DJI already has the strongest fleet of beginner-friendly drones around, but a postponed event and now a presumably mistaken Argos listing are pointing to the imminent arrival of two sequels to its Mavic Pro: the DJI Mavic 2 Pro and Mavic 2 Zoom.
If you’re new to DJI’s range, the Mavic Pro is a bit like the drone equivalent of a high-end compact camera, sitting in between the larger Phantoms and the point-and-shoot Spark.
In fact, before the more hobbyist-friendly Mavic Air stole their thunder earlier this year, the Mavic Pro and Mavic Pro Platinum were our favourite little 4K travel drones.
So how will the Mavic 2 Pro and Mavic 2 Zoom improve on their predecessor? Here’s everything we know so far.
DJI Mavic 2 Pro/Mavic 2 Zoom release date and price
DJI recently postponed a global event called ‘See the bigger picture’, which was scheduled for 18 July 2018 and was rumoured to be for the unveiling of the DJI Mavic 2.
DJI didn’t say when it would be rescheduled for, but did suggest it would be ‘in the not too distant future’. The new Argos advert spotted by various Twitter users including ‘Monty_f ‘ on 30 July 2018 gives some specs for the Mavic 2 Pro and Mavic 2 Zoom (see below), but gives no hints about release dates or price.
Some sites, such as MyFirstDrone, think the Mavic 2 release will come in August 2018, but we’ll update this page as soon as we hear anything official.
DroneDJ expects the Mavic 2’s price to start at $1299 (£983), which is likely to be in the right ballpark given that the current Mavic Pro is £899. It will almost certainly be available as part of a ‘Fly More’ bundle too, which includes handy extras like three spare batteries and traditionally costs an extra £250.
DJI Mavic 2 Pro/Mavic 2 Zoom design
The Argos listing above, spotted by several Twitter users in the UK, gives the strongest hint yet that there’ll actually be two DJI Mavic 2 models: the Mavic 2 Zoom and Mavic 2 Pro.
This appears to quash rumours that the Mavic 2 would have a modular camera that would have let it work like an interchangeable lens camera. Instead, it seems that you’ll need to choose between a drone with 2x optical zoom or a larger 1-inch sensor.
If this Argos advert and DroneDJ‘s leaked photo are to be believed, DJI won’t be dramatically changing the Mavic Pro’s design – some of its sharp edges have been smoothed, presumably to make it a little more aerodynamic. But otherwise it looks like it’ll have the same folding mechanism and colour scheme as before, which is fine by us.
One other interesting design touch is the apparent inclusion of obstacle avoidance sensors on the top and sides of the new Mavic 2 models. The Argos listing mentions ‘omnidirectional obstacle sensing’ too, which could mean 360-degree obstacle avoidance detection for making it virtually crash-proof. Well, in theory, at least.
DJI Mavic 2 Pro/Mavic 2 Zoom specs
According to the Argos listing spotted on 30 July 2018 (see ‘DJI Mavic 2 design’ section above), the two new Mavic 2 models will have different sensors.
The Mavic 2 Pro will apparently have a 1-inch Hasselblad sensor, putting it on a par with DJI’s larger drones like the Phantom 4 Advanced in terms of sensor size.
The Argos advert doesn’t contain camera specs for the Mavic 2 Zoom aside from the 2x optical zoom, but this version will presumably have a smaller sensor like the 12-megapixel, 1/1.7in one rumoured by DroneDJ. That would still be bigger than the current Mavic Pro’s 1/2.3in sensor and should boost the Mavic 2 Zoom’s low light performance and dynamic range compared to its predecessor.
Other specs mentioned in the Argos listing for both models include an impressive 31-minute flight time, up from the Mavic Pro‘s 27 minutes, and a 45mph top speed that would make it 5mph nippier than the Mavic Pro’s sport mode.
We still don’t know if both Mavic 2 models will be able to shoot 4K at 60fps, as the rumours suggest, rather than the 30fps on the current Mavic Pro. But we’ll update this page as soon as we hear anything official.
Source: trustedreviews.com
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