Skydio killer?

[Lifeisfun]

Sad to say no.... I'm in the 3rd production lot originally scheduled for an April thru June shipment.

Keep checking my emails to make sure I don't miss when Skydio ramps up production again

Can't wait for you to get it, perhaps then you will see our concerns, and ideas what could be better.
I hope mine will not in mean time do the submarine attempt I seen happen before ??

 

[VEGASROBBI]

Why would you ignore the overall package everyone else is discussing here puzzles me
This does NOT help Skydio in any way to be the best.

That’s the heart of the matter; if flight time, range.... are important to you the Air 2 is a excellent option.

As discussed countless times if tracking is important to you Skydio 2 rules. In no way is the A2 a Skydio 2 killer, not even close.

If the above video is representative of tracking performance the S2 is orders of magnitude better. The A2 has no top or side sensors, not even GPS positioning. The A2 could not even follow from the side.

A few things I learned with my S2. Use Fixed Track, Motion Track is less stable. At speed the S2 will increase altitude and choose to go over objects rather than below or around.

I own more DJI birds than any other brand, no one disputes they are capable and quality drones. But when it comes to tracking they are a fail.

I remember when Active Track 2 came out it was going to be a big improvement so I purchased an M2, it was a fail. Interesting DJI has completely revamped APAS in AT3 acknowledging the failure of the prior version. If DJI would add GPS to tracking like Parrot, Skydio and others they would have a better shot; however, without the on board processors and additional 4K cameras Active Track will remain a amateur feature, buy a S2 and A2 if you want it all.

 

[skydioconvert]

Can't wait for you to get it, perhaps then you will see our concerns, and ideas what could be better.
I hope mine will not in mean time do the submarine attempt I seen happen before ??

Every one is looking for perfection and that's never going to happen.

The Chinese and Americans are in a winner take all contest when it comes to "machine learning" and the latter is always going to have my full support.

I'm betting on-going firmware updates will let the S2 keep its lead and get better and better.

 

[Lifeisfun]

Every one is looking for perfection and that's never going to happen.

The Chinese and Americans are in a winner take all contest when it comes to "machine learning" and the latter is always going to have my full support.

I'm betting on-going firmware updates will let the S2 keep its lead and get better and better.

I hope you are right!
Let's hope they will not end up with head in the sand

 

[skydioconvert]

Deleted ... duplicate post

 

[Hiflyer808]

I would argue that while the D C Rainmaker tracking comparison video (the best we have so far) illustrates that the S2 oa is indeed "orders of magnitude" better than the Air 2's apas 3.0 oa, it does NOT illustrate that the OVERALL tracking/oa performance is that much better. For example, as has been seen in many other videos, at one point the S2 makes a strange decision as to how to get through a relatively tight spot, and gets hung up. Meanwhile the Air 2 gets through it smoothly. And at at least one other point the S2 gets "too clever" and opts to follow from the side of an avenue of trees rather than from in between them as the Air 2 does. And finally, although this has been shown better in other videos, with the S2 the subject veers close to the edge of the frame a number of times while the Air 2 keeps it more centered. The S2 is far, far better at tracking and oa at high speeds and flying backwards or sideways, obviously. But from behind at slow to medium speeds, even in a fairly obstacle-rich environment the Air 2 is arguably better overall and certainly in the same ballpark. And as seen in other videos the Air 2 and other drones are also better at tracking from beyond a certain distance.

So again I say, if tracking is your main thing, the S2 is for you. And it does other things well enough that it is a great all-around drone too. Indeed, earlier I would have said it is the best all-around drone for the money. But now with the Air 2 doing so many things so much better than the S2 (range, flight time, full manual control, night flying, etc.) for less money, while also not being that far behind the S2 in OVERALL tracking/oa performance, I don't think it's reasonable any more to claim that the S2's oa trumps everything. Based on the the evidence so far, the Air 2 is right now the best genera-purpose drone available, bang for buck. If the M2 Pro or Zoom add apas 3.0, or the S2 solves its issues with weird tracking decisions and such or does something like dramatically improve range, that could change. But for now the Air 2 is king.

