When you think of the DJI Mavic 2 series, you probably conjure a picture of hobbyist pilots using them to capture great aerial content. And you wouldn’t be wrong!
But these groundbreaking drones have also become a key tool for commercial missions, being deployed for survey work, on farms, and video marketing, among other jobs.
Tipping the scales at just over 900g, the Mavic 2 Pro and Zoom are lightweight, quick to get airborne, and thanks to their foldable design, they are easy to transport. Add to this their excellent image quality, 30-minute flight time, an array of smart features, and modest price tag compared to alternative enterprise drones, the Mavic 2 series has established itself as a firm favourite in the world of work.
Perhaps recognising how valuable the Mavic can be for professional use, DJI has since released the more targeted Mavic 2 Enterprise (M2E) range, with detachable accessories including a loudspeaker and bright spotlight, integrating the M2E Dual (M2ED) with a thermal sensor and the original M2E with a 2x optical zoom camera, and having password protection to keep sensitive data safe.
The Mavic 2 Enterprise series has been particularly beneficial for public safety missions, and in a lot of cases, these drones have become the perfect aircraft to back-up or supplement crews’ fleets of M200 Series – thanks to their small size and ability to deploy quickly.
Using The DJI Mavic 2 Zoom For Traffic Surveys
Epsom-based 360 TSL uses the DJI Mavic 2 Zoom to conduct traffic surveys.
The view from above provides a perfect picture of how intersections are working and helps to identify and assess the length of queues.
The drone captures this information quicker than alternative methods and also improves safety, reducing the need for staff on the ground to cross busy roads.
The drone benefits from 4x zoom, including a 2x optical zoom (24–48 mm); ideal for honing in on key areas from a distance.
Stacey Dix, from 360 TSL, said: “Using the Mavic 2 Zoom has really helped us as a company because it is able to count complicated junctions that would normally take a lot of staff and a lot of time to do. It also eliminates the safety concerns of staff on the ground being near to and having to cross busy main roads and motorways.”
Using a drone provides some key benefits for the clients of 360 TSL.
Stacey said: “For our clients, the footage shows how junctions really work in real life. Quite often, they just get data and figures which indicate how a junction should work, but in practice, this is often very different. Having footage shows the client exactly what is happening.
“Recently, a client requested footage of a motorway junction they will be developing and improving over the next few years. They want to film the junction before, during and after to showcase the improvement works.”
The view from above. Traffic survey conducted by the DJI Mavic 2 Zoom.
Using The DJI Mavic 2 Pro For Inspection and Marketing
The DJI Mavic 2 Pro has become the go-to tool for Hertfordshire-based drone services firm, The Drone Photo Company.
Pilot Gary Perlmutter uses the Mavic 2 Pro for a range of jobs, including roof inspections, real estate photography, golf-course marketing and weddings.
For him, his trusty Mavic is the perfect companion
He said: “The Mavic 2 Pro is easy to fly, meaning that I can concentrate on composing and capturing content, and the output from the camera is quality. The Mavic 2 Pro excels in both of these areas and nothing else I’ve owned or used has come close. It is also so easy to travel with being relatively lightweight and compact.
“Aerial photography has literally added a new perspective to what I am now able to offer my clients. When it comes to real estate photography, using a drone enables us to showcase your property to potential buyers in a unique way, like this video shows.
“Meanwhile, hole flyers are a great way to attract new members to your golf club and quality stills photography and 4k video can showcase a golf course in a way that stands out from the crowd.”
Gary bolsters his drone missions by using the DJI Smart Controller, describing it as superb for getting the Mavic in the air quickly, and praising its ultrabright screen and its professional look.
Using DJI Mavic 2 Drones For Agriculture
Drones in the Mavic 2 Series are also being deployed to benefit UK agriculture.
Jack Wrangham, Drone AG founder, said: “We use, and recommend the Mavic 2 drone systems for pretty much all of our work in the agriculture industry.
“The drones are small and lightweight which means they can easily make a home on the back seat of a farmer’s pickup, and batteries can be charged via the car charger. This makes them very user-friendly when they are needed for a quick field survey.
“Over the years that we have been using these systems, we have found them to be extremely reliable, and even when we’ve pushed them to the limits in windy conditions, they have performed very well.
“The collision-avoidance sensors are also a huge benefit, and in general the drones are hardy enough to cope well with being treated like another bit of farm kit, ie mud, dust and the odd rain shower.
“Add to that the Enterprise and Thermal options, and we have a drone system that is extremely flexible, powerful and easy to use – perfect for us and our customers.”
Drone AG isn’t the only agricultural company to be utilising the Mavic 2 range.
A quirky tale to hit the headlines last year was a farmer in New Zealand who was using the speaker on the Mavic 2 Enterprise to emit a pre-recorded dog bark to help move his livestock.
He was also utilising the drone for stock surveillance, especially during lambing and calving time and for inspecting farm gates, fences, water troughs and other farm assets.
Using the drone saved valuable time and resources for more productive operation.
