Ah, yes…First-Person-View drones from DJI. This topic is shrouded in some controversy due to the fact that die-hard and long-time FPV flyers think these drones take away from an authentic FPV, manual flight experience. No matter where you stand on the issue of DJI manufacturing FPV-style drones, the fact is they do it and doing it causes movement in the market.
DJI’s first integration into the prebuilt FPV drone market came in the form of the DJI FPV. This drone was the rough equivalent of a 5-inch freestyle drone and offered end-users plenty of “training wheel” features to keep them comfortable and their flights safe — even in full-acro or “Manual” mode as DJI titled it. Still, despite their long-standing success as the world’s leading ready-to-fly drone manufacturer, their FPV drone flopped, relatively speaking.
From a beginner’s point of view, it was too fast, too difficult to control, had a learning curve that was extremely steep for first-time FPV flyers, and was far too fragile to fly aggressively in full-acro (as many unfortunate souls found out the hard way). From a seasoned FPV pilot’s point of view, it was clunky, awkward to fly, and just didn’t have the maneuverability that 5-inch drones they had built offered…plus it broke really easily.
Enter the DJI Avata. This 3-inch cinewhoop equivalent packed all of the helpful features introduced with the DJI FPV (emergency brake, position-hold flight modes, in-flight adjustable camera tilt, etc.) into an airframe that was easier to control and offered protection for the drone via intuitive duct guards (it was still fairly fragile though). The Avata was a gigantic hit for beginners and filmmakers looking to add more cinematic drone footage to their repertoire alike. Heck, even some FPV veterans liked it because it flew truer-to-form than its predecessor.
That’s all exposition though, bringing us to the point of this post — the successor of the DJI Avata is coming soon. Friend of The Drone Geek and master of all things related to drone leaks, Jasper Ellens, recently posted a series of tweets that outlined some speculative information pointing towards an imminent release of the Avata 2.
There are a ton more, but for the sake of expediency on this post, I’ll just encourage you to visit Jasper’s Twitter profile to see everything else.
There is a lot to be excited about when it comes to the DJI Avata 2 if the leaked information we are receiving is accurate. The camera alone is going to be a huge upgrade from that of the DJI FPV and DJI Avata with the new sensor clocking-in at 1/1.3″ and 12 megapixels. Additionally we can look forward to shooting in 4K at 16:9 and potentially a 4:3 aspect ratio to boot. The ability to shoot 4K in 4:3 would be huge for folks looking to maximize their stabilization and quality when editing flythrough footage. Pair that with increased flight time, more powerful motors, and a design that will result in a higher-level of aerodynamics and you have the recipe for an incredibly intuitive and powerful cinewhoop.
On top of that, we are expected to get not one, not two, but THREE new peripherals to go hand-in-hand with the Avata 2. These peripherals include the DJI Goggles 3, DJI Motion Controller 3, and the DJI FPV Controller 3. The specs on the peripherals themselves are not yet out or even speculated on at this point, but we do have two pieces of information that will spur interest in the goggles and Motion Controller.
The DJI Goggles 3 will come with updated resolution and interface, improving upon those of the already stellar DJI Goggles 2 and DJI Goggles Integra. The newest and most interesting feature though comes in the form of a Picture-In-Picture mode where the goggles utilize what appears to be a digital pass-through, allowing the pilot to see what is directly in front of them during FPV flight. This is intriguing as it will give pilots a new level of situational awareness while flying and many are already questioning if it opens the door for visual observer-less FPV flying in the future. Time will tell on the latter, but my bet is it will have no baring on the need for a VO because the passthrough is a digital visual aid, which the Federal Aviation Administration expressly prohibits when acting as a remote pilot in command or visual observer.
That said, the DJI Motion Controller 3 is coming with an updated design and interface as well as one new feature that some are finding potentially problematic: one-push acro mode.
Yes, bundled in with all of the incredible upgrades to the latest iteration of the Avata is the ability to hit front-flips/back-flips, aileron rolls, and dynamic orbits past and around points of interest while using the new DJI Motion Controller 3. Part and parcel with the Avata, this may seem like an incredibly cool feature that more gently introduces pilots to the nuances of acro flying — and you’d be right. It IS cool and it IS going to work wonders for getting more drone pilots who have little-to-no experience flying manually-operated drones interested in doing so.
However, to people who have invested countless hours into practicing acro flight, it might feel…cheap. And that is ALSO true. On purely principle, adding a one-push acro feature does take away from the effort, hard work, and time it takes to become proficient at not just flying a drone manually, but performing acrobatic stunts with it as well. It will not be long before we have thousands of people with Avata 2s that will be marketing themselves as “acro drone pilots” (which is kind of cringe on its own) that can fulfill any type of drone flying their clients desire. It’s going to create a choice few issues including, but potentially not limited to:
- Over-confidence in under-skilled pilots.
- A broader impact on undercutting specialized types of flying and skillsets on pricing.
- A further divide in the drone community between select groups.
Over-confidence in under-skilled pilots is perhaps the most concerning item on this list as it does create a litany of potential problems when it comes to individual pilot economics and operational safety. DJI is famous for having software that most pilots can lean on heavily to keep their flights safe and effective. However, leaning too heavily on that software can pose problems, especially when attempting maneuvers that are otherwise more nuanced and complicated than those that are “as the bird flies.” Combine this over-confidence with pilots that are relatively or even completely new to the world of manual flight and you have a recipe for a lot of wasted money and worse, a ton of risk to bystanders and property.
While I could sit here and blabber on about how much I dislike this new feature, I won’t because for all of the negatives I see coming from it, I also acknowledge the positives. Love it or hate it, DJI has continued to show why they are the most successful drone manufacturer in the world…because they can empower ANYONE to learn to fly remote aircraft. Anytime DJI releases a product we, as a community, get better and wield more power because of it. The Avata 2 is no exception to that idea.
The DJI Avata 2 and its new series of peripherals are expected to hit the market on April 12th.
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