Wondering if anyone here has experience with any American manufactured drones for surveying and mapping applications. Seems a lot of the DJI models are unavailable and their future, not to get all political, ummm ... is up in the air?
Just because I'm paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get me.
I don't have any personal experience, but I have looked around a bit. The pickings are slim for survey-grade drones and the price will be quite higher.
We've got probably 20 DJI's of different varieties in our fleet. We've looked into some American made drones and just haven't found anything suitable to replace them with. So we will carry on until we can't for now.
I live near (and work on) a military base. If you want to be sure that your drone will be 100% cleared to fly, choose on from this site.
https://www.diu.mil/blue-uas-cleared-list
It won't be cheap. But I must say that I've used both imagery and LiDAR collected from the Wingtra platform and it was very reliable.
I'm currently looking heavly into the SkyScout drone with the Sony ILX-LR1 61mp Camera and a Respi Lite M2X Lidar from WISPR Systems.
Just had it Demo'd today. They are NDAA certified. Soon to be Blue List as well.
It defintily is rougher around the edges than a DJI, but I was impressed. It is more expensive than than M300/350, you will be looking at around $75K for the Drone and sensors while a DJI M300/350 was about $38K. I do know that last month you couldn't even get a DJI because all the shipments were being held at customs.
@pschaeffer Interesting. Thanks for the tip. The agency I work for set aside barely enough to cover a DJI Mavic 3E, and like you said, customs is holding everything under the pretext of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, even though DJI is in Guangdong, completely different part of the country. I've looked at the Freefly Astro and WISPR Skyscout, but the price difference in the quotes means if the mucky-mucks want to go that route, they are going to have to budget substantially more coinage. Fortunately I have a Phantom 4 RTK I inherited and was able to get the firmware updated and with my new Part 107 in hand, looking forward to taking it out and flying my first mapping mission with it. I got so jazzed about the whole thing I purchase a DJI Mini to play with. Hoping to make some slick skiing videos with it using the tracking mode soon.
Just because I'm paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get me.
he pretext of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, even though DJI is in Guangdong, completely different part of the country.
Everything in China is CCP controlled. Just say no.
@norman-oklahoma What about your cell phone? I don't see anybody chucking those.
Just because I'm paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get me.
@bstrand To be fair they should ban iPhones since they're also made in China. Samsung is a Korean company but manufactures in Vietnam and India. They left China in 2019 because of rising labor costs. (Google AI).
Know what's funny? Federal employees are usually issued iPhones.
Just because I'm paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get me.
What about your cell phone? I don't see anybody chucking those.
The point is that slave labor in China is not a pretext.
@norman-oklahoma I'm confused. A pretext for what exactly. There's no evidence DJI uses slave labor. Does the Chinese government? Yes. Does the Chinese government have a hand in every Chinese company, directly or in indirectly, yes. Then ban everything made in China. This selective when it's politically expedient, is total bs.
Just because I'm paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get me.
I'm OK with banning everything made in China.
The CCP controls everything in China. So if one thing is tainted, it is all tainted. I'm not criticizing you for buying a DJI drone. I own one, too. I am being a little critical of you for passing off an effort by the government to enforce a federal law intended to protect the civil rights of others as a "pretext" for slowing up your delivery.
@norman-oklahoma You know what's a bit ironic? It's a government agency unwilling to pony up enough for a US made drone that has me in this spot, and moreover if I was federal, I'd probably be unemployed.
Just because I'm paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get me.