Drone purchase thoughts

[Hoopster3]

Drone for work

Long explanation, trying to be brief.

Had a Parrot AR drone a few years and got a original Mavic Pro in 2016 so have been flying recreationally for over 10 years. I'm in the process of gathering information to start a part-time drone business for photography, land surveying, agriculture and whatever else I can target work toward. I would be most interested in a high quality camera, stabilization, thermal is a new huge draw for me, and rangefinder seems useful. I also don't have an unlimited budget so realize I may not get everything.

While I'm extremely up to date on my 2016 Mavic Pro, my research has bounced me around a little bit on newer models. The Enterprise models are interesting and I quickly realized my Mavic Pro won't be up to the task of what I'm wanting to accomplish. I had no reason to look outside of DJI, until now. I'm located in Iowa and there is uncertainty surrounding drone laws, specifically DJI in the United States. These drone regulations are hard to follow and I'm not sure if I should make a purchase in short order to beat a possible ban or to wait and possibly lose out???

I'm fully aware of holding a 107 certificate, LLC for a business, insurance, ect. I would like feedback on the options I'm currently considering and am open to others. The ability to actually acquire one could be a different story as well.

DJI Mavic 3 Thermal
DJI Matrice 4T
DJI Matrice 400 (expensive)
Autel Evo Max 4T

Reading up on Autel, all I find is complaints about quality and customer service. I also don't want to invest this much into DJI if it will become unusable in the near future. Of course, I would prefer stay within the DJI ecosystem I already know.

At 1st I thought the Mavic 3T would be my best bet, but (correct me if I'm wrong) the 3T doesn't have the same land surveying capabilities of the 3E and the 3E doesn't have thermal. It seems like I'm looking for ONE thing to do it all and my budget doesn't allow for that.

I'm in no rush and waiting until 2026 when we might have drone law updates might just be the safest bet. Open to thoughts, critique and other ideas. My budget is around $5k and a used drone in excellent condition would be considered.

Also...Am I crazy for looking to start a drone business with all the uncertainty?

 

[Cafguy]

Also...Am I crazy for looking to start a drone business with all the uncertainty?

Kinda...Yea.
Even as close as 6 months ago I would have told you that you would have a wonderful fleet and you would be ready to tackle the world!
Now in my honest opinion I am not sure what to tell you! I will tell you that the studios hire people to build their Drones and its really the only way now to insure that you stay in the air these days.
DJI Makes some of the best Drones out there BUT you are in the U.S. and DJI has had enough of the political game they were thrown into. If you purchase an enterprise model in the U.S. Any parts or warranty has to go over a bridge made of pretty thin ice to get to you.
Its a VERY good question really. DJI brought everyone into this world with very cheap Drones that were high quality.
I think now it will be up to a rag-tag band of Drone builders to hold it all together!

 

[GadgetGuy]

Also...Am I crazy for looking to start a drone business with all the uncertainty?

Yup! Your timing couldn’t be worse.

 

[Felix le Chat]

Drone for work

Long explanation, trying to be brief.

Had a Parrot AR drone a few years and got a original Mavic Pro in 2016 so have been flying recreationally for over 10 years. I'm in the process of gathering information to start a part-time drone business for photography, land surveying, agriculture and whatever else I can target work toward. I would be most interested in a high quality camera, stabilization, thermal is a new huge draw for me, and rangefinder seems useful. I also don't have an unlimited budget so realize I may not get everything.

While I'm extremely up to date on my 2016 Mavic Pro, my research has bounced me around a little bit on newer models. The Enterprise models are interesting and I quickly realized my Mavic Pro won't be up to the task of what I'm wanting to accomplish. I had no reason to look outside of DJI, until now. I'm located in Iowa and there is uncertainty surrounding drone laws, specifically DJI in the United States. These drone regulations are hard to follow and I'm not sure if I should make a purchase in short order to beat a possible ban or to wait and possibly lose out???

I'm fully aware of holding a 107 certificate, LLC for a business, insurance, ect. I would like feedback on the options I'm currently considering and am open to others. The ability to actually acquire one could be a different story as well.

DJI Mavic 3 Thermal
DJI Matrice 4T
DJI Matrice 400 (expensive)
Autel Evo Max 4T

Reading up on Autel, all I find is complaints about quality and customer service. I also don't want to invest this much into DJI if it will become unusable in the near future. Of course, I would prefer stay within the DJI ecosystem I already know.

At 1st I thought the Mavic 3T would be my best bet, but (correct me if I'm wrong) the 3T doesn't have the same land surveying capabilities of the 3E and the 3E doesn't have thermal. It seems like I'm looking for ONE thing to do it all and my budget doesn't allow for that.

I'm in no rush and waiting until 2026 when we might have drone law updates might just be the safest bet. Open to thoughts, critique and other ideas. My budget is around $5k and a used drone in excellent condition would be considered.

Also...Am I crazy for looking to start a drone business with all the uncertainty?

Regardless of complaints, your best bang-for-buck would have been Autel's EVO2 with the ability for the user to swap camera payloads between 8K: 6K and a really good thermal... but... Autel is equally stuffed courtesy of the legislative attack-dogs hell-bent on inhibiting the US use of anything built in China.

 

[Starz]

Possibly look at the Matrice series DJI products. They can carry various different cameras.