DJI Mavic Pro Review: The Best Portable Aircraft

In recent years DJI has taken over the lightweight drone market. There is a good reason for this domination — DJI offers some of the best usable products on the market right now. But their high quality comes with a premium price. Who exactly would enjoy flying a DJI produced drone?

Whether you are a general flight enthusiast or a filmmaker who want gorgeous aerial shots, the DJI Mavic Pro suites almost every need. The highly portable piece of light aircraft offers an impressive range of features and specs — not to mention the ease and usability of the product. But is the drone worth the high asking price? Or are you better off with one a different brand’s product? Read our DJI Mavic Pro Review to find out if the gadget is right for you.

For those that do not know: a drone is a crewless aircraft whose flight someone controls from a remote location on the ground. Drones are generally categorized by three properties: the number of propellers they have, their overall size and the distance they can fly. Drones can be tricopters, quadcopters, hexacopters, or quadcopters. The can come in nano, micro, regular and large sizes and can travel short ranges or long endurance runs.

​The DJI Mavic Pro is a portable, short-range drone. It is a small sized quadcopter with long-range capabilities. The light aircraft has a 4k camera for remote flying and gimbal with three axes for greater visibility. Designers program optical flight software into each drone for safer landing flying procedures, but for the most part, the flier entirely controls the drone. Camera sensors make sure the aircraft can fly safely indoors and can detect potentially dangerous object up to fifteen feet away.

​And when outside the Mavic Pro’s satellite tracker enables GPS positioning technology for optimal control and safety. The drone comes equipped with a 4K ultra high definition camera that is capable of shooting video in thirty frames per second. The camera also included photography and portrait modes, complete with a twelve-megapixel camera. Altogether the Mavic Pro features:

• Five total cameras
• GLONASS and GPS software
• Ultrasonic rangefinders
• Redundant sensors
• Twenty-four different specialized computer systems

Generally, also the drone itself, the DJI Mavic Pro comes with a sixteen gigabyte micro SD card, a battery charger, three propeller replacements, and a remote control device.

​One thing that sets that Mavic apartment from its competition is its excellent flying range. The Mavic Pro features DJI’s newest transmission OcuSync which allows for high definition 720p quality video at a variety of seven kilometers and 1080p quality video at more short ranges. When not filming, the drone can travel as far as eight miles away with a maximum flight limit of twenty-eight minutes. Advanced flight technology allows the drone to sense objects or threats during flight and landing procedures. If need be, the drone can dodge the threats all on its own.

​However, the main component that distinguished the DJI Mavic Pro is the portability of the aircraft. With folding wings instead of a clunky middle frame, the drone can be packed up and taken almost anywhere. It is incredibly helpful that the helicopter with the press of a switch can shrink down into the size of a small brick. Not to mention the fact that the Mavic Pro weighs less than two pounds (1.64 pounds to be precise). They even designed the controller for the aircraft for optimal carrying capacity.

​Another cool feature the Mavic Pro offers is the ability to control the device using your smartphone. With the specific app, you can fly with your phone or take the ultimate selfie. Another cool feature includes a tracking ability. You can choose an object, a person walking or a car driving for instance, and have the Mavic Pro follow it.

​What is more, the aircraft is also incredibly quiet. You can fly the drone inside with very little distracting noise — a refreshing change from some of the older models which sounded as loud lawn mowers. With that said you will still hear the machine, it is just not as distractingly loud as past models.

​At retail value, the DJI Mavic Pro costs one thousand dollars. However, certain places offer a slight discount or increase depending on what season you buy it in. As such, prices can sometimes range between eight hundred dollars and fifteen hundred dollars.

Everyone’s biggest fear when it comes to the Mavic Pro is the possibility that it will crash. This concern is perfectly valid; after all, the product costs one thousand dollars. That is a lot of money to potential waste of one lousy flight. Luckily even if you do crash the drone, it will most likely be okay. The hull of the aircraft is incredibly stable and can take a hard beating without breaking. But, do not worry, it is pretty hard to crash the drone.

While we do recommend you watch many flying tutorials before attempting it yourself, everyone seems to agree the DJI Mavic Pro’s controls are intuitive and responsive. If you gently push forward, then the drone will lightly push one. If you slam the joystick down, then the aircraft will zoom ahead. There is also a beginner mode for novice fliers and automated controls, like the return home feature. With the click of a button, you DJI Mavic Pro will return home and land all by itself.

