For those with experience using both the 640T and Mavic 2 Enterprise Advanced

SARty · Jun 8, 2021

Hey everyone,

I've got another question about some of the differences I'm noticing in the few Youtube videos out there comparing the 640T and M2EA. This time, I'm hoping to get feedback about the differences in thermal image quality.

I noticed a couple of you have posted comments about having experience with both platforms and I'm hoping you'd be willing to share some of your thoughts here. Especially re using them for Public Safety.

Airworx posted a couple of videos (linked below) that show a substantial difference in image quality between the 640T and M2EA (as well as the Boson Dual). Specifically the 640T's tonal contrast, apparent resolution (I'm aware it's technically the same on paper), and edge definition appears markedly better. The 640T almost has an MSX look to it (which I expect will change depending on the scene, time of day, and lighting conditions).

I'm aware that some folks are reporting that the 640T and M2EA use the same sensor - but regardless of what can potentially be accomplished later through post processing, I'm interested in finding out which platform performs best right out of the box (for SAR missions).

I'm also curious which image holds up better when zooming in 2-4x.

Brief comparison with the M2EA: Brief comparison with the original Evo II Dual (Boson):
Appreciate any and all thoughts/feedback!

advexure · Jun 9, 2021

In summary, I would say that we often hear folks say at demo events and other T&E opportunities that they think the 640T output is "better" than the M2EA. FOV certainly has an impact on that as the wider FOV of the M2EA often inherently makes it not look as crisp as the 640T with its narrower FOV. On the other hand I would say that the M2EA holds up a little better zooming with less loss than the 640T.

advexure · Jun 9, 2021

I will also add that we have about 25X more EVO II Dual 640 in the field currently than 640T given that the 640T was rather recently brought to the US/NA market and our public safety sector has been slow to buy into the 640T given that its been a little bit harder for some agencies to purchase given that it is not part of the "Made in the USA with foreign and domestic parts" campaign.

The "seat of the pants" feel is that the M2EA is not fully tuned and refined yet firmware wise and more can still be done to hone in on its thermal output. We feel the 640/640T is well tuned.

SARty · Jun 9, 2021

Your feedback is again well appreciated!

I know there's not a lot to go on in the video linked above (where altitudes appear to have been fairly well adjusted to approximate the same FOV between the 640T and M2EA), but the 640T still appears to have an image quality advantage. Tough to make a call though without seeing it in person or having access to the files. For example, it's easy to over-process an image and make it look good when viewed from afar or at lower resolution...

But you bring up another serious consideration: the M2EA's significantly wider FOV would present issues for us, as we typically fly above 200AGL. 13mm is also too wide at that height, but requires less zooming.

If the crispness of the 640T's image is accomplished in processing (versus a higher quality sensor, lens, etc.), I can easily see how zooming in could potentially make things like over sharpened edges and accompanying noise more apparent. I don't remember what Autel calls the setting, but when that detail enhancement is dialed down, does the image hold up better when zoomed in?

SARty · Jun 9, 2021

advexure said:
The "seat of the pants" feel is that the M2EA is not fully tuned and refined yet firmware wise and more can still be done to hone in on its thermal output. We feel the 640/640T is well tuned.

This is very helpful too, thanks. Seems like maybe a similar situation to the M2ED and Anafi, where Parrot was able to squeeze out a much better image (from the same sensor) through processing...

Mladen008 · Oct 31, 2021

Public safety guy down in Florida here. We just received two autel enterprises and we have the ME2A.

Out of the box the ME2A worked perfectly. The comparison between the thermal was minimal. The Autel we had we had to send back because the smart controller wouldn’t boot. Got the second one and the firmware upgrade screwed up the aircraft and it wouldn’t connect to the controller anymore.

When we flew them side by side hooked up to our monitors the Autel thermal looked just a hair crisper. The zoom and swapping palettes on the mavic was a bit more seamless. The autel froze a lot or lagged when increasing/decreasing zoom and swapping palettes. All in all the DJI smart controller was a bit easier to use, but the screen on the autel was bigger and easier to see. (We only use the monitors for prolonged deployments)

Flight time was a couple minutes longer on the autel, but we’re flying in 92-100 degree weather 8 months out of the year so I expect them to last differently than advertised

SARty · Oct 31, 2021

Mladen008 said:
The comparison between the thermal was minimal.
...
When we flew them side by side hooked up to our monitors the Autel thermal looked just a hair crisper.
...
Flight time was a couple minutes longer on the autel

Thanks for the feedback. Sorry to hear about the technical difficulties. Hopefully that gets straightened out for you and your team.

I haven't been following the Advanced updates, but from what you said, I'm wondering if they tuned up the image processing. The comparisons I've seen have the 640t outshining the Advanced by quite a bit. But those were from months ago and it would make sense for them to be pretty close since they're using the same sensor.

It's a shame that those that are able to (enterprise dealers especially) don't take the time to put out in depth side by side comparisons of these two options. Even entry level comparisons are hard to come by......it's exhausting trying to track down pro level comparisons and relevant info.

What I'm really surprised to hear though is that you're only seeing an additional couple of minutes of flight time with the enterprise. In my previous testing with the regular Evo 2, I was getting more than that compared to a Mavic 2 (at least 5 minutes more on average). From what people are saying, they're getting an extra 5 minutes or so with the enterprise compared to the regular versions. Maybe setup waypoint missions for both and fly them on the same day, same conditions?

Welcome to the forum by the way!

Mladen008 · Oct 31, 2021

SARty said:
Thanks for the feedback. Sorry to hear about the technical difficulties. Hopefully that gets straightened out for you and your team.

I haven't been following the Advanced updates, but from what you said, I'm wondering if they tuned up the image processing. The comparisons I've seen have the 640t outshining the Advanced by quite a bit. But those were from months ago and it would make sense for them to be pretty close since they're using the same sensor.

It's a shame that those that are able to (enterprise dealers especially) don't take the time to put out in depth side by side comparisons of these two options. Even entry level comparisons are hard to come by......it's exhausting trying to track down pro level comparisons and relevant info.

What I'm really surprised to hear though is that you're only seeing an additional couple of minutes of flight time with the enterprise. In my previous testing with the regular Evo 2, I was getting more than that compared to a Mavic 2 (by as much as 10 minutes). From what people are saying, they're getting an extra 5 minutes or so with the enterprise compared to the regular versions. Maybe setup waypoint missions for both and fly them on the same day, same conditions?

Welcome to the forum by the way!

Thanks my man!

Yes, the autel only ran about 3-4 minutes longer but again, here in south Florida I was good with it. They were both brand new with brand new batteries. I’ve noticed the flight time diminish pretty regularly with the DJI intelligent flight batteries after a few months so I’ll chalk that up to a one-time thing.

Another thing to consider is we’re using them primarily for search and rescue/fugitive apprehension, and that usually involves really thick foliage coverage. Having started our team with a mavic enterprise dual, if you handed us a sharper image drone we would have been happy at the time. Both the advanced and autel are light years ahead of that. We’re typically looking for minute movement and odd heat signatures through a massive palm/oak/pine tree forest so that’s what I’m basing my opinion off of. We did some side by side imagery both in day and night conditions from 200ft, and the autel is clearer when we had guys standing in a parking lot. But again, our needs are different than the average user.

jmason702 · Jan 17, 2022

i have a 640T and the resolution is awesome, with Isotherm and user-defined settings in temp ranges, it gives you Jpeg, IRG and TIFF. file to pull data from, not just a DJI proprietary file format
a few examples, a MAP/ a radiometric Photo