My name is David and I'm a recent 107 cert holder. I've been considering going commercial for quite some time but the options are a bit overwhelming. I'm most interested in industrial inspections to include confined space and agricultural/forestry applications. I guess my first major decision will be one or many? A multipurpose or purpose drone? Any advice is greatly appreciated, I'm leaning toward a Phantom 4 Pro V2.0 and maybe adding a thermal or multispec. not sure if it would work in confined space.
Hello pilots......from Alabama.
- Thread starter loblollyjones
- Start date
First off WELCOME to the forum 
What is your background?
It's hard to say if you should go multi-purpose of purpose driven. To be honest, your areas of interest aren't very "overlapping" to where you could get away with a multi-purpose system. Confined Space work is almost on the opposite spectrum of agriculture/forestry.
The Phantom 4 Pro is a Work Horse but my concerns (and I own one) is how long is it going to be a viable operator? How long are we going to be able to get parts and batteries for it? I have a good friend who has one "in the shop" right now and they can't even test it to diagnose the problem because they can't locate/source the needed part(s). That worries me when we are discussing the equipment you can't work without. Of course this is why we ALWAYS have a backup aircraft (or two). Clients don't want to hear WHY you're not able to perform the tasks you've been contracted to do. They just want results!!
Do you have the experience, knowledge, and connections to be able to work in either of those two sectors you mentioned? They aren't the type of work where you can bring a box of doughnuts and a couple flyers and smooth talk your way into some work (as we can in Real Estate).
Just make sure you're GOOD at whatever you're doing before making contact with potential clients. If you don't know your stuff don't blow a first impression... you can't get those back.
What is your background?
It's hard to say if you should go multi-purpose of purpose driven. To be honest, your areas of interest aren't very "overlapping" to where you could get away with a multi-purpose system. Confined Space work is almost on the opposite spectrum of agriculture/forestry.
The Phantom 4 Pro is a Work Horse but my concerns (and I own one) is how long is it going to be a viable operator? How long are we going to be able to get parts and batteries for it? I have a good friend who has one "in the shop" right now and they can't even test it to diagnose the problem because they can't locate/source the needed part(s). That worries me when we are discussing the equipment you can't work without. Of course this is why we ALWAYS have a backup aircraft (or two). Clients don't want to hear WHY you're not able to perform the tasks you've been contracted to do. They just want results!!
Do you have the experience, knowledge, and connections to be able to work in either of those two sectors you mentioned? They aren't the type of work where you can bring a box of doughnuts and a couple flyers and smooth talk your way into some work (as we can in Real Estate).
Just make sure you're GOOD at whatever you're doing before making contact with potential clients. If you don't know your stuff don't blow a first impression... you can't get those back.
Thanks for the response BigA,.
So I have extensive background in GIS, Forestry and Real Estate, but also some inside knowledge on industrial plant shutdowns, inspections, repair etc.. So you could say my "wheelhouse" would likely be Forest/Ag applications and Real Estate Photo/Video, which I have done some of with cheap hobby drones.
The only issue with that is I live in a very rural part of South Alabama so I will go through the Realtor pool pretty quickly and the Forest/Land Ownership in my area is from primarily 2 camps. 1) Large Industrial Landowners who already have in-house drone ops OR 2) small land holdings in which the owners have no interest besides maybe a pretty picture with boundaries overlaid. (Which I'll happily do.) I could be underestimating the potential customer base but I don't believe I am by much.
When it comes to industrial inspections, I see this as a much more lucrative opportunity although travel and the drone platform would be a significant cost.
So, to clarify, I guess what I'm really asking is? Can a newer Phantom 4 platform or similar work in an industrial application like confined space inspection?
I know it can handle Real Estate, Forestry/AG, but its a little unclear to me if anyone is doing confined space type inspections with other than Elios/Elios 2, Falcon 8 or similar? I don't really see using one of those platforms for Real Estate or Forestry/AG.
I have mostly resigned myself to needing a different platform for each purpose but interested to hear the opinions of some who have already tried it.
I'm fully tracking what you said about being "GOOD" at what you do, and plan to practice/work for others for quite some time until I consider myself more of a "subject matter expert".
