New Drone: DJI Mavic Air 2 or Air 2S?

Gahan Haskins · Nov 19, 2021

I am a Location Manager/Scout in Film & TV and I use my drone for Scouting. My beginner Spark collided with a tree and is dead.

Question: For owners of these drones, is there much difference between them aside from the Sensor size? I usually don't need to show super hi-rez photos.

I am not even necessarily against the Mavic Mini but the small size is not helpful to me for safe flight ops.

Any love hate/stories? Any non DJI alternatives?

FYI, I would prefer a US Drone but my budget is tight and I want to get a new drone and keep flying.

All feedback welcomed.

MavicAir2Marc · Nov 20, 2021

MA2 is a good drone for your need. If the sensor size is not an issue, There aren't many differences between that and the Air 2S aircraft-wise. I can attest to the wind stability of the Air 2 having flown in 20-30mph gusting winds before. Hope this helps.

itallica · Nov 21, 2021

Had both... currently fly the 2s - one advantage of the Air2 is that you can use litchi and other apps for mapping/scouting...
Air2s SDK is STILL not available.

Aircraft are pretty much identical and fly the same, good handling in the wind, etc.

Noticeable difference in image quality for obvious reasons. Owned the minis, I LOVE flying them, don't care for the whole propeller thing. My big old hands don't do well with those tiny screws.

If there is anything I can ever do for you in SE SoDak, NW Iowa, NE Nebraska, let me know. 40 years at a PBS/NPR affiliate next year. Got a good handle on broadcast.

Gahan Haskins · Nov 21, 2021

This is great feedback I am learning. I haver no idea what litchi is but I see that forward compatibility is always an issue.

cneedelman · Dec 26, 2021

Gahan Haskins said:
This is great feedback I am learning. I haver no idea what litchi is but I see that forward compatibility is always an issue.

Litchi is 3rd party software that allows you to fly waypoint missions. It does a lot of what the DJI software does and you use it in place of the DJI software to fly your drone.

Gahan Haskins · Jan 3, 2022

I bought the AIR2S. Price was about the max I wanted to spend. seems like good Image quality for the money.
I have watched many of the comparison videos and know it would be a matter of which feature was most important and which limitations I can live with. So far the Drone is still in the box; too cold to fly it now. Thank you all for advice.