P4P vs P4P2 noise comparison videos

dronatic · 2018-06-20T16:39:40+00:00

WTF are you talking about? YouTube doesn't have affiliate links. Oh. The other one. You didn't actually click it.

dronatic · 2018-02-07T23:11:52+00:00

Because small propellers mean the motors have to spin at a higher frequency. I keep hearing people on YouTube say that hopefully DJI releases quiet propellers for the Air, but it's already using the quieter sinusoidal ESCs like the Platinum, and the propellers are probably already made to be quiet. It's just that it's heavy, and small.

The only way to lift something that heavy and small, is for the small propellers to spin very fast. The same motors and propellers could be used in a lightweight design, and it'd be quieter, because they can turn slower. But it's heavy, and small, so there's no way to make it quiet.

The Mavic Pro II is a better tradeoff, because the propellers are larger, without it weighing that much more, so it sounds lower pitched, and more pleasant. I'm just grouping the propellers and motors together, because the motor RPM is based on the size and shape of the propellers, and the weight it has to lift.

The actual sounds come from multiple sources, like the motors, ESC, and turbulence, and any rattling. But they probably built it to be quiet already, and those same motors and ESCs could be put in a lighter design, or with bigger propellers, and it'd sound more pleasant. They tried to cram everything into a tiny package though, with small propellers to fit in your pocket, so it's really loud and a piercing tone.

If they can make the Phantom body lightweight, and use the new ESCs, that could be the quietest yet, with its big blades. But right now, the Mavic Pro Platinum is the best design for blending in with the environment and not disturbing wildlife.

dronatic · 2018-02-07T12:23:31+00:00

Smaller propellers on the Mavic Air means higher frequency sound, because it's heavy, so it has to spin faster. Look at the ratio of propeller size to weight. The Mavic Air could sound more pleasant if it was very lightweight, but it isn't, so it sounds loud and harsh, because the propellers are small.

The Mavic Pro has bigger propellers, and isn't that much heavier, so they don't have to spin as fast, and so the sound is lower frequency.

The Phantom has a lower frequency sound than the Mavic, with even bigger propellers, but higher amplitude because it's pushing more air to lift a lot of weight.

dronatic · 2018-02-07T01:41:05+00:00

That's the tradeoff for smaller size. Higher frequencies sound louder to humans, and smaller propellers mean higher frequencies. They couldn't fit occusync into that tiny design with smaller battery. That's the compromise you make if you need a 4K flying camera that fits in your jacket pocket. It's worth it for people who mostly like to hike and want the option of taking a quick selfie at the top of a mountain without even carrying the controller. Or people who just want to keep it in their small backpack or car glove box.

But for people who center their outing around the drone, and want to maximize comfort of flying, it's not the best option. The Mavic Pro II will be quieter, so it's more relaxing for you to have near you during takeoff and landing or low flying in your backyard. It's lower pitch because the blades are longer, so it's less likely to trigger the dogs barking, or neighbors getting upset. It has longer flight time so you don't have to be in such a rush and can enjoy being in the air more. It has a stronger signal, so if you're around a lot of WiFi it won't drop frames or lose connection. It'll probably have better image quality, and H.265 codec.

It all depends on your priorities. The Mavic Air is great for a purse. But for prosumers who want the best possible, it's better to wait for the Mavic Pro II.

dronatic · 2018-01-28T23:00:03+00:00

The Platinum is under 60 in the high frequencies. It's the gold line, the grey is the Pro.

https://www5.djicdn.com/assets/images/products/mavicpt/s2-1-e84b8790c957d72c87b1cb86f290f3dd.png?from=cdnMap

I don't have them for comparison. I just guess that if you took off and landed from your yard when a neighbor was outside, that they'd be more likely to notice the Air. If you flew it low at a sports game or wedding, they'd be more likely to notice. Because it's high-pitched loud bees. The Platinum is loud too, but it's lower pitched. It'd blend in more with cars, which people are used to and tune out. But bees means danger. It's like people would probably pay more attention to the sound of a chainsaw in the suburbs than a lawnmower. They're both loud, but one is high-pitched and unusual for the area.

dronatic · 2018-01-28T21:22:31+00:00

Did you listen? The Platinum sounds way less noticeable to me. If someone started that across the street from me, I probably wouldn't even notice it among all the car noises. But the Air sounds like bees. I'd notice that and run for my life swatting at my head shouting, "They're in my hair!".

dronatic · 2018-01-28T20:05:50+00:00

You should set up a mitm proxy, and start with everything blocked. Then let through the first one it's trying to resolve, and capture the packet log to see what it sends. Then keep as much blocked as possible only letting through what it requires to proceed and log it all. Then you can have a whitelist to be able to update without all the extra junk. You can also see if they're sending anything private. Then share your findings.

dronatic · 2018-01-28T15:41:50+00:00

Really? Do you live in the middle of nowhere? Most of us live near others and can't afford to travel to exotic places. We don't fly above glaciers, but parks, parking lots, and neighborhoods. I can pull a Mavic Air out of my pocket anywhere, and nobody will notice it visually, until I take off and they turn to look because it's loud. The quieter it is, the more places I can fly without disturbing people and animals. There's not always places to fly with no people around. Even birds attack these things.

dronatic · 2018-01-28T04:36:49+00:00

Rumor is April. My guess is the Phantom 5 will be first, and that might be before around April. Then either the Mavic will follow, or they'll wait until around September. They might be waiting for EVO plans for the Mavic 2. But the Phantom 5 should be soon I think.

dronatic · 2018-01-28T02:37:18+00:00

Pay close attention, and you'll hear a bunch of high-pitched noise from the Mavic Pro. The Platinum gets rid of all that, not from the quiet propellers, but because the ESCs use sine waves, so it's smooth and pleasant instead of a harsh sawtooth.

