Autel EVO II Range Test Comparison

[mreloc]

Do the Autel Evo instructions state to do a Gimbal Calibration before 1st flight? Does it state to perform an imu calibration before 1st flight? Does it state to calibrate your controller before 1st flight? Does it state to calibrate your GPS before 1st flight?

If Autel wanted their consumers to calibrate crap before their 1st flight, that is something they should state. Stop acting like the "I been flying drones for 2,075 years and every one knows they should calibrate their drone before 1st flight" guy.

So angry over such a high quality problem. I feel for ya.

 

[Quad808]

Dude doesn't even OWN an Autel drone. Maybe he doesn't even own a drone period. Anger issues.

 

[christianpeso]

Bro, sounds like you have an axe to grind. Don't buy an autel drone then. Do you even have one? I didn't think so.

Nope, no axe to grind to grind at all. I have an Evo 1, Mavic 2 Pro, Mavic 2 Zoom, Mavic Mini, and a modded Mavic Pro.

Just lately I have been kind of on a mission against false information from people that think they know what they are talking about. Normally I don't say anything to people online because it really does not make any sense to, but living in America and just seeing the amount of people who just believe false information without any critical thought going in to why they believe it, I'm starting to feel like if I don't speak up, I'm complicit in the dumbing down of society, hence why I replied to the last few comments.

I like the Evo 1! Video quality is great, but that doesn't mean I disregard anything negative about it.

 

[christianpeso]

So angry over such a high quality problem. I feel for ya.

No anger at all. Just stating facts my friend. Please note my last reply to the other person.

 

[Quad808]

I don't think you will find fanbois here. The autel drones are not perfect. Neither are DJI drones, or any brand for that matter. You heard of NLD? I work for them, so I am well aware of DJI drones, and have many myself. No drone that I have has not been calibrated. You have a lot of drones, so you know full well about calibrations, including gimbal calibrations. I have not had any gimbal problems with the Evo 1, but yes...if this tilt is a widespread problem, that is not good at all.
The footage coming out of my Evo 1 rivals my P4P 2.0, with the 2.0 with a slight edge. No, I don't fly at night, the P4 would trounce the Evo with the small sensor. Looking at getting the Evo Pro for its long flight time and 1inch sensor. Footage looks like a win, but the 8k is looking great as well.
Lets face facts. DJI makes the best flying drones. Period. They also have the most restrictions and that's too bad. Good for us at NLD, but not good for the normal guy who just wants to fly the mini in his yard. Oops. Can't. He lives in a NFZ and his drone is controlled by China.

 

[mreloc]

Nope, no axe to grind to grind at all. I have an Evo 1, Mavic 2 Pro, Mavic 2 Zoom, Mavic Mini, and a modded Mavic Pro.

I too am a DJI pilot, sold my Mavic 2 Pro to order the Evo 2 Pro. I hope it ends up being fine. Mavic Air 2 looks pretty tempting but the NFZ lockdown stories are troubling in themselves!

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

I don't think you will find fanbois here. The autel drones are not perfect. Neither are DJI drones, or any brand for that matter. You heard of NLD? I work for them, so I am well aware of DJI drones, and have many myself. No drone that I have has not been calibrated. You have a lot of drones, so you know full well about calibrations, including gimbal calibrations. I have not had any gimbal problems with the Evo 1, but yes...if this tilt is a widespread problem, that is not good at all.
The footage coming out of my Evo 1 rivals my P4P 2.0, with the 2.0 with a slight edge. No, I don't fly at night, the P4 would trounce the Evo with the small sensor. Looking at getting the Evo Pro for its long flight time and 1inch sensor. Footage looks like a win, but the 8k is looking great as well.
Lets face facts. DJI makes the best flying drones. Period. They also have the most restrictions and that's too bad. Good for us at NLD, but not good for the normal guy who just wants to fly the mini in his yard. Oops. Can't. He lives in a NFZ and his drone is controlled by China.

