There’s a lot of accessories for drones, especially the Mavic Pro and the 5 on today’s list are great for keeping it safe, which is why I say they are must haves!
Owning a Mavic Pro (or Platinum) comes with huge responsibilities. While it’s an awesome drone, it’s also vulnerable to damage, and other outside vulnerabilities that can turn your happiness to sorrow very quickly.
My 5 must haves:
1) Dust proof plugs for the battery and actual Mavic Pro drone.
Your Mavic’s batteries and actual drone itself have an area where you charge them and put them into the drone. Those areas when exposed to outside surfaces may gather dust, sand and other types of micro particles (even water) that can cause damage.
These plugs basically protect and prevent that type of scenario from happening, because when you’re not using the drone or batteries, you can simply put them on the battery/drone and rest assured none of these particles will get in.
Although cleaning kits are available, it’s best to avoid a scenario where you actually have something in the drone that requires it in the first place and you’re really preventing a lot of potential issues by getting this really cheap product. I use these.
2) Propeller guards.
Alright so in all honesty, I have them, but I’ve hardly used them. Yet, keeping them around is necessary IF you’re a bad pilot and/or you are flying in a risky, tight space where the propellers themselves are likely to hit something.
I will say that if you are either one of these people (I fly in dangerous, increased likelihood of crash places), then you NEED to have these things handy in case a moment comes up where you decide to fly, but are sweating because you see all these potential areas for crashes all around you. While you won’t get FULL proof protection with these, it’ll be enough to cover the most sensitive areas (the propellers) and that may be enough in most scenarios.
3) The Mavic Pro Platinum propellers.
If you don’t own the platinum version of this drone, it’s OK, but a BIG perk that this model came with was that it’s propellers were/are compatible with the regular Mavic and I have them. They are a little bit fatter in size, but in my estimates provide an extra minute of flight time.
Furthermore, if you’re an incognito person and don’t want to disturb anyone when you’re flying around, you have a better chance of doing that with these propellers since they cut down on the noise made by the drone by over 50%.
So with an extra minute of flight time and a quieter flight, why wouldn’t you want to get them? They are pretty cheap too.
4) This special wire to connect the phone and drone remote.
It’s called the Anker powerline cable and it’s a very sturdy, durable wire that connects your phone to the remote controller. Now the reason I recommend this is because it will provide a stronger reception signal between what the drone sees and your phone and you will have less chances of getting the dreaded “weak image transmission” signal.
With a stronger connection and image transmission, you really do get a lot out of this REALLY cheap wire. Just make sure to choose the one which connects to your particular phone outlet. I have a Samsung and accidentally ordered an iPhone extension, I had to reorder a Samsung one. Here it is.
Now this wire plugs into the bottom part of your remote (not the side) and is more than long enough to reach the phone. Get one that’s no more than 1 foot in length, you really don’t need anything longer.
5) A good waterproof case.
I’ve been very happy with this one. Although the zipper broke, I still carry the case around using it’s handle at the top. With specific cut outs for the drone model and it’s batteries and remote, plus other miscellaneous stuff, you can feel safe knowing that your drone will not bounce around or in the event that you drop the case, it will not hurt the drone either.
I’ve been very happy with it and highly recommend it. Although the only thing is, if you own the platinum propellers, you will have to remote the back wing ones since the cut out of the case doesn’t hold them. It’s a minor inconvenience, but with all the protection you get, it’s awesome.
The next 5, must haves:
I know I said 5, but after I wrote this article, I explored more accessories and found these extra ones are also highly recommended:
6) Protection caps for the motor (where you attach the propellers).
Just like with the dust proof plugs above, your motor area is very susceptible to dust getting in there. Although I almost always keep my Mavic in it’s case which reduces that possibility, it doesn’t hurt to have them. I own 2 pairs for my Phantom 4 Pro and it’s a comforting accessory to have, so I would recommend you get these for a measly $5.
7) A cleaning kit.
I would recommend them in the event that a cleaning scenario is necessary. I’ve had situations where bugs smashed into the drone while it was in the air and it required I clean the lens, and the body of the drone.
Usually the most required areas to clean would be the motors, camera and exhaust areas, and a cleaning kit takes care of all 3 areas.
8) A landing pad.
I don’t really think of this as a necessity because if you become experienced enough, you can catch and fly the drone off your hand, but if not and you really want to play it safe, a landing pad will certainly come in handy.
The good news is that this one is not only big enough to fit the Mavic, but bigger models like the Phantom series as well.
9) Lipo battery bag.
Traveling somewhere by plane? You NEED these. Lipo batteries which are found on the Mavic drone MUST be drained and brought on board with you when you fly (into the overhead bin).
Having bags like these reduces the scenario in which IF something happens to the batteries that it will break out of the bag. In other words, it will keep it sealed and protected, and it will protect YOU and any passenger on board the plane.
Do not play around with this one, you can literally get fined, jailed or have your drone seized if you don’t follow the rules. Here they are.
10) A charger for the car.
If you travel a lot by car, you will note that there’s no a lot of time to charge the batteries themselves via an outlet so having a car charger for the Mavic like this will really help make sure your drone is ready to fly should you notice something on the road that you wish to film.
Although the charger I have does not support the controller, you can always charge it with a USB inside the car itself the same way you’d charge a phone. My experience has been that car chargers typically recharge the battery WAY faster than a normal, home outlet.
Overall, I’d say these 10 are must haves because they take into consider the most likely possibilities of what may happen to the drone or if you take it somewhere. They are all quite inexpensive to get and really a great “insurance policy” to keep around.