​Cheaper drones are likely susceptible to poor weather — particularly strong winds. A cheap drone that costs less than a hundred dollars will be thrown dangerously of course with a strong gust of wind. The DJI Mavic Pro, on the other hand, contains stabilizers that keep in steady even during severe weather. Unfortunately, the drone remains unable to fly in wet conditions like rain or snow, which limits the filming potential for some scenes.

​Considering the size of the camera the functionality behind it is quite lovely. While professionals may be able to notice some slight distortion, for the most part, the camera provides crisp and clean images and film. The app support for flying also works well. But make sure you get the right app, there are two different kinds that DJI offers for different quadcopters.

​There is not much anyone can find wrong with the product, besides the fact that you cannot zoom in while filming in the 4k high definition. The main problem some people complained about is DJI’s customer service. If you break your Mavic Pro and need to send it back for repair or replacement, you may find yourself dealing with an unhelpful service representative. Alternatives have been known to take a while, and you will likely need to call them multiple times.

​Another minor problem is the fact that the drone only has guidance camera on its bottom section. This discrepancy means the Mavic Pro is potentially susceptible to objects above, behind or to the sides of the aircraft. Combine this with the fact the gimbal system on the drone is incredibly fragile and you have a recipe for a damaged camera unit. But other than that, everything else about the Mavic Pro earns its users’ stamp of approval.

​To see if the DJI Mavic Pro is the best on the market we compared it to three other popular lightweight drone options: the DJI Inspire, the Yuneec Mantis Q and the U49C Red Heron Quadcopter Drone. We hope that by adding this information to the DJI Mavic Pro review, we will highlight the areas in which the drone excels, as well as areas in which it needs improvement. Also, if the drone is out of your price range, there are some much cheaper options available in this section.

​While the DJI Mavic can take pictures and film, the DJI inspire is manufactured explicitly with filmmakers in mind. The Inspire holds a much better professional quality 4k camera and can even be switched out for other models depending on the filmmaker’s needs. Unfortunately, this professional grade film quality comes at an incredibly high price: three thousand dollars. As such, you should only buy it if you are serious about filmmaking.

​While the Yuneec Mantis Q may knock off five hundred dollars from its price tag when compared to the DJI Mavic Pro, this comes with some apparent drawbacks. Namely, the lack of a rotating stabilized gimbal prevents the drone from having the same visibility and filming potential as its more expensive cousins. However, the drone does boast an impressive thirty-three minute flight time, which brings it neck and neck with DJI’s top products.

​The U49C Red Heron Quadcopter Drone is a much more affordable drone option than the other drones on this list. The light aircraft costs only one hundred and twenty dollars and features a 720p high definition camera and secure handling technology. Unfortunately, with a fifteen-minute lifespan, the U49C Red Heron Quadcopter Drone features a much shorter flight time than the DJI Inspire and Yuneec Mantis Q. If you are interested in a cheaper starter drone for your child, then this product might be a good option.

​While there are lots of drones out there, not many of them present the same quality and fly-ability as the DJI Mavic Pro. While the drone merits a purchase for its ease of use alone, it is a bit expensive for a complete flying novice. Unless you are confident you want to get into flying drones; there are many more inexpensive models that offer comparable levels of quality. However, if you are using drones for professional reasons, then you almost need to have some DJI device.

​If you consider yourself a professional — by which we mean you use your drone for professional surveys and movie filming — then DJI drones are almost the industry standard. While the Phantom and the Inspire offer more customizable and enhanced cameras, the DJI Mavic Pro is the cheapest high-quality model you will find.

​While we do not want the DJI Mavik Pro review to sound like an ad, we genuinely recommend this drone for anyone interested in getting involved with the growing new hobby. The flaws of the product a greatly overshadowed by its tremendous performance, durability, and portability.

​If you buy off of DJI’s website, then there is currently a deal where you can save roughly fifteen percent on the Mavic Pro. This discount translates to approximately one hundred dollars in savings. You can also buy the drone used for a forty percent discount.

​We hope this DJI Mavic Pro review helped you during your shopping process. Make sure you practice flying in a safe open area before moving on to more crowded locations. Even if they are small, many drones have the potential to damage cars, property, and people. As such, you should operate it with the same care and discretion that you would any other piece of potentially dangerous machinery. The DJI Mavic Pro is no exception. Make sure you fly safely out there.