What would you do?

[It's good to be the King]

I am getting ready to buy my first drone. I had narrowed it down to a P4. Then news hit about the Mavic. So if you were just now buying your first drone what would you do? I just retired and I want a hobby that is fun to do. I live in the country on a 40 acre farm. I dabble in photography. I can spend up to $2000 (this is my own self imposed limit). I know that nobody really knows what the Mavic will turn out to be and that the P4 is a known and established product. No right or wrong answer here. I just want to know what you would do and why.

 

[DJI P5]

I am getting ready to buy my first drone. I had narrowed it down to a P4. Then news hit about the Mavic. So if you were just now buying your first drone what would you do? I just retired and I want a hobby that is fun to do. I live in the country on a 40 acre farm. I dabble in photography. I can spend up to $2000 (this is my own self imposed limit). I know that nobody really knows what the Mavic will turn out to be and that the P4 is a known and established product. No right or wrong answer here. I just want to know what you would do and why.

P4 for u

 

[ovyyus]

Mavic, no contest. It also won't scare the farm animals as much as a big noisy P4.

 

[kmaluo]

Both are good products, but the Mavic beats the P4 in just about every category. There are more flight options to keep you entertained, and of course the Mavic is much easier to travel around with. Hunting, hiking, biking, boating, etc.

 

[It's good to be the King]

P4 for u

Thanks for the response. Why do you recommend this P4 over the Mavic for me?

 

[driehl]

I just upgraded from the Phantom 3 pro and was faced with the same decision as you.. in the end I decided on the Phantom 4. I love dji stuff but really don't feel like being part of the first run of this design. There will be glitches and issues along the way, it is unavoidable. There are to many unknowns that only time will tell with the mavic pro. some of these are: life of moving connections like the retractable arms, availability of parts and ease of repair, and of course performance in certain conditions and the never ending battle with the dji go app. A lot of people are having issues with Android 6.0 and the app.and not being able to get a connection to the go app for the camera..so many are switching to the ipad mini 2. This is not an option out of the box with the mavic as the tiny controller wont hold a tablet only a cell phone. After considering this and the fact that the phantom has had 4 generations of research , the phantom 4 was a good fit for me and size doesnt matter to me. especially with the included case. The added selfie features in the mavic are of no use to me. however active track and tap to fly are cool and are included in the p4. the size of the p4 is a plus to me when flying at long distances. The portability of the mavic is great if you need it...but really will people just throw a high end aircraft in there bag unprotected? i can see all sorts of people dropping them, or getting debris from bags and pockets inside the motors or in the gimbal. i like to keep my phantom spotless and secure when not in use ...i guess im just cautious! These are just some of the things that i considered when making my decision.

Sent from my SM-G935F using PhantomPilots mobile app

 

[alokbhargava]

I would suggest to wait as you have already waited for so long. Get the reviews of Mavic and then decide.

Budget of 2000 doesn't mean it's to be consumed in one purchase. You will need it to buy accessories etc.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

 

[Ryan McAllister]

I am getting ready to buy my first drone. I had narrowed it down to a P4. Then news hit about the Mavic. So if you were just now buying your first drone what would you do? I just retired and I want a hobby that is fun to do. I live in the country on a 40 acre farm. I dabble in photography. I can spend up to $2000 (this is my own self imposed limit). I know that nobody really knows what the Mavic will turn out to be and that the P4 is a known and established product. No right or wrong answer here. I just want to know what you would do and why.

I was and am in a similar situation. I just bought a P3A a few days before the Mavic was announced. I knew it was coming but thought it was far off. In the short time that I had my p3a I loved it. The 1 and only thing that I didn't like was that it is hard to be spontaneous with a phantom, you have to lug it around and the accompanying gear, batteries ect.. For me I want to always be able to catch something quick and efficient. I was lucky I guess I got to have a run with a phantom and love it but know that the Mavic is and would've been the drone for me if it was announced a few days earlier.

They jammed a phantoms brain into an awesome portable form factor. With upgrades..

 

[Ryan McAllister]

PS I don't think the Phantom line is dead for what it's worth.

 

[m0j0]

Mavic ...it does everything the P4 does and more. P4 is an outstanding unit but to be honest I'm getting more with 1200 than I received when I bought my P3p. This is a steal.


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[DefaultIT]

If I were you, I'd jump in with something fun and inconsequential to cut my teeth on, like a Blade Inductrix, fly the crap out of that, and then jump up to a Mavic.

It will be fun, you'll pick up meaningful flight skills quicker, you can run into all the walls you want in the meantime, and it won't hurt quite so bad when you eventually do stuff it. The question for newcomers to RC hobbies used to be "what's the first one you wanna crash?" which may not be as true as it was before, but it's still much more likely a matter "when" than "if."