So I have extensive background in GIS, Forestry and Real Estate, but also some inside knowledge on industrial plant shutdowns, inspections, repair etc.. So you could say my "wheelhouse" would likely be Forest/Ag applications and Real Estate Photo/Video, which I have done some of with cheap hobby drones.
The only issue with that is I live in a very rural part of South Alabama so I will go through the Realtor pool pretty quickly and the Forest/Land Ownership in my area is from primarily 2 camps. 1) Large Industrial Landowners who already have in-house drone ops OR 2) small land holdings in which the owners have no interest besides maybe a pretty picture with boundaries overlaid. (Which I'll happily do.) I could be underestimating the potential customer base but I don't believe I am by much.
When it comes to industrial inspections, I see this as a much more lucrative opportunity although travel and the drone platform would be a significant cost.
So, to clarify, I guess what I'm really asking is? Can a newer Phantom 4 platform or similar work in an industrial application like confined space inspection?
I know it can handle Real Estate, Forestry/AG, but its a little unclear to me if anyone is doing confined space type inspections with other than Elios/Elios 2, Falcon 8 or similar? I don't really see using one of those platforms for Real Estate or Forestry/AG.
I have mostly resigned myself to needing a different platform for each purpose but interested to hear the opinions of some who have already tried it.
I'm fully tracking what you said about being "GOOD" at what you do, and plan to practice/work for others for quite some time until I consider myself more of a "subject matter expert".
dirkclod
Well-Known Member
Welcome to CDP .
Look around and find what your interest is and let it rip . Have any question's feel free to ask any staff
in a message concerning the forum and glad you have joined .
Enjoy and be safe .
Look around and find what your interest is and let it rip . Have any question's feel free to ask any staff
in a message concerning the forum and glad you have joined .
Enjoy and be safe .
R.Perry
Well-Known Member
In my unprofessional opinion, I would go with the Mavic Pro for indoor work.
BigA made a good point regarding parts and service availability from DJI. Getting anything from China lately has been a problem for many companies.
BigA made a good point regarding parts and service availability from DJI. Getting anything from China lately has been a problem for many companies.
Yeah, I've looked at the Mavic 2 Pro Enterprise as a possibility which may actually fit the bill somewhat as an all arounder to include indoor, but I'm not sure the optics are as good as the phantom 4 v2. I could be wrong. Are there parts issues with ALL DJI or just specific models?
R.Perry
Well-Known Member
I haven't had any issues. I just ordered replacement props and four more pairs of batteries and had no problem getting them.
Personally I think the Mavic Pro photo quality is outstanding. Ask Fred about what he thinks of the Mavic camera, he is a professional photographer.
Personally I think the Mavic Pro photo quality is outstanding. Ask Fred about what he thinks of the Mavic camera, he is a professional photographer.
R.Perry
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2020
- Messages
- 101
- Reaction score
- 57
- Location
- Syracuse, NY
- Website
- www.empiredroneco.com
Welcome to the forum! And congrats on the 107 cert. A few things that might help guide your planning:
- The Phantom 4 Pro V2 (without built-in screen) is end of life (EOL). The Phantom 4 Pro+ V2 (with built in screen) is still available. The P4 V2 is an all around great inexpensive photo/non-RTK mapping set-up.
- Thermal will require another set-up like the Autel EVO II 640T or DJI Mavic 2 Enterprise Advanced.
- You have a couple routes for multispectral, on of them being the Phantom 4 Multispectral
- So that’s three drones. If you have the funding you could get it down to one with the DJI Matrice 300. The 300 with a H20T payload for thermal and MicaSense RedEdge for multispectral would cover all of your use cases except indoor.
- For indoor seriously consider the DJI Mini 2 with prop guards. The thing is a beast. We did interior construction video for a massive Amazon warehouse and never lost signal till the very end when the whole place was chock full of metal conveyers. We sell a lot of these for indoor law enforcement use.
- For more advanced confined space check out the Skycopter Skypersonic. It’s like Elios 2 but from what I hear half the price.
Thanks for the info. At first glance the 300 was a bit more than I wanted to spend but if if it keeps me from having multiple platforms that could be the way to go. Can you get the Mini 2 with a dual photo/video and thermal like on the Mavic 2 EA? I have looked at the skycopter. Do you have an opinion on the Falcon 8 and what they are good for?
