DJI Mavic Air hands-on review

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DJI Mavic Air

The Mavic Air, according to DJI, is the company’s most intelligent drone yet. Michael Perry, the managing director for DJI in North America, said that after launching the Mavic Pro, the company went back to the drawing board to create “a brand new class of drones that empowers everyone to create without limits.”

“We had to improve on all our key breakthrough technologies,” Perry added.

That meant DJI had to improve the camera, obstacle detection and avoidance, gesture-based controls, and flight performance. And all that work led to the Mavic Air, a compact, foldable drone that fits easily inside any bag, yet has the performance and image capture that were “once possibly only in larger and more expensive drones,” Perry said.

During the Mavic Air’s launch event, we had an opportunity to try the gesture controls for ourselves. DJI also demoed the Mavic Air’s obstacle avoidance system, and while we weren’t able to fly the drone, we received a good look at it works. We will have a full review shortly, where we can talk more about image quality and flight performance, but here are our first impressions.

Pocket friendly, speed demon

The Mavic Air slots between the DJI Spark and DJI Mavic Pro not only in price, but also size. It’s slightly larger than the Spark, yet fits inside a coat pocket (when folded up), and boasts more advanced features than its smaller sibling.

Roughly the size of a smartphone in width and height, the Mavic Air is about as thick as a small paperback book, and relatively lightweight. According to DJI, the Mavic Air is 41 percent lighter and half the size of the Mavic Pro. Its arms fold in, with a stronger hinge design. However, unlike the propellers on other DJI drones, the Mavic Air’s do not fold.

Les Shu/Digital Trends

Les Shu/Digital Trends

Les Shu/Digital Trends

Les Shu/Digital Trends

Design wise, it’s more similar to the Spark than the original Mavic Pro. However, DJI said it had to reengineer how drones have been built when designing the Mavic Air. To increase the transmission performance, DJI placed the omnidirectional antenna in the landing gear, away from the body. The Mavic Air also uses a new ventilation system, near the gimbal, that pulls air in from the front and out through the back, which helps prevent overheating.

Although DJI was not able to demo flight performance within the event space, the Mavic Air has a top speed rated at 42.5 miles per hour when in sport mode, making it the fastest Mavic drone yet. DJI also says it fly more stably in high-wind situations, and can take off from as high as 16,404 feet above sea level.

The Mavic Air allegedly boasts a maximum flight time of 21 minutes, and while that isn’t as long as the Mavic Pro, it is a smaller drone after all. Still, it’s nothing to brag about.

The drone also includes a joystick controller that folds up, making it compact as well. DJI said the controller has a range of up to 2.5 miles.

Enhanced imaging system

The camera is capable of shooting 4K at 30 frames per second (fps) and 100Mbps, as well as slo-mo in Full HD 1080 at 120 fps. The camera uses a 1/2.3-inch, 12-megapixel CMOS sensor, and is attached to a three-axis gimbal for stabilization — a first in a drone of this size, according to DJI. But the company said the gimbal is also more precise and durable due to its recessed casing and vibration dampeners.

We can’t comment on image quality yet, but from what we saw during the presentation, photos and videos look generally solid, especially when projected onto a large screen. DJI even brought noted photographer Chris Burkard onstage to show off some great looking photos he shot using the drone.

What we’re looking forward to trying are some of the shooting modes. The drone can shoot a 32-megapixel spherical panorama akin to a 360-degree image; 25 high-res images are stitched in-camera using computational imaging, and the whole process takes just a single minute to complete.

The Mavic Air also introduces Asteroid and Boomerang to its Quickshot suite, which adds creative effects to your aerial shots. With Asteroid, a sphere panorama is stitched together with a short video clip, while Boomerang creates a flight path around the pilot that creates a reveal of what’s around. Both features drew applause from the crowd, and while they may just have been DJI employees, the new modes look like fun nonetheless.

The drone also has improved Active Track functionality for locking in on a subject and tracking it. DJI said the Mavic Air has a higher tracking precision than previous drones, and algorithms help prevent subject loss when there are changes in speed or direction.

Even experienced drone pilots sometimes forget their memory cards, or a card runs out of space. As a backup, the Mavic Air has 8GB of internal storage.

Smarter gesture controls

Gesture controls, or what DJI calls Smart nCapture, can be found in the Mavic Pro and Spark, but they are limited. With the Mavic Air, users now have greater control over the drone without using a remote or app.

Gesture controls work very well, while the obstacle detection system is DJI’s best yet.

Using one hand, the pilot can control lift-off and landing, and also move the drone side-to-side or up-and-down. With two hands, you can fly the Mavic Air toward you or away from you, simply by spreading your hands apart or moving them closer together (thankfully, the obstacle avoidance system is smart enough to never bring the drone too close to you). Triggering a selfie is as easy as flashing a peace sign with your fingers, while initiating a video recording can be done by making a frame with your thumbs and index fingers. This is the one feature we were able to try, and we must say it works well and is tons of fun. Controlling a flying robot with a wave of your hand makes you feel very god-like.

Of course, for more advanced operation you would still need the remote or app, but for quick shots within your surroundings, gesture control works well.

Better obstacle avoidance

DJI calls the Mavic Air its most intelligent drone yet, and an example of this is its improved obstacle avoidance system. Using seven sensors (forward, downward, and backward) for “three-directional environment sensing,” the Mavic Air can detect objects far in advance and make smart decisions on how to avoid them.

DJI Mavic Air Compared To

Propel Star Wars Battle Drones

DJI Spark

DJI Inspire 2

Parrot Bebop 2 FPV

Hover Camera Passport

3DR Solo Drone

DJI Phantom 4 Pro

Yuneec Breeze

Parrot DISCO FPV

eHang Ghostdrone 2.0

Horizon Hobby Chroma

Yuneec Typhoon H drone

Yuneec Typhoon Q500 4K

Parrot BeBop Drone

dji Phantom 2 Vision+

During a demo, a pilot flew the Mavic Air toward some fake trees. As the drone came toward a tree, it automatically swerved around it to continue its forward path. The drone recognized the object early on and made the maneuver even as the pilot continued to have his thumb in the forward position on the remote. The Mavic Air can go around or above objects, but DJI said the drone will pick the option that uses the least amount of battery life.

Called Advanced Pilot Awareness System (APAS), DJI said it took several years of research on flight path calculation. It allows pilots to fly with confidence, but more importantly, it could help pilots avoid crashes, which is something that turns people off instantly from flying.

A smarter and safer consumer drone

When used effectively, a drone lets you create amazing aerial shots. The compact design makes the Mavic Air more approachable than, say, the Mavic Pro or GoPro’s outgoing Karma Drone, yet it has some excellent features that make it a high-performance drone that captures great image quality. Plus, did we mention it’s pretty damn fast?

The Mavic Air won’t replace the Mavic Pro or Spark, as all three drones cater to different users. For example, the Mavic Pro has a longer flight time and better wind resistance, while the Spark has a more affordable cost of entry, more compact design, and is well-suited for beginners. The Mavic Air, however, certainly offers the best of both worlds (and then some) — so while the $799 starting price isn’t cheap, we think this little drone is incredibly well-rounded and appealing.

We also think the improved obstacle avoidance system is a great feature for new users, as is the real-time geofencing that helps you avoid restricted areas. These features and the others mentioned above certainly make a drone easier and fun to fly, but is it enough to attract new drone buyers, especially in a time where there are few places to fly these things? That’s something we will certainly be looking at in our full review.