Hey there, and welcome to my evaluate of the Autel EVO II Professional and DJI Mini 2 SE. It is a head-to-head I’m excited to cowl, contemplating these are two of my favourite drones.
The EVO II Professional stays on the prime of its recreation, even when it’s not the latest drone.
Conversely, the Mini 2 SE is a testomony to DJI’s unbelievable lineage of accomplishments in drone know-how.
Though these two drones couldn’t look or function extra otherwise, they’re each applicable decisions for industrial purposes and leisure flights, the latter of which I primarily use them for.
When you had been searching for a complete drone fleet, it might be a straightforward selection, as you can purchase each. Nonetheless, you’re right here since you need to select the perfect between these two.
I’ve been in related predicaments myself, and I’m blissful to supply my experience based mostly on a whole bunch of flight hours between the 2.
This evaluate will unpack the numerous virtues of the Autel EVO II Professional and DJI Mini 2 SE, holding them beneath a microscope (figuratively, in fact!) to check them within the areas you want information on, similar to flight efficiency and battery life. I’ll additionally elaborate on their variations based mostly on my private flight experiences. You’ll quickly see why I chosen the EVO II Professional because the stronger of the 2.
Lingering on a drone resolution is agonizing. I’ve been there, and it feels just like the longer you drag out your resolution, the much less readability you’ve.
That’s what I hope that can assist you with.
You’ll have all of the information you want to boldly go forth and decide up the correct drone to your skilled pursuits so you may dwell regret-free together with your resolution.
Transient overview
Autel EVO II Professional
When Autel launched the preliminary EVO II Professional, they didn’t go away properly sufficient alone, and thank goodness! Then we wouldn’t have gotten the V2 version or the even higher V3, which is certainly one of my private all-time favourite drones.
Let’s tackle the elephant within the room. The EVO II Professional is 5 occasions the price of the Mini 2 SE. That alone is likely to be sufficient to disqualify it from competition, however that will be a large mistake!
In spite of everything, to skip over the EVO II Professional would imply lacking out on these options:
- An industry-defining Sony CMOS digicam with a one-inch sensor (don’t fear, you may configure the aperture) that takes 6K Extremely HD movies and 20 MP photographs.
- Probably the greatest impediment avoidance methods you’ll see in a drone. That alone makes the EVO II Professional definitely worth the cash, as you may fly with confidence as a beginner.
- An intuitive, easy-to-use Good Controller SE that permits you to fly while not having your telephone as a display screen. I like the dimensions of the touchscreen and the way rugged it’s. It’s even waterproof!
- A jam-packed packing listing positive to make you understand the worth of your buy, as you’ve each accent you want as a first-timer and in a while, while you get extra into the nitty-gritty of what the EVO II Professional can do.
- The superb Dynamic Observe 2.0 can monitor stationary or transferring topics such as you wouldn’t consider. You may monitor many topics concurrently, so you may take on extra concerned drone jobs.
» MORE: Autel EVO II Professional vs. DJI Mavic 3 (Right here’s My Selection)
DJI Mini 2 SE
The Mini 2 SE is without doubt one of the latest Mini drones, however regardless of its launch date of 2023, it follows within the spirit of different Mini 2 drones. Meaning simplicity is vital.
This is without doubt one of the lowest-cost DJI drones you should buy. Even the Fly Extra Combo is on the market for beneath $500, making it an superior entry-level drone. If I had began flying in 2023, I may simply see the Mini 2 SE being my first drone.
Apart from its easy-to-swallow worth, the Mini 2 SE has these epic options:
- An honest battery lifetime of over half-hour, which isn’t unhealthy for its dimension. When you don’t have an enormous to-do listing, you may reliably get work carried out with the Mini 2 SE.
- Many newbie options, from its registration-free weight (provided that you fly it recreationally) to the included tutorials for studying how the drone works, automated launching and touchdown, dependable hovering, and different auto flight modes, together with RTH.
- A few of DJI’s most satisfying Clever Flight Modes, similar to QuickShots, with entry to the beginner-friendly LightCut app to create pro-level footage utilizing single-tap edits, even for those who’ve by no means taken photographs and movies with a drone earlier than.
- Newbie-appropriate video (2.7K) and picture (12 MP) high quality, bolstered by options like 4x zoom and a 1/2.3-inch CMOS sensor.
» MORE: Does DJI Mini 2 SE Have Comply with Me? (Answered)
Fast verdict
Your time is treasured, and I don’t need to go away you on pins and needles.
Right here at Droneblog, all suggestions we make for the perfect drones between two fashions are introduced after in depth flight follow and testing.
