Should I have gotten a Max vs 640Tv3?

[christr]

Starting to wonder if I should've bought the Max vs a v3 Evo II dual. I'm worried that because it's not the 'enterprise' model, they're going to drop support for it (didn't need the silly top mounted accessories, thought that was really the only difference). Also, the visual camera on the 640T isn't that great, so I had thought I'd grab one of the 6k camera gimbles and just swap when I wanted to do more regular photo stuff vs thermal, but that's never available and for the price I'm starting to get closer to the Max pricing and not have to worry about swapping things.

Also, the ability to work better indoors would possibly be useful, as well as the slight weatherproofing the Max has. Thoughts? Should I dump my dual and get a Max? Just stick with what I have? Are the Max features like AI Mesh and Anti Jam actually there? Plus, accessories like the tethered power thing as well as an official remote payload drop would be quite useful,tho look like they may not exist yet.

Plus, does the Max have the same payload capacity as a regular Evo 2? Essentially I'm using this to find overdue divers and potentially drop first aid or floatation devices to them. The evo 2 can carry a rescuetube (self inflating life tube) so that's a plus, the Max would also have to be able to do the same.

Sorry for a ramble.... but just worried I dropped like $6k (including some accessories) on something thats going to be abandoned by them.

--Chris

 

[GFields]

Starting to wonder if I should've bought the Max vs a v3 Evo II dual. I'm worried that because it's not the 'enterprise' model, they're going to drop support for it (didn't need the silly top mounted accessories, thought that was really the only difference). Also, the visual camera on the 640T isn't that great, so I had thought I'd grab one of the 6k camera gimbles and just swap when I wanted to do more regular photo stuff vs thermal, but that's never available and for the price I'm starting to get closer to the Max pricing and not have to worry about swapping things.

Also, the ability to work better indoors would possibly be useful, as well as the slight weatherproofing the Max has. Thoughts? Should I dump my dual and get a Max? Just stick with what I have? Are the Max features like AI Mesh and Anti Jam actually there? Plus, accessories like the tethered power thing as well as an official remote payload drop would be quite useful,tho look like they may not exist yet.

Plus, does the Max have the same payload capacity as a regular Evo 2? Essentially I'm using this to find overdue divers and potentially drop first aid or floatation devices to them. The evo 2 can carry a rescuetube (self inflating life tube) so that's a plus, the Max would also have to be able to do the same.

Sorry for a ramble.... but just worried I dropped like $6k (including some accessories) on something thats going to be abandoned by them.

--Chris

Sounds to me like you have answered your own question. Are you still in the "return item" time frame? If so, then do it Good luck

 

[jaja6009]

The drone industry is moving very fast.
You buy a platform and within a few years a new one is out and is incrementally better.
This has happened to my personal drones and my employer's drones and will most likely keep happening.

I also agree that you should consider upgrading to the best tool you can afford and justify for your use case.

Also, I love your use case!

I work public safety and we also use Restubes and find them to be a perfect solution for water related drone use cases.
You can also add electromagnetic shark deterrents (Not perfect, but tested by an independent party) that can be dropped too.

 

[DroneRat]

Starting to wonder if I should've bought the Max vs a v3 Evo II dual. I'm worried that because it's not the 'enterprise' model, they're going to drop support for it (didn't need the silly top mounted accessories, thought that was really the only difference). Also, the visual camera on the 640T isn't that great, so I had thought I'd grab one of the 6k camera gimbles and just swap when I wanted to do more regular photo stuff vs thermal, but that's never available and for the price I'm starting to get closer to the Max pricing and not have to worry about swapping things.

Also, the ability to work better indoors would possibly be useful, as well as the slight weatherproofing the Max has. Thoughts? Should I dump my dual and get a Max? Just stick with what I have? Are the Max features like AI Mesh and Anti Jam actually there? Plus, accessories like the tethered power thing as well as an official remote payload drop would be quite useful,tho look like they may not exist yet.

Plus, does the Max have the same payload capacity as a regular Evo 2? Essentially I'm using this to find overdue divers and potentially drop first aid or floatation devices to them. The evo 2 can carry a rescuetube (self inflating life tube) so that's a plus, the Max would also have to be able to do the same.

Sorry for a ramble.... but just worried I dropped like $6k (including some accessories) on something thats going to be abandoned by them.

--Chris

It seems you have encountered the ABANDONED V3 PROBLEM. The MAX is currently getting updates while the v3 WAS NEVER FINISHED. It has fewer features than the v2. The v3 cannot utilized the OA calibration tool since it was not updated for the v3. One must send the drone to them if OA has a problem. Frankly Autel has fallen out of mainstream. Their unannounced move to commercial ($$$$) drones has caused them to apparently abandon the "recreational" market and their current owners.

