so ive been debating between the EVO II Pro and the Mavic 3 for probably six months now and i finally just pulled the trigger on the Autel mostly because of the no geo-fencing thing and honestly im glad i did but also have some complaints

first the good stuff ? the image quality out of this camera is genuinely really impressive for the price point i was at. the variable aperture on the 6k sensor makes a huge difference when you're shooting in mixed lighting and ive gotten some footage that i honestly thought looked better than stuff i was getting from a friends Mavic 2 Pro. colors are rich and the dynamic range is solid. also the controller is surprisingly comfortable for long sessions, way better than i expected

now the annoying parts ? the Autel Sky app is just not as polished as DJI's and there have been a couple times where it disconnected mid-flight and reconnected after a few seconds which is not exactly confidence inspiring. also the obstacle avoidance feels a little twitchy compared to what ive used before, like it will stop dead for something that probably wouldnt have even registered on a Mavic. not a dealbreaker but takes some getting used to

overall though really happy with it. anyone else running the EVO II Pro who has tips on app settings or firmware i should know about? im on the latest firmware i think but not totally sure how to verify that

yeah the Sky app has been the main frustration for a lot of EVO II owners, you're not alone there. Autel has pushed some updates that helped a bit but it still doesn't feel as snappy as what DJI has built up over years. one thing that helped me was making sure my phone's background apps were fully closed before launching ? sounds obvious but it made a noticeable difference in connection stability on my end

for firmware you can check it in the app under the device settings, there should be a version number listed and it'll tell you if there's an update available. i'd also recommend joining the Autel Robotics facebook group if you havent already, people post about firmware updates pretty quickly there and sometimes there's unofficial info about what changed that Autel doesn't bother to document well

the obstacle avoidance thing is just how it is honestly. i've learned to fly in a mode that's a little less aggressive about stopping and it feels more natural now. takes a few flights to dial in

ive been looking at this exact drone for weeks so this is super helpful to read. the geo-fencing thing was a big factor for me too since i fly near some areas that DJI just flat out locks you out of even when you have authorization. did you end up getting any ND filters for it yet? im trying to figure out which brand works well with the variable aperture setup