New to drones, looking for a Drone that can track my Off-Road vehicle. EVo II v3 good?

Ninjak · Apr 1, 2024

As the title says, new to drones, and looking for a drone that can track me while I off-road. Not trying to make money, its just for fun and our off-road group. May use the drone for other things, like pics on holiday. Been looking at DJI's Air 3, Mavic 3 Classic, wanted to get a bigger drone, want one with the screen. So I know I am on an Autel forum, so how does the Evo II Pro hold up? If I am going to get one, I want one with all the extras, I see the Autel comes with a case, batteries, props, the controller etc. So I am wondering:
1. how well does it track and avoid obstacles?
2. How is customer service?
3. It looks sturdy, is it a good flying drone?

Camera and all of the other things are not a stickler on, I am not a professional. Also I can actually see this drone with the orange colour, reason why I was not looking at mini's.

Thanks in Advance.

kenautelevo2pro · Apr 2, 2024

Found this video:

Ninjak · Apr 2, 2024

kenautelevo2pro said:
Found this video:

Yes, I have looked into the Skydio, but you can only buy enterprise versions now new, and they are 5k Been looking at used ones on Ebay, but people have some crazy prices. Plus been trying to get the 2+ version. I was thinking the Evo used 3d mapping as well, (my understanding) so it should perform as well as the Skydio for avoidance and tracking.

shallowpockets · Apr 6, 2024

The V3 doesn't track vehicles at all, only people. The ads show it tracking, but it doesn't. I bought it to track cars, that's how I know. I took it up with support a year ago when I bought the drone and was told it takes time to roll out software updates... which was not an answer. Fast forward a year, and I told them I couldn't recommend the company because their software doesn't match the advertising and I wasted a lot of money on this drone (could've saved a ton if i bought the V2-which DOES have that feature and many more). They said they'll update the software, and I never heard back and it hasn't been fixed yet.

So, short answer, it doesn't track vehicles, but can track people. But I've never tested tracking a person, so I don't know how well it does.

My experience with support has not been good. I bought through an online retailer through the main autel website, and wasn't aware that it was a company in China (the online shop), so when they offered free support for a year for my drone version Evo 2 640T, I was told by autel support they don't support drones purchased from China and to get it from the seller, and the seller said they don't offer support for enterprise versions of drones, and since at the time I was new to autel, I didn't realized my rugged package was an enterprise-type drone.

If you can find an Evo 2 V2, you're better off with that...it has way more intelligent flight features that were not brought over to the V3. Which I didn't find out until a few days after my return window.

As for being solid, it's a good drone, but not as smooth to fly as my dji drones. The best feature for me, besides the fun of the thermal camera, is that it's bright orange, so I can see it quite far away.

Ninjak · Apr 6, 2024

shallowpockets said:
The V3 doesn't track vehicles at all, only people. The ads show it tracking, but it doesn't. I bought it to track cars, that's how I know. I took it up with support a year ago when I bought the drone and was told it takes time to roll out software updates... which was not an answer. Fast forward a year, and I told them I couldn't recommend the company because their software doesn't match the advertising and I wasted a lot of money on this drone (could've saved a ton if i bought the V2-which DOES have that feature and many more). They said they'll update the software, and I never heard back and it hasn't been fixed yet.

So, short answer, it doesn't track vehicles, but can track people. But I've never tested tracking a person, so I don't know how well it does.

My experience with support has not been good. I bought through an online retailer through the main autel website, and wasn't aware that it was a company in China (the online shop), so when they offered free support for a year for my drone version Evo 2 640T, I was told by autel support they don't support drones purchased from China and to get it from the seller, and the seller said they don't offer support for enterprise versions of drones, and since at the time I was new to autel, I didn't realized my rugged package was an enterprise-type drone.

If you can find an Evo 2 V2, you're better off with that...it has way more intelligent flight features that were not brought over to the V3. Which I didn't find out until a few days after my return window.

As for being solid, it's a good drone, but not as smooth to fly as my dji drones. The best feature for me, besides the fun of the thermal camera, is that it's bright orange, so I can see it quite far away.

Thank you! This is the information I was looking for. So really, all the V3 brings in the SE controller? I mean they say a few other things, but from your experience, it seems the V3 is not quite ready, and since its been a year, I would say that is not a good look.

shallowpockets · Apr 6, 2024

Ninjak said:
Thank you! This is the information I was looking for. So really, all the V3 brings in the SE controller? I mean they say a few other things, but from your experience, it seems the V3 is not quite ready, and since its been a year, I would say that is not a good look.

Yeah...I don't think it will ever be ready. I wish I could trade it for a V2. I keep thinking about it, but then I think it would just be better to buy another DJI. It's just I travel with it and I don't want to deal with geofencing unlocking procedures in other countries. So, for now instead of cool car tracking videos, I'm just doing scenery, with the occasional roof inspection with the thermal, or interesting thermal shots of cars doing donuts...definitely wasted money, since I paid full price a year ago.

Ninjak · Apr 6, 2024

shallowpockets said:
Yeah...I don't think it will ever be ready. I wish I could trade it for a V2. I keep thinking about it, but then I think it would just be better to buy another DJI. It's just I travel with it and I don't want to deal with geofencing unlocking procedures in other countries. So, for now instead of cool car tracking videos, I'm just doing scenery, with the occasional roof inspection with the thermal, or interesting thermal shots of cars doing donuts...definitely wasted money, since I paid full price a year ago.

Wow. I have seen some V2 on Ebay, that has extra things. In your opinion, is it worth using or getting the big pro controller, or smart controller with the version 2? Or do I say screw it and just get a DJI?

AP3 · Apr 6, 2024

Ninjak said:
As the title says, new to drones, and looking for a drone that can track me while I off-road. Not trying to make money, its just for fun and our off-road group. May use the drone for other things, like pics on holiday. Been looking at DJI's Air 3, Mavic 3 Classic, wanted to get a bigger drone, want one with the screen. So I know I am on an Autel forum, so how does the Evo II Pro hold up? If I am going to get one, I want one with all the extras, I see the Autel comes with a case, batteries, props, the controller etc. So I am wondering:
1. how well does it track and avoid obstacles?
2. How is customer service?
3. It looks sturdy, is it a good flying drone?

Camera and all of the other things are not a stickler on, I am not a professional. Also I can actually see this drone with the orange colour, reason why I was not looking at mini's.

Thanks in Advance.