Mavic Air 2 vs Mavic Mini vs Mavic Air 1 (Complete table comparison)

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DJI
MAVIC MINI
  • 30 min
  • 2.7k cam
  • 4km range
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mavic-air-2-transparent-thumbnail
Mavic
Air 2
  • 34 min
  • 4k 60p
  • 10 km range
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DJI
MAVIC AIR
  • 20 min
  • 4k camera
  • 4km range
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DJI Mavic Air 2 Vs Mavic Air Vs Mavic Mini (Ultimate comparison)

Took me a few days, but I finally have it: Mavic Air 2 vs Mavic Mini vs Mavic Air, a complete table comparison between these three (and much more).

With the release of the new Mavic Air 2 I must say it's really hard for the other mavics to compete, especially thanks to its great price.

The comparison between the Mavic Air 2 and Mavic Air 1 might seem irrelevant, but don't forget that DJI just made the original Mavic Air cheaper.

The Mavic Mini is also a drone in a price and weight category where it has no competitors. 

That's why in this article I'm going to help you find which one is the best for you until the end.

We'll go through each and every part you might want to know about all these drones in particular: from battery life to camera comparison, range and every other spec possible.

Contents
Mavic-Air-2-vs-Mavic-Mini-vs-Mavic-Air-1-vs-Mavic-2-spec-comparison-table-dronesgator

Battery life Comparison

battery-life-comparison-chart-mavic-mini-vs-spark-vs-air-vs-air-2-vs-mavic-pro-vs-mavic-2

Winner Mavic Air 2

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Second Place Mavic 2

dji-mavic-2-thumbnail
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The new Mavic Air 2 tipped the scales considerably when it comes to drone battery life.
Even if just a few years ago, the 16 minutes of the DJI Spark seemed like enough, 2020 came with a record in terms of battery life between the Mavic series.
 

The Mavic 2 Pro was the king so far, and still isn't far off, but with the improvements of the Mavic Air 2 and considering the Air 2 is still cheaper than the high-end DJI drones, it's a no-brainer to buy.

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Noise levels compared( How silent is the Mavic Air 2?)

You might be wondering how silent is the new DJI Mavic Air 2 and if it can get more silent than the already great sounding Mavics of the last DJI generation.
The answer is: yes it can.
 

How many decibels does the Mavic Air 2 have?

I have measured both the Mavic mini and the Mavic Air 2 to have 64 decibels on average when nearby.

The new Mavic Air 2 comes with silent propellers, just like the latest releases from DJI and the sound it makes is low pitched and very silent compared to anything I've heard before.

The difference in terms of sound level and pitch (how annoying the sound is) between the Mavic Air and the new Mavic Air 2 is collosal.

 

noise-levels-dji-mavic-mini-vs-spark-vs-air-vs-air-2-vs-pro-vs-pro-2
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Range ( Is there any difference in Europe?)

Winner Mavic Air 2

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Second Place Mavic 2

dji-mavic-2-thumbnail
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What's the difference between wifi and occusync 2.0?

As you could see in the big table at the beginning of the article, the new Mavic Air 2 uses Occusyinc 2.0, along with the other mavics from the professional line.


The older Mavic Air only used wifi technology which limits the range to a maximum of 4km in this case, but it's even worse if we take into account using the drone in a highly populated area.

If you want to fly your Mavic Mini or Mavic Air in a city, good luck with that. Wifi interference from the city will mess up your signal and you will be able to fly no more than a few hundred meters before getting your feed interrupted.

However, the Occusync 2.0 is a different transmission protocol from wifi and reaches much further and isn't that badly influenced by local city wifi.

What is the range in Europe for Mavic and why does it differ?

The “CE” range you'll see in the specs is what you'll get if you decide to buy your drone from Europe, as it's illegal to fly in any other protocol.
Basically FCC stands for  Federal Communication Commission that regulates electronic products sold in the USA.
While CE stands for Consumer electronics and is a standard certification for consumer electronics.
Under each of these area certifications, DJI is obliged to produce drones that are limited to a certain transmission frequency, and therefore the difference in range.
 
The Mavic Air 2, however, doesn't really have any issue in my opinion compared to others on the table (just look at the DJI Spark). It can fly up to 6 km even in the European Union, so I wouldn't worry too much about that.
 
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Camera (Footage and Photos Compared)

Considering the price difference, I wouldn't compare the Mavic Air 2 with the Mini yet, however, the Mavic 2 Pro is another beast alltogether.

I will compare the Mavic Mini to the Mavic Air 2 soon, subscribe to my channel on youtube to get notified when I do that.

