First all, GPS is a common misnomer. I want to ask a question about GNSS.
I plan to buy my next drone at the level of a new Autel Lite or Mavic Air 2S.
A quite hard choice both are very good drones.
I've checked published spec. of Autel Lite. And what I see:
GNSS - GPS.
What? Only one GNSS system in so expensive drone.
Spec. of Mavic Air 2S
GNSS - GPS+GLONASS+GALILEO
For me GPS/GNSS is paramount. Once I lost (and thanks God found after 3 days) my drone because of GPS .
P.S.
What I am looking in my next drone:
1. Reliability (I really don't want 1000$ fly away)
2. Fly time (clear advantage of Autel Lite vs Mavic Air 2S)
3. Range
4. Quality of video in low light conditions
5. Wind resistance
Reliability - DJI's geofencing makes them a non-reliable non-starter in my book. This is the number 1 reason why I switched to Autel. All the tech in the world won't matter if the drone won't even let you take off.
Flight Time - Don't count on flight time, my experience has been that DJI stated flight times are accurate, Autel not even close. The marketing materials state that the
EVO II has a 40 min flight time when in reality it is about 30 min. I would assume this blatant flight time lie continues for the Lite as well.
Range - I would say DJI probably has a slight range advantage.
Video Quality - Sony makes the sensors for all of these drones so low light and daylight performance is pretty much identical depending on sensor size, the main differentiators between Autel and DJI is each one's app's video and photography controls, and Autel's video LOG curve is much better than DJIs for video. IMO, any modern drone from either DJI or Autel is good enough for pretty much any project that's not filmed in Hollywood. To me,
the entire ecosystem experience is more important than specs like DR, lowlight performance, highlight rolloff, etc. since they are all the same sensors. There might be some small differences like in camera sharpening or in camera noise reduction, but in the grand scheme of things it really only matters to pixel peepers and YouTube side-by-side comparisons.
Wind Resistance - If this is a concern you should look at the EVO line vs the Lite. No drone the size of the Lite will perform well in windy conditions regardless of what the specs say.
As far as GPS, I've never had a single problem with my
EVO II 6K; for that matter I've never had a GPS problem with any drone since 2014. IMO most fly aways are caused by taking off from cement which has rebar in it which in turn causes compass errors, or IMU errors; neither problem can be fixed by adding more GPS systems.
Personally, I don't plan on ever owning another DJI drone due to their geofencing, invasive data collection practices, and endless warning prompts in the apps. I will say DJI is the better choice for accessories and aftermarket support. Good luck getting batteries or many accessories for the Autel drones a few yrs after they are released. DJI has the advantage because they are many times larger.