Hi Quad808,
Can you please tell us ALL when NLD is going to have there next updated firmware on there site??
Kevin

 

[christianpeso]

I too am a DJI pilot, sold my Mavic 2 Pro to order the Evo 2 Pro. I hope it ends up being fine. Mavic Air 2 looks pretty tempting but the NFZ lockdown stories are troubling in themselves!

I've been thinking about getting the Air 2, but honestly, I have no use for it right now. I have plenty of drones and I pretty much only fly for the fun of it. I'm not a photographer or a videographer. And my modded Mavic Pro is a beast so it kind of fills the role of the Air 2 in my fleet.

I was thinking about the Evo 2 Pro as well, but I just can't justify that price. Maybe in a few months, possibly end of summer I might look into picking one up if the price is right.

 

[SeanCC]

Agree. Anyone expecting any drone to be perfect (not in need of calibration) out of the box is kidding themselves.

I dunno about that. I flew my M2P "out of the box" and NEVER had such an issue. It's not just whether the issue can be corrected. It's that it's a persistent issue dating back to EVO I and still is. I know they released a firmware fix, but some people still see this happening with EVO II and that should not be. Before I drop multiple thousands of $$ and leave the DJI ecosystem to give Autel a try for my 107 work, I want to know they handled this. and I want to know that, when other issues come up, they'll handle those as well, and not let them persist.

 

[ebphoto]

I don’t think it’s a wide spread problem. I’ve only heard about it from a few here. I didn’t even notice it on my Evo until I read about it & it was fixed with a gimbal calibration. Then I adjusted it a little in the app which to be honest probably didn’t even need it but I was being paranoid. In order to give DJI some competition they need people to buy their products. Autel doesn’t have the millions in R&D that DJI does so there’s going to be a few issues here and there. I’ve never heard any of the bigger YouTube drone guys complain about gimbal problems with Autel. They do complain about the drone being a little squirrelly to control but that will all be fixed I’m sure with new firmware and tweaks to the settings etc. I do wish Autel would give us some more bells & whistles for the Evo but they still might you never know. I have a Mavic pro Zoom & it does feel a little more polished but heck with all the money they’re making I would hope so. Now we just need to support the DJI competitors and hope they keep making awesome drones to give DJI a run for their money. I like DJI, I just like supporting smaller companies that are trying hard!! I think your being a little too hard on them. You probably won’t support Autel because your too in Love with DJI & heck that’s what makes the world go around or why they make Fords & Chevy’s. No big deal. I’d rather have people purchase Autel drones & then support them & not just complain about something that might Not even be an issue!!

 

[Orv]

I bought my EVO 1 Used from somebody on Kijiji 3 weeks ago and it has never displayed a tilted horizon. Bought it with 4 batteries, freewell filters and charging hub for $800 Canadian. I am happy as a pig in S&*t. I have owned 6 DJI drones over the past 5 years and now I can show that I am a responsible pilot without the DJI leash. One concern tho is I am trying to adjust to the flight timer and battery percentage as they seem to display erratic numbers. The timer will fluctuate from time to time making me uneasy as to the correct flight time remaining. Comments anyone?

 

[Ansia]

People, please stay on topic. If you want to talk about NLD, then start another thread in the Off Topic area. Any further posts about this will go in the special file cabinet.

 

[charmin]

Just to balance the argument, I have an EVO 1 and never had the horizon problem never calibrated the gimble, never calibrated anything and perfet... perhaps that is the problem... never do a clibration... out the box, perfect.. Cheers
EVO 2 on its way, fingers crossed for that one, but doubt I will be doing any calibration... haha..

 

[Crazkdrone]

Given the two iterations have different cameras and gimbals, it appears to be a firmware or software issue. Someone claimed the Evo 1’s gimbal is not a true 3-axis gimbal (I don’t pretend to understand that argument). But one has to assume they’ve learned since then?