The big battle happens between the Mavic Air 2 and the Mavic 2 Pro, since the cheaper one does have the higher bitrate and the more MP in the camera, which might seem strange. 

 

But that's not the entire story.

Bitrate-mavic-mini-vs-spark-vs-air-vs-mavic-air-air-2-vs-pro-vs-pro-2

What is bitrate and why is it important?

Bitrate is basically the amount of information that gets processed by a camera in a certain interval of time.
 
The bigger the bitrate, the more details the photo can contain.
 
For a perspective, the DJI Spark had 24Mbps, whil the Mavic mini comes with 40Mbps and the New Mavic Mavic Air 2 comes with a record breaking 120 Mbps, 20 more than even the Pro version of the magic 2.

Video samples compared side by side ( Mavic Air 2 vs Mavic 2 Pro)

I applaud the guys at Moment for taking their time to make a great comparison before I could.

We're currently going to compare the zommed in footage of the Mavic Air 2 and the Mavi 2 Pro, and after that we're taking some photos and comparing those.

mavic-air-2-vs-mav-2-pro-shot-comparison
mavic-2-pro-vs-mavic-air-2-video-sample

These images are zoomed in quite a lot for you to see the differences and are shot in standard modes, without any color changes.

Images compared side by side ( Mavic Air 2 vs vs Mavic 2 pro Photos)

Is the new SmartPhoto function of the Air 2 useful?

The SmartPhoto function seems to be much more than simply an automatic exposure setting. It can detect certain elements in the shot and compensate with exposure values so it makes sure nothing is under or over-exposed.

mavic air 2 smart photo

Does HDR make any difference?

The Mavic Air 2 can turn HDR on for both photos and video and can allow you to capture more details in photos with more extreme lighting conditions. As you can see in the example bellow, it corrected for the darker spots, making them lighter as well as for the harsh lighting in the sky, making for a much more detailed landscape.

hdr on and off
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Mavic Air 2 Tracking and obstacle avoidance

It's clear as day that the Mavic Air 2 and the new Active Track 3.0 system is the best of everything DJI gave us so far in terms of tracking.

The obstacle avoidance won't be as multidirectional as the one on the Mavic 2 PRO, that has sensors in basically every direction, but certainly smarter.
 
Is the New Mavic Air 2 a better follow me drone than the Skydio 2?
 
It certainly has the potential to be, as I've seen an incredible display of agility and obstacle detection in this video compared to the Skydio 2, which is the undeniable king of follow me drones.
In what scenarios is obstacle avoidance useful?
 
  • When you're using things like follow me or other flight modes.
  • Flying backwards for a shot
  • Return to home ( it's better for the drone to stop there and you get it later than simply crashing into something)
  • Cables ( these are harder to see sometimes but the obstacle sensors detect them)
  • flying while looking down ( this means you can't see what's in front of you so it makes it a little more dangerous

Weight - Is it worth upgrading from the Mini to the Air 2?

Has the Mavic Mini become irrelevant after the release of the new Mavic Air 2?

Definitely not!

I would say it completes the Mavic lineup just perfectly, as the size and price difference between the two is considerable.

On one hand, you'll need to register the Mavic Air 2 in most countries, because it's even over 500g, on the other hand, the Mavic Mini is even more portable than the Air 2 and can be easily carried in super small luggage around the world.

An advantage of bigger size however is that it looks more professional and deals better with wind. So you decide what's best for you in this case.

mini vs mavic air vs ifmi x8 weight difference

Can these drones be flown inside?

There's no doubt that the Mavic Mini is still the best drone that can be flown indoors, even though the new Mavic Air 2 can be just as stable.
 
The prop guards of the magic mini are much more protective compared to any other in the series.
 
While the original magic air is slightly smaller than the new improved version, it's still not exactly made for indoors flight. Same goes for the Air 2.
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Transmitters and mobile apps

The transmitters of all the mavics so far have been barely changed, besides adding a small screen for telemetry.
Everything changed with the Mavic Air 2, as it comes with a simple yet big controller.
 
Some People like it, some don't. I personally do and here's why I think it's better:
  1. Better grip by default
  2. No need to unfold the antennas and bottom parts.
  3. Much easier to stick the phone in the top compartment.
  4. No more cable issues (it fixes right on the side)
  5. Twice the battery life (which is absolutely great)

Does the Mavic Air 2 come with a pause button?

Unfortunately, unlike the previous models, the new Mavic Air 2 doesn't have a pause button, which can be a bit of a downside.

Let me explain why:

It's mainly used for stopping any automatic flight mode in case you detect any problems. And considering the drone doesn't have side sensors, I don't want to see what happens if you're not fast enough to use the app to stop it while a circle shot goes towards a tree and you panic, lol.

