I am returning the Nano+

[izometric]

The reasons for returning it:

1. Poor flying in relatively low wind. It takes ages to accelerate and it crawls against low wind where Mini 2 would fly 3 times as fast.
2. No manual camera controls for AEB and Panoramas
3. Significant vignetting and corner distortion.
4. Color inaccuracy. Even with the correct profile correction, the photos tend to have a greenish tone which needs tint correction. Also, some roof tops developed yellow/magenta zebra stripes -> a lot of work to correct this in Lightroom.
5. It takes 2 minutes to shoot a 360 panorama in low wind (mini 2 needs not more than 40 seconds).
6. Significant video feed delay causing me to loose time trying to frame a photo as the drone will move after I stop touching the controls.

Take into account points 1, 5, 6 combined with the flight time of 28 minutes (22 real) and you are left with very little usable time in the air. If I shoot 3 panoramas at 500 meters away in 15 kmph wind, I will come back on fumes with the drone in auto landing mode, needing to fly with the left stick up so the drone would not land automatically on a roof top.

The drone is launched way too early to the market, a clearly unfinished product, way too expensive for what it offers.

The advantage of non-detection by Aeroscope (no. 1 reason for purchasing it) cannot compensate for all the drawbacks.

 

[herein2021]

The reasons for returning it:

1. Poor flying in relatively low wind. It takes ages to accelerate and it crawls against low wind where Mini 2 would fly 3 times as fast.
2. No manual camera controls for AEB and Panoramas
3. Significant vignetting and corner distortion.
4. Color inaccuracy. Even with the correct profile correction, the photos tend to have a greenish tone which needs tint correction. Also, some roof tops developed yellow/magenta zebra stripes -> a lot of work to correct this in Lightroom.
5. It takes 2 minutes to shoot a 360 panorama in low wind (mini 2 needs not more than 40 seconds).
6. Significant video feed delay causing me to loose time trying to frame a photo as the drone will move after I stop touching the controls.

Take into account points 1, 5, 6 combined with the flight time of 28 minutes (22 real) and you are left with very little usable time in the air. If I shoot 3 panoramas at 500 meters away in 15 kmph wind, I will come back on fumes with the drone in auto landing mode, needing to fly with the left stick up so the drone would not land automatically on a roof top.

The drone is launched way too early to the market, a clearly unfinished product, way too expensive for what it offers.

The advantage of non-detection by Aeroscope (no. 1 reason for purchasing it) cannot compensate for all the drawbacks.

I think you would have been much happier with the EVO II 6K. All of the problems you describe are not present in the EVO II 6K, but buying the EVO II right now is risky considering how quickly they drop battery support and all other support when a new version comes out.

 

[Landey]

The reasons for returning it:

1. Poor flying in relatively low wind. It takes ages to accelerate and it crawls against low wind where Mini 2 would fly 3 times as fast.
2. No manual camera controls for AEB and Panoramas
3. Significant vignetting and corner distortion.
4. Color inaccuracy. Even with the correct profile correction, the photos tend to have a greenish tone which needs tint correction. Also, some roof tops developed yellow/magenta zebra stripes -> a lot of work to correct this in Lightroom.
5. It takes 2 minutes to shoot a 360 panorama in low wind (mini 2 needs not more than 40 seconds).
6. Significant video feed delay causing me to loose time trying to frame a photo as the drone will move after I stop touching the controls.

Take into account points 1, 5, 6 combined with the flight time of 28 minutes (22 real) and you are left with very little usable time in the air. If I shoot 3 panoramas at 500 meters away in 15 kmph wind, I will come back on fumes with the drone in auto landing mode, needing to fly with the left stick up so the drone would not land automatically on a roof top.

The drone is launched way too early to the market, a clearly unfinished product, way too expensive for what it offers.

The advantage of non-detection by Aeroscope (no. 1 reason for purchasing it) cannot compensate for all the drawbacks.

