Skydio killer?

[Hiflyer808]

I had been defending the Skydio 2 as the best all-around drone, with its amazing oa and tracking abilities more than making up for its deficiencies in other areas. And I had thought the Autel Evo 2 might turn out to be the new king. But I must say, the new Mavic Air seems to clearly blow all sub-2k drones out of the water. Better than the Mavic 2 Pro for just about every situation except low light, but much cheaper, and more compact. Also at least somewhat better than the Autel Evo 2, but again cheaper and smaller.And for the same price as the Skydio without beacon or controller, you get THREE batteries, ND filters, and the controller, plus much better range and flight time, plus all the ways other Mavics in general are better than the Skydio such as more precise manual control, and all this with oa and tracking that seems substantially improved, and in some ways better even than the Skydio, such as by being less restless in and keeping the subject in the frame better. The Skydio still is the best at fast tracking and backwards and sideways oa, but with all the ways the Air 2 is so much better while seeming to be second only to the Skydio in overall tracking and oa, I'm pretty much sold and plan to sell my Mavic 2 Zoom and get the Air 2 Fly More package. Would still like to see more on how it does tracking backwards, and maybe some more negative reviews will be coming out, but wow, what a major upgrade! What do you guys think?

 

[Lifeisfun]

What I think?
I think Skydio MUST add features or they are in trouble.

 

[Cicada]

If they’re going to do a range update, now is the time.

 

[skydioconvert]

I had been defending the Skydio 2 as the best all-around drone, with its amazing oa and tracking abilities more than making up for its deficiencies in other areas. And I had thought the Autel Evo 2 might turn out to be the new king. But I must say, the new Mavic Air seems to clearly blow all sub-2k drones out of the water. Better than the Mavic 2 Pro for just about every situation except low light, but much cheaper, and more compact. Also at least somewhat better than the Autel Evo 2, but again cheaper and smaller.And for the same price as the Skydio without beacon or controller, you get THREE batteries, ND filters, and the controller, plus much better range and flight time, plus all the ways other Mavics in general are better than the Skydio such as more precise manual control, and all this with oa and tracking that seems substantially improved, and in some ways better even than the Skydio, such as by being less restless in and keeping the subject in the frame better. The Skydio still is the best at fast tracking and backwards and sideways oa, but with all the ways the Air 2 is so much better while seeming to be second only to the Skydio in overall tracking and oa, I'm pretty much sold and plan to sell my Mavic 2 Zoom and get the Air 2 Fly More package. Would still like to see more on how it does tracking backwards, and maybe some more negative reviews will be coming out, but wow, what a major upgrade! What do you guys think?

When DJI matches Skydio 2's obstacle avoidance and deep learning capabilities you might have a point.

Without that capability "all" the other features play second fiddle to whats important.... ask any pilot that's run into something and crashed.

An S2 lets you concentrate on piloting and capturing really good video without ever having to dodge pesky tree branches, power lines, telephone lines or anything else for that matter.

That capability trumps any other feature...

 

[Lifeisfun]

If they’re going to do a range update, now is the time.

I hate how they misrepresented the range, same as Asian drone manufacturers do, but considering you should always fly VLOS as long the video feed is stable I would be fine with that.

 

[Lifeisfun]

When DJI matches Skydio 2's obstacle avoidance and deep learning capabilities you might have a point.

Without that capability "all" the other features play second fiddle to whats important.... ask any pilot that's run into something and crashed.

An S2 lets you concentrate on piloting and capturing really good video without ever having to dodge pesky tree branches, power lines, telephone lines or anything else for that matter.

That capability trumps any other feature...

I have to say I don't see any "deep learning " on the S2, and power lines avoidance is also non existent.

 

[skydioconvert]

I have to say I don't see any "deep learning " on the S2, and power lines avoidance is also non existent.

... and yet the S2 avoids these kinds of obstacles in more and more posted on-line videos.

 

[Lifeisfun]

... and yet the S2 avoids these kinds of obstacles in more and more posted on-line videos.

I'll say that's more to do with lighting, approach angle then anything else

 

[Hiflyer808]

I'm a huge fan of the Skydio's oa and what it allows you to do, and would have agreed before that trumps everything, but come on, the Air 2's oa seems to be much improved at least when following/flying forward, to the point where it seems to actually do a better job of tracking from behind, even with a lot of obstacles. So I can't say the Skydio's oa trumps all the quite major ways the Air 2 is better.

 

[dirkclod]

Skip to around 8 minutes.

