Matrice 600 vs Inspire 1 Pro/Raw Industrial Use

[b2photollc]

I understand both points of views and think they both contain valuable information. At this point in time I'm trying to figure out if the cost is worth it for the M600. For this particular job (inspecting light posts) I think I could do just fine with an inspire. However, I'm trying to forecast on what I'd need in the future and the more I look at it the more restrictions the M600 has because it can't top mount a camera. I'm never going to need a Red or similar camera for inspections I can easily get away with a smaller and lighter one (like the X5 if I go the DJI route). I would hate to drop $15k on a M600 setup when a year down the road it's not going to work because I have to go under a bridge and take photos looking up. The inspire seems like a pretty solid platform that can withstand a decent amount wind without having to spend so much.

Anyone have any experience with taking photo and video close to some structure for inspection purposes? Did the inspire work okay for that?

 

[Christian Wiggers]

I understand both points of views and think they both contain valuable information. At this point in time I'm trying to figure out if the cost is worth it for the M600. For this particular job (inspecting light posts) I think I could do just fine with an inspire. However, I'm trying to forecast on what I'd need in the future and the more I look at it the more restrictions the M600 has because it can't top mount a camera. I'm never going to need a Red or similar camera for inspections I can easily get away with a smaller and lighter one (like the X5 if I go the DJI route). I would hate to drop $15k on a M600 setup when a year down the road it's not going to work because I have to go under a bridge and take photos looking up. The inspire seems like a pretty solid platform that can withstand a decent amount wind without having to spend so much.

Anyone have any experience with taking photo and video close to some structure for inspection purposes? Did the inspire work okay for that?

The most importen but also the most difficult is to understand ones need in the future.

But i do think it will be possible to mount a camera rig on top on the matrice 600. As I understand it the Ronin MX is suppose work upside down, and with at top mount plate what will then prevent that you use it on top of the matrice ?

RC Groups - View Single Post - Official Matrice 600 (M600) ***Owner's Thread*** ***First page updated 5.22.16***

And the X5 X5R has also the capability to work upside down.

I love the inspire platform and it is the one I fly most with, but if you would like at top mount a camera you can forget that platform, that is forsure.

 

[Dr. Ifly Drones]

What is the definition of "a game changer" ? To compare with a bunch of Inspire 5XR makes no sense. You don't get the fly time, you don't get the redundancy, you don't get the lifting power to lift bigger cameras.



Can you ? How much pay load can you get off the ground with 15 min of flight time ? Can you carry a RED ? Du you have tripple redundancy on the battery ? Can you mount X3, X5 ore XT ? Do you have the possibility to stream 2 video signal? and I could go on!!!

of course you can buy A3 and upgrade your S1000, and get som of the benefits but you will never be able to carry 6 kg payload or get 40 min of flight time.

Game changer must dependt on witch game you going to enter.

So Christian,

I'm not looking to pick a spat here but, how often in reality are you going to be flying a Red with a high grade lens attached? Thats somewhere around $20K USD for just the imaging system alone hung from a $15K DJI product running on the GO app which I wouldn't trust with $10K worth of camera much less $20K in camera and lens alone. Man, if the M600 is your solution of choice I say go for it and Ralph is the guy to buy from. But, if it were me I wouldn't be hanging that much money from something that runs on the GO app. Just look at all the posts about the 1.9 upgrade and that's enough for me... Typically, unless they are large production companies, the ground crews don't even buy these cameras, they rent them.

And by the way, according to spec the S1000+ will carry the 6kg, just like the M600 and the M600 will only fly <18 minutes with the full 6kg payload... Look at and compare the specs between the two. They are almost identical.

 

[b2photollc]

But i do think it will be possible to mount a camera rig on top on the matrice 600. As I understand it the Ronin MX is suppose work upside down, and with at top mount plate what will then prevent that you use it on top of the matrice ?

RC Groups - View Single Post - Official Matrice 600 (M600) ***Owner's Thread*** ***First page updated 5.22.16***

Looks like this guy just put a GoPro on top of the M600 and when he did he said it interfered a good bit with compass and GPS. If a GoPro is going to do that much I don't think you'd ever be able to put an actual camera up on top with the Ronin MX even if it does support upside down mounting.

RC Groups - View Single Post - Official Matrice 600 (M600) ***Owner's Thread*** ***First page updated 5.22.16***

Not sure if you could someone flip all the components that are on the top to the bottom to make it work better but I personally don't have the knowledge or skill to do something like that.

