The differences between the Autel Evo II "v1" and the Evo II "v2"

You may have heard that there’s a new Autel Evo II “v2” being released and that the existing Evo II (which now becomes the “v1”) is therefore now End of Life, less than one year after release.

I thought I’d share some insight in to what’s going on, what the differences between the two models are, and what the future will bring.

TL;DR the only difference is the current Evo II v1 is single band on 2.4GHz and the new v2 is dual band on 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz. The v1 controllers are not compatible with the v2 drones and vice versa.


Longer read:

On the 5th June 2021 Autel Robotics published the following announcement:

Well, that was bit of a shocker to all Evo II owners :confused:

Now the dust has settled from that announcement and Autel CEO Randal Warnas has provided a couple of interviews and released a few more statements, things are clearer and a bit more settled now.

The difference between what is the current Evo II (v1) and what will be the new Evo II (v2) is simply the wireless radio chipset used to allow the drone to communicate with the controller.

The current Evo II v1 has only ever operated in the 2.4GHz frequency band.

The new Evo II v2 will operate on 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz.

Quite why the v2 can’t work with the v1 is not clear (to me) but apparently the chips come in pairs and something here is preventing it being backwards compatible with the 2.4GHz-only chipset.

This is the only difference between the v1 and the v2. One is single-band, one is dual-band.

The airframe, props, cameras and other payloads, batteries, and everything else remains the same - and compatible between the two versions.

What’s not compatible between the two is the regular controller, the smart controller or the Live Deck. The Live Deck will likely be replaced with a different product in the near future anyway. V1 owners might keep an eye out for a bargain LD soon as they look to clear stock :wink:

The v2 will carry a new and very subtle marking on the top of the shell casing:

Randal Warnas has stated that Autel will retain large stock of the existing v1 chipsets in order to support warranty and servicing of the v1 drones and controllers for some time to come. He also stated that if the v1 can’t be repaired due to lack of parts availability then it will be replaced with a v2 unit.

Therefore only 500x Smart Controller v1’s will be made.

The Evo II v2 is expected to ship sooner than originally expected (it’s on the FCC database already) and the Smart Controller v2 will ship shortly thereafter.

1 Like

Got to admire Randall Warnas - hit with a massive issue just as he takes on his new role as CEO and deals with it promptly and efficiently and has been totally open about the whole situation :clap: :clap: :clap:
DJI could learn a few lessons in customer relations from this guy :thinking:

2 Likes

Well, someone is spreading the word.

Autel updated their web site yesterday and made available the Autel Evo II v2 firmware :scream:

Which suggests the release of the v2 ecosystem is only a matter of days away? (and not months)

They’ve highlighted in red that the two firmwares are not compatible with each other.

I just hope they’ve put some checks in place at the point of firmware-install, to prevent people accidentally flashing the wrong thing to the wrong drone.

I’m also confused as to why it has a different firmware version number :man_facepalming:t2:

The Autel Evo II v2 is now shipping.

The box is clearly marked “v2” on the front and back.

They’ve also changed the model number, which can be found in the battery bay, from from “MDCP” for the v1 to “MDCA” for the v2.

You pressed buy yet ?

2 Likes

For once, I’ve not been tempted or lured :blush:

It doesn’t offer anything over what my current Evo II has, so I’ll pass.

1 Like

A post was split to a new topic: Exact working frequency of the Autel Evo II Pro Version 2?

Hello everyone,
just arrived my autel evo 2 pro 6k from amazon, and I sadly discovered is a version 1 :frowning:
So I ask owners if in your opinion there are so many differences between the 2 versions in order of signal stability ecc??
thanks in advice
Alberto

Scroll up and read the first post here @AlbiG as it explains the differences in detail.

The short version is:

I read it several times… my question concerns if it is worth to send it back to amazon or keep the v.1, I just need stability of the signal during missions.

sorry for "if in your opinion there are so many differences between the 2 versions " just want to know differences in terms of signal stability

Are you sure you read it? :thinking:

There are no differences apart from one is single band and the other is dual band.

I don’t know how this difference affects signal stability…

I found this on Google for you @AlbiG

That’s a good read :+1: for people to understand the difference, shockingly to some here as I cannot remember things from yesterday :rofl: i already knew what was said as I’ve been looking into modding the RC and looking at DBI antenna and same principles, I was going for higher gain until i researched more and I’m going for lower and broader I think.