We Want It!

After a couple of teasers earlier in the month and the leaks before its launch, DJI finally pulled the wraps off its newest drone — the DJI Mavic Air. The $799 UAV seems to have drummed up a ton of hype and we’re pretty psyched about it too. We have yet to try out the device ourselves, but we’ve already come up with several reasons why it’s made our wishlist this early in the year.

More Shooting Options

Before all the teasers released by DJI, I was personally trying to justify buying a Spark. It was and still remains to be a capable device but many, myself included, were left craving for the 4K goodness that the Mavic Pro was able to deliver. With the newly released Mavic Air, you’re getting the same 4K video at 30fps that the Pro has, plus you can shoot 120fps at 1080p for gorgeous slow-motion footage too.

We definitely advise you to check out Casey Neistat’s comparison between DJI Mavic Air, Mavic Pro, Spark, and the Phantom 4 Obsidian if you haven’t yet.

Smaller than the Spark

One thing that I absolutely loved about the Spark was its size. You could pretty much throw the carrying case of the drone into any backpack and still have room for the rest of your gadgets. The Mavic Air is even smaller than the Spark folded up with its carrying case at least 1/3 of its width as well. We’ve even seen Casey Neistat stuff the drone in the pocket of his gym shorts. It’s that tiny!

Good Flight Times

The Mavic Pro Platinum can stay in the air for 30 minutes and the Spark can last for up to 16 minutes up in the air. Despite its smaller size and the extra juice it needs to shoot footage in 4K, the Mavic Air can last up to 21 minutes if the conditions are just right. This should be enough time for you to go through a decent sized shot list if your flights carefully.

It Already Comes with a Remote

One of our biggest gripes with the Spark was that its standard package didn’t come with a remote, which severely limited its range since it’s tethered to your phone. Thankfully, you’re already getting a remote out of the box with the Mavic Air’s standard package so you can take it out farther. Just make sure you maintain Line of Sight with your drone, should anything unfortunate happen.

Great Value for Money

If it’s your first time owning a drone or you aren’t comfortable dropping a little over Php 40,000 on the Mavic Air then, by all means, consider the Spark. You can get one for $100 less right now on DJI’s website and the price of the Fly More Combo has been knocked down from $853 to $599 (about Php 30k) as well but if you’re more experienced and looking for the ability to shoot 4K with performance that’s comparable to its bigger brother then the Mavic Air gives your pretty good value for money given the Fly More Combo is the price of a standard Mavic Pro package at $999 or just above Php 50k.

Again, this is all based on what we’ve seen in videos and what we’ve read so far but we may just change our tune when we get our hands on the actual unit when it does arrive in the Philippines. We also do not have word for its official price tag for the country or have not been advised whether the Spark is getting a price cut as well. We’ll definitely keep an eye out though.