Bucket Tech: DJI Mavic Pro

Drone's have always fascinated me, ever since I saw and played with my mates DJI Phantom about 3 years ago, I found it damn cool to have a personal flying device of which you could attach a GoPro or similar type of camera to and get visuals like never before. Think about it, before personal drones were created, to get the type of visuals or images you can get with these remarkable devices, you had to be in a light aircraft of helicopter, that to with limited freedom than what you can achieve with a drone. Since they're small and nimble, their maneuverability is much more quick and agile than that of it's bigger aviation siblings, thus giving the user the ability to capture mind blowing visuals. 

With the DJI range, most of the drones were quite big and bulky, understandably there's quite a bit that goes into one. Yes there were many other generics on the market which were much smaller and cost a whole lot less but like cars, they're cheaper for a reason. Most of them had limited range, crappy battery life and the camera's were not the best quality but with DJI, it was these key things that kept them a leader in the business. After releasing the Phantom 4, which in all honesty looked the same as all the others, GoPro dropped the bomb on their own drone, the Karma, it was the first of it's kind, it could fold up, which meant it wasn't that bulky to carry around, it had extended range and battery life, removable gimbal which can attach onto a selfie stick. The controller is small and slick with a built in screen, unlike the DJI's which required you to either purchase a screen or connect your tablet or phone. 

The Karma really looked like the drone to conquer them all, but just one week since the announcement of it, DJI went and lifted the covers on something that just blew Karma and every other drone out the market. Introducing the Mavic, yeah I know, should have just named it the Mavric but anyway, the name isn't that important, it's what it can do that is! It also folds up like the Karma but is much smaller and lighter, in fact without the battery the drone is super light. It has a built in camera that is located in the front, it's positioning is such that there is no need for legs like previous models. The front arms fold out while the rear two arms fold under the drone. The propellers don't need to be removed as they also fold and when taking off you don't need to undo them as with the force of the spin, it opens them for you. 

The Mavic has quite a few features, one of the key ones being it's FlightAutonomy which gives the Mavic the intelligence to avoid obstacles and hover precisely indoors as well as outdoors It includes 5 cameras, GPS & GLONASS, 2 ultrasonic range finders, redundant sensors and 24 powerful computing cores. This It has the come back to me and follow me feature which makes the drone follow you in flight while you're moving, pretty cool if you ask me. It's pretty fast as well, granted that it isn't as fast as the Phantom 4 and the Karma due to the smaller motors, being light weight makes up for this, it can reach 65kph on sport mode with up to 27 minutes of flight. Whilst being super light it handles it's own in strong wind conditions. 

The controller for the Mavic is pretty nifty as well, a fraction of the size compared to the Phantom 4 and it has a holder with a charging port for your phone, be it iPhone or Android. Your phone is used as the view screen, so see what the camera see's and it has a LCD display on the controller giving you all kinds of info from distance to signal and battery life. It has a transmission range of up to 7km with a 1080/720P live feed onto your phone. Don't want to use the controller? You can use just your phone! The Mavic also comes with gesture controls that give it commands to track you in which way you want to with active tracking.

Another cool thing that DJI are launching with it is the DJI Goggles, which is effectively one of those 3D virtual reality type goggle but with this you can view your flight in virtual reality, as if you're flying! It comes with two screens of 1920 x 1080 resolutions, with up to 1080p image transmission. It has OcuSync wireless low latency connection

Now many say you can't really compare the Mavic to the Karma and rightly so, the camera on the Mavic isn't of the same quality, it's capable of 4K/30fps on a 12 megapixel camera with max 8 second exposure, it is stabilized with a 3-axis gimbal, whilst on the Karma you can fit on a Hero5 which is in a league of it's own interms of quality  and I think the range and battery life is better on the GoPro. Which is why the Mavic's price is much less than that of the Phantom 4 and Karma. One thing is for sure, after just 24 odd hours since it's release, it is already one of the favorites for many in the droning world. You can already order yours now on the DJI website if you have $999 lying around. I wish I did!

