Our company just landed a federal contract and we need to transition off DJI for that work. Still keeping DJI for private sector but need something Blue UAS / NDAA compliant.
Options I'm looking at:
Anyone using these for actual survey/mapping work? How do they compare to DJI for accuracy and workflow?
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Sign inWe added Skydio X10 for DOT work last year. Honest assessment:
Pros:
Cons:
For survey accuracy it's totally usable. We're getting similar results to our M3E flights. Just a bit more finicky to set up.
If you're considering fixed wing at all, Wingtra has Blue List configurations. Swiss made. We use it for large federal projects and haven't had compliance issues.
For multirotor though, Skydio X10 or Freefly Astro are your best bets. Parrot Anafi is more for quick recon than survey-grade mapping imo.
Freefly Astro with the Sony ILX-LR1 camera is legitimately survey grade. 61MP full frame sensor. But it's expensive and the workflow is more involved.
Depends on your budget and how much federal work you're doing. If it's occasional, X10 is probably more practical. If it's becoming your primary work, Astro is worth the investment.
DroneDeploy supports both X10 and Astro for processing btw. X10 has cloud sync integration, Astro is more manual but PPK processing works. So you don't have to change your whole workflow, just the aircraft.
Skydio X10 is probably the easiest transition from DJI if you're already in the DroneDeploy ecosystem.
Thanks everyone. Sounds like X10 is the path of least resistance. We'll keep the M3E fleet for private work and add an X10 for federal. Appreciate the real-world feedback.