So Autel quietly dropped some info about their next EVO line and the specs look genuinely competitive ? better transmission range than the previous gen, looks like they're pushing into the Mavic 3 territory on image quality at least on paper. But I keep thinking about the whole tariff situation and whether prices are going to be all over the place by the time it actually ships. I pre-ordered an Autel product once before and the shipping estimate was... optimistic, let's say.

I don't have anything against Autel, used the EVO Nano for a while and it was solid, just wondering if anyone else is watching this announcement and feeling like the timing is a bit off. Or maybe this is exactly when they want to make a move with all the uncertainty around certain other brands right now. curious what people think

the timing thing is actually pretty calculated i think. with all the noise around chinese-manufactured drones and potential bans being discussed at various government levels, Autel has been quietly positioning itself as the american-headquartered alternative even though manufacturing is still overseas. its a bit of a gray area but for commercial operators who need to check compliance boxes it might matter. ive seen a few Part 107 guys in my area switch over just for that reason, not necessarily because the hardware is better

honestly i just want someone to make a decent mid-range drone that isnt trying to be a mini or a pro, like something in between that doesnt cost as much as a used car. the specs sound good but im gonna wait and see what the actual review units show before getting excited. specs sheets have burned me before haha. the transmission range claims especially, those never seem to match real world in my experience