Undecided first time buyer: P4P or Mavic

[cadeet]

Well in South Louisiana you don't have to worry about any of these mountain hiking issues. The elevation only changes a couple feet over miles

 

[PaulAB]

Not to muddy the waters here, but have you considered the SwellPro Splash Auto 3. Similar to Phantom and waterproof.

CHOICES -choices... perhaps buy both? I am first time buyer and researching the options suggests that having a stable of the two styles of bird may be my ultimate decision.

Cheers

 

[sar104]

Not to muddy the waters here, but have you considered the SwellPro Splash Auto 3. Similar to Phantom and waterproof.

CHOICES -choices... perhaps buy both? I am first time buyer and researching the options suggests that having a stable of the two styles of bird may be my ultimate decision.

Cheers

That would be an aviary, not a stable.

 

[Hikaru Sulu]

I don’t own a Mavic. But it was one of your last sentences referring to the quality of footage. When it comes to quality and usability, I would always go for the best. Ultimately, you may want to do something with what you get, that the Mavic won’t be able to reach.

I do agree with noise though. The P4P is like a swarm of bees!

 

[Blake Jackson]

P4P and Mavic Pro both are really good drones, aside from noises.

If you are planning to travel to different spots by feet, then Mavic Pro would be the clear choice due to its portability and durability. P4P is good for making crispy clear cameras but if you aren't that concern about cameras since videos are resized to 1920x1080 HD for Youtube and Vimeo anyway, Mavic Pro all the way.

 

[borschelrh]

I own a Phantom 4 but I flew a friend's Mavic on a trip to the USA earlier this year. I keep my Phantom 4 in a backpack and have hiked with it through some pretty rough territory but the entire backpack is filled with drone stuff and there is little room for anything else. The Mavic is much smaller and if carrying a drone is an issue then it is superior in this regard. Each fly similarly but the Mavic being lighter is more unstable in winds. However, it is also faster so can handle larger winds better. The P4 is very stable and I have flown in 15 mps winds without any issues. You must keep in mind distance and return in winds and they are slightly different in that regard. The camera is far superior in the P4P although the best is now the Osmo7 in the Inspire 2 so if photography is your passion then that is a superior drone to either the P4P or Mavic.

I bought a Zerotech Dobby which has a similar camera to the Mavic and can shoot in 4K but unstabilized having no gimbal. This is my carry around drone and I have it with me all the time for those times I need a quick drone shot and don't want the enormous hassle of setting up the P4. Yes, the photo quality is less and yes it can only fly for 9 minutes and yes it is extremely unstable in winds but it is fine for the money and flies easily enough. Recent software improvements have made it a useful tool. Also, at under 250 grams in many places it is unregulated.

The other way to go is to build your own and put on a great camera. There are lots of options and ardudrone (or inav or Libre) project allows autonomous flights similar to what you can do with Litchi. I am planning to do that and to mount a 360 VR camera on it. I want portability, programmed flights, and good stabilized camera (all for under $1000 (assuming camera is separate)) which currently is not really available anywhere yet. I also want to keep the government out of my drone so home brew is the only way to do that.

 

[len750]

Thank you Msinger!

You're going to be saying that a lot if you stay on this forum.

 

[len750]

My P4P, controller, 4 batteries (5 if you have 1 in the bird), cables, 2 sets of propellers and extra sd chips, all in my light weight hard shell backpack! That and carry my tablet and I am ready to hike or what ever.

"all in my light weight hard shell backpack!" Which light weight hard shell back pack are you using? Do you have a photo of it?

 

[cneedelman]

I love the images of my P4P and you will too.

You should join the NJ Drone Users Group on Meetup. Nice group flies at a few Central & S. Jersey locations.

 

[dwcola]

Very tough decision.
Personally, I would base it on a couple
large differences.

If your looking for better video performance I would go with P4P.
35, 40 m.p.h. 13 to 15 minute flight
times. 1 to 1.5 mile practical video feed.

If your going for speed, maneuverability,
Smaller, quick transport and longer flight
times, I'd go mavic.
50,60 m.p.h. 20 to 25 minute flight times.
3 to 4 mile practical video feed.

Best Solution: Get both.

 

[Bakersfield Quad]

"all in my light weight hard shell backpack!" Which light weight hard shell back pack are you using? Do you have a photo of it?

https://www.amazon.com/Slappa-Pipel...=1509314415&sr=1-1&keywords=Pipeline+backpack
Here is a link, you can see it clearly there.

 

[old_hat]

The last couple weeks, I tried both the Mavic and P4P as reasons stated above. The Mavic was great, but in the end I decided to stay with the P4P for:
1. I was accustomed to the P3P, and just felt natural with the P4P
2. The noise difference wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. The Mavic makes pretty good noise too. Maybe I'm getting old, but it seems the P4P is a little quieter than the P3P I owned.
3. To me, and I'm am a amateur at Photography, but I was able to get way better video and pics with the P4P.
4. I bought a Backpack for the P4P, and it actually works out great. Although it's not like carrying the Mavic lunch tote around.

Was I disappointed in the Mavic? ...not in the least. wish I could stay with both, but one had to go.

