so this might be a weird question but im kind of in a place where im skeptical of just defaulting to DJI for everything even though i know they probably make the best consumer drones. i've had two DJI drones before and they were fine, no complaints really, but something about just buying the same brand every time feels a bit lazy i guess.

anyway i stumbled onto some stuff about the autel evo lite+ and the variable aperture actually caught my attention - that's not something you see at that price range usually. and the no geofencing thing is relevant to where i fly sometimes. but the ecosystem feels way less mature, the app looks kind of rough from videos ive seen, and i cant find many people who actually fly one regularly talking about long term reliability.

is this a case where the specs look good on paper but the real world experience is just kind of meh? or is autel genuinely underrated. feels like everytime i look into it the community is just a lot smaller and i end up back at DJI by default which is where i started lol

had the evo lite+ for about 8 months. variable aperture is legitimately great, especially shooting around golden hour when light is changing fast, that part lives up to the hype. but you're right that the app is noticeably behind smart controller or RC experience wise. not broken, just rougher around the edges. firmware updates also feel slower and there were a couple times i was waiting on a fix that DJI would have probably pushed out faster.

if the no geofencing thing is actually important for your flying spots its a real practical advantage and not just a spec on a sheet. but if youre just vaguely curious about trying something different i'd probably say the friction isn't worth it unless youre genuinely excited about the brand.

honestly the autel community being smaller is the thing that would get me. like when something goes weird with a DJI you can find 40 forum posts about it within ten minutes. with autel you're kind of on your own sometimes and that stresses me out as someone who is still learning. maybe different if you've been flying for years and can diagnose stuff yourself but idk