An Offer I Couldn't Refuse

[ChouPigu]

Hi folks, I've owned a couple of DJI Minis (1 & 2) but it was time for an upgrade. At the top of my list of requirements was the inclusion of variable aperture for fine control over exposure and shutter angle. Not even the Air 2S has variable aperture, so I was eyeing the Mavic 3 Classic. Every time I looked at that price it punched me in the gut.

Lo and behold, Costco in the US started carrying the Evo Lite+. I started doing my research and yes, it does have variable aperture! Even better, Costco was selling the Premium bundle + 1 extra battery (4 total) at $999. Even so, I was waffling. While I was still undecided, they went on sale an additional $150. So, $849 total for the Premium Bundle +1 extra battery for $10 more than they were asking for the DJI Mini 3 Pro bundle (3 batteries, no case). That's all it took. I've had the Lite+ for almost a week now and am very impressed.

Anyhow, sorry if discussing price here is tacky, but that's my story. Happy flying!

 

[GFields]

Greetings from Birmingham Alabama USA, welcome to the forum! We look forward to hearing from you!

I love my Evo Lite+ In fact, it's beccome my go-to drone.

 

[PakNheat380]

Welcome to the forum from NW Montana. I also took advantage of Costco’s discounted price. It’s a good flying drone but the firmware is sadly lacking. No waypoints & Autel refuses to release an SDK to make it compatible with other apps like Litchi which have waypoints. The tracking function is non existent. Camera on the other hand is why I kept the drone.

 

[ChouPigu]

Welcome to the forum from NW Montana. I also took advantage of Costco’s discounted price. It’s a good flying drone but the firmware is sadly lacking. No waypoints & Autel refuses to release an SDK to make it compatible with other apps like Litchi which have waypoints. The tracking function is non existent. Camera on the other hand is why I kept the drone.

Yeah, it's not all sunshine and roses. I have a few complaints, with my biggest so far is not being able to record in LOG (edit: or HDR) while using Pro mode, or using Pro mode with any automatic flight modes. I can't think of any technical reason why this would not be possible. My only explanation is that these are pro features and they don't want to cannibalize sales from their actual "Pro" drones.

Next complaint would be the sheer aggressiveness of the obstacle avoidance. I can't get the thing to budge forward when there's a wall in front... 10 meters away. It was silly to watch it take MASSIVE detours while following me with Dynamic Track.

 

[PakNheat380]

Yeah, it's not all sunshine and roses. I have a few complaints, with my biggest so far is not being able to record in LOG (edit: or HDR) while using Pro mode, or using Pro mode with any automatic flight modes. I can't think of any technical reason why this would not be possible. My only explanation is that these are pro features and they don't want to cannibalize sales from their actual "Pro" drones.

Next complaint would be the sheer aggressiveness of the obstacle avoidance. I can't get the thing to budge forward when there's a wall in front... 10 meters away. It was silly to watch it take MASSIVE detours while following me with Dynamic Track.

I do believe Autel is focused on the commercial/pro market but keeping their options open for the recreational side. The tracking for my purposes is worthless. I like to shoot video of offshore fishing and the Autel tracking won’t track the boat and I’m too busy running the boat and putting my crew on fish to hand fly so I use the Air 2S for that.