The DJI Mavic 2 Pro Review: Worth It Years Later?

The DJI Mavic 2 Pro is our favorite top-of-the-line drone on the market.

They co-engineered the camera with Hasselblad, a Swedish company known for its killer image quality, which means the picture you get is unprecedented. This drone has a 1-inch sensor to help capture those super high-quality shots and an adjustable aperture lens for more control of the light hitting the sensor. Finally, DJI's 3-axis gimbal technology gives you the smoothest, most buttery footage, and we never complain about that.

Its design takes inspiration from their original Mavic Pro, though a tad bigger all around. It's fully measured 3.3 by 3.6 by 8.4 inches folded and roughly 3.3 by 9.5 by 12.7 inches with its arms extended. The unfolding process is super easy; swing the front arms out before the bottom ones. Otherwise, they'll collide. The aircraft alone weighs just 2 pounds, heavy enough to require an FAA registration when flying recreationally in the US. So, please be aware of your surrounding legal requirements and abide by them properly so we can all have fun and pilot safely.

Let's chat about the remote. The control is similar to what you might get from other Mavic models, as it's gray with a short, changeable cable to connect with your smartphone that will mount below the controller (standard, there). Like many other drones, you'll need to take your phone out of its case if it's deemed even remotely bulky to fit within the controller — an annoying step, but worth it for quick access to steering your drone with ease. Two clips hold your device down; some are big enough to hold phablets. Cables are included for phones that use Lightning, micro USB, and USB-C ports.

The Mavic 2 Pro's battery life is superb for what you get, especially compared to DJI's predecessor. My tested netted average was anywhere from 26-28 minutes to concrete flight time; that's quite good and better than the recorded 23 minutes on the original Mavic Pro. DJI claims the drone pilots up to 31 minutes in the air, but unless you want your sub $2K device in the drain, keep it up for just a tad shorter. In addition, the Mavic 2 Pro's obstacle avoidance system is incredible. It has sensors in every direction, marking flight modes either forward, rear, upward, or downward sensors, all active at any time, stopping the drone in place if an obstacle is detected. Switching to ActiveTrack, where the Mavic identifies and tracks a moving subject, enables the side sensors.

Its stunning camera allows up to 4K UHD at 100Mbps, with your choice of H.264 or H.265 compression. You can record ready-to-edit footage with its standard color profile — though DJI has leveraged color science tech from its partner Hasselblad for the Mavic 2 Pro's camera. I mostly use the classic color profile, as it's easy to use and manipulates super well for post-production. However, easily opt for a unique baked-in shape to have a more artistic view of your creations. Shooting flat allows you to color correct—Dlog-M is a 10-bit format. It's only recommended for severe video pros, as you will need some serious software and skill to make Dlog-M footage pop.

Lastly, the compact design makes it perfect for my travels. My camera bag requires a lightweight, foldable rig to help get rid of any unwarranted space. I can easily pack it in my camera backpack and some Sony gear for the ultimate filmmaker setup.

• 31 minutes of flight time
• Max speed of 44 mph
• 10-bit HDR Video
• 10-bit Dlog-M color profile
• 1" CMOS Sensor
• Hasselblad L1D-20c Camera
• Adjustable Aperture, f/2.8 - f/11
• H.265 Compression
• 20 MP 1” CMOS Sensor
• Folds to 84mm x 91mm x 214mm

In Detail

The camera is true “ all that.” Its imaging sensor is versatile and available in 1-inch screen size to deliver crispy results better than what you’d expect from your smartphone. This drone shoots in JPEG, RAW, and DNG formats, and I expect more professional photographers to use the latter. Its large sensor makes low-light aerial imaging a more impressive task, boasting a high ISO that can be set as high as 12800 when making images. I would only recommend hovering around 3200 ISO as a bare maxim to avoid harsh noise and grain within your twilight photos.

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