Introducing.. DJI Mavic. Karma Killer at $999!

My interest in the Mavic would be for indoor flight. I have one client who wanted to measure pile volume inside a large (120'x170') building. I've been practicing flying in manual mode inside my shop and I don't think I'm ready to do that with the Solo in front of a client. I'll keep practicing, but this may be where the Mavic may be better.
 
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I an extremely pleased with my Solo, too.
But from an innovation standpoint, it's at its end, since 3DR decided to no longer follow the Arducopter route and "downgraded" to 2.4.1-6 FW what does not even leave room for modding or 3rd party enhancements to the Solo core anymore.

Karma comes with Hero 5 and therefore with potentially(!) better video performance than Mavic, but lacks of advanced capabilities and extension points, too.

Mavic contains all the nice stuff- collision avoidance, terrain follow, optical flow, optical object tracking (much better than GPS driven followme) precision landing, and so on along with a brilliant form-factor.

For me, next purchase decision is made.
 
For me, next purchase decision is made.

Although being very open to modding one or more of my Solo's makes me less concerned about 3DRs dropping development, I'll admit that matching the overall density of features of the Mavic just ain't gonna happen. And while we're pretty much stuck with the GPH4 if we want to retain full camera control, I'm not going to kid anyone that my skills are being restrained by that, I'm not that good of a photographer! :D

But I definitely see the attraction of the Karma and Mavic. In either case, but more so with the Mavic, I'd be concerned about reparability, there's just an awful lot of integration there, so if one thing goes wrong or is damaged, chances are high that it'll be a total loss. The promotional video of FPV racing it is kinda absurd - yea, you're really going to FPV race a thousand dollar drone... And while the size is great for transportation, I do question how well it'll handle wind when it comes to capturing smooth video. I could very well be wrong, but it seems to have a bit of a personality conflict - what's it's purpose? Racing drone, photography platform, highly advanced toy? Maybe they've pulled off all three in one product, and if so, I'll be very impressed.

Karma looks real nice, and is probably the obvious choice if video quality is your main concern, it's small enough, the support of the Hero 5 will ensure a longer useful life, and the detachable gimbal is great, again, if photography us your thing.

For me, my purchase decision is made too - none of the above! Solo and the Hero 4 far exceed my own capabilities, so unless that changes drastically, I'm good for at least a generation or two. I've always tried to make my equipment pay for itself, so until I start making money with these things, what I have now will serve my needs just fine. I try not to chase the latest and greatest, so if or when I'm in the market for another drone, it'll be a Karma 2 or Mavic 3 or something that's not even on the drawing board yet.
 
From a mechanical stand point, both Mavic and Karma have a short life in my opinion. Click in place arms and the associated wiring will be tested quickly. Are there any failsafe for a partially set arm? Will the lock mechanism wear or break from the dust and dirt surely to ingress into these pivots... It's like the popular/rich kids are promoting the platforms, but at the end of the day what do they know other than who supports their lifestyle from YT.

I agree compact size is appealing, but again you are giving up something(s) in return for the form factor. Neither of these first gen RTF-Folders will pass the test of time. And based on the level of Solo's user base seen here over the last year, should be interesting to watch....how people resolve those issues.

Best of luck to all, happy flying!
 
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When you do a demo for new client, would you pull out a toy like drone or a massive looking like the YUNeec H.

For company that need smaller drone, many already have custom built drone.

We use nano drone with 4k cam for indoor inspection. The drone fits in a child's hand and has guard.
 
Are any of these new drones Open Source? Like Solo..

on the gopro support community it was stated that the gopro sdk would not include Karma. DJI hasn't provided info about whether their SDK would be updated for mavic.

as far as my thoughts on mavic i think its a lot of features in a small package but you sacrifice stability and the camera for for that portibility. i think even though it has more check boxes than karma, karma still has alot to offer such as the included handheld gimbal and the ability to swap camera payloads. i think both will break into a million pieces if you look at funny though. both has that robotic gimbal movement and B-team smart shots.

until somebody else has interpolated gimbal movement, does a better multipoint cable cam and has gimbal angle presets solo is the one for me.
 
on the gopro support community it was stated that the gopro sdk would not include Karma. DJI hasn't provided info about whether their SDK would be updated for mavic.

as far as my thoughts on mavic i think its a lot of features in a small package but you sacrifice stability and the camera for for that portibility. i think even though it has more check boxes than karma, karma still has alot to offer such as the included handheld gimbal and the ability to swap camera payloads. i think both will break into a million pieces if you look at funny though. both has that robotic gimbal movement and B-team smart shots.

until somebody else has interpolated gimbal movement, does a better multipoint cable cam and has gimbal angle presets solo is the one for me.
"until somebody else has interpolated gimbal movement, does a better multipoint cable cam and has gimbal angle presets, Solo is the one for me."
You said it all brother.....
 