What about flight modes?

mavic air 2 flight modes
The Mavic Air 2 comes with the usual flight modes of DJI drones, and this time around, compared to the Mavic Mini, it also has Active Tracking, and a really good one at that.
I would say it's the definitive winner when it comes to flight modes in the Mavic lineup so far.
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Which drone Do I recommend and for who?

1.Mavic Air 2

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  • My top recommendation in 2020
  • Great for Pro Photography
  • Perfect for Slow Motion 4k
  • Great for Weddings and events
  • Great for travel and vlogs

2.Mavic Mini

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  • Best drone for Travel
  • No need to register
  • For people with a lower budget looking just for fun
  • As a backup to the other two drones (for professionals)

1.Mavic 2 Pro

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  • For pros shooting in low light
  • For complex sideways obstacle avoidance
  • For Pro Photography
  • Night time photography
  • Events filming and presentation videos

How do you make money with your drone, though?

Okay, so you got your new and fancy drone, but how do you stand out from any dad out there who has the same drone and watched some tutorials online?

I did exactly that and barely had any success. 

But now I’m charging 5x as much as before and even have to refuse clients from time to time.

I even bought about 7 online courses… and I didn’t make much progress.

So how did I finally make it to this level?

If you want the short answer, I learned everything from this guy Alex, who’s making $200 per hour with his drone. And he’s even teaching exactly how to do that.

This is pretty much what you need to know:

how-to-make-money-with-drones

1. Make sure you have a proper drone.

If you have any of the latest DJI Drones, like the Mavic Air 2, for example, you’re ready to start making money.

No need to overthink this, but if it’s any help, check this comparison of the best camera drones compared in 2020.

types of drones

2.Learn how to create the best content to stand out

You won’t stand out from the next dad who bought a DJI drone for Cristmass in the eyes of your clients if you don’t do this.

It’s WAY more important to know what you’re doing than the gear you have.

You’ll need to learn and master the following:

  1.  
  • Flying your drone(to stand out from people with basic drone shots)
  • Preparing for the flight and weather in advance
  • Learn the best drone settings (you need a proper setup template)
  • Create the Video Script (it's way easier if you know what to shoot)
  • Have a set of great cinematic shots you know how to do
  • Know how to edit the video so it stands out
  • Learn how to color grade

This is why you HAVE to invest in a proper way to learn things (instead of watching tutorials here and there).

3.Find clients that pay 5x more than regular

But not so fast.

You won’t make a penny if you don’t know how to find your clients.

I have struggled finding clients even when my videos were getting pretty good.

Until I learned a few tricks and how to find and approach them so they won’t be able to say no.

And what’s best, I learned how to get the price I asked for.

How can you do the same?

I have tested quite a few courses online and watched tons of videos on youtube, but frankly, I have learned more from one single course than from everything else… and all that in like a weekend.

Made back the money from this investment in myself in a single week and then much more.

 

How do I learn all of this? From youtube?

You could simply go online and learn everything in terms of video from youtube, forums, facebook groups etc.

However, let me tell you, it’s the worst way to learn all of this(and the slowest).

You won’t have a Complete Step By step guide on how to do everything.

I found myself frustrated, even after I learned how to do most of the video stuff that I still lacked some knowledge and I didn’t know why my shots weren’t standing out.

I got some general promotion ideas from some articles online, but again… I didn’t have much success and was charging too little for my time.

This is exactly where I learned how to make $200 per hour with my drone (From A to Z)

This course is hold by Alex Harris, who’s an international video creator, director, and drone operator with tons of experience.

And I had a great time stealing his know-how(and greatly profited from it, lol).

I recommend you watch his video presentation bellow and check out the course sales page. It’s quite cheap, considering you’re getting 320+ minutes of everything you need to know, step by step and 80+ minutes on how to actually find the ideal clients for you.

Click Here to Get $50 off the course

I'm a big drone enthusiast, the owner of DronesGator.com and I also make weekly videos on my drone YouTube channel.

7 Comments
  1. Reply
    Anonymous April 29, 2020 at 10:24 pm

    VERY well done!!!

    • Reply
      Richard Galvan Jr April 30, 2020 at 2:29 pm

      Yeah but you have to have your remote always now Maverick air you can also use hand gestures you cannot with the new one

  2. Reply
    Anonymous April 29, 2020 at 11:05 pm

    Superb comparison! Best on the internet!

  3. Reply
    Anonymous May 3, 2020 at 3:25 am

    Really looking forward to your Mavic Mini Mavic Air 2 stills comparison 12MP and 48MP. Great review!

    Leave a reply

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