 

[Dave Pitman]

Their unannounced move to commercial ($$$$) drones has caused them to apparently abandon the "recreational" market and their current owners.

Autel has abandoned support in short order for every craft they have manufactured all the way up to the Dragon fish. Autel will probably be around for years. But the hope that they would be a meaningful alternative to DJI has been decimated by Autel leadership. Too bad.

 

[jaja6009]

Autel has abandoned support in short order for every craft they have manufactured all the way up to the Dragon fish. Autel will probably be around for years. But the hope that they would be a meaningful alternative to DJI has been decimated by Autel leadership. Too bad.

Cannot agree more.
We have 2 Autels in my work fleet. They are great aircraft.
But, as mentioned from Evo 1 to Evo 2 V1, V2, V3, there is just an unfinished, unpolished cloud on all of the aircraft.

Autel keeps doing it.

Their new Sky Command and Autel Mapper look great, although Sky Command doesn't seem like its live yet, and Autel Mapper looks to be running Pix4D in the background (Not a bad thing at all).
I just don't know when to expect these two new Ecosystem items to match or surpass Flight Hub 2 and Terra.

We are about to test Autel's repair process and the whole V1, V2 and V3 mess.

We have a V1 Evo 2 Dual (Nonradiometric Flir). It suffered an accident and the RGB camera does not work anymore.
We will be sending it in for repair soon. I am dreading the process since this is a V1 and Autel has so moved on.

 

[Dave Pitman]

I've kept our v.2 ent. rtk because it does work, and it is a hedge against DJI's geofencing. It's been a couple of years, but I have been bitten by DJI's geofence database that incorrectly had a private airport near a project.

Autel has been such a disappointment. They had the correct pieces to be a serious competitor in the marketplace. An established Chinese manufacturing machine, some good hardware, and a bunch of potential customers that would like nothing better than to support someone other than DJI. But, with all of that, the inexperienced leadership has proven to be too much of a problem. Just because the father is a successful businessman does not mean the son will succeed. Sadly, Max had the opportunity to place qualified individuals in management in the beginning, but just couldn't get out of the way.

Anyway, rant over. I just wanted the OP to recognize that the Max series will more than likely not get any better support longevety than his v.3.

Best of luck with your repairs @jaja6009 . It's possible that things will work out regardless.

 

[DroneRat]

I've kept our v.2 ent. rtk because it does work, and it is a hedge against DJI's geofencing. It's been a couple of years, but I have been bitten by DJI's geofence database that incorrectly had a private airport near a project.

Autel has been such a disappointment. They had the correct pieces to be a serious competitor in the marketplace. An established Chinese manufacturing machine, some good hardware, and a bunch of potential customers that would like nothing better than to support someone other than DJI. But, with all of that, the inexperienced leadership has proven to be too much of a problem. Just because the father is a successful businessman does not mean the son will succeed. Sadly, Max had the opportunity to place qualified individuals in management in the beginning, but just couldn't get out of the way.

Anyway, rant over. I just wanted the OP to recognize that the Max series will more than likely not get any better support longevety than his v.3.

Best of luck with your repairs @jaja6009 . It's possible that things will work out regardless.

Well said!

 

[MNT DRONE SOLUTIONS]

Starting to wonder if I should've bought the Max vs a v3 Evo II dual. I'm worried that because it's not the 'enterprise' model, they're going to drop support for it (didn't need the silly top mounted accessories, thought that was really the only difference). Also, the visual camera on the 640T isn't that great, so I had thought I'd grab one of the 6k camera gimbles and just swap when I wanted to do more regular photo stuff vs thermal, but that's never available and for the price I'm starting to get closer to the Max pricing and not have to worry about swapping things.

Also, the ability to work better indoors would possibly be useful, as well as the slight weatherproofing the Max has. Thoughts? Should I dump my dual and get a Max? Just stick with what I have? Are the Max features like AI Mesh and Anti Jam actually there? Plus, accessories like the tethered power thing as well as an official remote payload drop would be quite useful,tho look like they may not exist yet.

Plus, does the Max have the same payload capacity as a regular Evo 2? Essentially I'm using this to find overdue divers and potentially drop first aid or floatation devices to them. The evo 2 can carry a rescuetube (self inflating life tube) so that's a plus, the Max would also have to be able to do the same.

Sorry for a ramble.... but just worried I dropped like $6k (including some accessories) on something thats going to be abandoned by them.

