DJI Avata is my favorite drone for people who want it to fly not just the movie. The starter kit comes with a stick and goggles, allowing you to enjoy first-person views from the sky to your heart’s content. But you might not want to buy a more original Avata – because the newly announced DJI Avata 2 looks better for hundreds of dollars less.
After weeks of leaks, DJI is finally revealing the Avata 2, and we’ve been playing with it for a few days now. It looks better, flies better, lasts longer, and best of all, the go-to kit with goggles and controller starts at just $999 – down from the $1,388 you’d pay for the OG, or the $1,278 you’d pay for the original DJI kit. Glasses for a slightly cheaper and more comfortable model. You can also buy the new drone a la carte for $489, down from the $629 DJI charged for the original.
There are too many changes to cover here, and admittedly not all as impressive as we’d hoped based on the leaks. The overall story looks great: a bigger 1/1.3-inch camera sensor with bigger pixels to capture more light (DJI estimates two more stops of dynamic range), four more minutes of battery life (23 minutes), five more degrees of gimbal yaw (minus 85 degrees to 80 degrees) and three more kilometers of maximum range (13 km), all in a flatter, more aerodynamic package that weighs 28 grams less than its predecessor (now 377 g in flight).
While the original Avata always felt a little top and front heavy, my colleague Vjeran Pavic already finds the Avata 2’s 16mm shorter and 32mm wider frame to be more stable in the air, even though he has three new models. -vane propellers offer the same high speed. While it still lacks forward collision sensors, it now has rearward collision avoidance.
Meanwhile, the new DJI Goggles 3 – which lets you see through the eyes of the drone while flying – now has a built-in battery and GPS, meaning no more dangling battery packs and phone connections are required for the Remote ID.
The dual 1080p, 700nit micro-OLED headset now has an hour longer battery life than the original, a “one-touch de-fog feature” that spins fans to clean up condensation, two extra antennas and a new sync algorithm that DJI claims is smoother and more stable video transmission and a maximum video bit rate of 60Mbps, although the frame rate is still above 100 fps.
The new Goggles 3 also have a pair of outward-facing cameras that give you 2D or 3D panning vision, so in theory you don’t have to take them out to look around, but in practice it’s a 44-degree field of view. dar my colleague Vjeran found himself lifting off the glasses only instead.
He also tells me that the new DJI RC Motion 3, the bundled motion controller, has been scaled down so much that it looks a bit like a toy, and we agree that it’s a little odd that the record button is slid so far down. side from the grip, under your middle finger.
But it also includes an R/C car-like two-stage trigger and a nifty new dial that lets you choose pre-programmed 360-degree flips, rolls, or 180-degree pans with the flick of a joystick. These camera moves are always the same, and Vjeran thinks they’ll get old quickly, but they’re a neat addition.
More practically, the Avata 2 now has 46GB of internal video storage, twice as much as the previous generation, and you may not need to mess with a microSD card enough. DJI says it will capture 90 minutes of 1080p60 video (or 45 minutes at 4K60). The drone’s built-in Wi-Fi now lets you download footage directly to phones at 30MB/s or share the live stream to your phone, and you can now connect your own 65W USB-C PD charger directly to the drone for charging. with the battery inside.
Unfortunately, the drone isn’t compatible with older batteries or controllers, and DJI notes that if you fly at a maximum speed of 27 meters per second (60 mph) in manual mode, you can technically drain a battery in three minutes. There’s still no 24fps shooting mode or vertical shooting; You get 4K, 2.7K and 1080p in 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratios. Here is the full list:
4K (4:3) 3840×2880 @60/50/30fps
4K (16:9) 3840×2160 @60/50/30fps
2.7K (4:3) 2688×2016 @60/50/30fps
2.7K (16:9) 2688×1512 @120/100/60/50/30fps
1080p (4:3) 1440×1080 @120/100/60/50/30fps
1080p (16:9) 1920×1080 @120/100/60/50/30fps
Not you need Avata will now fly with DJI’s Goggles 3 – the company has also made its Goggles 2, Goggles Integra and this new Goggles 3 and RC Motion 3 compatible with the DJI Air 3 and Mini 4 Pro. But these drones cost more than that, and with narrower fields of view: they’re not designed to let you fly in the first person.
Avata 2 is available today; The $999 kit comes with DJI Goggles 3 and RC Motion 3; The $1,199 also comes with two extra batteries, a sling bag, and a charging hub that can transfer power from multiple batteries to the one with the highest charge level. The stick-based controller is sold separately for $199, the RC Motion 3 for $99, and the ND filter kit for $79.