 

[Lifeisfun]

The only thing holding me back from ordering the Air 2 is DJI geofencing that stopped me many times to launch in locations where I was clearly permitted to do so.

 

[skydioconvert]

I'll say that's more to do with lighting, approach angle then anything else
[/QUO
I concur... add a high speed of approach and very small diameter wire and even the best detection system would fail.

 

[VEGASROBBI]

Active Track 1 sucked, Active Track 2 sucked....”fool me once”.

Looks like a regurgitated Mavic from the parts bin brought to you by the makers of COVID-19.

Seriously the M2 is a great drone for range, IQ... but until proven otherwise I’ll stick with the S2. My S2 is truly a launch and forget craft that has proven itself; even avoiding small branches and power lines.

IMO DJI has lost much of their talent and are not innovative anymore, rather living off past glory. This may be a fine drone but when it comes to pure optical tracking “show me”.

And like the US military concerns Skidio is not distributed by the CCP.

 

[skydioconvert]

I'm a huge fan of the Skydio's oa and what it allows you to do, and would have agreed before that trumps everything, but come on, the Air 2's oa seems to be much improved at least when following/flying forward, to the point where it seems to actually do a better job of tracking from behind, even with a lot of obstacles. So I can't say the Skydio's oa trumps all the quite major ways the Air 2 is better.

It's important not to have blinders on for either way you look at it but until more videos come out its only conjecture which OA is better.

An important point for me is also where the product is made... until DJI or Autel is clearly shown to have better OA, I'm sticking with Skydio.

 

[Lifeisfun]

It's important not to have blinders on for either way you look at it but until more videos come out its only conjecture which OA is better.

An important point for me is also where the product is made... until DJI or Autel is clearly shown to have better OA, I'm sticking with Skydio.

S2 assembled in US from parts imported from China.

Yes, also can't wait to see more actual users reviews of the Air 2.

 

[skydioconvert]

Skip to around 8 minutes.

OA capabilities ??? ... not many obstacles in the wide open spaces of the desert.

P.S. Nice sales promo for DJI though.

 

[Lifeisfun]

OA capabilities ??? ... not many obstacles in the wide open spaces of the desert.

P.S. Nice sales promo for DJI though.

There is no point in being fanboy, let's just evaluate and give credit where credit is due, only that way will move us forward .... From what I see Air 2 is miles ahead from the previous gen, with more features, better radio connection so overall better value for 90% of people at this moment.
Start on 18:52

 

[Hiflyer808]

There is no point in being fanboy, let's just evaluate and give credit where credit is due, only that way will move us forward .... From what I see Air 2 is miles ahead from the previous gen, with more features, better radio connection so overall better value for 90% of people at this moment.
Start on 18:52

Yeah, I am sensing more than a little fanboyism in Skydioconvert's replies. I go where the evidence takes me, and so yes, I will continue to look at the reviews and test videos. But from what we have so far, the oa is clearly much improved. There are several clips showing the Air 2 tracking in obstacle-rich environments and avoiding those objects well, all while flying in a less restless manner than the Skydio. It's very likely still much worse at oa than the Skydio when flying sideways, and probably much worse flying backwards, but the point is that the evidence thus far is that it's much improved, to the point of being arguably better than the Skydio in some important ways. Couple that with the huge advantage the Air 2 has in price, range, battery life, manual control, etc., and you have to be cherry picking to insist the Skydio's oa trumps everything. For certain uses and users yes, but not for most uses and users. And I say this as someone who is very excited about the possibilities that the Skydio's superb 360 degree oa offers..

 

[VEGASROBBI]

Yeah, I am sensing more than a little fanboyism in Skydioconvert's replies. I go where the evidence takes me, and so yes, I will continue to look at the reviews and test videos. But from what we have so far, the oa is clearly much improved. There are several clips showing the Air 2 tracking in obstacle-rich environments and avoiding those objects well, all while flying in a less restless manner than the Skydio. It's very likely still much worse at oa than the Skydio when flying sideways, and probably much worse flying backwards, but the point is that the evidence thus far is that it's much improved, to the point of being arguably better than the Skydio in some important ways. Couple that with the huge advantage the Air 2 has in price, range, battery life, manual control, etc., and you have to be cherry picking to insist the Skydio's oa trumps everything. For certain uses and users yes, but not for most uses and users. And I say this as someone who is very excited about the possibilities that the Skydio's superb 360 degree oa offers..

Links to the tracking videos?

 

[RemE]

Here's an example of the MA2 tracking, it's better than other Mavics, but probably not in the same class as Skydio.