So ive been flying the original Avata for about a year and a half now and honestly really enjoy it, mostly indoor stuff and some tight outdoor spots, the occasional cinematic run through trees etc. My buddy just picked up the Avata 2 and was going on about how much better it is but I couldn't really tell from the footage he was showing me on his phone screen. Tried to look up comparisons online but most of what I find is just review sites that clearly never actually flew either of them.

The main things I care about are obstacle avoidance in tight spaces (the original's is pretty hit or miss honestly), image quality, and battery life because the originals runtime was never impressive. Is the manual mode on the Avata 2 actually improved or is it still kind of floaty compared to a proper freestyle quad. Genuinely unsure if this is worth spending the money on or if I should just keep flying what I have and put the cash toward something else.

I made that jump about 4 months ago and honestly it depends on what's bugging you about the original. The obstacle avoidance is genuinely better on the 2, like noticeably so, I've been flying through some pretty dense stuff and it's saved me a few times where the old one would've just plowed through. Battery life is maybe 15-20% better in real world use which sounds small but adds up on a longer session.

The image quality is where I think people oversell it a bit. Yes it's better, the low light performance is improved and the color science is nicer straight out of the box but its not a massive leap if you were already color grading your footage. If your original avata is working fine and youre not hitting its limits I'd maybe wait for prices to drop a bit more, they've come down some but not enough to be a no-brainer yet imo.

manual mode still feels floaty to me compared to a real 5inch but its way less floaty than the original was so theres that lol. if youre coming from actual freestyle quads youll always feel the difference but for what the avata is trying to be its a lot more responsive now