I can understand your reasons.
It's all software issues, possible to be fixed with future firmwares - but we can't rely on Autel fixing all problems in a short time, if at all.
If you need all that flaws fixed quickly for being able to use the drone for your purposes, returning indeed might be the way to go.

 

[izometric]

I think you would have been much happier with the EVO II 6K. All of the problems you describe are not present in the EVO II 6K, but buying the EVO II right now is risky considering how quickly they drop battery support and all other support when a new version comes out.

I am already very happy with the Air2S.

I wanted a travel drone sub 250 grams (and definitely not something over 1 Kg) that cannot be detected by Aeroscope. Autel was the closest competition to DJI with some decent drone quality. What surprises me are the very positive reviews from all major influencers on Youtube over the Nano+. I'm starting to question the honesty of those reviews... Ok, I get it that they received an expensive drone for free for an "honest", "unbiased" review, but still...

 

[herein2021]

I am already very happy with the Air2S.

I wanted a travel drone sub 250 grams (and definitely not something over 1 Kg) that cannot be detected by Aeroscope. Autel was the closest competition to DJI with some decent drone quality. What surprises me are the very positive reviews from all major influencers on Youtube over the Nano+. I'm starting to question the honesty of those reviews... Ok, I get it that they received an expensive drone for free for an "honest", "unbiased" review, but still...

That actually does not surprise me one bit, I refuse to watch or listen to anyone on YouTube who's only content is gear review. Instead, I find working professionals who happen to perform an occasional gear review because they like the equipment. This YouTuber is a good example of the type of reviewer whose opinion I value.

Camera gear is the type of gear that once you buy it you usually cannot take it back or you have to pay a restocking fee, so I can easily spend months watching reviewers and sample footage prior to buying something.

 

[Landey]

Just to add: I'd been an Amazon top reviewer. As soon as you're in the "best 1000" list, your eMail inbox gets flooded with offers from countless Amazon sellers. Contents are always the same: "Here's a list of products, just choose what you like, buy the products and send us the Amazon order number, we'll secretly refund you via PayPal if you award 5 stars. If you add pictures or video, we'll pay you 20 € in addition." I got more than 20 of such eMails PER DAY.
There's secret WhatsApp and Facebook groups for top reviewers, sharing the sellers which offer the most expensive products and pay most for a five stars rating.
No joke, that's the way it is.

Similar with YouTubers. They get paid for a good review, can keep the products or get products very early so they can make money with their videos. And even if they don't get paid or don't need to return the products, they know they won't get any more products from the manufacturer if their reviews are negative.
Thus I would never trust any web "reviews", except the negative ones - and the ones herein2021 mentioned.

 

[lifeisfun]

Just to add: I'd been an Amazon top reviewer. As soon as you're in the "best 1000" list, your eMail inbox gets flooded with offers from countless Amazon sellers. Contents are always the same: "Here's a list of products, just choose what you like, buy the products and send us the Amazon order number, we'll secretly refund you via PayPal if you award 5 stars. If you add pictures or video, we'll pay you 20 € in addition." I got more than 20 of such eMails PER DAY.
There's secret WhatsApp and Facebook groups for top reviewers, sharing the sellers which offer the most expensive products and pay most for a five stars rating.
No joke, that's the way it is.

Similar with YouTubers. They get paid for a good review, can keep the products or get products very early so they can make money with their videos. And even if they don't get paid or don't need to return the products, they know they won't get any more products from the manufacturer if their reviews are negative.
Thus I would never trust any web "reviews", except the negative ones - and the ones herein2021 mentioned.