Monday Choon: Axwell & Shapov - Belong

Axel Christofer Hedfors, most of us know him as Axwell, one of the former members of the Scandinavian trio, Swedish House Mafia and has been doing really well since. He and the other member of SHM Sebastian Ingrosso came together to form Axwell Ingrosso who've been hitting the globe with great success these past few years. Axwell has now embarked on some solo projects, one of which is today's featured track. He's teamed up with Russian DJ Shapov, formerly part of Hard Rock Sofa for the track belong. It's blends in their two styles quite well and seems to be one of the popular tracks around a the moment. 

Bollywood on Box Office

Last night I attended the official launch for Multichoices announcement on bringing Bollywood onto their Box Office service. It was a glitzy affair held at Durban's award winning ICC with many local personalities and celebrities in attendance. Now although I come from an Indian background, I wouldn't say I am a fan of Bollywood movies, for one they're lengthy with 90% of them being 3 hours long and with the language barrier, I find myself reading subtitles more than watching the film but with that being said, the movies which are produced in India deserve major credit. It's one of, if not the largest movie industry in the world with new movies being released on a weekly basis. Bollywood has been making waves worldwide, with films being nominated for prestigious International Awards. Hollywood has also picked up at how large the industry is growing and started to adopt styles and actors in their productions. From Irrfan Khan in Jurassic World, the Big B (Amithab Bachan) in the Great Gatsby to Priyanka Chopra who is currently taking Hollywood by storm in her series blockbuster, Quantico, the influence Indian cinema is having across the globe is clear to see.

The evening kicked off with a live performance by a local dance academy who team up with an Indian choreographer who mesmerized the crowd with stunning dances throughout the evening and taking us through the various phases Bollywood went through with their productions, with the first movie to be produced just being a musical with no words being spoken, as they went through the years it brought back memories of my family and I going to various movie houses in the CBD to watch them as Bollywood movies were not available at the mainstream movie houses. All of those memories were good and I was surprised that I remembered words to certain songs as my mum used to listen to the various movie soundtracks at home quite often. The thing with Bollywood movies, all if not most are the feel good type of movies. Yes many will send you through an emotional roller-coaster but the end result is always a sense of satisfaction after watching them. 

Maybe now that DStv are launching them on Box Office I might start watching more of them. Bollywood on Box Office is available from the 12th of October 2016 and unlike previously where Box Office was only available for Premium, Extra and Catch up customers, Multichoice has opened the service to all. At just R35 you can rent the hottest movies whenever you want them to watch at your leisure from the comfort of your home. "BoxOffice is the most convenient way for our customers to access the latest blockbusters and we're thrilled that all our customers can now experience this service. No doubt, the addition of Bollywood movies will bring extra excitement to our customers' summer" - Mark Rayner, CEO of Multichoice South Africa. 

With the constant increase in movie ticket prices and not to mention the price of popcorn and coke at the the various movie houses, it's a simple decision to make. Also with the various payment methods BoxOffice has, it's so simple to rent your movie of choice. From next month customers will also be able to pay via WeChat! With DStv giving customers R35 back into their WeChat wallet when renting up to 4 movies, which is all part of their crazy deals campaign. 

For more information on this, visit the DStv website on www.dstv.com

Too Early For Conclusions?

We're only five games into the new English Premier League season and a lot of people are already drawing conclusions to what they've seen. As predicted, Manchester City have had a pretty good start with flawless victories so far. Pep has them playing a brand of football we've haven't seen a City team play before and it is quite pleasing to watch, they certainly are the team to beat. Surprisingly we find Everton at second position, most of their fans are quite happy but one has to realise they've haven't had the most difficult fixture list to contend with seeing that only Spurs were their real tough game from the lot. Speaking of Spurs, they're not doing too badly but the surprise package so far has to be Liverpool.

As a supporter of the team, seeing that fixture list before the season started, I would have been happy with 8 points after the first five games but after three trips to London and remaining unbeaten from them with an emphatic victory against the current league champions at home, one has to start wondering if this team can maintain their form throughout the season. We know Liverpool are prone to blow hot and cold, as shown against Burnley which saw them lose 2-0 away from home but the games thereafter showed some promise. 

