Hi Bill. I'm somewhat new to drones, but have flown 2, and returned both, as charge time was too long on one (300+ minutes) and flight times are too short (<10 minutes - on the ones I had, flying at altitude in Colorado). I'm a bit surprised you 'recommend' the EVO without having even flown it, or looked at the software, or had one in your possession for more than an hour. Look, I'm not putting you down, but recommending something without really knowing what it's capable of is a 'guess' on your part at best. I've had conversations with others here and this is the overview:
Others wrote, "I saw a future for Autel... it is very unfortunate that it didn't materialize - Autel had lots of promise, and in some ways they still do. When they first burst into the drone market they had everything going for them. Their slow response to the market was part of their downfall. In 2016 the presented the Venture quad, the Kestrel fixed-wing aircraft, and a handheld gimbal camera, none have been made available. In 2017 Autel offered the Kestrel again, a new version of the X-Star with retractable landing gear and a camera that rotated 360º, the modular 1" sensor camera for the X-Star, the modular thermal imaging camera for the X-Star, and the Software Developers Kit... none of them made it to market. Now here we are post-CES and they have said all the other stuff is dead (except for Kestrel, I think), and they showed us the EVO. It looks like a great quad, I truly hope they bring it to market. DJI needs a competitor. We all know lack of competition is not good for the market.
You may not want to face it, but the X-Star is at its end of life. It has survived just over two years now. That's the way it works with all manufacturers. Sooner or later a product will end and at some point after that support will be discontinued.
Sooner or later the devices will not run the Starlink app (unless Autel keeps updating it - If Autel fails to keep updating the Starlink app sooner or later it will not be supported. It happens. I still have a few apps on my iPad that won't update until the developer does something about it so they just don't work at all on iOS 11. Now I assume that Autel will continue to use the Starlink app for the future drones like the EVO and they will keep it current. Although that doesn't promise that they will support the X-Star in 2 or 3 years... who knows. I have some older drones that have no manufacturer support, that is just the way it is.
DJI is currently the largest drone manufacturer in the world and they didn't get there by not bringing products to market - As far as I am aware, everything they show at CES, they sell immediately or very soon after. They tend to offer several drones and several accessories every year and sell them. They grew because they provided a product and followed through with it. DJI’s dominance of the consumer drone market has a lot to do with the rate at which it has been able to bring new, advanced products to market. In 2017 DJI had 1,500 people working on research and development, nobody else has that. DJI’s partnerships, such as one with Sony for camera components, have also helped. I refer to them often as they are a success story in the drone world.
When they crash it and have no way to repair it - If you look in the Autel store right now they offer 25 items, 12 of those are sold out. Here are a few important ones, especially the camera as a crash will almost certainly damage it. Finding parts, like the camera is tough and will only get tougher as parts become even more scarce."
These are scary words. We can all "hope" for the best, but until Autel can prove they are here to support the market, it may be a difficult sell. Sure, some will get the EVO to write reviews - and I assume you are hoping you are one of the lucky ones, as $1000 to spend is a lot of money.
What market / demographic do you see this drone in? Clearly not a "hobby" drone, more a professional model? If on the professional side, how many will be sold vs the $500 drone which is much more affordable for so many - and even the $300 drones, which will do what 90% of the flyers want. If the $1000 drone market is split between Mavic and EVO (a generous assumption based on the above words), even at that, do they sell 1000 per year? I have no idea, but as airspace is becoming more and more limited, a 7km range (what, 4+ miles) is not realistic for many - only a VERY FEW. A few more drone crashes coming back RTH, hitting something, and that's all she wrote.
This said, I am considering an EVO - let's face it, it's cool, but the software and the 'package' will need to be supported for years - which seems unlikely based on the above.
Thanks for the review. Hope you get one to give us all an unbiased view based on real life experiences with the EVO.
Scott