Potential Drone Owner Here!

[Thefojizzle]

CIAO Everyone,
I received a Costco bundle Mavic Air from my wife for Xmas. However, I wasn’t sold on getting a drone due to
All the threads I read about people losing/crashing/software issues. So i returned it without even opening the box. Then I saw the Anafi!! So now I’m even more torn! Please sell me on the Anafi!!! I’m so confused! Thanks in advance. Ps I travel a ton so these two drones would have to be my choices.
Joshua

 

[joshmentele]

CIAO Everyone,
I received a Costco bundle Mavic Air from my wife for Xmas. However, I wasn’t sold on getting a drone due to
All the threads I read about people losing/crashing/software issues. So i returned it without even opening the box. Then I saw the Anafi!! So now I’m even more torn! Please sell me on the Anafi!!! I’m so confused! Thanks in advance. Ps I travel a ton so these two drones would have to be my choices.
Joshua

Anafi is cheaper (549 rather than 799), it has zoom, longer flight time.

The Air is better quality and has obstacle avoidance.

 

[CraigCam]

The air is for adventure and action more than the Anafi as it’s more of a photographers drone. There are so many choices in camera drones these days it is difficult to make a choice and not suffer some regret. The absence of any sensors for collision avoidance requires confident piloting and maintaining a visual line of sight. The DJI camp is often over zealous in their praise of their product but it’s got the market share and hence the market dominance. DJI customer service is notoriously awful where Parrot actually answers calls.

My best advice is spend under $100.0 and buy a cheap WiFi camera connected drone with a simple controller from Xiaomi or JJRC and learn and crash that first before spending any money on an over $500.00 drone. I recommend RC Saylors and Capn Drone for reviews on these lower priced “competitors”. The Ryze Tello is also a good entry level product and has surprisingly stable video with its EIS working when in film mode.

Yesterday, I got three toy WiFi drones from Bangood for under $100.00 and each one presented its own little frustration and challenges but ultimately still taught me something. The JJRC Sol is the most interesting for size and features and you can see the camera through the app well enough to learn and have fun.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Czolgy]

A major plus for the Anafi is that it isn't geofenced, (you mentioned you travel), unlike the DJI products (which you may not be able to fly depending on your location).
IMO it's an amazing little drone, for enthusiasts it has a whole lot of ability for a very reasonable price.

 

[Seitenwerk]

Anafi has the better camera, zoom, can look up which others can’t, is much quieter, has longer flight time, has a 21MP can, has the better Object tracking, has a better follow me due to using the phone GPS and barometer, has a really good Waypoint system (the Air doesn’t even have one, you can use a third party app but in case of problems may loose warranty), better connection and signal range (not sure about the Air, but you couldn’t use a cable for connecting the controller with your phone with the Spark, as it was not officially supported and you lost warranty in doing so in case of problems).

The Anafi on the other hand has no obstacle sensors, but: Sport mode would deactivate them for the Spark and Air anyway so they are not that useful. Also many automatic flight modes like orbit are sideways, were the Air doesn’t even have sensors. Also those sensors have a really hard time spotting thin objects like branches, leaves and such stuff (which are basically the things where you would need them the most) so my opinion on sensors: don’t ever rely on them. I don’t think they are as useful as some may tell you it’s much more important to be aware of your surrounding.

Oh and Anafi ist lighter 320Gramm vs Air with 430gramm.

 

[IM35461]

I have the Air and Anafi but can't remember when I last used my Air.

Anafi has been out / up two days this week

e.g.

 

[mrajic]

As I wanted for a while a “travel” drone to complement my interest for video and photography, I opted for Anafi versus Air because Anafi:



- has no geofencing, so you can fly anywhere;

- does not require proprietary charger/cables (requires less space when traveling):

- it has been reported to be quieter and to be able to fly longer on a single battery than Air;

- costs less than Air;

- has more piloting modes and features than I might ever use;

- has all the sensors I would ever need.

 

[Thefojizzle]

Man you guys are awesome!!! Thanks for so much good advise. The biggest thing for me with the DJI was hearing about the horrible customer service. The pros for me the the Anafi too was the fact that it’s sfotware has “way points” and seems like it’s more user friendly. Not having ever owned any drones tho, it was hard to know. I had watched SO many reviews on both Air and Anafi that it’s confusing. My biggest fear with the Anafi is what happened with the Karma. Due to DJI having such a huge market share I would hate to buy an Anafi and not have support, parts, customer service, etc for it. I wouldn’t want parrot to abandon it like GoPro has with its drone. That’s really the biggest concern and thanks everyone for all the feedback!
The best recommendation is when someone has both drones and chooses the Anafi over the Air for flying. There’s something to be said for that!

