Future of Inspire 1

[Dal]

Hi
I am looking to purchase a UAV to carry a IR camera.
There are two units available from DJI: Matrice 100 or the Inspire 1
The Matrice is out of my price range, however, the Inspire 1 is in the price range.

I would to hear from others with an Inspire 1 who use it commercially. I am concerned I will be buying into old technology because it really hasn't been updated with anything significant.
Do you think it has future as a competitive product?

Thanks for your thoughts on this topic.
Cheers
Dal

 

[Rodger]

Well, there doesn't seem to be any activity in regard to an IR camera for the I2, very disappointing to me.

 

[Outta Control]

I’ve had conversations in the past two months of people waiting in anticipation for a DJI to announce for a new thermal.camera the XT2.

Unfortunately, as far as FLIR has notified me, there will be no cooperative projects between DJI and FLIR moving forward in the near future.

This makes sense because the current XT, DUO PRO, and VUE uses their TAU2 product and there are no logical reason to use or develop any other drone based product than the one that has been a proven solution.

As far as a HD Version is concerned, currently these are about the size of a loaf of bread and if you think the XT-R in 640x512 is outrageous in price? Any new, updated product from DJI, well you get the picture.

Here is my suggestion. Work with what you got. Most important factor in a mission critical aircraft is the sensor. Find the sensor you need and work the sUAS around it. So basically, means if that XT fits an I1, M600, M200, M100, go with the aircraft that you can afford and accomplish the mission.

Remember, in this specific utilization you are getting paid for the data, and your knowledge, background, and experience to interpret the data, not how fancy and technologically advance your bird is.

 

[Rodger]

Thanks for the informative update. I wrote to FLIR in regard to the I2 and they sent me in the direction of a Dealer that is fitting one of their Cameras to a Mavic Pro.

 

[mick]

The i1 is the cheapest way to get a user friendly thermal set-up in the air no doubt.

The cams are a rip of though as your paying nearly double for the same internals as the vue pro R etc just in Dji apple esk format.

I would if you can suggest building your own platform. Or look at the yuneec thermal if you only need low level results. Our inspire RAW is very likely the last Dji drone we will ever get as they have completely locked the market off with the i2 and m210 etc. There greed and insistence on separating all their air frames/ cameras is a serious mess up in my opinion.

Its the reason we never got a i2 and that combined with their constant software issues has made me very wary of them moving forward.

Build the most cost effective set-up to do the job Too many folk are buying into all this constant upgrade culture now and the majority of them end up broke a few years later.

I have done thermal analysis myself on the ground so researched this to death last year when we nearly got a Flir vue pro r 640. Flir are not very forthcoming with info at all and their reps dont know much about the cam although they know thermography very well. Your best bet for advice is online i would say. They did tell me though that the same sensor has been in use for about 10-20 years now so there is no a huge chance of cameras becoming obsolete soon. Better resolutions units are serious money and larger.

Mick