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We tried out the expensive but awesome DJI Mavic 2 Pro drone

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PHOTO: muhammad husain
PHOTO: muhammad husain

DJI Mavic 2 Pro drone
R28 589 at takealot.com
. . . - -

It’s a pity that we only had about three days to test the DJI Mavic 2 Pro drone as we couldn’t get to all of its vast array of intelligent features.

After waiting a for week and a bit to get an Android cable to connect to the remote control (because you can’t fly it the first time without a smartphone), we were left a little bewildered when we were told to have it ready for pick-up and return the next day.

Having begged and borrowed an Apple phone from a colleague, we immediately set out to see if we could fly a drone – having never flown one before.

After downloading the app and stumbling through the instructions, we were up and running in beginner mode within 30 minutes. It was relatively easy to get a hold of the controls as the DJI app helps you navigate these in your first flight.

The beauty about a drone, specifically this one, is the different vantage points that it allows you to see – from stunning bird’s eye views to majestic urban skylines captured in 4K with a frame rate of up to 120 frames per second.

With clarity and stabilisation – because of the gimbal-attached 20 MP Hasselblad camera – you’re guaranteed quality images from 100m away.

The Mavic 2 can reach heights of 800m, a range of 8 000m, speeds of up to 70km/h, has a slew of automated subject tracking modes (active track, waypoint, points of interest, boomerang) and obstacle avoidance technology that we’re told makes capturing the perfect shot without flying into a something a breeze, but we wouldn’t know as we only had the drone for three days.

Even in beginner mode, the thing that stands out is the beeping every time the drone gets too close to a tree, a bird or a building.

The flight time was a little disappointing, clocking in at a nonstop flight of about 25 minutes.

But it does come with two extra batteries, which helps when you’re in the wilderness, we assume.

The 8GB on-board memory is welcome if you don’t have memory cards lying around.

Added to this, the spider-looking drone weighs just under 1kg, which is perfect if you want to take it along on a hike.

By all accounts, the Mavic 2 Pro is a top-of-the-range commercial drone with enough features to keep you busy for weeks during the festive season – if someone doesn’t force you to give it back, that is.

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