Autel EVO 2 Delayed Until March 2020, May Be Delayed Further

The Autel EVO has been one of our favourite drones that we’ve managed to review here at Dronesvilla. With that in mind, we’re obviously extremely excited to get our hands on at least one of the three new Autel EVO II models that were due to be released this month.

However, Autel Robotics have announced that they will be delaying the release of this exciting new drone series until at least March, with no set date scheduled.

Autel’s statement, shared on their social channels, said that March “is not a set date or time frame, and things can always change.”

Whilst we’re interpreting this as a fact that the release may be delayed further, they do go on to say “with the information we have today, that is our goal.”

Fingers crossed.

The reason for the delay is that a software bug was found that could limit flight performance.

“Instead of shipping the hardware with a known issue and forcing users to perform day 1 updates, we have decided to delay the rest of production and shipments until we have resolved the issue.”

It seems that it’s not just us that’s excited for the release of this new drone series. Autel’s statement also said:

“With the announcement of EVO II at CES, the response has been absolutely crazy. This community is exploding, and we thank you for your patience with us as we are still trying to catch up on responses.”

So, what’s with all the hype?

Well, simply put, the standard EVO II model is the world’s first 8K folding drone.

As well as being able to record in 8K, it has a staggering 48MP camera with a 1/2″ CMOS sensor. It is also capable of lossless zoom up to 4x, taking on the DJI Mavic 2 Zoom directly.

And that’s just the standard model.

There’s also an EVO II Pro, which shows that it’s not all ‘numbers on the page’ with regards to specs and quality. Despite having only a 20MP camera and 6K video, there’s also a 1″ CMOS sensor, an adjustable aperture, HDR and a great ISO range. It’s RRP is $300 higher than the standard model.

The third of the models is the EVO II Dual. This has the standard 8K camera but also boasts thermal imaging with resolution of up to 640×512. Pricing has not been publicly released for this and you need to contact Autel directly if you’re interested in this product.

All of the models have a flight time of up to 40 minutes. This makes it one of the longest flight time drones in the consumer market.

They also have a huge 9 kilometer transmission range. Whilst you might not be able to fly it this far due to legal restrictions in some countries, Autel say that a range this far makes the signal stronger within shorter ranges too.

It flies at a speed of up to 72 kph.

For now, we’ll wait until March to see if the product can deliver on the high expectations.

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