right so context - ive been flying DJI stuff for like 4 years, currently have a Mavic 3 and a Mini 2. the Mavic 3 is great but its big and i dont always want to drag it out and the Mini 2 image quality is starting to bother me now that ive shot so much on the Mavic

a buddy keeps telling me to look at the Autel Evo Lite+ as kind of a middle ground option and ive been watching videos but every review feels like either a sponsored thing or someone who just got it and is in the honeymoon phase. nobody seems to talk about what its like after like 6 months

mainly i care about low light performance, reliable connection, and not having to deal with geo-fencing nonsense. from what i understand Autel is more relaxed about that stuff? anyway curious if anyone here has actually used one long term rather than just watched a 10 minute youtube video and formed an opinion

had one for about 8 months before i sold it and here's my honest take - the low light is genuinely impressive for the price point, the variable aperture helps a lot and it was noticeably better than my Mini 2 in evening shots. but the app was frustrating, crashed on me twice mid-flight which is not something i ever want to experience again. might be better now with updates but it left a bad taste

the geofencing thing is true, its way less aggressive than DJI. whether thats a good thing depends on where you fly i guess but for my use case it was nice not getting warnings every time i was near a tiny regional airport that hasnt had a commercial flight in years

honestly i went through this exact debate and ended up just getting the Mini 4 Pro instead of the Autel. the ecosystem thing matters more than i expected - all my ND filters, accessories, muscle memory from the app, everything just carried over. switching platforms is kind of a bigger deal than it seems when you're just comparing specs on paper. not saying dont get the Autel but factor that stuff in too