Anyone ever try using a government bid site for drones?

AMann · Oct 9, 2025

Has anyone used govdeals.com for drones here? I’ve been watching the types of drones showing up on this site for a while, and this week there’s a Mavic Enterprise dual kit up for bid currently at $500.

https://www.govdeals.com/en/asset/1439/384

They have other interesting items like the DJI Dock 1 with a Matrice M30T for only $12k

https://www.govdeals.com/en/asset/93/23705

MARK (LI) · Oct 9, 2025

What would you do if you won it to find that it has not been unbound from old account?...

GadgetGuy · Oct 9, 2025

MARK (LI) said:
What would you do if you won it to find that it has not been unbound from old account?...

Nicely ask the former owner in prison for his username and password? LOL!

PINEBARON · Oct 10, 2025

AMann said:
Has anyone used govdeals.com for drones here? I’ve been watching the types of drones showing up on this site for a while, and this week there’s a Mavic Enterprise dual kit up for bid currently at $500.

https://www.govdeals.com/en/asset/1439/384

They have other interesting items like the DJI Dock 1 with a Matrice M30T for only $12k

https://www.govdeals.com/en/asset/93/23705

A very useful find indeed!

deepwater52 · Oct 10, 2025

AMann said:
Has anyone used govdeals.com for drones here? I’ve been watching the types of drones showing up on this site for a while, and this week there’s a Mavic Enterprise dual kit up for bid currently at $500.

https://www.govdeals.com/en/asset/1439/384

They have other interesting items like the DJI Dock 1 with a Matrice M30T for only $12k

https://www.govdeals.com/en/asset/93/23705

AS IS - WHERE IS I wouldnt pay more than I could afford to burn

deepwater52 · Oct 10, 2025

AMann said:
Has anyone used govdeals.com for drones here? I’ve been watching the types of drones showing up on this site for a while, and this week there’s a Mavic Enterprise dual kit up for bid currently at $500.

https://www.govdeals.com/en/asset/1439/384

They have other interesting items like the DJI Dock 1 with a Matrice M30T for only $12k

https://www.govdeals.com/en/asset/93/23705

AS IS - WHERE IS I wouldnt pay more than I could afford to burn

AMann · Oct 10, 2025

MARK (LI) said:
What would you do if you won it to find that it has not been unbound from old account?...

Very good point - I was mainly interested in parts, which is most likely the only thing they sell!

kodak_jack · Oct 11, 2025

To be honest about it, I’m very surprised that such a site exists. The country is full of local, state and national agencies that have DJI products. Anything bought with government funds has to be destroyed at the end of its useful life. As an example, a whole grammar school full of Thinkpads that kids used for classroom work were collected and crushed when new ones were bought. They couldn’t even been given away. My son is an accident investigator for his police force and all of the guys have DJI drones to document accidents. The same applies to their drones.

anotherlab · Oct 11, 2025

kodak_jack said:
To be honest about it, I’m very surprised that such a site exists. The country is full of local, state and national agencies that have DJI products. Anything bought with government funds has to be destroyed at the end of its useful life. As an example, a whole grammar school full of Thinkpads that kids used for classroom work were collected and crushed when new ones were bought. They couldn’t even been given away. My son is an accident investigator for his police force and all of the guys have DJI drones to document accidents. The same applies to their drones.

I don't think that is always the case, but it can be a requirement for a specific agency. The Federal requirements are defined by NIST SP 800-88, and one option is to overwrite the data to eliminate recovery. That allows the media to be reused.