The team that was making all the noise preseason seemed to have quietened down after three straight defeats, which one might that be? Manchester United of course, now this post isn't meant to poke fun at the rivals but merely state observations of what could be going wrong in the team. Now as much as we mock them for spending so much money on Paul Pogba, secretly we all wished our teams could splash some cash on a world class player like that and cause mass hysteria in the football transfer window. It's what makes the game more exciting, unfortunately it does add pressure to the player, with such a high price tag he will be doing his utmost to prove his price but that can cost them dearly as we saw with Andy Carroll when he made the switch to Liverpool, granted the price was no where near Pogba's, it was a record for a British player and he always tried to do more than what he was capable of during games which subsequently saw him reduced to sitting on the bench. I think Jose needs to sit him down and tell him to just relax and play his normal game, and not expect him to go out there and score hattricks every game. 

Now for the elephant in the room, well troll in the room, aka Shrek. As much as most of us love to hate Wayne Rooney, he is a quality player. After Scholes, Giggs and Ferdinand left the fray, it was up to Rooney to be the English stalwart of the team and credit to him he has done a fantastic job but the thing we all need to realise is that players get old and while they do remain fit, aspects of their game gets affected. They're not as a sharp as they once were, not as quick and their radar goes a bit off every now and then. When Gerrard left Liverpool it was a bittersweet moment because we knew we were losing an asset to the team but he knew he wasn't good enough to make the first eleven any more and he didn't see himself as a player who came off the bench to help the team. I feel the same is happening to Wayne at United. He wants to start every game but can he? Jose wanted Rooney for his Chelsea team 4 years ago and now that he finally has him, he wants to play him in the role he envisaged for him but Jose needs to realise Wayne isn't that same player anymore. The defeat against Watford saw Rooney making some dreadful passes, the last thing he will want is the Old Trafford faithful turning against him for playing badly. I think it's time Wayne realised he isn't that same player and either leave the club or settle for a place on the bench before he damages his good reputation with the supporters. 

Maybe I'm wrong though? Maybe Jose has a plan and he's just waiting for the whole team to click into gear. As I said, we're only five games in so to draw conclusions now would be premature and stupid but from what I've seen so far, this what it seems like but we still have 33 games to go and it's going to be an interesting few months leading up to the December period and we're surely in for a treat. 

Monday Choon: KSHMR & Tigerlily - Invisible Children

The first time I heard about today's featured artist was when he teamed up with Tiesto and Vassy to produce the track "Secrets" which did incredibly well. There after I never really researched him or his music, but he kept popping up in various collaborations, one of which I quite took a liking to was his track with Shaun Frank featuring Delany Jane titled "Heaven".  It was then I took notice of his sets at the various festivals and loved how he infused classic Indian music with electronic music. I've heard the likes of R3hab doing it but his take on it is near perfect. Niles Hollowell-Dhar, better known by his stage name KSHMR is who I've been talking about if you haven't gathered, he's an American DJ, producer and is from Berkeley, California. If you haven't heard of him yet, you will do quite soon!

Bucket Seat: Ford Everest vs Toyota Fortuner

The Ford Everest and the Toyota Fortuner are currently the two most popular SUV's currently on the market without a shadow of a doubt. Both in direct competition with each other offer people in the segment a good variety of options to make their decision on which one to get. Which one is better though? I know it's tricky question seeing that it depends on individual preference but having driven both in the space of two weeks I did find some high points and low points to both and in this post I'll be highlighting them and giving my verdict on which I felt was the better of the two. 

Style

In this department I can't fault either of them, both sets of designers did an amazing job for the respective vehicles. Ford has taken roots from it's American side in and beefed up the latest Everest. It's a great design, bold and masculine. Harnessing the age old Ford Slogan "Built Ford Tough". Like I mentioned in my review of the SUV. It's a complete design with no loose ends. The lines flow perfectly and tie up lovely in the back. 

Toyota on the other hand went from a fairly Conservative design in the original Fortuner and added a bottle of Saki to it. It's a radical makeover and one which I feel was needed. We were seeing too many boring designs coming out of Japan and with a popular SUV like the Fortuner, it needed something different, something edgy and that's exactly what we got. Lots of design queues from the Lexus line of the company but I'm not complaining, as mentioned in the review, it won't be everyones cup of tea but sales will be the ultimate test and so far it seems to be passing. 