With our experience and drone information, you may take our options to the financial institution.
So, which drone wins?
The Autel EVO II Professional is the standout drone between it and the DJI Mini 2 SE. It has impediment avoidance sensors (which the Mini 2 SE doesn’t), higher picture and video high quality, a for much longer battery lifetime of 40 minutes, and extra picture settings, from a excessive max ISO to an adjustable aperture.
After all, I’m not undercutting the Mini 2 SE fully. Its Clever Flight Modes are among the finest you’ll find, and this drone has so many beginner-friendly options.
Actually, then, which drone between these two is best for you comes right down to what you’re searching for in a drone.
When you’re purchasing to your first or a newbie simply beginning to fly commercially, similar to a social media star or influencer, the Mini 2 SE will make it easier to develop your sea legs quick.
When you want a heavy-duty drone that may stand as much as the weather and maintain flight to your extra in-depth drone initiatives, the EVO II Professional is finest.
It’s the higher all-around drone between the 2, nevertheless it’s not almost as beginner-friendly.
» MORE: Can You Fly the DJI Mini 2 SE at Evening? (Defined for Newbies)
What are the primary variations?
The Mini 2 SE and EVO II Professional are about as completely different as apples and potatoes. Since these variations can encourage your buying resolution, it’s pertinent to evaluate all of them. Right here’s the exhaustive listing.
- Value: The Mini 2 SE retails for beneath $400 for those who select the bottom drone, whereas the EVO II Professional prices near $2,000. That’s an enormous worth differential.
- Weight: The official weight of the Mini 2 SE is 246 grams. The EVO II Professional weighs 1,191 grams. Whereas it’s a must to register any drone used for any industrial purposes, most pilots discover lighter drones are higher.
- Dimension: The EVO II Professional can also be a lot bigger than the Mini 2 SE. Unfolded, it measures 457 by 558 by 108 millimeters. The Mini 2 SE is 245 by 289 by 56 millimeters unfolded with propellers.
- Security options: The impediment avoidance system included with the EVO II Professional is without doubt one of the finest round. That makes the shortage of impediment avoidance within the Mini 2 SE conspicuous in its absence. Nonetheless, it has primary impediment sensing.
- Picture and video high quality: Listed below are two areas the place the EVO II Professional shines. Its 20 MP picture decision will not be nice in comparison with most drones in the marketplace in the present day, nevertheless it positive beats the 12 MP picture high quality the Mini 2 SE is able to. The video high quality, a distinction of 6K versus 2K, can also be stark.
- Flight time: The EVO II Professional has a projected flight time that’s 10 minutes longer than the Mini 2 SE’s. That’s sufficient to avoid wasting your pores and skin when you’ve a decent deadline on the horizon.
- Colours: It could be a small factor to a few of you studying this, however Autel’s colour selection has at all times impressed me. The EVO II Professional is on the market in vivid orange to extend your visibility when flying it (however nonetheless inside VLOS guidelines, in fact). The Mini 2 SE is a lightweight grey drone.
- Newbie-friendliness: Positive, the Autel drone has some options designed to make it a pleasant flight expertise for newcomers, nevertheless it has nothing on the Mini 2 SE on this space. Nearly all options of the latter drone are there to assist newcomers really feel like execs briefly order.
» MORE: Autel EVO 2 Professional vs. DJI Mini 2 (Right here’s My Selection)
Autel EVO II Professional
The Autel EVO II Professional deserves its accolades. Though it’s maybe not the latest drone, even within the Autel household, it’s nonetheless among the finest in the marketplace because of the forward-thinking options applied.
The V3 version is newer than the OG EVO II Professional, which is a part of how this drone manages to maintain up with the large canines because the 2020s roll on.
It has certainly one of my favourite cameras in any drone. The CMOS from Sony is one inch, which could not appear that particular initially, however then you definately be taught you may set the aperture as much as f/11, and now you’ve extra prospects.
After all, your photographic prowess with the EVO II Professional goes a lot deeper. For instance, its ISO vary is as much as 44,000. I additionally love that picture recordsdata are 12-bit DNGs with an expansive colour profile of properly over 60 million hues, a wealthy dynamic vary, and pure lowlights and highlights.
All this interprets to much less enhancing time per picture and video. When you’re deadline-driven like me, you need to spend as little time wrapping up initiatives as doable so that you could be on to the subsequent one. The EVO II Professional is prepared for that.
» MORE: Autel EVO II Professional vs. DJI FPV (Right here’s What I Like)
Its 40-minute marketed flight time is great, and its expansive impediment detection and avoidance system is high-tech.
