okay so ive been going back and forth on this for like two weeks and im driving myself crazy. i currently fly a Mavic Air 2 and i want to move to something with a bigger sensor, better low light, the whole deal. the EVO II with the 1-inch sensor seems solid but then theres the EVO II Pro with the 6K 1-inch Micro Four Thirds and the variable aperture and honestly at that price point im not sure if im just buying into the spec sheet or if it actually makes a real world difference.

most of my flying is landscape stuff, some real estate on the side, nothing super professional yet but i do want to grow into it. does anyone actually own the Pro and use it regularly? like does the variable aperture come up in actual use or is it one of those things that sounds cool on paper. i tried to find comparison footage online but half of it looks like it was color graded to death so its hard to tell whats the camera and whats post.

also wondering about the Autel support situation, i know Autel isnt DJI so spare parts availability and stuff ? has anyone had issues there?

I own the EVO II Pro and have been flying it for about 14 months now. The variable aperture is genuinely useful ? not just a spec. When you're doing real estate at golden hour and you need to balance the sky without cranking ND filters you'll appreciate it. That said if landscape is mostly your thing and you're not doing much video work in tricky light the base EVO II is no slouch and the price difference is real money.

The Autel support thing is worth thinking about. I had a gimbal issue about 6 months in and getting parts was slower than I was used to from my DJI days. Not impossible, just slower. Their customer service was actually pretty helpful on the phone though, which surprised me. Just dont expect overnight turnaround on anything.

i went with the regular EVO II and honestly dont regret it, the footage looks great to me and i saved enough to grab extra batteries and a decent ND set. probably depends what you're comparing it to though, if you're coming from a Mavic anything with a 1 inch sensor is gonna feel like a big jump anyway