I agree that reviews have to be taken with a grain of salt, but on the other hand regular folks are usually posting only negative experience, since if you are happy there is not much motivation to write about it, you'll rather enjoy and use what you have

 

[Landey]

To answer izometric's question which in the meantime vanished again:

Quote: "This is how you got the Nano+?"
No, I never got offerered higher-class drones, I also stopped doing Amazon reviews after I got aware of the massive fraud network behind it.
By the way: Amazon does not publish reviews which name that fraud - I tried, my reviews got rejected for no reason. That's why I stopped reviewing - not my game anymore.
I ordered the Nano Plus at RCGoing, negotiated a bit for getting a better price, paid with my own money and got my Nano Plus about three weeks later. I could have got it within three days, but I didn't want the "older" model with the wrong gimbal mount and orange color, that's why I waited for my grey and "new" model.

Quote: "You are saying nothing but good things about it, as if you wouldn't have paid half an average salary in Germany for it. "
You didn't see my thread "Nano Plus ISSUES"? Just go ahead and count all the negative things I say about it.
I know that the majority of real major issues is software-related, so there's a real chance of Autel correcting the most nagging problems. But even if they don't: Since I've got the Nano, I didn't fly my Mini 2 a single time. Because the Nano Plus is fun, it's footage far superior over the Mini 2's. That's two things which really count for me: Flying fun and bringing home great pictures. Mini 2 flies fine, but the camera footage is just not on par - because they reused the camera of the Mini 1. I also have NO problems with stronger wind or sluggish speed with the Nano, because I know how to handle it. The Nano deals with wind far better than the YouTube reviews show, also the RC transmission is more reliable.

I did not wait for the Mini 3 because I doubt DJI will provide it with a better camera than their flagship Mavic 3, this would decrease their Mavic 3 sales.
But if they do and if the Mini 3's footage turns out better than the Nano Plus', I'll also buy a Mini 3 - in that case I just hope I can get the drone without a controller, because I already have one of those, don't need two of them. Maybe I'll give away the Mini 2 to my nephews, but for sure I'll keep the Nano.

In case you wonder why I didn't buy a Mavic 3: I'd need A2 for flying at most places, I could not even legally fly it in my own garden, it's camera isn't substantially better than the Nano Plus', and it's just too large and heavy for my purposes. A friend of mine has a Mavic 2 Enterprise Pro, the one with dual cameras, including thermal imaging camera. Nice drone, but you should see the giant case you need to schlepp around. Too much.

 

[Landey]

I agree that reviews have to be taken with a grain of salt, but on the other hand regular folks are usually posting only negative experience, since if you are happy there is not much motivation to write about it. You rather enjoy and use what you have

With a grain of salt? With a barrel of salt!

I once bought two in-ear headphones, one from Sennheiser, one from Creative Labs, because I just could not decide.
It turned out they were IDENTICAL, with the cheap Creative Labs headphones even having better cable and plug than the high-prized Sennheiser variant.
Sound was 100 % identical. I know a bit about sound because I am a former professional studio musician.
I bursted into laugher when reading the reviews: The Sennheiser buyers boasted with their experience, claiming the Sennheiser being THAT superior over the Creative Labs.
Then I published a review revealing that the headphones were identical. After that, not a single positive review regarding the Sennheiser appeared anymore.

People are people, it's human habit to pat yourself on the back after you bought something you are proud of. Amazon even had a feature allowing you to immediately post on Facebook what you just bought. Humans wish to brag, humans want others to envy them. That's why masses of buyers post extremely positive reviews - because nobody likes to admit he just spent a fortune for a bag of foul nuts.
(In private: And that's why I wrote the last paragraph about the pricy Mavic 3 in the previous post. But let's keep that a secret.)

 

[willyates]

Good timing, with the Mini 3 Pro coming out in a few weeks - Accidental listing reveals every last detail about DJI Mini 3 Pro drone

 

[lifeisfun]

Good timing, with the Mini 3 Pro coming out in a few weeks - Accidental listing reveals every last detail about DJI Mini 3 Pro drone

You can keep dreaming that it will be flawless

 

[willyates]

That would be a bit optimistic, but their years of R&D gives them an advantage. Plus actual 50mp RAW files apparently...

 

[lifeisfun]

That would be a bit optimistic, but their years of R&D gives them an advantage. Plus actual 50mp RAW files apparently...

