Would You Buy The E2 Again?

[Eagle928]

I'm expecting my first Autel Evo 2 Pro 6k to be delivered tomorrow. I've been reading through the threads with the various issues and I just have this one question for those who have had the Evo 2 for a while now with all the firmware updates and working through the various idiosyncrasies that any mechanical thing has.

Would you buy it again today knowing what you now know?

FWIW I bought one to be a reliable non geofenced workhorse mainly; not a play drone. I have a Mini 2 to play with. It's on its way back from a DJI repair facility for a bad gimbal and odd camera issue so they have issues too. Probably be a refurbished one. At some point I will probably replace it with an Air 2; its more robust bigger brother/sister.

 

[Ram]

I'm expecting my first Autel Evo 2 Pro 6k to be delivered tomorrow. I've been reading through the threads with the various issues and I just have this one question for those who have had the Evo 2 for a while now with all the firmware updates and working through the various idiosyncrasies that any mechanical thing has.

Would you buy it again today knowing what you now know?

FWIW I bought one to be a reliable non geofenced workhorse mainly; not a play drone. I have a Mini 2 to play with. It's on its way back from a DJI repair facility for a bad gimbal and odd camera issue so they have issues too. Probably be a refurbished one. At some point I will probably replace it with an Air 2; its more robust bigger brother/sister.

I've been a Mavic 2 Pro user for over a year and 6 months ago I bought an Evo 2 Pro (6k). Long story short, I lost my E2P running an untested mission. I bought another one. Why? Well, EVO 2 does better OA than the M2P, saving me from a few crashes and is better following a person avoiding obstructions. The geofence from the M2P sometimes is a pain in the behind, even when I have authorization (using Kittyhawk) from the FAA. Another thing that make me own an Evo 2 is the superior wind resistance. Is way better than the M2P. That's my 2 cents and of course, is my personal experience and opinion. Have fun!

 

[TN Drone Services]

Without question.

 

[herein2021]

I'm expecting my first Autel Evo 2 Pro 6k to be delivered tomorrow. I've been reading through the threads with the various issues and I just have this one question for those who have had the Evo 2 for a while now with all the firmware updates and working through the various idiosyncrasies that any mechanical thing has.

Would you buy it again today knowing what you now know?

FWIW I bought one to be a reliable non geofenced workhorse mainly; not a play drone. I have a Mini 2 to play with. It's on its way back from a DJI repair facility for a bad gimbal and odd camera issue so they have issues too. Probably be a refurbished one. At some point I will probably replace it with an Air 2; its more robust bigger brother/sister.

I would buy another one without hesitation (at least so far) and in fact am considering buying two more for my business. Despite my long list of negatives which you can read about HERE, so far it has been reliable enough (after 12 batteries worth of flying), and has the single most important feature to me which is no geofencing to make the downsides worth it. I think in 2yrs, unless DJI comes out with something revolutionary, Autel might provide some real competition to DJI.

 

[kenautelevo2pro]

certainly I would buy it again except this time I would try not to pay full price and wait for a huge markdown or discount while means waiting up to 6 months after launch.

 

[Eagle928]

certainly I would buy it again except this time I would try not to pay full price and wait for a huge markdown or discount while means waiting up to 6 months after launch.

Great point. I sure wish I had bought when it was on sale at B&H.

 

[UasDriver]

I'm in the "would buy it again camp"
unless some new kid from Iowa shows up with a tricked out AC that competes

 

[Eagle928]

I'm in the "would buy it again camp"
unless some new kid from Iowa shows up with a tricked out AC that competes

Pardon my ignorance but what is an AC?

 

[UasDriver]

AC = aircraft RC = remote controller

 

[Eagle928]

First flight after going through all the updates and calibrations twice. Rock solid. Flew a 1/3 mission on the first flight. Did great. Very happy with this UAV. The controls were smooth and not at all twitchy. I did set the gimbal pitch speed to 24 but that was it. Looks like they did well with the latest firmware update. Kept it in VLOS the entire time of course.

Currently uploading images to mapsmadeeasy to see how that works by tomorrow.

Edit: It did great as did Maps Made Easy in 2D and 3D with 159 images. This is an overlay.

 

[MayorG]

I would buy another one without hesitation (at least so far) and in fact am considering buying two more for my business. Despite my long list of negatives which you can read about HERE, so far it has been reliable enough (after 12 batteries worth of flying), and has the single most important feature to me which is no geofencing to make the downsides worth it. I think in 2yrs, unless DJI comes out with something revolutionary, Autel might provide some real competition to DJI.

I'd buy 10 E2P's if I needed that many! I don't shoot much video. However, My stills for real estate are much better than my M2P. Do the updates. Do the calibrations. Ive had no issues. I feel the E2P fly's better with each update.

 

[Rubik3x]

Yes!

 

[Waldo Pepper]

Even with all the pain and suffering from updates, definitely would buy another Evo 2 Pro as a replacement.

