The Mavic Pro is DJI’s latest drone designed to be easily taken anywhere and everywhere with you to let your creativity loose. It’s portable, it’s lightweight and captures 4K videos.
I’m a big fan of drones and one company that’s come a long way since the rise of drones and ariel photography/videography is DJI. If you watch any YouTube creator, chances are you would have seen the likes of Casey Neistat or Ben Brown use a drone footage to spice things up visually.
Their content is usually a mix of them capturing their day to day activities and short movies, of which now uses a lot of drone footage that looks very pleasing to the eye. The reason I mention those guys is because they often complain about how challenging it can be to take their big drones on their travels and I think the Mavic solves that issue.
So why is the Mavic Pro the best consumer drone out now?
Size and portability:
One issue many drone users face is the issue of portability; most drones are big once put together and to get it in a smaller, more compact shape, you’d have to take off some parts, like the propellers before you can fit it in a bag. In some cases, you’d have to buy a special carry to case to keep it safe too.
The Mavic however, solves that problem, when folded it measures H 83mm x W 83mm x L 198mm and measures 335 mm diagonally without its propellers. In terms of its weight, with battery and propellers, it comes in at 1.62 lbs or 734 g without the plastic gimbal cover and a mere 1.64 lbs (743 g) with gimbal cover.
So as you can imagine, it’s lightweight and very compact, you can just easily pop in your backpack. It means content creators or people who just want to have some fun flying a drone can take it anywhere easily, even on holiday if you want to.
Setup and ease of use:
Setting up the Mavic will take about 20 minutes, and the majority of that time, you’ll probably spend reading the manual and that’s not because it’s hard to work out, it’s making sure you have done everything correctly so that your expensive drone doesn’t get damaged or lost during flight.
Connecting the control to your smartphone is straight forward and all you need to do is download the DJI Go app and follow the step by step instructions.
Video and image quality:
Whether you’re about that 4K video life, or just prefer to shoot basic in 1080p HD, the Mavic Pro will do just that. When it comes to stills, you can shoot RAW (DNG) for post edits. As if that’s not enough, you also get a wide range of manual options available; you can adjust the ISO, change white balance and more.
One thing tho, low light still needs some work, however, for most light conditions, capturing the sunset/sunrise, you’ll have no problem at all. You can capture some amazing birds-eye or ariel shots from as high as 16.4 ft/s (5 m/s) in Sport mode, and as fast as 40 mph (65 kph) in Sport mode without wind. Did I forget to mention, you can send it as far as 8 miles out? send it to places you can’t get to on foot.
On a full charge, you can fly the Mavic for 21 to 27 minutes, depending on weather conditions. If you’re really invested, you can purchase spare batteries and carry extra micro SD cards for an all day capture. What I also like about the Mavic is how easy the controls are; you can view all the important flight information and attach your phone to see what you’re shooting whilst charging your phone too.
Price is still challenging
Although it’s priced competitively when compared to other drones on the market today and you are expected to spend that sort of money right now, it’s still quite pricey and if you plan to buy one, make sure you put it to full and good use. Get your creative juices flowing, shoot from other perspectives that you could have only dreamt of in the past.
Looking for other gadgets you can buy over the holidays? Check out our ultimate gadgets and technology gift ideas here.
I write about all things tech!