 

[Seitenwerk]

The problem with Anafi reviews is that when it came out 5 months ago it had some problems and customers were missing some features they would have liked. But since then Parrot worked hard on many updates and not only fixed those bugs but also added a lot of customer wishes (and some other stuff) to the Anafi. That’s why old review tend to criticize the Anafi for many things which are not there anymore if you buy one today.

 

[Nidge]

I don’t have the Mavic Air but I have owned a Spark for over a year. I recently received an Anafi, just before Xmas, as a Birthday present so I can make comparisons between these two.

When the Anafi’s specs were revealed one of the major criticisms from the community was that it didn’t have obstacle avoidance. However I’ve never used the the OA on the Spark as I found it to be more of a hindrance than a help so I leave it switched off.

Flying the two side by side I would say the Anafi is the smoother of the two. It is possible to tune the Spark to mimick the Anafi’s flight envelope but you’ll need to access the engineering menu to make the required adjustments. I also found the Anafi could cope with the wind much better than the Spark.

One of the biggest advantages the Anafi has is how quiet it is in flight. This is particularly relevant to the Mavic Air as many owners have commented that it is one of the noisiest drones on the market.

The Anafi has a genuine flight time of 22 to 25 minutes of flight time per battery where as the Mavic Air, having a claimed flight time of 20minutes, usually averages around 16 to 18 minutes.

If I were to be very critical about the Anafi it is the apparent lack of replacement parts. The rumour machine is also hinting that Parrot might be pulling out of the consumer drone market which raises some concerns around after sales support.

I would also echo CraigCam’s advice that if you’ve never flown any kind of RC model invest in a cheap quadcopter and teach yourself some stick skills, especially flying nose in whereby the controls become reversed. Loss of orientation is probably the major factor that contributes to a crash.

I have to admit I was somewhat sceptical about the Anafi and if I hadn’t been given one as a Birthday present I doubt very much that I would have owned one. But over the last few weeks I have become so enamoured with it that my Spark, with all the extra accessories, will soon be in the hands of a new owner.

Regards

Nidge.

 

[Dirk_ANAFI]

Keyword "...rumour machine is also hinting that Parrot might be pulling out of the consumer drone market..."
End of November when it became clear that sales of Q3 2018 were heavily reduced, there were statements at Parrot, that they would stay in that market and have good hope to reach better results in 2019.
So where does this rumour come from? What is your source?

 

[Nidge]

Keyword "...rumour machine is also hinting that Parrot might be pulling out of the consumer drone market..."
End of November when it became clear that sales of Q3 2018 were heavily reduced, there were statements at Parrot, that they would stay in that market and have good hope to reach better results in 2019.
So where does this rumour come from? What is your source?

The key word is “rumour” as it has been primarily speculation from various media reports (reading between the lines). Here in the UK additional batteries have been somewhat scarce. One major distributor recently only had one battery available across 12 of its stores in my region. Another dealer was taking orders for a discounted double pack at a special price but delivery was estimated at the end of February.

The Anafi is a bit of a grey area as it’s not clear if it falls within Parrots definition of consumer or prosumer market. Parrot appear to be concentrating their energies in what they term the prosumer market and spending resources on mapping and thermal imaging applications while drastically downsizing development on the traditional flying camera.

I wasn’t intentionally trying to create panic. As I’ve said I believe the Anafi is the best bang for the Buck by far in its category. I’ve also owned a Disco for quite sometime and amongst my many other fixed wing models it is one of my favourite, the hackability of the flight controller itself was worth the price, and I was very disappointed when they announced they were ceasing support for it.

As for sources here is one published last November and apparently echoed on many other industry related websites.

