In talking about using the Mavic in the backcountry, I feel it important to note just how little stick time I had on the Mavic before this bikepacking trip, which was effectively none. Due to some delivery delays, we didn’t get our hands on the drone until the night before the trip; I actually did the unboxing in the parking lot the morning we headed for Big Bend. Going into this I knew I would be relying heavily on my experience flying my Phantom 3 Pro (the Mavic’s bigger older cousin). Lucky for me DJI has a solid interface and control philosophy; the Mavic felt like an upgrade rather than a whole new piece of gear. I felt at home with it minutes after taking off. However the last minute arrival did highlighted some of the backwoods limitations of the Mavic., which we will get to in a minute. First let’s discuss a little about why the Mavic is well suited to a backwoods adventure.
It’s surprisingly light and freak’n tiny!!!
For my recent trip through Big Bend, the weight of the Mavic, 2 batteries, flight controller, and iPhone totalled nearly the same as the weight of my sleeping bag and pad (approx. 3lbs). So the weight commitment of taking a Mavic with you bikepacking is very reasonable, about the same as taking a DSLR and one lens with you.
In terms of size the Mavic is equally impressive. The collapsible arms and folding propellers mean the Mavic is small enough when folded to fit inside a decent sized top-tube bag. Which is exactly where I kept it when it wasn’t flying. Specifically I kept it rolled up inside a thin dry-bag inside my top-tube bag for added protection. This storage size is shocking when compared to the amount of space you have to devote to drones like the Phantom which requires a dedicated backpack to safely transport its large rigid frame.
It’s a flying tank!!!
DJI’s drone’s have always been solidly constructed, but the Mavic seems to take things to the next level for its class. The Mavic is dense; the first thing a lot of people say when they pick it up is how much heavier it is then expected (even though the drone itself only weighs 1.6lbs). I didn’t have the... opportunity to test the Mavic’s crash survivability, but I never felt I had to be super careful with it during setup or flight. The Mavic took care of itself even when I screwed up; the front facing obstacle avoidance sensors kept me from flying into anything (a blessing when it saves you, and frustrating when the autopilot overrides a well flown course that happens to be a little too close to an obstacle). Even when my stupidity outwitted the avoidance sensors (by flying backwards into a Ocotillo bush) the folding rotor blades simply collapsed for a moment and literal “beat around the bush” before snapping back to full length and flying away like nothing happened. In the same circumstances the rigid blades on my Phantom would have resulted in a horrible crash onto the rocks below.
There is nothing else quite up to the Mavic’s caliber on the market right now. The Karma drone by GoPro is probably the closest, however even a cursory look at its total weight, size, and cost make it the clear second choice in general, and for off-the-grid use in particular. The Mavic is the first, and so far the only drone to cram this much capability into a size and weight that makes it viable as a backwoods companion. That being said there are some serious concerns with taking any drone, even the Mavic, with you into the backwoods. Some seem obvious, while others are things you would never consider being an issue. We'll discuss exactly what those issues are in my next post.