Gadgetory

this is the Mavic air DJ eyes latest drone it combines features from to the company's other drones the entry-level spark and the higher-end Mavic Pro it has features all its own though that we'd like to test out we can't do it here in the city with all the buildings and people and stuff so we're gonna go someplace really special New Jersey so here the basics the Mavic air is eight hundred bucks its arms fold up for easy travel it has a stabilized 4k camera it can fly for up to 21 minutes and it has obstacle avoidance with every new drone comes a new camera so we came out to the Great Falls in Paterson New Jersey to show just what it can do this one shoots at up to a 4k resolution at 30 frames per second or you can drop down and shoot it 120 frames per second at 1080p for a nice slow motion video even with the strong winds over the Falls the three axis stabilizer kept the camera steady and the video smooth and the quality is generally excellent with much better detail than the spark and it also comes with two new quick shot modes which are basically really easy ways to take selfies with your drone the new asteroid quick shot combines a tiny planet panorama with a droning while the boomerang gives you a fresh way to do a reveal shot those are joined by rocket circle drone II and helix that carry over from the spark DJ I added gesture controls that originally showed up on the spark those controls allow you to push and pull the drone away from you take off and land with just your hand or wave it around and have the drone follow you in a path it's called smart capture and unlike on the spark you have to connect the Mavic air to your phone first in order to switch into the gesture mode once you're in there though you can take off and land just by putting your palm out in front of you we might have to do it on the dirt I don't know there it goes I can move it around fly it back and forth it will track my hand as I move and then if I walk toward it it'll go away from me and then if I want to stop and have it walk back with me it can do that too now if I want to take a photo I just put up a peace sign next to my face the controls have gotten much better on it so you can actually just wave your hand back and forth and it will move with your hand you can push it away from you by getting it to recognize two hands and then slowly separating your hands it will move away from you now if I wanted to go up I just put my hand up put it down and then I can start the video rolling just by making a gesture like that in front of my face so now it's recording video I can walk with it and it'll follow me when you're ready to land all you have to do is put your hand up get it to recognize you and then slowly lower your hand and stop but that's not all the Maverick air also has sensors on the bottom and back that the Mavic purlins spark don't have those sensors work with the new a pass system which stands for advanced pilot assistant system which keeps it not only from colliding with objects but it's able to go over them or around them so that it can keep moving with the a passing gauge I'm just gonna fly it toward the waterfall and it should go toward it and up and over it so having something this small of course it comes at the sacrifice of battery size it's got a pretty small battery pack it lasts up to about 21 minutes with us under ideal conditions cutting into your battery life along with flying fast or high winds is the temperature we were flying at about 30 degree temperatures today and we got a warning on the screen saying it's too cold for your battery it's gonna have to warm up so something to keep in mind if you're gonna be flying out in cold temps look if you want a small simple drone for the occasional selfie or aerial shot go with the spark if you want a 4k camera on a 3-axis gimbal longer flight time greater range and obstacle avoidance and front and back get the Matic air