Us Army bans Dji products. How about the commercial business?

[UAV-ACE]

It's probably because the POS Go App sends images and all flight telemetry information to the Chinese mother ship - NOT good for security. For military operations, I would use an iPad with the WiFi permanently off. Do updates via another iPad. I have some possible military contractor work coming up. We'll see what happens if it pans out.

D

DoD is banning all DJI products from flying for both military and civil works missions, having an IPAD etc. will not negate the fact of using DJI hardware to fly the missions. I know for a fact that this is being checked prior to contracting out for services.

 

[Donnie Frank]

DoD is banning all DJI products from flying for both military and civil works missions, having an IPAD etc. will not negate the fact of using DJI hardware to fly the missions. I know for a fact that this is being checked prior to contracting out for services.

DoD is banning all DJI products from flying for both military and civil works missions, having an IPAD etc. will not negate the fact of using DJI hardware to fly the missions. I know for a fact that this is being checked prior to contracting out for services.

That's almost hilarious, because the military contractor I've been looking at just purchased their own Inspire 1. They were going to hire me to get it flight ready, test it, then educate their pilots. That was months ago. Kind of ironic that the very ship they purchased is banned by the very company they work for. Maybe I should offer to purchase it for pennies on the dollar. HA!

 

[UAV-ACE]

That's almost hilarious, because the military contractor I've been looking at just purchased their own Inspire 1. They were going to hire me to get it flight ready, test it, then educate their pilots. That was months ago. Kind of ironic that the very ship they purchased is banned by the very company they work for. Maybe I should offer to purchase it for pennies on the dollar. HA!

You probably should! Since there is no time table to get this resolved..

 

[Wolfiesden]

I assume the graphics card (nVidia K1) is actually the Android Device. Check. Ya learn something new every day.

Correct.
New SHIELD tablet K1 for Gamers - NVIDIA SHIELD Store

NOT to be confused with the nVidia Shield TV
Stream Movies, TV Shows, Music, and Play Games on Your NVIDIA SHIELD TV

Idiots at nVidia really didn't think this one through. Two "Shield" products. Same **** price ($199). Completely different purposes and things. One is a tablet. One is a home console. Freaking morons.

 

[licensed pilot]

Freedom55,

What is concerning about the Army's decision? This only affects you or your company if you are utilizing (ANY) DJI Products. What that means is any and everything DJI (not just whole systems like Phantoms, Inspires, Matrice, etc.) but also includes cameras, gimbals, IMU, GPS, Crystal Sky too, etc. used on any custom rigs. This is directly related to DJI and the use of data collected by systems without regards to privacy.

As far as business goes, you wont be able to work for the DoD agencies utilizing that kind of equipment for the time being. My worries are eventually this could be spread to other agencies to include public sector (utilities). Not to many choices out there for VTOL that aren't made in China and could also be added to the list (my speculation only).

The horror...Unless your business does regular work with DOD, you have nothing to worry about. The Chinese have little interest in your real estate or construction site pics. They can get better pics via their own sats or better yet, buy them from internet imaging suppliers. Much ado about nothing.

 

[Donnie Frank]

The horror...Unless your business does regular work with DOD, you have nothing to worry about. The Chinese have little interest in your real estate or construction site pics. They can get better pics via their own sats or better yet, buy them from internet imaging suppliers. Much ado about nothing.

Exactly....since we DO do work with the DOD, you can see our conundrum.

 

[licensed pilot]

Exactly....since we DO do work with the DOD, you can see our conundrum.

So the decision is simple, skip the work or find a non-Chinese drone. Sometimes you get a pooch that can't be screwed....

 

[Donnie Frank]

Do the Chinese have any interest in U.S. weapons testing??? If you're willing to unequivocally say, "No, they don't," then with all due respect, I'm gonna have to call double-dog BS on your assessment. I didn't go to college or anything, but I'm pretty sure our U.S. military doesn't wish to BROADCAST GPS metadata, photos or videos of their top secret military operations. Call me nuts.