Performance

While both SUV's had different power plants, they were similar enough to compare. The Everest came with Ford's 3.2 litre, 5 cylinder, TDCi engine whilst the Fortuner had a slightly smaller 2.8 GD Hi engine. Both diesel engines, with the Ford's egding it in capacity and so most of the figures as well with it having 13 more torques and 20 more kW but while the figures say one thing, it might not generally mean that the one with the higher figures is the winner. While the Everest did have more torque, I found it to be very sluggish on take off or on lower gears, with lots of tubro lag and I think the general weight of the SUV slowing it down a bit. The Fortuner however had no such issues, even with it being in Eco mode which has lower revs, it still managed to take off faster which is evident in the 0-100km times. The Ford managing this in 11.6 seconds while the Toyota chops off almost a second off that time in 10.8 seconds. 

Both SUV's came with a 6 speed automatic gearbox with manual shift options, however again with this I felt the Ford's gearbox to be a bit lethargic and slow to think while the Toyota's gear box was a bit to quick. For example while going down a hill and not pressing the accelerator, the Toyota for some reason would down change and have a high rev all the way until you pressed the peddle again. I found this really odd and annoying at times. The Ford's gear box took a bit of time to think whether it needs to change gear or not, again forcing the revs high. The one thing I did like is that the Fortuner came with paddle shifts. Now I know what you're thinking, paddle shifts on an "SUV?!" But trust me it works like a beaut! 

Comfort

I'm bigger than your average guy so I appreciate spacious cars and both of these SUV's are extremely spacious. They are both 7 seaters and can seat seven adults comfortably. While there is plenty of space, are the seats comfortable tough? With the Ford, yes they were comfortable and it did come with leather seats but I found the quality of the leather to be a bit cheap, it gave that very slippery feel to it and just looked dull. Maybe it was the grey colour but I was not impressed. 

The Fortuner though, I couldn't stop raving about the leather in this car. From the seats to the leather that was used to cover the dash board, it felt amazing to touch and even better to sit on. The Toyota did come with a few creature comforts that were non existent in the Everest, like electronic front seats while the Everest was manual but the ride quality in the Everest seemed to have shaved the Toyota's as what let it down was the engine noise in the cabin. 

Tech

This one surprised me, having owned Toyota's for most of my life I know they were not ones to embrace technology like the rest of the manufacturers but I think they had more to offer in the Fortuner than what the Everest had. To start off with, keyless entry for the Toyota with a push button start, the Everest? Normal key, very boring. As mentioned before, the Toyota front seats are electronic, the Everest? Manual. Both Instrument clusters had a display to it but I think the Everest's layout was better and while it did seem complicated to work at first, it was pretty easy with the steering wheel controls to figure out what you wanted displayed and where, the overall layout looked better with the large cylindrical rev counter with the two digital displays either side of it. 

The touch screen in the Ford was better and slightly bigger compared to the Toyota, also it had more to offer. The Toyota also lacked PDC's, which I found extremely odd for such a big vehicle. Both SUV's offered blue-tooth phone and audio streaming with effortless syncing and usage. The sound system on the Everest was clearly better than the Fortuner. Not sure if you get to upgrade the sound package in the options list on the Toyota's but it would be great if they did. Both SUV's lacked Satellite Navigation, which for a 4x4 should be standard and a waste of those big touch screens. On the head lights, Toyota came with Hi Beam LED's whilst the Everest had your normal headlamps if yesteryear. 

Storage

Both vehicles offer more or less the same volume of storage with the Toyota edging it by have it's spare wheel under the car as apposed to the Everest having the spare wheel in the boot. However, Toyota's fold up back seats do take up more space and does hamper the capacity a bit. As mentioned in the respective reviews, if all 7 seats are in use, it does reduce luggage capacity tremendously. 

Offroad

Although you would find 90% of these SUV's on the road for most of their lifespan, make no mistake, when you take either of them off road, they both can handle their own. The Everest easy terrain selection is a wonderful addition which is simple enough for any novice to understand and operate. Choose your type of terrain and the car does the rest of the work for you. Now as easy as the Everest was, that's not to say the Fortuner's was rocket science to figure out. Everything is pretty self explanatory and like the Everest, the car does everything for you. Many have asked if these technology advancements in these cars kill the joy of off roading, I honestly don't think it does, if anything it helps you a lot. 