Yeah, if it lets you fly where needed would be my first concern, was burned by that way too many times.

 

[Landey]

"Flawless" is just another term for "outdated".
I can hardly wait for the "battle of the cameras" to happen.

 

[lifeisfun]

"Flawless" is just another term for "outdated".
I can hardly wait for the "battle of the cameras" to happen.

Not to mention the ever important flying in high wind

 

[bakerboy]

Good stuff OP, I will be returning my nano+ too, it's done it's dash and has not improved to a satisfactory point since the start of feb

 

[March411]

New to the site but have been reading forever, I was planning on picking up a Nano + but have decided to wait and see if they fix their issues.

Bottom line is most drones are released for us to beta test, they need the larger market. Look at the recent release of the Mavic 3, it's a mess!

I joined today because not all reviewers are full of BS. The best out there, brutally honest reviews is Ian in London. I've been following him especially on the Autel drones because he really speaks his mind. He just gave a hard review on the Nano + after the FW update which was a solid thumbs down. I'll hold onto my money and will wait to see what shakes out between the MM3 and Autel resolving their issues before spending any money.

https://www.youtube.com/c/IaninLondon/videos

 

[lifeisfun]

New to the site but have been reading forever, I was planning on picking up a Nano + but have decided to wait and see if they fix their issues.

Bottom line is most drones are released for us to beta test, they need the larger market. Look at the recent release of the Mavic 3, it's a mess!

I joined today because not all reviewers are full of BS. The best out there, brutally honest reviews is Ian in London. I've been following him especially on the Autel drones because he really speaks his mind. He just gave a hard review on the Nano + after the FW update which was a solid thumbs down. I'll hold onto my money and will wait to see what shakes out between the MM3 and Autel resolving their issues before spending any money.

https://www.youtube.com/c/IaninLondon/videos

Sorry to say, but to do review of drone in 2 flights, and zero Autel experience overall? Meh, that's not review in my book,
I was funny how he was pushing that Mini 2 has close enough image to Nano+ Haaaahahaha....

If it doesn't start for you right there then 3:10 mark

 

[March411]

Sorry to say, but to do review of drone in 2 flights, and zero Autel experience overall? Meh, that's not review in my book,
I was funny how he was pushing that Mini 2 has close enough image to Nano+ Haaaahahaha....

We must have watched different video's because the challenges he had with the obstacle avoidance, not being able to return to home and having to land in a neighbors yard speaks volumes. In two flights, that he couldn't really complete because the drone would stop due to obstacle avoidance issues that were non-existent, to me anyway is more then enough.

Are you sure you watched the video?

And I believe he indicated the MM2 was comparable until the Nano+ issues were resolved, he never said they were better.

Haaaahahaha....

And is that supposed to be a menacing laugh or are you just being childish? I was simply offering assistance with information and attempting to have an adult conversation.

 

[lifeisfun]

We must have watched different video's because the challenges he had with the obstacle avoidance, not being able to return to home and having to land in a neighbors yard speaks volumes. In two flights, that he couldn't really complete because the drone would stop due to obstacle avoidance issues that were non-existent, to me anyway is more then enough.

Are you sure you watched the video?

And I believe he indicated the MM2 was comparable until the Nano+ issues were resolved, he never said they were better.



And is that supposed to be a menacing laugh or are you just being childish? I was simply offering assistance with information and attempting to have an adult conversation.

OK then, just see above how "unbiased" he is
What speaks volumes is to fly with the wind if you actually have no idea how much it blows in that elevation. How about to go back down and return with relative ease?
You can always prof something if you don't support it with facts, and you have no opposition.
I never said that he said that Mini 2 is better, no need to exaggerate, so here it's again if you missed it "Mini 2 has close enough image to Nano+ "
You don't have to be stubborn, just open your mind a little ... most of those videos are for entertainment and to create controversy to get comments, since that will promote your video.
More views more AdSense $ , nothing elese.