Autel EVO II Pro and Live Deck drone - first impressions

Autel EVO II Pro drone - first impressions

Oh, Autel - how you have now impressed me! These, in a nutshell, are our first impressions of flying the Autel Evo II Pro drone.
The device at first glance appears more massive compared to, for example, the Mavic 2 Pro. The drone is also heavier, weighing 1174 grams. With this takeoff weight, the manufacturer offers up to 40 minutes of flight time. Assume that the real flight time will be 5 minutes less. We flew in a built-up area, next to a whole range of electrical equipment. The model's range was at a high level all the time and we did not encounter any problems.

Apparatus with OLED display

Pilots looking to use the model away from their own phone and who value mobility will be very pleased to know that the control unit has a built-in 3.26-inch (854 x 480 pixel) OLED display that allows camera viewing. When you hook up the Autel Explorer app, the phone's display turns into a live preview, while the OLED screen displays the drone's parameters. We can forget about our smartphone and fly without worry :) In addition, OLED displays offer high contrast and brightness. It may be that this will make us choose a smaller but brighter screen. Let the smartphone stay in your pocket!

Relay live	720p@30fps / 1080p@30fps
Bitrate of live broadcast	40Mbps
Battery in the apparatus	5000mAh
Working time	3h
Charging time	2h Fast Charging
Display	3.26-inch OLED screen 854 (W)*480 (H) pixels

We flew in minimal wind and have to admit that the drone was very stable. Model flies very smoothly and responds quickly to pilot commands. We tested the model in a very small area, among trees, to see how the sensors would perform. After just a short while of flying, we felt in control, as if we had been flying the model for a long time so that we could perform our favorite circular flights. The sensors passed the tests very positively, detecting all branches. Satisfactorily, in normal flight mode they work on the front, rear and sides. Real-time presentation of the distance to the obstacle is shown, which is perfectly demonstrated in the photo below:

Being further with the application, one must admit that Autel Explorer is very intuitive and, most importantly, stable. On the main screen, we have a choice:

• information about weather conditions (wind, temperature, visibility, number of satellites),
• camera view,
• "Mission" i.e. the ability to plan a mission from within the application (arbitrary mission after Waypoints, rectangular mapping and polygonal mapping - in the last two the drone maps the area we have marked)
• account settings (view of our devices and detailed flight history with lots of data)

The only thing that can get in the way is changing the camera settings, which slides out from the bottom of the screen and we have to move the bar left and right to change parameters. Fortunately, at our disposal is a potentiometer on the camera that allows us to maneuver between camera settings and change the zoom. We think that after a few flights you can get used to it.

Autel Live Deck

Here Autel has made a very clever, yet simple device. It allows the transmission of images in FullHD quality (60 frames) via HDMI, Ethernet and USB ports. For the latter, hooking up an Android or iOS phone allows you to remotely control the drone's settings. What it means? The drone operator, along with the control camera, can be at a distance of, for example, 1 km from the Live Deck device, on which we can change camera parameters and turn on/off recording. The real-time location and parameters of the drone (flight time, altitude, speed, etc.) are also transmitted.). Such a device was needed by the market, mainly television, people doing live coverage, inspections and wherever the camera view is essential for the other participants, not only the operator.

Summary

We believe that Autel will stir up the market by releasing the EVO II model. It is primarily a drone for people who require photos and videos in very high quality and resolution. Reliable equipment, which they will treat as a working tool with the possibility of expansion with, for example, Live Deck. Deciding on the Evo II model, you get a carrying case and a camera that has an OLED display that can serve as an image display.