Verdict

I'm not the type of guy to say a certain car is better than the next because it all comes down to the preference of the buyer. Both vehicles are great but as mentioned they each have their flaws. So instead of saying one is better than the other, which there is isn't a clear winner, I'd say which I would rather buy based on my time with each. For that my choice would have to be the Toyota Fortuner, I really really really love the Ford Everest but for multiple reasons I chose the Fortuner over it. For one, the 2.8 GD-6 is the range topping Diesel model but there is a higher topping petrol version in the V6 but still the amount of things that come packed into this car is incredible. I've never seen a Toyota so well equipped, the Everest on the other hand was the bottom of the range XLT model and while the top of the range Limited did come with all the bells and whistles, the XLT is still R22,000 more than the Toyota! Resale on the Fortuner is a winner as it is a market favourite and Toyota's reputation in the used car market surpasses any other manufacturer. Fuel consumption, even though the figures in the book favour the Ford, I found the Toyota gave me the better consumption of the week I had it, so for those reasons I would have the Fortuner, also I think they did a great job on the styling, it's really an eye catcher and looks even better at night. 

Specifications

Toyota Fortuner 2.8 GD-6	Ford Everest XLT
2.8 litre GD Hi	3.2 litre Duratorq TDCi
6 Speed Automatic gear box with paddle shift	6 Speed Powershift Automatic gearbox
130kW	147kW
450Nm of torque	470Nm of torque
8.5ltr/ 100km	8.2ltr/ 100km
0-100kph in 10.8 seconds	0-100kph in 11.6 seconds
R613,200	R634,900

#BeTheBand 2016

In it's second year running, Gateway and East Coast Radio are offering one lucky person or band a chance of a lifetime to catapult their career in entertainment with the #BETHEBAND competition. The winner of the competition will open to the the crowds at this year's Huawei Durban Day, taking place on the 23rd of October 2016 as well as receive a host of prizes adding up to R80,000 of which include Music Equipment and training session valued at R42,000 from Musician's Gear Zone, 40 hours studio time valued at R25,000 from HitRecord Music & Audio Production, a photoshoot and design of an album cover valued at R8,000 and a Gateway Gift Card valued at R5,000 from Gateway Theatre of Shopping.

Michelle Shelley, Gateway's Maketing Manager had this to say, "We are excited to partner with East Coast Radio once again for this year's #BeTheBand and look forward to discovering new talent in KZN!" 

Would be contestants were invited to upload their demo to the East Coast Radio website (www.ecr.co.za) before the 4th of September 2016 in order to qualify for the competition. From there, the shortlisted entrants were reduced down to the last six finalists who will perform at a final event at Gateways's Wavehouse on Heritage Day, 24th September 2016. 

Tickets to this final showdown are on sale at www.webtickets.co.za or R80 at the door. For more information, or to view the Terms and Conditions of the competition, visit www.gatewayworld.co.za. Keep up to date on the happenings by following the Gateway Theatre of Shopping various social media streams on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. 

Monday Choon: Hardwell & Blasterjaxx - Going Crazy

Hardwell and Blasterjaxx are onto something with their new single, I think we're all going crazy but at least we can sing about it! The former number one DJ in the world, Robbert van de Corput better know as Hardwell teamed up with fellow Dutch DJ duo Thim Jongkind and Idir Makhlaf for this latest electronic collaboration. It's been out for about a week and I wasn't the biggest fan of it when it was released but have to admit it has been growing on me and is sure to be a track for the summer. 

Bucket Seat: Mini Test Pilot - SA Festival of Motoring

So as most of you know, that's if you follow me on Twitter, Instagram or Snapchat, last week I was invited to the SA Festival of Motoring held at the refurbished Kyalami Circuit by Mini South Africa. For those of you who didn't catch the action, fear not as I captured as much as I could and will recap most of the action here on the blog. It was an early start to the day last Friday but it was entirely worth it, we arrived and the brand spanking new Kyalami Grandprix Circuit for the start of proceedings. It was my first time visiting the track after it underwent a major overhaul, I've got to say Toby Venter has done a magnificent job with the track and here's hoping it hosts some major races in the motor sport calendar in the coming future. 