And after you get the hang of one of those little suckers, a Mavic will feel like a rolls royce. Your mind will be blown by how stable and capable it is, and I think it's hard to overstate how important fully appreciating the technological leaps is to fully enjoying the hobby.


EDIT: I might add that even after years of other RC including some helis, this is the route I took.

 

[MacCool]

Phantom 4. It sounds like your situation doesn't demand that you backpack it. Portability is the Mavic's main advantage.

With the Phantom 4, you have a mature platforms with the bugs wrung out. With the Mavic...crap shoot. This thing hasn't even been in consumers' hands, so no large-scale bug-discovery yet. The P2V+ came out having been beta tested just like the Mavic. Turned out there was a problem with the motor wiring and the ESCs. The P3 came out having been beta tested like the Mavic and it turned out there were frame-cracking problems. The Mavic has folding arms, new motors, new ESCs, new video transmission, new camera, new everything. You know there are going to be teething pains.

Having said all that...I still would consider the Mavic after it's been out a few months and DJI (and angry consumers) have mandated the usual updated bug-fix software and firmware. If you want the drone sooner rather than later, get the P4. If you aren't in a hurry, wait for the Mavic 2. Or the Phantom 5.

 

[TheLightSpeedz]

I am getting ready to buy my first drone. I had narrowed it down to a P4. Then news hit about the Mavic. So if you were just now buying your first drone what would you do? I just retired and I want a hobby that is fun to do. I live in the country on a 40 acre farm. I dabble in photography. I can spend up to $2000 (this is my own self imposed limit). I know that nobody really knows what the Mavic will turn out to be and that the P4 is a known and established product. No right or wrong answer here. I just want to know what you would do and why.

If you can afford it get the latest. You wouldn't buy an iPhone 2G would you?

P4 used would work great, but I believe the Mavic is the only way to go.




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[pierce]

Mavic for sure. DJI's brand new product.

 

[KingDad1985]

I love my P4. It's my baby. I did preorder the Mavic but no one really knows until they actually spend their own time with it. I think honesty you will be happy with a P4. I am.

 

[Butterpuff 6]

I think you will fly the Mavic much more thanks to its size and portability. I miss a lot of flying opportunities simply because I didn't feel like dealing with packing and unpacking my Phantom 4. I would definitely go with the Mavic based on what we now know about it, but it may be good to wait for some thorough & objective reviews before making your final decision. I'm impatient, so I'm buying as soon as it hits the stores. It's going to be fun having both the Phantom 4 and the Mavic so I can compare the two, first hand.

 

[KingDad1985]

I think you will fly the Mavic much more thanks to its size and portability. I miss a lot of flying opportunities simply because I didn't feel like dealing with packing and unpacking my Phantom 4. I would definitely go with the Mavic based on what we now know about it, but it may be good to wait for some thorough & objective reviews before making your final decision. I'm impatient, so I'm buying as soon as it hits the stores. It's going to be fun having both the Phantom 4 and the Mavic so I can compare the two, first hand.

Having both is the ideal situation. My wife thinks I'm crazy for preordering the Mavic weeks after a bought a p4 but I sweet talked her so everything is all good. oh and I also bought her a new Nikon D7000 bundle so there's that lol

 

[thestone11]

I have the chance to handle the Mavic at my local dealer. It is very solid in build quality. It pretty much does everything better than what a P4 is capable of. Based on online review, the P4 has a sharper camera lens.

P4 does have a wider field of view and it does fly a bit faster in sports mode (Mavic is a little slower but props won't be shown in the video in sports mode)

 

[Mako79]

Thanks for the response. Why do you recommend this P4 over the Mavic for me?

You have 40 acres. White objects are easier to spot in the bush after a crash.

On the contrary, those who are new to Drones will probably end up losing the Mavic forever due to its colour (knock on wood this never happens). Forget trying to salvage this in murky waters or trying to spot it in a tree. You can say bye-bye if it auto-lands near a crowd of people wearing backpacks or big pocket pants. Once the motors shut off, fold, fold and hide. Try shoving a Phantom down your pants =).

And speaking of colour, i like that the Mavic is matt and camouflaged. There is nothing worse then trying to stealthily setup your bright-shiny-sugar white phantom and attracting an ants nest of people. People made me nervous when flying and i hated it as the sweats on my palm would dirty my controller.

Oh, and if you are new to drones, please read the manual thrice.. Why?? I've seen noobs try to shut down the phantom in an emergency. In the Phantom series as a last resort, the battery could be removed with the props spinning. The Mavic's battery cannot be accessed if the props are spinning. So read the manual and make sure you know how to shutdown the Mavic.