 

[Lifeisfun]

I would argue that while the D C Rainmaker tracking comparison video (the best we have so far) illustrates that the S2 oa is indeed "orders of magnitude" better than the Air 2's apas 3.0 oa, it does NOT illustrate that the OVERALL tracking/oa performance is that much better. For example, as has been seen in many other videos, at one point the S2 makes a strange decision as to how to get through a relatively tight spot, and gets hung up. Meanwhile the Air 2 gets through it smoothly. And at at least one other point the S2 gets "too clever" and opts to follow from the side of an avenue of trees rather than from in between them as the Air 2 does. And finally, although this has been shown better in other videos, with the S2 the subject veers close to the edge of the frame a number of times while the Air 2 keeps it more centered. The S2 is far, far better at tracking and oa at high speeds and flying backwards or sideways, obviously. But from behind at slow to medium speeds, even in a fairly obstacle-rich environment the Air 2 is arguably better overall and certainly in the same ballpark. And as seen in other videos the Air 2 and other drones are also better at tracking from beyond a certain distance.

So again I say, if tracking is your main thing, the S2 is for you. And it does other things well enough that it is a great all-around drone too. Indeed, earlier I would have said it is the best all-around drone for the money. But now with the Air 2 doing so many things so much better than the S2 (range, flight time, full manual control, night flying, etc.) for less money, while also not being that far behind the S2 in OVERALL tracking/oa performance, I don't think it's reasonable any more to claim that the S2's oa trumps everything. Based on the the evidence so far, the Air 2 is right now the best genera-purpose drone available, bang for buck. If the M2 Pro or Zoom add apas 3.0, or the S2 solves its issues with weird tracking decisions and such or does something like dramatically improve range, that could change. But for now the Air 2 is king.

In before you will be called Skydio hater ???

 

[Bill Davison]

I do understand how it works, my point was that I got spots where I get the S2 stuck every time and it doesn't learn a thing not to go that way and you have no control over it.
There is plenty of space around it but it always will choose the wrong approach. Same was noticed by the reviewer in the video above. So I doubt there is any learning "on the job" involved as claimed by skydioconvert.


Once again my posts are to improve the S2 not to bash it. To say there is nothing better, and that the S2 is flawless would be disservice to the company, and same dishonesty like all drone manufacturers claims about range ??

I see your point related to ML. Don't think SD2 is ready for the Turing Test, but ML would have to identify the point at which it chose a deadend path, return to a previous point and then reject particular option in favor of a different path on the next attempt. If any commercial drone at this price point had the horsepower to do it, SD2 might. I wonder if tonight's live press conference by the CEO will address machine learning.

 

[RemE]

Discussions are good but touting comparable tracking and OA capabilities when they don't exist is really misleading.

What you consider important is not what everyone else might consider important...

I own a bunch of DJI craft and also the Skydio2. Each has strong points;

The S2 smokes anything that DJI offers in terms for autonomous following, and the Beacon is stellar.

The Mavic2's and MA2 have vastly superior features like range and duration, still camera modes like automatic Panoramas and Sphere, Optical Zoom (M2Z), Hyperlapse, and awesome night flying with landing light assist that is so solid it's uncanny.

So each tool has its use.

 

[OldBlueHeron]

I see your point related to ML. Don't think SD2 is ready for the Turing Test, but ML would have to identify the point at which it chose a deadend path, return to a previous point and then reject particular option in favor of a different path on the next attempt. If any commercial drone at this price point had the horsepower to do it, SD2 might. I wonder if tonight's live press conference by the CEO will address machine learning.

Dobo should be interesting tonight...

 

[Lifeisfun]

Dobo should be interesting tonight...

Yup, unfortunately past my bed time, but can't wait to watch it tomorrow.

 

[Ridefreak]

Looks like DJI is trying to catch up with the S2 in terms of tracking and OA but like the reviewer says the S2 is still superior.

The need to always use the controller and lack of top sensor are shortcomings I'm surprised DJI couldn't get around.

P.S. From my perspective the S2 also has a cleaner screen presence and ability to maintain closeness to the target.

That shows nether are perfect drones and that DJI has progressed allot in their follow capability and some in their OA. It's far better than it earlier mavics. Probably good enough for allot of users. What's pretty obvious is the SD2 processes allot more OA data then the Mavic does, to me that's to be expected, the focus isn't the same between the two companies. OA is a data hog, SD2 has a very high end processor to handle 7 4K cameras, Unless DJI decides to up the game with their processor it's going to be limit the speed it can follow. The OA computing engine in the SD2 is fast enough to allow it to do at 30mph what the Mavic does @ 20. There's allot of other features that go along with the mavic so to me it's a big improvement in their product. I really haven't checked out the camera reviews yet but I suspect it'll take nice video, most of the DJI drones do.