Evo 1 had the horizon axis in the drum of the camera which was fatal, IMO.
The Evo 2 does not. So I feel firmware will fix this.

 

[Quad808]

People, please stay on topic. If you want to talk about NLD, then start another thread in the Off Topic area. Any further posts about this will go in the special file cabinet.

Only reason I mentioned it was to show a little about myself and that I am not talking out of my backside. I will not answer any specific questions about that here, since it is not appropriate in an Autel forum.

 

[mreloc]

I dunno about that. I flew my M2P "out of the box" and NEVER had such an issue. It's not just whether the issue can be corrected. It's that it's a persistent issue dating back to EVO I and still is. I know they released a firmware fix, but some people still see this happening with EVO II and that should not be. Before I drop multiple thousands of $$ and leave the DJI ecosystem to give Autel a try for my 107 work, I want to know they handled this. and I want to know that, when other issues come up, they'll handle those as well, and not let them persist.

I hear ya- my Mavics have always been trouble free - but they still needed their compass and IMU calibrations- and the Mavic 2 Pro has its own issues with barrel distortion.

 

[moodman]

Let's state the obvious TECHNICAL question here....that is, why do SOME have the tilt problem and some don't?
Wouldn't you think that every drone coming off the assembly line would be identical to the one before it? In a perfect world with perfect quality control, that would be true. After all, if it was a software issue, and every drone was mechanically the same, then logically, every drone would behave like every other drone, wouldn't it?
So, since software IS identical, the only thing that logically can change from drone to drone is how they are put together in the factory. Either that, or parts inside each drone differ from each other or are defective.
It only takes a small defect in one part to render the whole drone different from a previous one coming off the factory floor.
Therefore, I submit that Autel has a quality control issue, not a software issue. That is evident by the fact that not all users have the horizon tilt problem. Are you listening Autel? No amount of firmware updates will fix a mechanical issue. What should happen is for Autel to do a deep dive into their parts suppliers and find out what is different from drone A that works correctly and drone B that doesn't. Pinpoint the actual issue and address it. Poor software engineers are getting blamed for something that probably isn't their fault.

 

[Ansia]

Let's state the obvious TECHNICAL question here....that is, why do SOME have the tilt problem and some don't?
Wouldn't you think that every drone coming off the assembly line would be identical to the one before it? In a perfect world with perfect quality control, that would be true. After all, if it was a software issue, and every drone was mechanically the same, then logically, every drone would behave like every other drone, wouldn't it?
So, since software IS identical, the only thing that logically can change from drone to drone is how they are put together in the factory. Either that, or parts inside each drone differ from each other or are defective.
It only takes a small defect in one part to render the whole drone different from a previous one coming off the factory floor.
Therefore, I submit that Autel has a quality control issue, not a software issue. That is evident by the fact that not all users have the horizon tilt problem. Are you listening Autel? No amount of firmware updates will fix a mechanical issue. What should happen is for Autel to do a deep dive into their parts suppliers and find out what is different from drone A that works correctly and drone B that doesn't. Pinpoint the actual issue and address it. Poor software engineers are getting blamed for something that probably isn't their fault.

When I got my drone, I didn't have the tilt issue. It was after a firmware somewhere around July 2019 where it started happening. It has plagued it, ever since.

 

[Quad808]

I had the same exact thing happen to my Mavic Pro. I think it was going from 01.03.500 to .600 or something. First DJI drone I had ever bought. Gimbal went wonky, and the camera would randomly reset in mid flight. Went to the DJI forums and was shouted down that this drone was perfect and it CAN'T be the firmware. Well...all problems went away after 01.03.0700 firmware. No drone is perfect. Well...except for my home builds, now that quality...is consistent. LOL!
Lets just hope that this is NOT a widespread problem and something that can be addressed in firmware. Tilt or no tilt. The video I am seeing out of this drone is pretty dang good. The batteries though....way, WAY overpriced.

 

[Quad808]