--Chris

The 640T V3 and The thermal camera on the EVO. max are THE SAME EXACT SENSOR! ABSOLUTELY ZERO DIFFERENCE!

 

[christr]

The 640T V3 and The thermal camera on the EVO. max are THE SAME EXACT SENSOR! ABSOLUTELY ZERO DIFFERENCE!

Yeah, that I actually knew.... even the new Alpha has the same thermal sensors just 2 different 'lenses' for them.

I was really mostly looking at the Max as something that was officially 'weather-proof-ish', better optical camera and a dream of better support from Autel as it's in their 'enterprise' line-up.

Still also wondering if their advertised features like the Mesh control, split screen view, etc are even present. They seem to have a tendency of advertising things they talked about in a meeting, but never actually develop.

--Chris

 

[MNT DRONE SOLUTIONS]

Split screen view definitely works. Confirmed

 

[christr]

Well, I pulled the trigger and got the Max 4T. an ebay shop made me an offer I couldn't refuse so I went for it. Haven't had much time to play today since it came in about an hour before sunset and took a bit to charge, register and update. But one thing I noticed is that while there seems to be a 'lot more' there's also weird things that aren't here that were on the v3. Example: ability to set max speeds. ON the V3 I could set a range of up/down/for/back/etc speed ranges where on the Max I just have slow, smooth, standard and ludacris. Even slow seems pretty quick in some cases compared to how I had the V3 setup for being in areas that had lots of obstacles.

Anyway, they've done a few FW updates to it over the past couple months, so I have some hope that it'll get more as time goes on.

--Chris

 

[jaja6009]

Well, I pulled the trigger and got the Max 4T. an ebay shop made me an offer I couldn't refuse so I went for it. Haven't had much time to play today since it came in about an hour before sunset and took a bit to charge, register and update. But one thing I noticed is that while there seems to be a 'lot more' there's also weird things that aren't here that were on the v3. Example: ability to set max speeds. ON the V3 I could set a range of up/down/for/back/etc speed ranges where on the Max I just have slow, smooth, standard and ludacris. Even slow seems pretty quick in some cases compared to how I had the V3 setup for being in areas that had lots of obstacles.

Anyway, they've done a few FW updates to it over the past couple months, so I have some hope that it'll get more as time goes on.

--Chris

Awesome!

COngrats on your bird.
Let us know how you like it and anything else you would care to share.

 

[DroneRat]

Autel has abandoned support in short order for every craft they have manufactured all the way up to the Dragon fish. Autel will probably be around for years. But the hope that they would be a meaningful alternative to DJI has been decimated by Autel leadership. Too bad.

Well said.

 

[EDSC Canada]

Autel has abandoned support in short order for every craft they have manufactured all the way up to the Dragon fish. Autel will probably be around for years. But the hope that they would be a meaningful alternative to DJI has been decimated by Autel leadership. Too bad.

Transport Canada just pulled the safety assurance for all Autel drones. If you live in Canada you can no longer fly them in controlled airspace, legally anyways.

 

[ChipF]

Starting to wonder if I should've bought the Max vs a v3 Evo II dual. I'm worried that because it's not the 'enterprise' model, they're going to drop support for it (didn't need the silly top mounted accessories, thought that was really the only difference). Also, the visual camera on the 640T isn't that great, so I had thought I'd grab one of the 6k camera gimbles and just swap when I wanted to do more regular photo stuff vs thermal, but that's never available and for the price I'm starting to get closer to the Max pricing and not have to worry about swapping things.

Also, the ability to work better indoors would possibly be useful, as well as the slight weatherproofing the Max has. Thoughts? Should I dump my dual and get a Max? Just stick with what I have? Are the Max features like AI Mesh and Anti Jam actually there? Plus, accessories like the tethered power thing as well as an official remote payload drop would be quite useful,tho look like they may not exist yet.

Plus, does the Max have the same payload capacity as a regular Evo 2? Essentially I'm using this to find overdue divers and potentially drop first aid or floatation devices to them. The evo 2 can carry a rescuetube (self inflating life tube) so that's a plus, the Max would also have to be able to do the same.

Sorry for a ramble.... but just worried I dropped like $6k (including some accessories) on something thats going to be abandoned by them.

--Chris

I hear ya as I just settled for the v2 that will lose official support in 2025 but I realized you can always be ahead of the game as you will spend every red cent doing that . For my needs the v2m will suit me just fine and I think they are offering a trade in for the v3 as long as you do it prior to the support being stopped. So, I'll see what that offer is next year. The Max is a pretty large leap from the v3 but a seriously cool drone. I would love to have a laser pointer....Take Care