Why Should You Buy the DJI Mavic Air 2?

The Mavic Air 2, DJI’s latest drone, sits squarely between its other drones, the Mavic Mini and the Mavic 2 Pro, but what does it offer that its siblings don’t? Gena Nagata, a.k.a Potato Jet, takes all three for a spin to find out.

The size and convenience of the Mavic Mini made the world of drones suddenly incredibly accessible, and the Mavic Pro 2 offers some higher-end features that make it suitable for slightly bigger projects. As you’d expect, the Mavic Air 2 brings a little of both, and for Nagata, it’s enough that this is his day-to-day drone of choice.

Right now, the Mavic Air 2 is selling for $799, but there’s a combo that bundles it with three batteries, an ND filter set, charging hub, spare control sticks, six spare pairs of low-noise propellors, and with a few other goodies — all for just $988. Given that you’ll almost certainly want to splash out on at least a couple of these, this seems like a pretty good deal. An individual battery — which costs $115 when bought separately — will give you flight time of just under 35 minutes, and each battery takes almost an hour to charge, so it’s definitely worth having a few spares.

Is this on your shopping list? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Andy Day's picture

Andy Day is a British photographer and writer living in France. He began photographing parkour in 2003 and has been doing weird things in the city and elsewhere ever since. He's addicted to climbing and owns a fairly useless dog. He has an MA in Sociology & Photography which often makes him ponder what all of this really means.

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8 Comments

For that price you may as well go with the pro. Then read up on regulations, fees, permits and everywhere you can't fly it without calling an airport to asking permission and then cancel it cause who needs that frustration.

They need to make a drone that won't go over 100 feet up and then make it legal to fly it anywhere without all the legal stuff and city restrictions. I wanted one for fake crane shots, not helicopter shots but they treat it no differently.

Its not the difficult to get permission to fly in FAA approved airspace.

The Air 2 looks like a sweet spot for price and performance. I would take it up to the Ocoee river and follow some kayakers down the rapids Fun!

I crashed my old drone trying to video a disc golf course came around a tree and clipped a branch. The frist place I would take my new mavic air 2 would be the same course so I could do it right.

Meh, I still think the Mavic Mini is the way to go. It's lacking in quality perhaps, but it takes away all the issues with rules, regulations, registrations, online tests and courses, or physical courses, etc.

What's the point of being in the middle/sweet spot between the mini and the pro versions. When the mini is at the edge/limit of what you're allowed to have and do within the rules of most countries.

As by now, pretty much anywhere, you're not allowed to fly a drone over 250 grams without doing all that. And the rules/tests/licenses/permits are different in loads of countries, try going on holiday and taking your drone, good luck.
If you're going through all the trouble of arranging those things, I would dare say you're quite serious about your drone flying, so why (other then budget) would you then go for a mavic air 2 and not the pro versions?

Hello. Well i would take it with me on holliday on the Island of.Terschelling. this is in the Wadden Sea. This unique piece ofnature whas inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List . The Views there are one of the most beautifull there is to see in our country. The Netherlands. I.post with it a picutere taken with my trusty dji Spark butt update in to a Mavic.air 2 It will make plenty of flights

Shot with Mavic Air 2 @ 400' - 1/2 sec exp. with 25 mph winds...