 

[Christian Wiggers]

So Christian,

I'm not looking to pick a spat here but, how often in reality are you going to be flying a Red with a high grade lens attached? Thats somewhere around $20K USD for just the imaging system alone hung from a $15K DJI product running on the GO app which I wouldn't trust with $10K worth of camera much less $20K in camera and lens alone. Man, if the M600 is your solution of choice I say go for it and Ralph is the guy to buy from. But, if it were me I wouldn't be hanging that much money from something that runs on the GO app. Just look at all the posts about the 1.9 upgrade and that's enough for me... Typically, unless they are large production companies, the ground crews don't even buy these cameras, they rent them.

I am not going to fly a RED under my matrice 600. I bought it becaurse of the Redundency with in Denmark give you possibility to leagely fly over people. Second reason is it will be used were i need the extra fly time, ore a more stabil platform in windy condition.

But is the the Freefly ALTA that much safer ? Especaly when you have the possibility to upgrade with tripple flight controller/GPS ore use the very good, but expensive D-RTK system.

And if I was to invest so much money in camera like the RED or similar, I will for sure get a insurance from a company like coverdrone.

And by the way, according to spec the S1000+ will carry the 6kg, just like the M600 and the M600 will only fly <18 minutes with the full 6kg payload... Look at and compare the specs between the two. They are almost identical.

When I look at the spec on S1000 then i am looking at 3-3.5 kg payload with a 15.000 - 16.000 man battery. And you get around 15 minutes of flight time. When I look at the Matrice 600 I see 6 kg pay load and 15 minutes of flight time - that is a big different.

Looks like this guy just put a GoPro on top of the M600 and when he did he said it interfered a good bit with compass and GPS. If a GoPro is going to do that much I don't think you'd ever be able to put an actual camera up on top with the Ronin MX even if it does support upside down mounting.

I read it too and even though I haven't seen the setup I did find it a bit strange. But I have a partner in one of my drone companys and he flyes and inspect powerlines in Denmark. He use a S1000 with Sony camera, and he has in fact mounted a gimbal with a sony camera on the S1000 platform with the A2 controller. He did have som problems with the GPS but it was solved by moving the GPS receiver a bidt an shielded the kamera/gimbal.

It is possible to do, and how you think Freefly do it with their ALTA ? They forsure do also have a GPS receiver.

Not sure if you could someone flip all the components that are on the top to the bottom to make it work better but I personally don't have the knowledge or skill to do something like that.

All gimbal system you use under the Matrice 600 connect to the A3 via cable or wireless. In fact with the X3/X5/XT cameras you connect the gimbal mount with cables on the A3 that is placed center on the top board. I am pretty sure that a top mounted gimbal solution can be done, and it will be done, it is just a matter of time, before such a solution will be ready.

 

[Ardi Wicaksono]

I understand both points of views and think they both contain valuable information. At this point in time I'm trying to figure out if the cost is worth it for the M600. For this particular job (inspecting light posts) I think I could do just fine with an inspire. However, I'm trying to forecast on what I'd need in the future and the more I look at it the more restrictions the M600 has because it can't top mount a camera. I'm never going to need a Red or similar camera for inspections I can easily get away with a smaller and lighter one (like the X5 if I go the DJI route). I would hate to drop $15k on a M600 setup when a year down the road it's not going to work because I have to go under a bridge and take photos looking up. The inspire seems like a pretty solid platform that can withstand a decent amount wind without having to spend so much.

Anyone have any experience with taking photo and video close to some structure for inspection purposes? Did the inspire work okay for that?

i mainly do inspection,surveying and mapping, using the inspire (with x3). I can tell you its perfectly fine,i flew a lot in highway construction site,construction sites and sometimes oilrig with no problem.

I might ask what do YOU want to focus in the long road. Inspection only?then i probably be buying inspire,and spend money on the zenmuse xt, and the upcoming z3 (with zooming capability)
added : cost worthy of m600, if you dont see you need to fly heavy and specialised camera in the future then its not worth it.

as of me i dont have a background of cinematography nor interested in taking contracts from movie production company so my next upgrade path is zenmuse xt and probably X5 and z3.

cheers!

 

[erikgraham]

Edit: deleted. Did a deep dive researching m600 and realized there was just too much incorrect speculation in my previous post. Not even worth editing, so just deleting.

 

[drew1house]

I recently got asked about doing inspections of light posts near highway interchanges for an engineering company. They want to start using drones instead of cherry pickers to do inspections. Currently I have a P3 but looking to upgrade as this is a fairly large contract and has potential for doing more work (bridges, highway, contrsuction, etc.). Do you think an Inspire 1 Pro/Raw will be sufficient or should I really look into getting the Matrice 600? Especially over highways the wind is going to be stronger than normal so that's definitely something to take into account but I haven't read any definitive info on what kind of winds both these birds can withstand while still flying safe. Also, I've read a bit about this D-RTK upgrade for the M600 that withstand magnetic interference (which would be good for bridges)...anyone have more info on this? Really just trying to get any information that you think will help with this. Thanks!!

