Hands-on: DJI’s new Mavic Air is a beefed-up Spark with 4K video

NEW YORK—DJI on Tuesday announced the latest entry in its popular line of consumer drones: the Mavic Air.

The Chinese firm, which is estimated to hold around 70 percent of the consumer drone market, showcased the new device at an event in New York City. It’ll start at $799, which is $400 more than the Spark’s current going rate and $200 below the cost of a new Mavic Pro. The entry-level package does include a dedicated controller, though, albeit one without an integrated display. A $999 package that includes extra batteries, a charging hub, and other accessories will also be available. The Mavic Air is available for pre-order today, and DJI says the device will start shipping on January 28.

At first blush, the Mavic Air appears to find a middle ground between DJI’s beginner-friendly Spark drone and its pricier but more technically capable Mavic Pro. Like both of those devices, the Mavic Air is small—at 168x184x64mm, it’s a bit larger than the Spark but smaller than the Mavic Pro. Like the latter, its arms can be folded inward, which should make it relatively easy to pack and transport. Its design doesn’t stray too far from the past, either, with the rounded, swooping lines of its chassis punctuated by stubby, Spark-like propeller arms.

The whole thing weighs 430 grams, which is much lighter than the Mavic Pro's 734g and a bit heavier than the Spark's 300g chassis. DJI says it can reach up to 42.5 miles per hour in its "sport" mode, which is faster than both the Spark (30mph) and Mavic Pro (40mph). It has a flight range of 2.5 miles with the included controller—provided you keep it in your line of sight—which is closer to the Spark than the Pro. With a smartphone, that range drops to 262 feet, the same as the Spark. DJI says it can fly stably in winds up to 22mph, the same as the Mavic Pro.

That balance is also reflected in the Mavic Air’s specs. The drone carries a 12-megapixel camera with a 1/2.3-inch CMOS sensor and a 24mm-equivalent F2.8 lens. As with all DJI drones, that camera comes integrated into the device. Notably, like the Mavic Pro, it’s capable of capturing video in 4K up to 30 frames per second, with 1080p video up to 120fps. It can also take DNG photos. Video from the Spark, by contrast, maxed at a lower 1080p resolution and 30fps. A USB-C port and 8GB of internal storage come built into the Air as well.

The device also uses a three-axis gimbal, which should give that camera a little more stability and flexibility while filming compared to the Spark’s two-axis option. There's also a 32-megapixel mode for wide-ranging panorama shots, a slow-motion video mode that gets 1080p video up to 120fps, and an HDR shooting mode.

DJI rates the Mavic Air’s battery as getting up to 21 minutes of flight time, which, again, splits the difference between the Spark (rated at 16 mins) and Mavic Pro (27 mins). There are seven cameras and infrared sensors onboard the machine, and DJI says it has boosted the obstacle-avoidance and “visual positioning system” tech that gives these things some protection from clumsy pilots. We'll have to put the Mavic Air through its paces before we're able to corroborate that, though. The quieter propellers of last year's Mavic Pro Platinum are not here, either, so flying the drone around is still fairly noisy.

The device also works with the hand-waving gesture controls introduced with the Spark. We found those to require a little too much precision the first time around, but DJI again touted improved responsiveness here. It also showcased a couple new "ActiveTrack" modes (short pre-set flight paths for taking photos that can be activated in the DJI app): an "Asteroid" option takes a sort of circular panorama shot, while a "Boomerang" mode takes a circular path around a pilot.

Temporary test pilot

I briefly tested the Mavic Air's gesture controls at the company's launch event in Manhattan, and generally speaking things worked smoothly. Raising and moving the Mavic Air is as simple as pointing your palm at it and slowly waving it around; moving it backward can be done by spreading your hands apart, and you can take a photo just by making a peace sign. There's a slight delay to everything, but it's not egregious, and DJI says the Air can recognize gestures from up to 20 feet, which is a bit farther than with the Spark.

Still, my demo was in a wide-open floorspace, and even then I still had to move deliberately and repeat myself a couple of times to be as precise as possible. The more professional audience that would normally lean toward the Mavic Pro will likely still be better off with a controller.

The Mavic Air isn’t some massive, breakthrough modern drone tech, and it adds yet another option to a DJI lineup that’s becoming increasingly crowded—particularly when you consider the still-popular Phantom line of drones that sits just above the Spark-Mavic Air-Mavic Pro triptych, as well as more incremental upgrades like the Mavic Pro Platinum. DJI is in a unique spot among consumer tech companies in that it has nearly gained total control over its field on merit, but it may risk confusing those new to consumer drones, a market still on the rise, who are looking for the best mix of price and performance.

DJI sees the Air as being for those who want something close to a Mavic Pro in a more portable package, and a DJI representative conceded that it's likely to eat into the market of those who would buy the latter. But while the Mavic Pro is definitely larger, it's not exactly huge to begin with.

That said, viewed as an upgrade on the fun-but-occasionally-underwhelming Spark, the Mavic Air may be a welcome sight for hobbyists and aspiring videographers—at least those willing to shell out the extra cash. It also brings some of the Mavic Pro’s better bits down to a smaller and cheaper form factor, which is hard to complain about. We’ll let you know if there’s a true place for the Mavic Air once we’re able to test it further and put its camera through the wringer.