Naw, it's the "under laboratory conditions" specs that really matter. Performance and end product (video) is 2ndary to hype, unknowns and speculation.
 
both has that robotic gimbal movement


I recently watched someone flying a Phantom 4, and that describes the movement pretty spot on. It was really fast and responsive, but yea, the motions in the video definitely looked robotic
 
For me its all about the final image. Mavic definitely has what I'd call a softer video image that anything GoPro has put out recently. For others, the added convenience and portability will be the key. Karma was a hit with the portability (until Maivc came out) and a miss with no Follow Me mode.
 
on the gopro support community it was stated that the gopro sdk would not include Karma. DJI hasn't provided info about whether their SDK would be updated for mavic.

as far as my thoughts on mavic i think its a lot of features in a small package but you sacrifice stability and the camera for for that portibility. i think even though it has more check boxes than karma, karma still has alot to offer such as the included handheld gimbal and the ability to swap camera payloads. i think both will break into a million pieces if you look at funny though. both has that robotic gimbal movement and B-team smart shots.

until somebody else has interpolated gimbal movement, does a better multipoint cable cam and has gimbal angle presets solo is the one for me.
not sure which gopro forum you were referring to. AFAIK, 3dr has not disclosed the code for the solo/gopro firmware code, there are some hacked code to interface with canon, but convert the hacked code for gopro5 is not worth it IMHO.
 
Although being very open to modding one or more of my Solo's makes me less concerned about 3DRs dropping development, I'll admit that matching the overall density of features of the Mavic just ain't gonna happen. And while we're pretty much stuck with the GPH4 if we want to retain full camera control, I'm not going to kid anyone that my skills are being restrained by that, I'm not that good of a photographer! :D

But I definitely see the attraction of the Karma and Mavic. In either case, but more so with the Mavic, I'd be concerned about reparability, there's just an awful lot of integration there, so if one thing goes wrong or is damaged, chances are high that it'll be a total loss. The promotional video of FPV racing it is kinda absurd - yea, you're really going to FPV race a thousand dollar drone... And while the size is great for transportation, I do question how well it'll handle wind when it comes to capturing smooth video. I could very well be wrong, but it seems to have a bit of a personality conflict - what's it's purpose? Racing drone, photography platform, highly advanced toy? Maybe they've pulled off all three in one product, and if so, I'll be very impressed.

Karma looks real nice, and is probably the obvious choice if video quality is your main concern, it's small enough, the support of the Hero 5 will ensure a longer useful life, and the detachable gimbal is great, again, if photography us your thing.

For me, my purchase decision is made too - none of the above! Solo and the Hero 4 far exceed my own capabilities, so unless that changes drastically, I'm good for at least a generation or two. I've always tried to make my equipment pay for itself, so until I start making money with these things, what I have now will serve my needs just fine. I try not to chase the latest and greatest, so if or when I'm in the market for another drone, it'll be a Karma 2 or Mavic 3 or something that's not even on the drawing board yet.

If I am going to switch RTF drones it better be carrying something superior to a gopro 4 Black
else its a lateral move for me. All that fancy gadgetry does not mean a thing to me. I want that shot.

If I opt for another RTF it will most likley be the powereye
 
on the gopro support community it was stated that the gopro sdk would not include Karma. DJI hasn't provided info about whether their SDK would be updated for mavic.

as far as my thoughts on mavic i think its a lot of features in a small package but you sacrifice stability and the camera for for that portibility. i think even though it has more check boxes than karma, karma still has alot to offer such as the included handheld gimbal and the ability to swap camera payloads. i think both will break into a million pieces if you look at funny though. both has that robotic gimbal movement and B-team smart shots.

until somebody else has interpolated gimbal movement, does a better multipoint cable cam and has gimbal angle presets solo is the one for me.