I have both and have had a P3. The Inspire can handle a lot of wind with the X3 camera on it. If you put the X5 on... quite a bit less. I believe that landing an I1 in a 30 mile per hour wind would be easier than landing a M600 due to the nature of the landing gear. You have a much lower center of gravity and a wider stance on the I1 than the M600 relative to the size of the craft/rotors. The M600 can fly for a LOT longer.. BUT... Not longer than an I1 with the same number of batteries. And one last thing. The M6oo flight case I purchased will NOT go through a 3 foot door.

For what you are thinking... I would get the Inspire...

 

[DXB_Inspire]

I am selling my sensefly albris (previously exom) if you are interested. This is a Swiss made inspection drone. You can look under Classified and find out more. One of the selling points of the albris is that it can do bridge inspections and due to the design it can fly under a bridge and look up with a fixed distance off the structure and uses cruise control to maintain a steady track whilst taking images with the correct overlap.
Heres the link: Sensefly Albris (previously eXom) For Sale

 

[Zac]

DJI Focus
To be honest with you - the way you are talking and what you are intending to do, I believe you need to do a little more research.
It is not as easy as "I will get an M600 and go and do bridge inspections"
There is a lot more involved than that both from a safety aspect as well as insurance/liability side of things.
There is also the consideration that no DJI product allows you to mount the gimbal upside down to unable the camera to look up. When inspecting bridges this is a huge advantage.
A FreeFly Alta 8 with Skyview option will give you this sort of flexibility.

I am getting very close to purchasing the M600, MX gimbal and A3 Pro System. I currently have Phanton series and Inspire One Pro. You appear to have a much broader level of knowledge about alternative craft to the DJI M600 and I would appreciate your advice. My reasons for going with M600 is that everything appears to be fully integrated. The MX will allow me to use my Panasonic GH4 and Canon 5D as well as the X3 and X5, which I ready own. However I would like to know if I should be considering something else before I fully commit to the M600 platform? My primary aim is to get a safe and stable aerial platform for a range of video and photographic assignments. The M600 offers a level of redundancy, which I consider to be a high priority from a safety point of view as well as some insurance against the potential loss of aircraft and photographic equipment.

Are there other products you would recommend, which offer similar technical characteristics to the M600? I would be very grateful if you could head me in the right direction for alternatives to the M600. If on the other hand you consider the M600 direction the right one for me then that would also be helpful.

 

[The Editor]

I am getting very close to purchasing the M600, MX gimbal and A3 Pro System. I currently have Phanton series and Inspire One Pro. You appear to have a much broader level of knowledge about alternative craft to the DJI M600 and I would appreciate your advice. My reasons for going with M600 is that everything appears to be fully integrated. The MX will allow me to use my Panasonic GH4 and Canon 5D as well as the X3 and X5, which I ready own. However I would like to know if I should be considering something else before I fully commit to the M600 platform? My primary aim is to get a safe and stable aerial platform for a range of video and photographic assignments. The M600 offers a level of redundancy, which I consider to be a high priority from a safety point of view as well as some insurance against the potential loss of aircraft and photographic equipment.

Are there other products you would recommend, which offer similar technical characteristics to the M600? I would be very grateful if you could head me in the right direction for alternatives to the M600. If on the other hand you consider the M600 direction the right one for me then that would also be helpful.

Hi Zac,

From the information you have given, the M600 + MX with A3 Pro should be fine.
With that level of redundancy you are afforded a decent protection against the unforseen with redundant GPS and compass as well as power bus and algorithms to handle motor/esc failure.
However, the point I would make is the A3 FC is very new and as such unproven in the real world. Although early signs are good you may or may not remember the troubles with the A2 controller in the early days and the 'flip of death'.
This only came to light after a decent core base of users were out there and reports started to roll in with proof of non pilot error.

The point I was making in my post earlier re use as bridge inspections etc was that the M600/MX combination does not allow an unhindered upwards view from the platform which is very important for bridge type work.
If this ability is not important to you then I would imagine the DJI route will be fine.

 

[Zac]

Dear Editor, Thank you for responding to my request for some guidance. I was completely unaware of the A2 issues, which you mentioned. This makes me think I should hold off for a little while. That being said one would hope that DJI would learn from their previous mistakes and not release the A3/A3 Pro without conducting extensive field trials and testing to iron out any potential bugs. I guess that firmware updates will be made available to overcome any identifiable shortcomings the A3 system may have in the early stages of it's life cycle.

I have been closely watching the reported Matrice 600 failures on "Youtube", but one has to be careful not to draw any conclusions given there is a potential for folk to make mistakes in the assembly and setup of the craft. Of course you will always find those people who want to fly in an inappropriate manner and inappropriate locations!