Using The DJI Mavic 2 Enterprise For American Airlines Inspection
American Airlines, the world’s largest airline, has used the tiny Mavic 2 Enterprise to help conduct maintenance and visual inspections of huge planes.
The drone has proved useful – giving mechanics a view of the plane from above while allowing them to inspect from the ground. This increases safety, is less labour intensive and helps to access parts of the plane which are hard to reach.
Dave Caldwell, manager, aircraft maintenance at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, said: “The first time I saw a drone being used to inspect an aircraft, it opened my eyes to the possibilities of drones.”
Lorie Grabham, Lead Drone Integrator, added: “The idea of using drones for aircraft maintenance and inspections evolved over time. Looking at the technology, we realised there was potential to use it for visual inspections.
“Being able to use this technology and have the video and photos from the drones will have a lot of benefits over time; you can see the health of the aircraft and do a lot of analysis.”
Using The DJI Mavic 2 Enterprise For Public Safety
When it comes to public safety, the Mavic 2 Enterprise (M2E) series really flexes its muscles.
For instance, New York Fire Department – the second largest municipal fire department in the world – has a thriving drone fleet and Captain Michael Leo admits that the Mavic 2 Enterprise Dual (M2ED) is a firm favourite in their firefighting arsenal.
He said: “Drones help massively with situational awareness and the Mavic 2 Enterprise Dual is our main drone – I would say that we do 90% of our work with it.
“We have found it to be very reliable, fast to deploy, really easy to use, and the thermal is good enough for what we need.
“The thermal imaging tells us the temperature gradients and helps us to identify where the hotspots are, which allows us to deploy our resources in the right places, providing a faster response and helping us deploy the team on the ground as safely as possible.”
It isn’t just firefighters benefiting from Mavics. Police forces, such as Devon and Cornwall, are also deploying the Mavic 2 Enterprise series.
For the likes of Devon and Cornwall, the M2ED is the ideal drone for rapid operations and a perfect partner to the DJI M200 Series.
In an interview with DJI last year, Senior Drone Pilot of Devon & Cornwall Police, Tom Shainberg said: “The M2E is a great drone, it’s so quick to deploy and gives us eyes in the air when we need them.
“Due to the size of our force and the area we cover (nearly 5,000sq miles), our Armed Response Vehicles (ARVs) provide our spontaneous drone capability. They are out patrolling 24/7 and due to the amount of equipment they carry, space is at a premium. They’re not able to carry a bigger drone so the M2ED gives great balance between size/weight and its capabilities.
“Some incidents require getting a drone in the air as fast as possible, such as an active foot pursuit where time is of the essence so the M2ED really ticks the box in supporting that type of deployment."
“Our Armed Response vehicles provide a spontaneous capability and with the restrictions in the space they’ve got to carry things they’ve not been able to have a thermal capability until now. The M2ED gives them the option to deploy at night which has been a huge restriction for us and has now opened new doors.
“I have to say that the thermal camera on the M2ED is not as good as the XT camera on our M210 but the ability to have a drone that can be quickly deployed to search the area after a road-traffic collision or after a pursuit is a huge advantage. Any drone is only good if it’s there when you need it and the M2ED is doing that for us.
“We have two M210s and because of the area we cover it can often take a little a while to get it to where we need it, so the M2ED is filling the gap and gives us that initial tactic to get a thermal camera in the air very rapidly.”
The DJI Mavic 2 Enterprise (M2ED) with the beacon accessory, which helps pilots who are carrying out missions in low light or at night, and greatly improves flight safety.
Using DJI Mavic 2 Drones For Mountain Rescue
Mavic 2s are also being deployed by mountain rescue teams for vital situational awareness, finding missing people, and reaching inaccessible areas.
This drone footage was posted by the Glencoe Mountain Rescue Team, following a 100m abseil retrieval of a couple of cragfast climbers.
This video was accompanied by a caption: ‘Drone footage by team member Spit using a Mavic 2 Zoom in quite windy conditions shows how effective the equipment is; a valuable tool to raise safety and efficiency in our work.’
Using The Mavic 2 For Overview Work
Terra Drone Europe is a leading provider of geographic data acquisition, industrial inspections, and high-end aerial imagery using drones.
The company takes its Mavic on jobs around the world and uses it for overview work and to capture stunning content.
An example of this was a project in Morocco when the team was conducting a detailed aerial survey and mapping job covering 80 km2 of the Western Sahara Desert. Terra Drone Europe utilised the quality camera on the Mavic to film the project.
Summary
The DJI Mavic 2 drones have become iconic, thanks to their lightweight and foldable frame, relatively low price point, quality cameras and smart and safe flight features.
For these reasons, the Mavic 2 series has established itself as a firm favourite with commercial users, as well as consumers.
There might be some enterprise jobs that are more suited to the powerful and versatile M200 range – thanks to its rugged airframe and ability to integrate top-class cameras, such as the XT2, Z30, X7, and the X5S – but there is certainly a place for Mavic 2 drones in professional missions, as demonstrated by the real-world examples listed in this article.
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