For me it's still not there yet but my use isn't like the average user. I use the beacon all the time and a controller won't work for me 99% of the time. If I was an average user I'd have to think real hard between the two. I really don't consider it an active sports drone but I don't think that was DJIs focus.

Competition benefits all of us and I think we're seeing a little of that in the new mavic.

 

[Hiflyer808]

That shows nether are perfect drones and that DJI has progressed allot in their follow capability and some in their OA. It's far better than it earlier mavics. Probably good enough for allot of users. What's pretty obvious is the SD2 processes allot more OA data then the Mavic does, to me that's to be expected, the focus isn't the same between the two companies. OA is a data hog, SD2 has a very high end processor to handle 7 4K cameras, Unless DJI decides to up the game with their processor it's going to be limit the speed it can follow. The OA computing engine in the SD2 is fast enough to allow it to do at 30mph what the Mavic does @ 20. There's allot of other features that go along with the mavic so to me it's a big improvement in their product. I really haven't checked out the camera reviews yet but I suspect it'll take nice video, most of the DJI drones do.

For me it's still not there yet but my use isn't like the average user. I use the beacon all the time and a controller won't work for me 99% of the time. If I was an average user I'd have to think real hard between the two. I really don't consider it an active sports drone but I don't think that was DJIs focus.

Competition benefits all of us and I think we're seeing a little of that in the new mavic.

Agreed. For your uses the S2 is great. I wish the Air 2 could track better from in front; that's the main thing I'd miss from choosing the Air over the S2. Still worth it for me for all the other things. Almost 90 minutes of flight time without recharging for 1k!

 

[funonfly]

Call and raise...

This was a malfunction of one particular drone. Skydio admits this and replaced the unit .

 

[funonfly]

Looks like DJI is trying to catch up with the S2 in terms of tracking and OA but like the reviewer says the S2 is still superior.

The need to always use the controller and lack of top sensor are shortcomings I'm surprised DJI couldn't get around.

P.S. From my perspective the S2 also has a cleaner screen presence and ability to maintain closeness to the target.

And the Mavic Air 2 hits a large sign and a tree...

 

[Lifeisfun]

This was a malfunction of one particular drone. Skydio admits this and replaced the unit .

I guess you didn't see the other water swimming sessions

 

[funonfly]

I guess you didn't see the other water swimming sessions

No Any links ?
Only my close encounter with a tree...

 

[Lifeisfun]

No Any links ?
Only my close encounter with a tree...

YT link was posted about a month ago in one of the FB S2 groups. I believe that guy was on his second replacement both due to crash.

 

[Ridefreak]

I guess you didn't see the other water swimming sessions

I did see some of the water crashes, I also saw and read about quite a few Mavics flying off when they lost contact. Almost any new product of this level of electronic sophistication will have some bugs, DJI has had them when they made a significant technology changes also. At this point the Mavic is a pretty stable platform, it should be since they're had multiple revisions since it was introduced and the changes are mostly refinements to what it's already designed to do. Typical product development.

Comparing the two in that regard is comparing a gen 1 product to a gen 4 or 5 product.

 

[Ridefreak]

YT link was posted about a month ago in one of the FB S2 groups. I believe that guy was on his second replacement both due to crash.

With no accurate details on what occurred that's not even worth mentioning, means nothing. I've crashed mine into a tree, after reviewing the video it hit exactly what SD warns the users about. A thin stick like branch in it's way while traveling at high speed up a steep hill. All of us know how to put our drones in risky situations. Some fliers don't realize they're in a risky situation or ignore the warnings. Even then many will still try to get a free repair or replacement and ***** publically when its not provided or to their satisfaction. Rarely will you read in a forum of someone crashing a SD2 and admitting it was their fault. SD has replaced or repaired quite a few drones to appease people with public presence just to avoid that kind of stuff, there's at least one of those on here.

There's allot of SD users on here flying a lot of hours and crashes caused by a system failure on the SD2 are very rare, crashes of any type on here are rare. Some of us crash them but realize we put the drone in a risky situation that we were warned about. Mine has hit the ground twice, both were my fault and the drone was no worse for wear. If it wasn't I wouldn't be asking for a replacement.