I’ve just bought an old Mavic Air as a back up drone. Got it cheap with two batteries. I saw it flying before I bought it and have flown it above the house, no problems. I don’t mind using old tech as a back up and I’ve seen some cracking video’s from others.
Does anyone else on here have one and what do they think of it?
Mick.
OK if you got it cheap, but it is limited to WiFi range so max of a few hundred metres, though with the addition of parabolic reflectors I did manage to get nearly a km out of mine
Thanks.
I don’t expect it to go miles so a few hundred metres will do. I’ve got the M3C for anything further.
It weighs about 470 grams so while it doesn’t have the lack of restraints that a sub-250 gram drone has it does have some advantages over a drone weighing over 500grams especially when combined with an A2CofC or Article 16 Authorisation.
Check various scenarios with Good to Go
And I got 750m with no reflectors on one flight over water, 500m easily over land.
The Mavic Air is my best machine - my other is only a Mini SE.
By applying the 2.4GHz band, and using parabolic reflectors, I can get a reliable mile of connection. However, to achieve this you need an old version of DJI Go 4 (and do not update it) along with an old operating system on the phone.
The recent improvements (Nov 2022) to Litchi have also been important, allowing the Mavic Air to benefit from a new setting: ‘Enable DJI’s Gimbal Interpolation in Waypoint mode’. This allows gimbal pitch movements when the Mavic Air is out of signal range. It will also support custom waypoint speeds out of signal range. These, in a small way, compensate for the basic lack of radio power.
The picture quality is good enough for my “audience” (yes, I can occasionally guilt a child or two to watch my films, provided I use lots of pop music). See https://greyarro.ws/t/guess-where-or-what-game/19771/854?u=facherty for examples of stills cut from recent movies.
The previous owner told me to use DJI Go4 app. 4.3.48 and the test flight was perfect. I did try the latest update and she wouldn’t connect.
is it worth buying as it is discontinued ?
cheers 
Moved your post to a recent thread asking the same question.
thanks
I’m happy with it as a back up. For a main everyday drone probably not.
I don’t personally have one, but I’ve heard some great things about it. It may be an older model, but it’s still a solid drone that can capture some amazing footage. Plus, having those extra batteries is always a plus. Glad to hear that you’ve already given it a test flight and everything seems to be working well.
Hi @whiplashcliff It looks as though you’re quite new here 
Why not nip over the introductions page and say hello properly and tell us a bit about yourself.