The EVO II Professional has virtually 20 teams of sensors that work at the side of the digicam to alert the drone of an impediment so it could get away in real-time.
I haven’t even talked about the Hyperlapse picture mode, which shoots in lifelike 6K. It can save you your Hyperlapse recordsdata as RAW photographs.
Although Hyperlapse accelerates the panorama, you should have such high-quality footage you’ll be beaming while you present it off to your consumer.
The Moonlight Algorithm 2.0 additionally deserves heaps of reward. Whereas it’s powerful to seek out locations to fly at evening as a result of FAA drone legal guidelines, for those who can, please don’t miss this characteristic.
You virtually gained’t consider you’re taking pictures at evening, because the EVO II Professional retains its colour depth and element after darkish.
By the way in which, the Moonlight Algorithm additionally works in low-light conditions, so for those who dwell someplace the place you may’t legally fly after sundown, strive it there!
Autel Robotics EVO 2 PRO V3
Autel EVO II Professional V3 is upgraded with Autel drone’s all new SkyLink 2.0 video transmission know-how, permits video transmission from as much as 15 km.
We earn a fee for those who make a purchase order, at no extra price to you.
12/06/2023 11:32 am GMT
DJI Mini 2 SE
There will not be a greater first-time drone in the marketplace than the Mini 2 SE.
This DJI drone is made for newcomers in all arenas. It’s light-weight sufficient you could skip the registration if flying it for enjoyable.
Its worth is accessible, it has Stage 5 wind resistance for sturdiness, and the DJI Fly app tells you every little thing you want to know to get began.
You don’t should be an skilled pilot to make use of the Mini 2 SE for the primary time since this drone consists of one-tap launching and touchdown.
The steady hovering retains your drone upright in between, whereas RTH ensures you face fewer furry conditions, such because the Mini 2 SE flying out of vary or having too little battery.
» MORE: DJI Mini 2 SE vs. Holy Stone HS720E (Which One is Greatest)
Whenever you consider the Mini 2 SE within the lens of a first-timer’s drone, its 12 MP picture high quality and 2K video high quality don’t appear so unhealthy.
This drone has all the perfect DJI digicam tools, similar to a three-axis motorized gimbal and a 1/2.3-inch CMOS sensor, so it doesn’t skimp there.
It additionally doesn’t skimp on Clever Flight Modes. Get nearer to all of the enjoyable utilizing 4x zoom, or take a 180-degree, extensive, or sphere Panorama.
The QuickShots modes are totally automated and embrace Rocket, Helix, Boomerang, Circle, and Dronie.
You may then load your footage into LightCut, slapping on filters, including in cool digicam cuts, and implementing soundtracks with single-tap edits pushed by AI.
DJI Mini 2 SE (Fly Extra Combo)
Light-weight Drone with QHD Video, 10km Video Transmission, 3 Batteries for Whole of 93 Minutes Flight Time, Below 249 g, Computerized Professional Pictures, Digital camera Drone for Newbies.
We earn a fee for those who make a purchase order, at no extra price to you.
12/06/2023 11:56 pm GMT
Head-to-head comparability
Digital camera system
Winner: Autel EVO II Professional
As talked about, contextually, the picture and video high quality of the DJI Mini 2 SE aren’t unhealthy.
First-timers not often nitpick pixel high quality and readability the identical approach skilled pilots do as a result of they don’t have a backlog of expertise to attract on.
They primarily care about getting one thing on-line. Contemplating the Mini 2 SE is a DJI drone, it’s not like your footage goes to undergo from shoddy high quality.
That stated, as you start getting extra skilled drone jobs, you’ll shortly understand that the picture and video high quality of the Mini 2 SE won’t let you rise above your friends.
Their higher-quality drone cameras will outrank yours each time.
It’s then that you simply’re able to discover a drone just like the EVO II Professional. Its 6K Extremely HD video high quality will blow you away, particularly after graduating from the Mini 2 SE.
The 20 MP picture high quality, whereas nothing to write down residence about in comparison with different DJI drones, is significantly better than the Mini 2 SE’s 12 MP picture high quality.
Contemplating it can save you some picture recordsdata in RAW and others in 12-big DNG, the EVO II Professional proves it’s the king of digicam high quality versus the Mini 2 SE.
» MORE: Digital camera Expertise in Drones (Defined)
Efficiency
Winner: Autel EVO II Professional
I like how light-weight, zippy, and moveable the Mini 2 SE is. It’s received surprisingly nice wind resistance, and it’s sturdy in some ways you wouldn’t count on.
Nonetheless, I can’t give it the efficiency class in good conscience.
