Buying an Evo 1?

PoorMoney · Dec 3, 2019

Hi everyone,

I've been on the Mavic forum and was debating between a Mavic Pro, Mavic Pro 2, and the Mavic Zoom. I then heard about the EVO.

Now, my purpose of getting a drone is mostly to keep an eye on my property and maybe use it at my work to keep an eye on the property there. I do like to video and photograph things as well, but I am not doing this for a living.

I was debating about going with the Mavic Pro Renewed for $659 but the zoom on the EVO is nice.

I don't have a fancy laptop so I can't do all that fancy video/photo editing.

I am wondering what the best decision would be? I know the EVO 2 is possibly coming out soon, BUT it looks like it will cost some money and be over spec'd for my laptop and regular needs.

Any suggestions?

joshmentele · Dec 3, 2019

PoorMoney said:
Hi everyone,

I've been on the Mavic forum and was debating between a Mavic Pro, Mavic Pro 2, and the Mavic Zoom. I then heard about the EVO.

Now, my purpose of getting a drone is mostly to keep an eye on my property and maybe use it at my work to keep an eye on the property there. I do like to video and photograph things as well, but I am not doing this for a living.

I was debating about going with the Mavic Pro Renewed for $659 but the zoom on the EVO is nice.

I don't have a fancy laptop so I can't do all that fancy video/photo editing.

I am wondering what the best decision would be? I know the EVO 2 is possibly coming out soon, BUT it looks like it will cost some money and be over spec'd for my laptop and regular needs.

Any suggestions?

The evo is a good upgrade from the original Mavic. The original mavic has zoom as well, but I think it is limited to 2x rather than 10x on the evo. Either way, it will be a digital zoom. If the price isn't a concern for you, get the Evo which is a better drone. There are a few Amazon deals right now that sell the drone with 3 batteries for around the same price of just the drone on autelrobotics.com.

PoorMoney · Dec 3, 2019

joshmentele said:
The evo is a good upgrade from the original Mavic. The original mavic has zoom as well, but I think it is limited to 2x rather than 10x on the evo. Either way, it will be a digital zoom. If the price isn't a concern for you, get the Evo which is a better drone. There are a few Amazon deals right now that sell the drone with 3 batteries for around the same price of just the drone on autelrobotics.com.

And the Evo has the same obstacle avoidance like the Mavics right? How are the updates?

joshmentele · Dec 3, 2019

PoorMoney said:
And the Evo has the same obstacle avoidance like the Mavics right? How are the updates?

Evo has the same OA on the front/bottom, but adds a basic IR sensor on the back. The back sensor only works in tracking modes and isn't as reliable as the front ones, but it at least provides some protection in certain modes where the Mavic has none.
As for updates, Autel updates the Evo pretty frequently. I would say all of the bugs have been ironed out of both drones as they have been out for years now.
I haven't gotten an update for my Mavic in a while now so DJI might be done supporting it.

PoorMoney · Dec 4, 2019

Probably isnt worth waiting for the EVO 2 for my needs?

joshmentele · Dec 4, 2019

PoorMoney said:
Probably isnt worth waiting for the EVO 2 for my needs?

Probably not because it'll probably be more expensive. It will be a better bird in all regards though

PoorMoney · Dec 4, 2019

Do you would choose an Evo over a Mavic Pro 2 and Mavic Zoom?

Ansia · Dec 4, 2019

PoorMoney said:
Do you would choose an Evo over a Mavic Pro 2 and Mavic Zoom?

I did, but I have 2 phantoms, so that influenced my desicion.

PoorMoney · Dec 4, 2019

Ansia said:
I did, but I have 2 phantoms, so that influenced my desicion.

Comparing your phantoms and the Evo...the EVO is pretty good for the price? I could get a Mavic Pro 2 for $1000 or so, but with one battery while $1019 would get the EVO, three batteries, SD cards, and a case.

Ansia · Dec 4, 2019

PoorMoney said:
Comparing your phantoms and the Evo...the EVO is pretty good for the price? I could get a Mavic Pro 2 for $1000 or so, but with one battery while $1019 would get the EVO, three batteries, SD cards, and a case.