SDK is coming to Mavic, they said so during the annoucnement.

Any indications that stability is sacrificed? All the hands-on preview/review has footage that looks just fine. If anything it drifts way less than Solo thanks to GLONASS and 5 obstacle/terrarin sensors. We'll see how it'l do in stroger winds.

Mavic's footage looks just fine to me, any where i Can read more about interpolated gimbal vs "robotic gimbal"?
 
SDK is coming to Mavic, they said so during the annoucnement.

Any indications that stability is sacrificed? All the hands-on preview/review has footage that looks just fine. If anything it drifts way less than Solo thanks to GLONASS and 5 obstacle/terrarin sensors. We'll see how it'l do in stroger winds.

Mavic's footage looks just fine to me, any where i Can read more about interpolated gimbal vs "robotic gimbal"?

here is the post in the gopro community. being that the sdk announcements have only been for hero5 and hero session 5, i don't see how karma will have an sdk.
API? - GOPRO SUPPORT HUB

this is what robotic movement looks like (mavic). watch when he pitches up and yaws right. starting at 1 min 18 seconds.
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Dang, so much for ease-in ease-out! Glad to hear that it's sharper than previously thought. Wondering now if their Cable cam has any ease-in ramping at all.
 
and here is a simple solo video with smooth yawing and gimbal pitch movement throughout. please don't talk about fisheye, because that's a moot point.
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here is the post in the gopro community. being that the sdk announcements have only been for hero5 and hero session 5, i don't see how karma will have an sdk.
API? - GOPRO SUPPORT HUB

this is what robotic movement looks like (mavic). watch when he pitches up and yaws right. starting at 1 min 18 seconds.
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SDK has been announced for Mavic, I dont know about Karma.

thanks for explaining...now see what your'e talking about! it's certainly distracting, it looks like one is playing a RTS video game panning around a game world. But it's only annoying in fast pans/tilts and not noticable to me during slow ones. The Mavic will come with a tripod mode which will slow the bird down to 2m/s as well as other inputs. You wont see fancy smart shots at launch but with tripod mode that's good enough, i'm almost sure with SDK someone will get cable cam/orbit in.

haha i know you said moot point but gopro on wide's fisheye is super distracting too...without a custom lens i dont even bother doing much tilt which bows the horizon.

straight out of the box even if there were no tripod mode i'd take robotic gimbal movements over fisheye camera. Fly and tilt slow and it's a non-issue for me...yet to defish gopro shots without losing resolution in 4K one has to spend good money for a reputable flat lens. Inconvenience vs cost i guess.
 
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SDK has been announced for Mavic, I dont know about Karma.

thanks for explaining...now see what your'e talking about! it's certainly distracting, it looks like one is playing a RTS video game panning around a game world. But it's only annoying in fast pans/tilts and not noticable to me during slow ones. The Mavic will come with a tripod mode which will slow the bird down to 2m/s as well as other inputs. You wont see fancy smart shots at launch but with tripod mode that's good enough, i'm almost sure with SDK someone will get cable cam/orbit in.

haha i know you said moot point but gopro on wide's fisheye is super distracting too...without a custom lens i dont even bother doing much tilt which bows the horizon.

straight out of the box even if there were no tripod mode i'd take robotic gimbal movements over fisheye camera. Fly and tilt slow and it's a non-issue for me...yet to defish gopro shots without losing resolution in 4K one has to spend good money for a reputable flat lens. Inconvenience vs cost i guess.

i have 3.8mm lens and only paid $50 for it. anywhoo, here is a non-fisheye video for those that hate fisheye
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In the past month I have purchased three extra Solo/Gimbal packages, one extra GPB4, and in the first minutes after release, pre-ordered the Mavic.

I see a great potential complementing of these products on the job—Solo for cinematic macro aerials, and Mavic for in-close and indoor work, where size, and lack of GPS are considerations. What got me to pull the trigger and so quickly on Mavic (my first DJI product) was the manual focusing lens, which I believe may have an advantage over fixed-focus lens cameras for photographing subjects from short distances.
 

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