 

[John Locke]

Was I disappointed in the Mavic? ...not in the least. wish I could stay with both, but one had to go.

You made the right decision. I have both and my Mavic rarely gets flown. I thought the portability would be handy, but in comparison to the P4P the camera just isn't as good, not even as good as my P3P IMO, suffering more from sun flares and artifacts. But the Mavic is quieter for capturing animals, less intimidating to animals because it's smaller.

 

[SweetSVT99]

Fair enough, except that I don't regard riding an ebike as mountain biking any more than I regard riding a dirt bike as mountain biking.

I have the DJI backpack and use it all the time while riding my NON E-Bikes. With that said, I'm planning on buying a Mavic over the winter so I can throw it in a regular backpack. The P4P backpack is too big and has virtually no room for other stuff - so it's not practical for me in most cases.

 

[sar104]

I have the DJI backpack and use it all the time while riding my NON E-Bikes. With that said, I'm planning on buying a Mavic over the winter so I can throw it in a regular backpack. The P4P backpack is too big and has virtually no room for other stuff - so it's not practical for me in most cases.

Agreed - that was my point.

 

[John Locke]

I have the DJI backpack and use it all the time while riding my NON E-Bikes. With that said, I'm planning on buying a Mavic over the winter so I can throw it in a regular backpack. The P4P backpack is too big and has virtually no room for other stuff - so it's not practical for me in most cases.

That's a cool looking fatty tire Mtn Bike. I rode one recently and it handled rocks so much better, more like my KTM.

You might look at the ThinkTank Helipak backpack, it's more versatile than the DJI backpack. It holds much more, but depending on what you put inside it can get heavy. I often take may SX50 Canon camera in the backpack since it's got a nice 50X zoom in a compact package. My Mavic is nice for mtn biking on my Specialized Stump Jumper, but I also have a Phantom X (coincidental name) ebike that takes me places with ease with my P4P/Thinktank backpack. There are some fatty tired ebikes from Haibike that are interesting too that I'd like to test ride soon.

My Phantom 4P lets me fly places I couldn't go before (with Parameter mods), and my Phantom X ebike lets me access launch points I couldn't access before. I'm old, so I can use the ehelp, LOL.

 

[jimmyjimmyv]

I just sold my mavic to get a P4A.. I had it for 6 months and dozens of flights. I wish I would have gotten this phantom in the first place. I think I got sucked into the marketing hype and that it looked so much different than the phantom that everyone seemed to have. I much much prefer the outstanding camera on the phantom over the mavic. It's really night and day and I studied and tried all different kinds of settings for months. The phantom does much better in a stiffer breeze. I use Litchi A LOT and I don't remember being able to do video past maybe 17mph on the mavic during a waypoint mission, it just wouldn't get that high, maybe it was just me. But, I've already flown a few missions and took video at 27mph (didn't get higher because of turning). What sealed the deal was taking video of the fall leaves, a lot of the trees looked like cotton candy on the mavic. Trees without leaves looked to be covered in cobwebs. Noise? The phantom is much louder than the Mavic. I don't know if I would say it's twice as loud, but it is definitely louder. I can hear it farther up and farther out. It's not a big deal for me, but it may be to you. So, if portability is a a priority for you, go with the mavic because there is no other reason to choose it over the phantom.... Below is a video from the mavic.. watch around 1:30. There are trees that are nice and sharp, but right next to them are trees made of cotton candy.. The mavic folks call it the watercolor defect.

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[Bakersfield Quad]

That is a good review.

 

[AnchorageAk]

I can put my Mavic on the truck dash, and have it in the air in a couple minutes. But my, P4P is one tough drone.The easy answer for me , and apparently a lot others on here, was to get both. The best of both worlds. There is a reason they made different style drones.

 

[John Locke]

I just sold my mavic to get a P4A.. I had it for 6 months and dozens of flights. I wish I would have gotten this phantom in the first place. I think I got sucked into the marketing hype and that it looked so much different than the phantom that everyone seemed to have. I much much prefer the outstanding camera on the phantom over the mavic. It's really night and day and I studied and tried all different kinds of settings for months. The phantom does much better in a stiffer breeze. I use Litchi A LOT and I don't remember being able to do video past maybe 17mph on the mavic during a waypoint mission, it just wouldn't get that high, maybe it was just me. But, I've already flown a few missions and took video at 27mph (didn't get higher because of turning). What sealed the deal was taking video of the fall leaves, a lot of the trees looked like cotton candy on the mavic. Trees without leaves looked to be covered in cobwebs. Noise? The phantom is much louder than the Mavic. I don't know if I would say it's twice as loud, but it is definitely louder. I can hear it farther up and farther out. It's not a big deal for me, but it may be to you. So, if portability is a a priority for you, go with the mavic because there is no other reason to choose it over the phantom.... Below is a video from the mavic.. watch around 1:30. There are trees that are nice and sharp, but right next to them are trees made of cotton candy.. The mavic folks call it the watercolor defect.

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To mitigate the artifacts (cotton candy) in the SD card recording, go into the camera settings and set the sharpness to -2. That should help minimize that effect, also often seen in water scenes.