the DJI Mavic Pro over the track and through the turns!

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The guys from RC Geeks have taken apart the DJI Mavic Air, the latest drone of the market-leading Chinese drone manufacturer. As you can see in the selection of photos we published on our site, it is a precision job. If you decide to take apart your Mavic Air, do so at your own risk.

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DJI just released a new firmware update for the DJI Mavic Air drone. Version: v01.00.0200. Waypoints have not yet been added to the Mavic Air. One thing the firmware seems to have fixed is the shaking that happened in cold temperature. See this video for more info on that. Other than that, it seems that this firmware update addresses a number of bugs and small issues.

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We tested the DJI Mavic Air ourselves in high winds and freezing conditions last week and came away impressed. The Mavic Air flew without any problems, even though it was being pushed around by the wind quite a bit. The video footage turned out to be very stable due to the improved gimbal on the Mavic Air. In this video, posted on YouTube today, similar results are shown and it seems that that the Mavic Air handles high winds just as well as the trusted Mavic Pro. Have a look.

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Last week, we reported on DJI quietly removing Waypoints as one of the Intelligent Flight Modes available on the Mavic Air. The original Mavic Pro and Mavic Pro Platinum both have Waypoints available and many drone pilots love and use this feature. The Waypoints feature allows you to have the drone fly itself from waypoint to waypoint so that you can focus on capturing the photos or video footage. We asked DJI why they removed the Waypoints feature and if we can have it back. 
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Take look at this video. The DJI Mavic Air may be the most robust unmanned aerial vehicle ever built by the Chinese drone manufacturer, DJI. The new drone undergoes and survives severe punishment in a series of tests. The video starts out with some warm-up tests, like the forward and rear sensor test, but pretty soon things get more serious and the little drone gets shot at, doused with water and flown into a tree at high speed.

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Last week we had a really windy day on the Hudson River, which ended up being a great opportunity to test the DJI Mavic Air.

The wind on the river is always very gusty as it comes in over the hills on the other side. This time it was a steady 20-25 mph, gusting to 30 mph. Especially where we were positioned, the winds get pushed up over the shoreline and condos behind us.

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Last week we tried to fly the new DJI Mavic Air as far as we could over the Hudson River. We maxed out the Wi-Fi connection of the Mavic Air drone at around 6,500 feet or 1.24 miles. Some of our readers had pointed out that flying at a low altitude (we flew at 110 feet) would have reduced our range. So this past weekend, we tried again.

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Dan Nainan and I made this short film to show off the first customer-owned Tesla Model 3 on the East Coast and the new DJI Mavic Air.

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In cold and somewhat damp weather we tried to achieve the maximum flight distance advertised by DJI. They claim that the DJI Mavic Air should be able to achieve a maximum flight distance (or range) of 2.4 miles. In our real-life test, we did not get further than 1.24 miles. At around 5,500 feet we started losing the Wi-Fi connection. The connection got worse and at 6,500 feet, I decided to turn around.

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How well does the ActiveTrack functionality work on the DJI Mavic Air when the elevation changes? I biked over a hill to find out.

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On the last day of January, DJI quietly removed Waypoints from the list of available Intelligent Flight Modes for the DJI Mavic Air. This has caused some people to cancel their orders for the newest DJI drone. It seems that DJI is still trying to figure out how to position the Mavic Air in between the Spark and the (upcoming) Mavic Pro (2). Presumingly there has to be a reason for people to upgrade to a more expensive drone and the availability (or lack thereof) of Waypoints may just be enough to move people over to a higher priced device. Losing the Waypoints feature is a shame as it helps you to focus on capturing the shot, while your drone automatically flies a preset flight path.

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A quick post about another YouTube video that surfaced. In this short clip, the Mavic Air is compared to the Mavic Pro to see how far you can fly either drone. The test was performed over the Arizona desert away from any interference as you would have in an urban environment. Both drones performed very well with very good quality video-feed during the flight.

The Mavic Air flew to about 2 miles, which is further than what was reported in another video this week.

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How does ActiveTrack exactly work on the DJI Mavic Air? Well, this video that just appeared on YouTube explains almost everything in detail. ActiveTrack allows you to have your drone follow and film you as walk, hike, run or in this case bike. Does ActiveTrack work in the same way as other drones from DJI? This video will answer most of your questions in great detail.

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DJI’s Mavic Air was announced last week to a flurry of great reviews. We’re currently putting together our review but spoiler: We can say that this is the drone to get in the ~$800 price range.

A short recap on specs:

• Capture 4K Video and 12MP Photos
• 3-Axis Gimbal-Stabilized Camera
• GPS- & Vision Position-Based Navigation
• 8GB of Internal Storage/up to 256GB via microSD
• FlightAutonomy with Obstacle Detection
• Top Speed of 43 mph in Sport Mode
• ActiveTrack Subject Tracking Modes
• Up to 21 Minutes of Flight Time
• Foldable, Portable Body

One way to save money is buying the Fly More combo but that’s not saving money off the original DJI Mavic Air, it is saving over $200 on accessories when purchased at the same time. 

The good news is that we’ve done some digging and negotiating to get the lowest price offers from various resellers on the Mavic Air. Head below for the breakdown…

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In a test on YouTube, the noise level of the new DJI Mavic Air was compared to the original Mavic Pro and the Mavic Pro Platinum Edition. Surprisingly the Mavic Air was the loudest of the three drones.

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DJI launched a new “Free Trail Program” that will allow you to receive your DJI Mavic Air sooner through a special Mavic Air priority shipping code. The program is limited to 1,000 applicants and DJI will select an unspecified number of applicants who may get to keep their Mavic Air for free if they agree to a loaner agreement and perform certain tasks that are to be specified by DJI. You can apply here.

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DJI released a new firmware update for the DJI Mavic Air drone. Version: v 1.0.1.0

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Yesterday, a YouTuber was able to fly his new DJI Mavic Air drone up to a distance of 1.25 miles away from its take-off location in close to ideal circumstances. Impressive as this may seem, it falls well short of DJI’s advertised FCC range of 2.4 miles.

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