It all comes down to what you wish to do with it. I do a lot of photography and photogrammetry, in which the Phantom excells at. When I take videos, I usually would go with the Evo. I get smoother transitions during video with the Evo. Both drones have 4K 60fps, so I can't really compare in that area. The Mavic 2 series doesn't have 60fps, and when shooting video of waves, it really does make a difference.

On the link below, I have 2 different places. Piñones was shot at 4K 30fps (I forgot to put it in 60fps ?) with the Evo and Ocean Park was shot in 4K 60fps with the Phantom. I know I am not comparing apples with apples, but you can appreciate the movement of the waves at 30 and 60 and undestand what I mean. As for the transitions, the Evo's camera is placed in front of the drone vs the Phantom which has it in the bottom centerish. When doing a turn, if you apply the correct movement, you can slide the Evo smoothly. The Phantom will always have this jerky turn that I simply can't eliminate.

Project Sabrina

Folder

1drv.ms

Hope it helps with your decision. If I have time later at some point, I will do a comparison between 4K 30 and 60 and photographs with the Evo and Phantom.

Ansia · Dec 4, 2019

Almost forgot. Make sure you download the samples and watch them on your computer. When you do streaming, it will downgrade to 720p 30fps.

PoorMoney · Dec 4, 2019

Thank you! I can see the difference in the rate of it! Phantom looks good, but bulky. I just ordered the EVO! I think it would be all I need. I'd imagine the EVO 2 will be good, but with that 6k and 8k increase...I have nothing that I can use to edit those footages. And I'd imagine the cost will be way up there for it especially with the tariffs.

I think I will enjoy seeing people stealing palmetto berries and try to hide and having the 8x to zoom in on them. Game over theives!! ?

Ansia · Dec 4, 2019

PoorMoney said:
Thank you! I can see the difference in the rate of it! Phantom looks good, but bulky. I just ordered the EVO! I think it would be all I need. I'd imagine the EVO 2 will be good, but with that 6k and 8k increase...I have nothing that I can use to edit those footages. And I'd imagine the cost will be way up there for it especially with the tariffs.

I think I will enjoy seeing people stealing palmetto berries and try to hide and having the 8x to zoom in on them. Game over theives!! ?

The digital zoom isn't a zoom like you are imagining. Basically what it does is you have a 5000x3000 screen and it zooms in to 2500x15000 for example. It will be no different from taking a photo and zooming in while looking at it on your PC. Just an FYI.

PoorMoney · Dec 4, 2019

Ansia said:
The digital zoom isn't a zoom like you are imagining. Basically what it does is you have a 5000x3000 screen and it zooms in to 2500x15000 for example. It will be no different from taking a photo and zooming in while looking at it on your PC. Just an FYI.

But this is better than what the Mavic Zoom does, right?

Ansia · Dec 4, 2019

PoorMoney said:
But this is better than what the Mavic Zoom does, right?

No. The Mavic 2 Zoom has an optical zoom. Basically inside the camera it has 2 lenses that separate or get close to perform the zoom. The resolution will remain the same.

PoorMoney · Dec 4, 2019

Eh, well....I guess the EVO will be ok. I figured from what videos I saw it looked decent for the zoom.

Sau Wing Lam · Dec 7, 2019

I fly both the Mavic Pro and Autel Evo. Lately I fly almost excludively Evo because it has no geofencing and the quality of the video is great. Forget about digital zooming. Anything past 2x is unacceptable.

joshmentele · Dec 8, 2019

PoorMoney said:
But this is better than what the Mavic Zoom does, right?

If you are buying it for zoom, the Evo will perform less well than the Mavic (it has a camera that is built for zooming) . That doesn't mean the Evo won't work for your purposes (you can still make out what you are looking at even at 8x zoom). It just won't look as good as the Mavic's video when zoomed in.

PoorMoney · Dec 8, 2019

From what I can tell of the Mavic Zoom...it is clear for 2x or so, but really not much zooming. The 8X on the Evo even though is digital...seems to give me a better visual of what is there further