Regards

Nidge

Parrot Sees Big Drop in Consumer Drone Revenue, Forms New 'Action Plan' - Unmanned Aerial

 

[MustangPhil]

To me, the best argument in favor of the Anafi can be seen in IM354561 video above :

At the very beginning of the flight, you can see 2 birds (pigeons) that stand on the pear near the drone. At 10’ they are still there while he is buzzing around.
I don’t think they would be so calm if you would have flown a DJI drone ? (Or did you ‘glue’ them in place ? ... you never know with these Sussexers ;o)

 

[slvervper99]

I've had my Anafi for about 5 months ago, it was an addition to my other drone (Autel XSP - which is similar to DJI's Phnatom 3) but......ever since owning my Anafi..I have not flown the XSP. Now I cannot say about DJIsince I don't own one but - all I know is what I see on the reviews as well about geofencing...constant firmware updates which may or may not cause flight issues with the DJI. Also have heard horror stories about DJI's customer service but I have a friend who owned a Mavic Pro and have said that he didn't have issues with their customer service when he lost control of his Mavic. With that said, I have been flying for a good 3 years now and still consider myself a novice. Like another member here said...buy a cheap drone, learn to fly it before investing in the $500 + range drones. Losing $100 or less drones is less bitter than losing a $500 + drone. I know I've learned my lesson on my Yuneec quadcopter. (Another story of course)

 

[CraigCam]

For what it’s worth, I own way too many camera drones. I’ve flown Blade 350s and Chromas, Phantom 2 and 3, Yuneec Q500, Typhoon H both 480s and the 520 frame, Autel X star, and the Anafi.

My last trip I took a newly set up Typhoon H plus with their CGO3+ camera and Real Sense and my brand new Anafi. This was last summer and I bought my Anafi on release day and flew a beta version of the app. I only pulled the bigger drone out once in two weeks but the Anafi was in the air at every scenic spot we stopped for. Since then, the app and firmware has continued to evolve and improve. My wife encourages me to bring it now and I’m probably selling off my big drones because they sit so much now that I’ve got the Anafi. It goes everywhere with me.

One last observation... I have yet to see a story of a “fly away” and this is the one drone I rarely get nervous flying as it’s always reliable unless you do stupid things like push a battery flight time when it’s cold.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Dirk_ANAFI]

The key word is “rumour” as it has been primarily speculation from various media reports (reading between the lines). Here in the UK additional batteries have been somewhat scarce. One major distributor recently only had one battery available across 12 of its stores in my region. Another dealer was taking orders for a discounted double pack at a special price but delivery was estimated at the end of February.

The Anafi is a bit of a grey area as it’s not clear if it falls within Parrots definition of consumer or prosumer market. Parrot appear to be concentrating their energies in what they term the prosumer market and spending resources on mapping and thermal imaging applications while drastically downsizing development on the traditional flying camera.

I wasn’t intentionally trying to create panic. As I’ve said I believe the Anafi is the best bang for the Buck by far in its category. I’ve also owned a Disco for quite sometime and amongst my many other fixed wing models it is one of my favourite, the hackability of the flight controller itself was worth the price, and I was very disappointed when they announced they were ceasing support for it.

As for sources here is one published last November and apparently echoed on many other industry related websites.

Regards

Nidge

Parrot Sees Big Drop in Consumer Drone Revenue, Forms New 'Action Plan' - Unmanned Aerial

I realize: you have no source at all. There are no "various media reports" about Parrot leaving the consumer drone market.
Why do you post such a speculation?

 

[Jagerbomb52]

Some of this comes from these well known Youtubers. Have no idea where he got his information as he really never said.

 

[Seitenwerk]

I don’t think that Parrot will leave the consumer drone market. They are investing to much into this segment to even think of leaving it. Another point for this is the heavy support they do and did for the Anafi. They wouldn’t invest so much resources in fixing problems and adding features and requests when they are giving up. I would even say those things look like Parrot wants to invest even more into that segment and build a positive reputation with its first professional-consumer drone. Wouldn’t be surprised if we see another device in this segment in 2019

 

[ufosaboveus]

I know someone who has a mavic air and loves it. There are 3 reasons I went with the Anafi:
1)Although it is a really well built drone, it is considerably more expensive than the Anafi at $699 vs $499.
2)It also is considerably noisier than the Anafi which I have heard the two side by side and it is like night and day difference. When flying 50feet up... the Anafi is almost silent but at 50 feet up, the mavic air sounds like a bunch of angry bees.
3)The Anafi has a zoom camera with full 180 degree tilt. I was originally more interested in the tilt than the zoom but now that I have used it... the zoom is super handy and I use it all the time.

 

[Thefojizzle]

Those of you who have the air or have used dji products.....how does the parrot software for flying compare? I hear it’s much more user friendly and waypoints are supported? Seems
Like just alone would be a HUGE selling point!