The new DJI Avata has allowed me to fly and fly like no other beginner drone I’ve used before

DJI Avata is something special. I found out on the first flight.

I pressed three power buttons, placed the drone on the table, pulled the goggles over my eyes, and grabbed the pistol-shaped stick. A double tap and a long press of the cherry red button made the bird fly into the air. And then, with a snap of my index finger and a literal flick of my wrist, I was a bird, a plane, Superman soaring into the sky, flying down to Earth below. I could almost taste it, scanning the field of grass so closethe banking was so smooth and level in one turn that the car drifted expertly around the bend.

I couldn’t wait to go again. And I didn’t need it – there was plenty of battery left.

Today, DJI announces Avata, the first cinewhoop-style drone. It’s unlike any flying camera DJI has made before. Instead of folding arms like the Mavic or Mini, it comes with a full propeller guard from the factory, four fixed rotors that push straight down, and integrated legs high enough to keep those propellers out of trouble. Instead of a three-axis gimbal and collision avoidance sensors that allow you to fly and shoot in any direction, the expectation is that you’ll fly this drone forward like an airplane and you’ll be able to see where it is in first person. 1/1.7-inch, up to 4K / 60fps or 2.7K / 120fps camera. The only sensors you get are a pair of downward-facing cameras and infrared sensors, which do an amazing job of maintaining a constant altitude while hovering just above the ground.

But if this is cinewhoop, it’s not your average cinewhoop either. You get 18 minutes of battery life, which is several times more than you’d see in an aerobatic drone. can cross a bowling alley. And it’s not too light or small: it’s about the size of a Mini 2 with arms outstretched, but weighs almost twice as much at 410 grams, ie. you must register and tag your drone, and will take a stronger hit during an accident. On the plus side, it doesn’t have any exposed propellers or arms to break like the original DJI FPV.

The biggest difference is that it is Avata no it is primarily designed to be paired with a traditional, joystick-based controller that allows you to fly the drone sideways or backwards or to turn. DJI will not sell you a kit and send it to us in time for testing. When we tried the $1,299 DJI FPV, which DJI advertised as being able to bring the Avata into fully-mechanical aerobatic mode capable of flying at speeds of up to 60 miles per hour (27 meters per second), we couldn’t get it. stay a reliable double.

It’s also a bit expensive. Today, DJI is launching the Avata in three different configurations: $629 for the drone itself, $1,168 with a pair of FPV goggles and motion controller, and $1,388 with that controller and the new DJI Goggles 2. These latter have 1080p micro. Here’s what I’ve been using: an OLED screen that streams footage from the drone at 100fps with a delay of up to 30 milliseconds on DJI’s wireless transmission system.

I owned DJI’s original goggles and the original Mavic Pro briefly in 2017, and damn, technology has come a long way. Back then, I had to fly the Mavic slowly and cautiously, because the 1080p30 or 720p60 picture wasn’t that clear and responsive, and the big PlayStation VR-sized headset was pushing my nose down. The new Goggles 2 aren’t perfect – I saw some distortion around the edges, and the 51-degree field of view still means you’re looking at a virtual TV screen rather than being fully immersed in something akin to VR. But they feel very comfortable, they’re relatively crisp, small and light, it’s very easy to adjust the diopters to dial everything in for your vision, and even the unfortunately noisy internal fan has kept me from fogging up the glasses so far.

My colleague Vjeran Pavic, who you may know I’m not so sure about the new glasses, despite our drone reviews and lots of great photography and videography. Here, I’ll let him do the talking for a bit:

This may seem like a very specific problem for me, but it’s worth noting: I’m farsighted in my right eye and farsighted in my left eye. In addition, I have a very small, almost negligible astigmatism. I notice that my left eye is having trouble adjusting to the screen. I have issues with whites blooming, not so focused center and very blurry corners. I even reduced the display borders to 70 percent (for context, I set the DJI Goggles 2 to 90 percent), but despite the new micro OLED panel, interpupillary distance (56–72 mm) and diopter adjustment (+2 to -8), I still struggling to see it clearly.

But there are other improvements to the headset. The headband is smaller and feels firmer. DJI FPV Goggles V2 now has two foldable internal antennas; no more four separate screws. The cumbersome joystick is now replaced by a touchpad that is very responsive and easy to learn. It also has a small plastic cover for the lenses, which I really appreciate. You don’t want to leave them exposed to the sun for too long.

When I pair these goggles with the built-in motion controller, it allows me to do things I never did on my first try with a drone—like fly into a tree canopy to spot a bird or fly under a volleyball net. It helps you see a real-time reticle inside your goggles that shows you where the motion controller is pointing – and the drone brakes automatically and smoothly when you release the trigger.

So forgive me if you don’t get into the details of whether camera quality, wireless range, or survivability or speed will be limited in this particular hands-on post. (This is generally half the speed of the larger DJI FPV.)

Or… the fact that DJI has some of the most annoying USB-C ports I’ve ever used. The controllers refuse to charge with a C-to-C cable, DJI doesn’t ship a C-to-A cable or a single charger in the box, the FPV goggles use a special cable, the drone port is buried under the propeller. – I can continue

Bottom line: The DJI Avata made me feel like I was flying, and we can save the rest for a future review.

Photographer Sean Hollister / The Verge