Welcome DJI Spark Pilot!
Jump in and join our free Spark community today!
Sign up

Comparing collision avoidance with the Spark versus the new Mavic Air 2

ricke

Member
Join
Jul 22, 2020
Messages
8
Age
64
I have had way too many crashes with my Sparks where it has done a maneuver going backwards and hot a tree or drifted too close to a building and been sucked up to the wall and hit it and fallen or a random tree is hard to see on my phone screen...As far as I can tell, the Spark has sensors only on the front and bottom used for object detection while it looks like the Mavic Air 2 has them on all sides.
Has anyone used it and can confirm how well it can now protect itself from unexpected collisions on all sides? I would really like a good backup for when I make a mistake or can't seen an obstacle so I can avoid as many potential crashes as possible.

Thanks for any info,
Rick
 
The Mavic Air 2 does have more sensors than the Spark - Front, Rear and Down which is the same as the Mavic Air 1. They do not have sensors on the side or top. Supposedly the obstacle avoidance is a bit better on the MA2 than the MA1, but I have seen a few videos that show it is not much better, check them out and see for yourself.

I have the MA1 and have obstacle avoidance on most of the time, but I try to understand how it works and it's limitations as sometimes thinking it will save you can cause devastating results or it can overreact and ruin your video. I personally don't try to use follow mode in any difficult conditions as I found it didn't do that well.
 
If I'm going to fly a sideways video of a store front, for example, I fly the route forward first to ensure I clear trees, lampposts, power lines, etc. Once I know the safe altitude & route I then fly it sideways to take the video. This was a hard lesson learned...see my post "My Depth Perception Sucks" [emoji848]
 
The Mavic Air 2 does have more sensors than the Spark - Front, Rear and Down which is the same as the Mavic Air 1. They do not have sensors on the side or top. Supposedly the obstacle avoidance is a bit better on the MA2 than the MA1, but I have seen a few videos that show it is not much better, check them out and see for yourself.

I have the MA1 and have obstacle avoidance on most of the time, but I try to understand how it works and it's limitations as sometimes thinking it will save you can cause devastating results or it can overreact and ruin your video. I personally don't try to use follow mode in any difficult conditions as I found it didn't do that well.
Oh I see, I must have mistakenly seen the specs for the Mavic Pro. You are right that the Mavic Air 2 provides forward, backward, and downward obstacle sensing. The backwards sensor would have helped with the several times I have gotten into trouble using the Quickshot Dronie flight.
 
I have had way too many crashes with my Sparks where it has done a maneuver going backwards and hot a tree or drifted too close to a building and been sucked up to the wall and hit it and fallen or a random tree is hard to see on my phone screen...As far as I can tell, the Spark has sensors only on the front and bottom used for object detection while it looks like the Mavic Air 2 has them on all sides.
Has anyone used it and can confirm how well it can now protect itself from unexpected collisions on all sides? I would really like a good backup for when I make a mistake or can't seen an obstacle so I can avoid as many potential crashes as possible.

Thanks for any info,
Rick
Only front sensors
 
Oh I see, I must have mistakenly seen the specs for the Mavic Pro. You are right that the Mavic Air 2 provides forward, backward, and downward obstacle sensing. The backwards sensor would have helped with the several times I have gotten into trouble using the Quickshot Dronie flight.

To DJI's credit, they gave us a great option in the MA 2 to disable horizontal sideways flight since there's no sideways obstruction sensors, cool.
 
Just some thoughts. I've had my Spark for 2 years and have been into RC for over 25. I flew with the prop guards until I was comfortable. Training wheels my wife calls them. Then without for the last 20 months.
I'm at the point now where I'm putting them back on. I've only crashed once but these are cheap insurance. I don't look at them as training wheels anymore, but money savers!
I bought the MA2 last month, it has good obstacle avoidance but for $16 you can get prop guards. Ordered mine last night.
They may not be pretty and your ego might tell you "your good " but I'm not risking it. To many post about being "sucked into a wall" or "backed into something".
 
They may not be pretty and your ego might tell you "your good " but I'm not risking it. To many post about being "sucked into a wall" or "backed into something".
they are not pretty and they do not fly well in the wind at all. Flying a little higher will cover a multitude of sins.
 
  • Like
Reactions: sparky markie
ALTITUDE is your friend. Totally agree ! I'm just looking for a different perspective sometimes. Exploring all options. I was doing some roof inspections for my neighbors after hurricane Sally. Running video makes it look like your inches away. White knuckle time.
 

Members online

No members online now.

Forum statistics

Threads
14,593
Messages
118,799
Members
17,987
Latest member
csdisme