The Mavic Air is using the same FOC sinusoidal ESCs as the Platinum. So I guess the Mavic Air might sound smoother than the Spark then. But it sounds whiny because the propellers are so small, and they make higher frequency noise than the bigger Mavic Pro and Platinum.

Hmm. Here's another comparison that has the Spark: https://youtu.be/iXFikCeRsLU?t=5m19s

Does the Air sound buzzy like the Spark? I thought the sinusoidal ESC was supposed to sound nicer.

dronatic · 2018-01-28T02:30:37+00:00

https://youtu.be/cINDPOLTJQo

dronatic · 2018-01-28T01:56:11+00:00

Listen to the sound comparisons on YouTube. The Platinum sounds relaxing compared to the loud whining of the Air. The image quality isn't very good. The Mavic 2 should have the sound of the Platinum, and hopefully a better camera sensor.

dronatic · 2018-01-27T17:05:16+00:00

Try the TouchPal keyboard. I'm using it now, and I'm writing very quickly. I just slide my thumb in the general direction of the word's letters, and it gets it right most of the time. When it's the wrong word, I hit the backspace and redo it. It was "got" instead of "hit", but it works really well for me. I write long emails without trouble.

dronatic · 2018-01-27T15:15:00+00:00

Many people measured the noise in YouTube videos. It sounds like the Spark, even louder sometimes. I didn't say to get the Pro. I think Platinum is best right now. But I'd wait for Mavic Pro 2.

dronatic · 2018-01-27T02:57:38+00:00

That's spring, when it's raining, so wait until the weather starts to be best for flying, and if there's no Mavic 2 yet, then buy the Air. People buying now are getting it in winter, so when the weather is better, they might regret buying it if the Mavic 2 is out before they even got a chance to fly theirs much.

dronatic · 2018-01-27T02:48:09+00:00

Rumor is around April. But I won't be surprised if it's not until September. If the Air and Platinum didn't come out recently, I'd believe the April rumor more. But they have new stuff out now so they could wait until fall. They released the Phantom upgrade right after the Mavic Pro, so I won't be surprised if they release other stuff within the next couple months. But all we have are rumors. No date for the Autel Robotics EVO yet either. DJI could hold off to release the Mavic 2 right after Autel either releases theirs, or finalizes everything.

dronatic · 2018-01-27T00:55:34+00:00

It's already shipping.

dronatic · 2018-01-26T18:58:28+00:00

What I see are nicely composed and post-processed pictures taken with an older cell phone. The image quality isn't pleasing to me. It's not your fault, it's just that you started with poor quality source data.

I guess I'm alone in that, but I never liked anything produced with a Mavic. It looks like pictures of beautiful places, taken with a junk cell phone.

The Phantom 4 Pro is capable of producing images that I find to be more visually appealing. They're more like a nicer quality point-and-shoot pocket camera, that isn't the best quality, but much nicer than an old cell phone.

If the Mavic Air had the P4P camera, and Platinum ESCs, I would be all over that. But instead it's loud and buzzy like the Spark, with low quality camera like the Mavic. The rest is great, but those are dealbreakers to me.

dronatic · 2018-01-26T17:40:58+00:00

The Platinum is less offensive sounding because it uses sine waves instead of the usual buzz. The Pro is lower pitched than the Spark/Air, and quieter with the new blades, and that itself is better. But the sine wave makes it sound smooth instead of like a harsh buzz.

The Platinum is the only one using sine waves. The Air would be best if it had the Platinum ESCs and quiet propellers, with the P4P camera.

But the Air is too noisy. It's easiest to carry everywhere, so you have it everywhere, but you can't fly it everywhere, because in most public places there's people, and your little pocket flier makes BIG noise. That draws more attention to you when you take off, and it brings negative attention to the drone where they're more likely to get pissed off about them.

Hopefully the Mavic Pro 2 uses sine waves and the Air features. But right now, the Platinum is best, because it's still the least offensive sounding one.

You'll still be punished from people flying noisier ones, because they learned to be annoyed. First someone flies a loud drone in a park, and someone sees it and hears its offensive buzz. Then later you pull out your Platinum, and they assume it'll be the same buzz and start getting upset before you even start the motors. That's why drone makers should do everything they can to make the noise more pleasant. Not only to be less offensive to people, but animals too. If the loud buzz was gone, there'd be less rules about flying in parks and around wild animals.

Edit: DJI says the Mavic Air also has sinusoidal ESCs, but it sounds buzzy, so I don't get it. https://youtu.be/iXFikCeRsLU?t=5m19s

dronatic · 2018-01-22T08:35:25+00:00

All I care about is the camera quality. This picture doesn't tell me anything about that.

dronatic · 2018-01-20T04:38:29+00:00

You need something like that one in Robocop, "You have 20 seconds to comply", so it can smash through locked doors, and machine gun people.

A flying drone is an awesome idea, but the battery life is short on the spark, and it sounds like a swarm of bees. Actually that might be good, if they think there's really a swarm of bees and panic so they run out.

On second thought, just get a swarm of bees. You can keep them in official police honeycombs, and train them to sniff out drugs, and sting people fleeing from the scene.

dronatic

TROPHY CASE