The Mavic Air is DJI’s most impressive drone yet. By combining the best bits from the Spark and Mavic Pro, it’s made a cracking gadget for both beginners who want stunning aerial travel videos and those who just want to fly a nimble drone full pelt around the local park. It’s such a good all-rounder that it’s actually hard to recommend getting either the DJI Spark or the Mavic Pro ahead of it, unless price or battery life considerations put you off. Once you’ve added a controller to the Spark, the Mavic Air is only £190 more – and the video quality, portability, extra range and longer battery life more than justify that. The recent Mavic Pro Platinum does promise lower noise levels and 30-minute flight time, which are two of the Air’s main weaknesses, but at £1200 it’s a significant jump up. Which leaves the Air as our current favourite flying, autonomous 4K camera. It’s an amazing gadget that slips into a hiking backpack and can shoot videos that would have, until recently, required serious flying skills and a film studio budget. Now, where to take it next...
Incredibly portable; Very good video and stills quality; A cinch to fly;
Battery life still quite restrictive; Quite noisy when nearby;