Paul

 

[Brock Inspector]

I built and flew R/C helicopters beginning in the 1970's, including a couple of scratch-built ones that would be sufficiently rugged enough for aerial photography. The AE2 Pro 6K is a wet dream come true to this nitromethane-burning, oily cloud producing, balancing-on-a-board-atop-a-beachball contraption-builder who flew such craft successfully back when.
Quite a few of the negative comments to all the various drone forums and pages are professional trolls shilling for other brands, notably DJI. People are also prone to squawk when things go awry. Discern whether they are working through issues and flying, or simply causing mayhem and confusion. The former tend to move on from the forums into the outdoors to fly more often, while the latter move on only when they're banned. No doubt there are also some number of well-meaning people who have little-to-no experience in hobbies and pursuits that require attention to small detail, precision (prop balancing, anyone?), care, and good judgment. That said, you can have all these attributes and still crash a drone. (But that also happens with full-scale manned helicopters... with much more dire consequences... don't see them on forums so much afterwards.) If you can't afford to lose it, the drone hobby may not be the right pursuit. (And if you can't make enough to regularly rebuild or replace a fleet of them, it's not a very good business model, either.)
Would I buy an Autel Evo II Pro again? Perhaps. It would depend on why I'd need to, I suppose, and when. I've had mine for a bit over 6 weeks. Already getting impressive video from it. Current tech is good for a 3 year window until FAA regs require UAS to broadcast their ID, at least, maybe there'll be firmware/software that keeps it in the air beyond. I don't expect that in this difficult economic environment, tech companies will survive simply because they make cool stuff or they've got market share. AE2P 6K is the top-tier folding drone right now, but there might be something even better that comes along this year or next. Meanwhile, I'm going to fly the Hell out of it.

 

[quinn karter]

I'm expecting my first Autel Evo 2 Pro 6k to be delivered tomorrow. I've been reading through the threads with the various issues and I just have this one question for those who have had the Evo 2 for a while now with all the firmware updates and working through the various idiosyncrasies that any mechanical thing has.

Would you buy it again today knowing what you now know?

FWIW I bought one to be a reliable non geofenced workhorse mainly; not a play drone. I have a Mini 2 to play with. It's on its way back from a DJI repair facility for a bad gimbal and odd camera issue so they have issues too. Probably be a refurbished one. At some point I will probably replace it with an Air 2; its more robust bigger brother/sister.

I bought a refurbished DJI mav 2 pro . Worth the discount. Had to return it for a replacement though. The video had some errors. The next refurb has functioned without issue. Then I bought evo 8k. I use it more than the DJI mav2 pro. It's slower, but more powerful. With the active range extender it goes much further. 9 miles round trip in good weather. The 8 k pics are amazing. I'd Prefer the 6k, but I lost my first 6k in a crash, Autel wouldn't honor the warranty, due to a piece of Velcro stuck on the fuselage. So I bought the less expensive 8k. The colors aren't as deep, but easy to fix in post. Oh, I WANT ANOTHER EVO 2. YES, I WOULD BUY IT AGAIN. BUT ONLY FROM A RETAILER. like bestbuy. They have a better warranty plan and ask no question when returning items. Autel, hates to give replacements or refunds. So, buy from a retailer and break the Autel in, ie fly it as much as possible in the first 30 days to make sure there are no flaws or defects in the specific make and model you get.

 

[Satans-MIlkman]

Devil is in the details. Of course would buy again.

 

[Autelpilotsnumpty]

A tricky one for me. I had issues with all of the EP2s I bought. There seemed to be multi-quality control issues with lens alignments to firmware issues.
I want to buy another but with the issues, and the final crash when it flew off with a mind of its own, I have no trust in it.
So if this was a head and heart thing.
Heart says yes. Head says no.

 

[Autelpilotsnumpty]

I bought a refurbished DJI mav 2 pro . Worth the discount. Had to return it for a replacement though. The video had some errors. The next refurb has functioned without issue. Then I bought evo 8k. I use it more than the DJI mav2 pro. It's slower, but more powerful. With the active range extender it goes much further. 9 miles round trip in good weather. The 8 k pics are amazing. I'd Prefer the 6k, but I lost my first 6k in a crash, Autel wouldn't honor the warranty, due to a piece of Velcro stuck on the fuselage. So I bought the less expensive 8k. The colors aren't as deep, but easy to fix in post. Oh, I WANT ANOTHER EVO 2. YES, I WOULD BUY IT AGAIN. BUT ONLY FROM A RETAILER. like bestbuy. They have a better warranty plan and ask no question when returning items. Autel, hates to give replacements or refunds. So, buy from a retailer and break the Autel in, ie fly it as much as possible in the first 30 days to make sure there are no flaws or defects in the specific make and model you get.

Great Advice.

 

[Cicero24]

A tricky one for me. I had issues with all of the EP2s I bought. There seemed to be multi-quality control issues with lens alignments to firmware issues.
I want to buy another but with the issues, and the final crash when it flew off with a mind of its own, I have no trust in it.
So if this was a head and heart thing.
Heart says yes. Head says no.

This has been my experience as well. I’m wondering if first run batches had QC issues or different core board manufacturers than the current production models. Maybe why some have been very problematic for some and great worry free machines for others.

 

[xval]

Would you buy it again today knowing what you now know?

Yes without thinking much. Mavic2P is the only alternative today. But it's not even close in video quality. Which was, and is, the primary factor for me. I can forgive some software glitches for this. Never had cracks on the plastic or other mechanical problems, so I can't complain.