Edward Makwana of BMW

Back to the schedule of the day, after arriving at the Mini stand at the SA Festival of Motoring and registering for the day ahead, Edward Makwana of BMW gave us a brief run down on Mini's John Cooper Works model as well as the history behind the legendary racing name. Mini has a proud racing heritage, stemming from the Rally days with John Cooper and now with the latest generation Mini's see's them make their way onto the track, and to tell us more about that we were introduced to current Mini Challenge Champion Charlie Butler Henderson of the UK, name sounds sort of familiar? That's because his sister might be recognised on 5th Gear. Charlie was down with his Mini Challenge Race car to show exactly how fast you can get a Mini to go!

Myself and Charlie Butler Henderson

First up though was us trying our hand at taking the production version JCW out on track. I know it won't relate to everyone but almost every young boys dream is to one day be a race car driver and for me it was my first time racing on a proper race track. Having done my BMW Dynamic Driving course, I had suitable knowledge on how to handle the car but by no means would I consider myself a pro. Luckily for us we had instructors in the car giving us tips about the track and car. We were allowed one lap around the new circuit and it was extremely thrilling, having the chance to push the Mini JCW to its peak potential was exhilarating to the say the least. Also most of the driving aides were turned off to allow maximum track feel. 

I thought I did a pretty decent job of the lap, well that was until I jumped into the passenger seat and the instructor showed me how it was done. It was then I realised I got some practicing to do if I want to resurrect my dream of becoming a race driver. After that kick back into reality, it was time to for me to strap into the Mini Challenge, Charlie wanted to show me how to really drive around the track! Word's cannot describe the feeling, firstly being strapped into a race car and secondly being thrown around the track at high speeds, it was all good fun and better than any roller coaster ride you can think of! Charlie is a pro and have experienced going around a track with him is something you will remember forever. After completing all the activities, we were awarded honorary Mini Test Pilot statuses, not a bad accolade to have if you ask me. 

That was it for the day but I went to visit the boys down at BMW in their pit garage to see what all the fuss was about. Apart from all their M cars, the Germans brought down their mighty M6 GT3 along with it's driver Jens Klingmann, that car is nothing short of awesome and epitomizes everything BMW M Power stands for. It was by far the loudest and fastest car present their that weekend. Other goodies hidden in the BMW garage was the recently launched M4 GTS, of which only 23 will be sold locally. The BMW 30th Anniversary M3 Jarhe and flown in from Germany, the BMW M760Li. A true luxury limousine with a monster V12 engine in the front. 

Overall it was an amazing experience and I would like to thank BMW and Mini for making this happen as it was Bucket list stuff that was being ticked off that day. Cannot wait to see what next year's festival has in store!

Some highlights for the Festival

Riding shotgun in the BMW M3

Riding with Charlie Butler Henderson

BMW M6 GT3

BMW M3 30 Jahre

BMW M760Li

Worlds Longest Test Drive

Want to be part of history? Well this is your chance! In celebration of launching their new Sportage model, KIA Motors South Africa are taking this opportunity to embark in what will be the Worlds Longest Test Drive right here in our country. Kicking off on October the 14th in Durban, the route will see a fleet of 10 Sportage's travel across the country visiting the numerous KIA Motors dealerships, and finally ending the journey in Cape Town on the 20th of October.

The test drive won't only be the longest in distance but also the biggest in terms of number of vehicles used in it. The vent will bring together hundreds of consumers from all across the country as they test drive a part of the route in a relay, not only to experience what the new Sportage has to offer but also putting them in with a chance to win the all-new KIA Sportage. 

David Sieff, the Marketing Director of KIA Motors South Africa had this to say, "As the vehicle that revolutionized the compact SUV market and the KIA brand in South Africa, the all new Sportage will make a bold statement when it launches locally in October. It's a vastly improved vehicle in every way, and will prove itself over the duration of the World's Longest Test Drive as the ultimate compact SUV for South African families."

The entire journey will be captured on various recording devices, from dashcams to drones and a 24-7 film crew as part of this epic event. Joining the fun also will be local and international KIA spokespeople, local artist and celebrities as well as Instagrammers such as Lebo Lukewarm and Mike Eloff. KIA Motors is also taking this opportunity to give back to the communities on route by delivering educational supplies to schools in need. 

For more information and to register for the World's Longest Test Drive, visit www.kiaworldrecord.co.za. Please read the terms and conditions to make sure you qualify for the campaign.