So the decision is simple, skip the work or find a non-Chinese drone. Sometimes you get a pooch that can't be screwed....

I never said it was a problem, and thereby didn't solicit a solution. I'm merely confirming that DJI products ARE banned in military applications at this point. This might actually come to my great advantage, as the military contractor who hired me to assemble and make fly-worthy a pair of M-600 pros, might get sold back to me for cheap. Fingers crossed.

 

[Mixchief]

So the decision is simple, skip the work or find a non-Chinese drone. Sometimes you get a pooch that can't be screwed....

Is there a non Chinese drone? Even the American company Autel uses Chinese manufacturing and very likely technology

 

[licensed pilot]

I was being sarcastic.

 

[Mixchief]

I was being sarcastic.

sarcasm, what a concept

 

[Casey53]

Is there a non Chinese drone? Even the American company Autel uses Chinese manufacturing and very likely technology

FreeFly is made in Washington state using Futaba (Japanese) radios. I think the UAVAmerica drones are made in New Hampshire. Both will cost you a lot more than the DJI drones though. The cheaper FreeFly Alta 6 is around $12K starting and then you need to add the gimbal and camera for maybe another $6K. There is another drone built in The Netherlands (Aerialtronics Altura Zenith ATX8) that is around $25K less camera and gimbal too. Trimble mapping drones may be Belgium.

Most expensive was some monster X-fly with some RED or Arri camera and a Fuji lens setup hitting around $250,000.

 

[licensed pilot]

US companies want to make a billion bucks right out of the gate and overprice their products, then go bankrupt. A quarter million bucks for a drone is ridiculous. Rather than produce a similar product at a low initial profit and build a market over time, gradually increasing prices, American companies want to get rich quick. It is an insane market strategy to believe customers are going to flock to purchase the same drone for more $$. I read this somewhere(paraphrased) American businessmen plan for next year, asian businessmen plan for the next one hundred...

 

[Casey53]

US companies want to make a billion bucks right out of the gate and overprice their products, then go bankrupt. A quarter million bucks for a drone is ridiculous. Rather than produce a similar product at a low initial profit and build a market over time, gradually increasing prices, American companies want to get rich quick. It is an insane market strategy to believe customers are going to flock to purchase the same drone for more $$. I read this somewhere(paraphrased) American businessmen plan for next year, asian businessmen plan for the next one hundred...

Does seem the American way. Freefly seems to being doing well, but their drones are huge and about the size of my couch when ready to fly, but they are all heavy-lifters too. Their cinema gimbals seem to be the favor of Hollywood, but pricey too.

I have a bunch of camera gear and needed a new tripod to get rid of my rattlely one. The top-end American made Really Right Stuff tripod cost me $1,800 for a tripod! I think the monopod of theirs is around $750 with a head. I never would have imagined walking into a huge tripod-only store, but they have one in San Luis Obispo, CA with manufacturing on the second story and they own the property so they aren't hurting. They used to sell the foreign-made Gitzo (Italian?) brand and it was used as a quality comparison to theirs in selling them. I was going to buy the Gitzo, but quality was apparent as I was a machinist so it cost me dearly to upgrade. Owner's wife spotted a small defect on the head of mine and she wouldn't allow it to be sold. It was just some machining nick and hard to see and likely could be passed off to many.

Many photo shops sell some good foreign-made ones for <$500. The Chinese copy of the Really Right Stuff gear is Sirui or something like that. About half to two-thirds the price of the American-made one. How well they support their gear is the question and if there is an ethical difference in their approach to issues. We've read about how poor DJI Service can be, but hopefully an American made product service may be better...maybe. So far so good with the RRS gear.

 

[licensed pilot]

I am not cheering for the failure of American business. If American (100%) made drones push DJI out I'd consider that a good thing. Marketing gurus need to do a better job in understanding the long term and pricing. I hope Freefly and UAVAmerica are still around a year hence.