 

[videosophy]

Hey guys,

been following this discussion for quite a bit and I am trying to decide between the two as well. Not for inspection uses, but for videos and stills.
I am considering getting the inspire with the x5r or if they update the inspire in the next few weeks that inspire then. At that price I am also considering the matrice 600.
I do have a sony A7sII that I could use with the ronin mx so that would get me some good video quality as well. The advantage of the inspire would be the smaller size factor (could take it on hikes etc in a backpack), faster setup and cheaper setup altogether. On the other hand the m600 is a beast, better redundancy and longer flight time (with all the 6 batteries in there), but can´t be carried in a backpack for example and flying it on a hike here in Hawaii would be a bit challenging due to its size and no backpacks afaik.

I am torn between these two and not sure if I should pull the trigger on the m600 with the mx that I could use on the ground as well or the inspire x5r or whatever they show in the next few weeks (InterDrone?).

 

[erikgraham]

Only been a couple flights, but love the m600 and the (prospect of) long flight time with an x5 (which I haven't attached yet).

But it's gigantic. Maybe not so convenient for inspection work?

With the case from GPC it's 30+ inches square. To open the case you have to remove it from most trucks and probably some vans. That is best done as a 2 man job, not because of weight, but because it's so large that it's awkward to reach the handles on both sides.

I would think that for inspection, you need a smaller more "run and gun" type drone, like an Inspire.

 

[Air Miles]

After flying the Inspire for 10 months I can tell you it is a great bird, however, safety in redundancy is what the M600 offers. Commercially, I would not fly the Inspire due to this. Lose a prop, motor, or battery the M600 flies safely back to you.
The Inspire crashes!!
Your client will much appreciate you flying the safer M600 over his property, equipment, vehicles, etc.
With a zoom camera the M600 will do nicely for inspections.

 

[Capt Ken]

It's been quite a learning experience reading through the chit-chat above.
But I have had only frustrating experience with the M600. I coupled it with a Ronin MX and put a Nikon D810 on it. The Ronin MX couples with the Matrice nicely. Also bought the RSS to get remote control from the remote to the gimbal. RSS requires a connection to the camera and that's where I had Problem #1. DJI has no cable which connects to a Nikon camera. I got around that problem to get a connection. But then the GO app could not give me a live feed from the camera with everything connected as per DJI instructions. End of the day- fruitless exercise and months of lost work.
Just interested to know if anyone else experienced the same? And if you did, can you recommend a solution to the problem described?

 

[Air Miles]

Capt Ken,
As mentioned above I love flying the M600 and have had no problem with the bird or Z3 camera. However, three weeks ago I had trouble linking the bird to the djigo app. DJI did fix the problem in the next update.

 

[Airscope]

I am selling my sensefly albris (previously exom) if you are interested. This is a Swiss made inspection drone. You can look under Classified and find out more. One of the selling points of the albris is that it can do bridge inspections and due to the design it can fly under a bridge and look up with a fixed distance off the structure and uses cruise control to maintain a steady track whilst taking images with the correct overlap.
Heres the link: Sensefly Albris (previously eXom) For Sale

Hi, I understand you sold your Sensefly Albris. If you wouldn't mind could you share with me what it sold for and where you sold it? I have a Sensefly Albris I may be interested in selling as well. If you don't want to share this publicly, can you send me an email at [email protected]? - Thanks in advance.

 

[Farnk666]

In over three years of evaluating UAV for structure and plant inspections, I have not seen a better solution that the Asctec Falcon 8.
This is an excellent platform for close in, look up/down capture. Definitely not a cine aircraft though!

AscTec Falcon 8 /// UAV for Performance, Precision & Safety.

 

[DXB_Inspire]

I am sure the Asctec is a great drone but its the 12 minute flight time that bothers me most. And of course the price.

I am waiting for my M600 Pro to use with my X5 camera. What really attracts me to the M600 Pro is the triple GPS, 6 batteries and redundant IMU. This gives full redundancy and therefore a lot more confidence in the air. I have an authorised 'high altitude' project coming and without the knowledge that all systems are fully redundant, it would be a very worrying 30 mins....plus the scalability of the M600 Pro.

I think that as DJI move into the industrial sector, we are going to see some very capable and well priced pro level drones coming out of Shenzen very soon. I would be very hesitant in throwing down 20-30 thousand US dollars for a drone like the AscTec. These expensive drones are only a platform to take a regular camera in the air. The new age of industrial drones will have purpose built drone cameras (Z30 by DJI and SODA by Sensefly for example).

I think AscTec got lucky in that there wasnt really a platform that could perform at that time to match the AscTec capabilities. The inspection industry lapped it up and it became the 'de facto' standard simply because there was nothing else to compare it to. My money however is on DJI - because so far they have delivered superb products and the price is always highly competitive.