The first motive is its lack of impediment avoidance.
You’ll recall the Mini 2 SE has a downward-facing imaginative and prescient system that may acquire impediment knowledge. Nonetheless, the drone will make no strikes to keep away from obstacles.
Contemplating how beginner-perfect the Mini 2 SE is in each different approach, this lacking characteristic is a large detriment. Newbies want impediment avoidance to keep away from sinking their $400 within the ocean.
I do know DJI has solely applied impediment avoidance in Mini drones right here and there, however the Mini 2 SE ought to have had it, even when it meant driving up the worth just a few hundred {dollars}.
Now, by comparability, any impediment avoidance system would have sufficed, however the EVO II Professional has among the finest methods within the recreation.
Its many sensor teams work laborious to detect obstacles throughout your drone, then dodge them earlier than the going will get too powerful.
After all, drone efficiency is about greater than impediment avoidance. The EVO II Professional can fly lengthy and makes these flights extra satisfying with its sensible options.
I like DJI’s Clever Flight Modes, and whereas I feel they’re higher than every other drone producer’s, the Mini 2 SE doesn’t have that many.
» MORE: How Quick Can Drones Fly? (An In-Depth Information)
Portability
Winner: DJI Mini 2 SE
This one was a no-contest.
The EVO II Professional is a lot moveable, don’t get me unsuitable. It folds down, and it’s not so giant you could’t deliver it with you in its included carrying case or a third-party bag.
You shouldn’t battle to examine in with it on the airport as a carry-on.
Nonetheless, it’s heavy, and in comparison with the Mini 2 SE, it’s additionally cumbersome. The DJI drone is far more streamlined, and it weighs so little that you simply gained’t really feel it when carrying it in your travels.
Primarily, if the load of your smartphone doesn’t hassle you, then the Mini 2 SE gained’t both.
» MORE: The Final Information to Touring with a Drone
RC compatibility and vary
Winner: Autel EVO II Professional
Let’s discuss controllers, we could?
The Mini 2 SE makes use of the DJI RC-N1, and it’s the one controller that works with it.
The RC-N1 has a monster listing of appropriate DJI drones, such because the Mini 2 earlier than it, the Mini 3, the Mini 3 Professional, the Mavic 3, Mavic 3 Basic, Mavic Air 2, and Air 2S.
The controller is boxy however light-weight, and the beveling within the design provides you a spot to relaxation your fingers when holding it. I like how this controller isn’t too heavy and handles properly.
Nonetheless, the RC-N1 doesn’t have a display screen. You could connect your telephone to the holster.
The EVO II Professional makes use of the Autel Good Controller SE, which works with different EVO drones and the EVO Lite. It has a built-in touchscreen measuring a beneficiant 6.4 inches.
Apart from the OLED display screen, the bolstered processor and SkyLink transmission system allow you to ship HD-quality photographs with out stressing about interference. The distant can deal with temperatures of as much as 104 levels Fahrenheit.
The transmission distance the EVO II Professional distant is able to is 9.3 miles. The Mini 2 SE has a transmission distance of 6.21 miles, which ain’t unhealthy contemplating this drone’s viewers, however is lower than the Autel drone.
» MORE: Can You Fly DJI Mini 2 SE With no Cellphone (Answered)
Battery life
Winner: Autel EVO II Professional
One other space the place the Mini 2 SE is lower than the Autel drone is in battery life.
Most of DJI’s Mini drones don’t fly for longer than 35 minutes. Within the case of the Mini 2 SE, it’s solely 31 minutes. Nonetheless, these are the marketed minutes.
In every flight expertise I’ve had with this DJI drone – and it’s so satisfying, I’ve had many – I logged beneath half-hour. It was nearer to 27 minutes or a little bit beneath.
That’s not shocking, contemplating drones by no means fly so long as marketed. That’s why the 40-minute flight time of the EVO II Professional yields an IRL time of round 36 minutes.
Irrespective of the way you slice it, the EVO II Professional flies longer, supplying you with extra leeway to get work carried out.
» MORE: Drone Batteries (In-Depth Data)
Conclusion
Each drones have many deserves, however the EVO II Professional stands head and shoulders over the Mini 2 SE for its longer flight time, extra strong digicam system, and impediment avoidance, a characteristic the DJI drone regrettably lacks.
Nonetheless, apart from that omission, the Mini 2 SE is a superb newbie drone that’s positive to result in many enjoyable moments.
The EVO II Professional, whereas much less beginner-friendly, is the subsequent finest step in your profession.
» MORE: Are the DJI Mini 2 and DJI Mini 3 Batteries the Identical? (Defined)
