Just wondering, but how many of you use your Typhoon H for commercial purposes?

[robport]

...and if so, what for.

I bought a refurbished Typhoon H, thinking I may be able to snag some real estate jobs or maybe construction monitoring. I know it's not marketed that way, but it seems well suited to it. I've done several smaller practice maps (2-4 acres) with UAVToolbox creating the Cable cam and "Maps made easy" and they have really turned out well (UAVToolbox could use a survey mode to make it a lot easier though).

The problem I'm having right now is that most of the companies I contact actually specifically require a DJI product. Maybe it's the locked nature of it and their sense that it reduces risk...I don't know. I know the Phantom 4 pro has a better camera for stills and you can set back further from the object you are shooting and just blow it up more for closeups, but for real estate and construction, no such need. I'm hoping the new Yuneec camera will come out with a reasonable price tag, but suspect it will be an unreasonable price without the drone...like 1.2K for the camera and 1.7K for the drone and camera. DJI also has almost all of the aftermarket app support (front ends for business uses).

Anyway, I chose this one because of it's flight characteristics and capability to handle more failure modes without dropping on someone's head. That and I still am a little shy about DJI's sending GPS coordiinates to a Chinese server and then having some software routine in China deciding if it will let me take off (That's another discussion, but the local DJI store confirmed it, saying they were collecting the GPS coordinates for the FAA in case of an incident...yeah right). What happens if the Chinese government gets mad at us...no more flying your DJI?

Yuneec only communicates with the internet when I specifically ask it to.

Anyway, what business uses have you found for your H?

 

[AH-1G]

@robport
Not sure who you have spoken want to use a DJI, but I have had no issues using my H for time-line construction business. Others have used the H for real estate and some also use the 920.

 

[FlushVision]

The problem I'm having right now is that most of the companies I contact actually specifically require a DJI product.

Not something I've encountered. Indeed, I've never had a client who has specifically demanded a job to be done using a dji product. Occasionally I may do a job using a Phantom instead of my TH but that's my decision to make depending on the circumstances of the job.

 

[Ty Pilot]

I was approached by a local surveying company and asked if I flew DJI or not. As it turns out they had zero UAV experience but had heard about using DJI's software planner (forget the name) to do photogrammetry surveying. It was because of this program they they thought that only DJI would do the job since it only works with those aircraft. So in essence it was their lack of knowledge and experience that caused them to think they needed DJI.

I would suggest to anyone wanting to start a business that they focus in on what it is exactly they want to do before deciding on aircraft type. On the other hand any consumer level UAV like the Typhoon is a great place to start to get into the basics. And as for real estate work; if you do not already have a photography business with clients it will be fairly hard to get your foot in the door in most places irregardless of what you fly.

I am in talks with a local Fire Department and have found that the average person has very little real world information about the true capabilities of these aircraft. So it is a long process to drag the horse to the water.

 

[CraigCam]

Real estate drone shots are the new must have but it’s not so new anymore and the market is saturated. I feel like it the same as the .com boom when every business suddenly needed a website. Now it’s a Facebook page anyone can do. The autonomy of the small camera drones will become part of every real estate agents field kit along with their camera and tape measure and laptop. The need for piloting will be replaced by the new smaller and safer AI capable drones. It’s not in my opinion a viable long term business plan but hey Blockbuster was once on every block and at the time, owning a video rental biz was a solid investment.

The H is great and has more camera capture capability then the Phantom because of the 6 prop stability and 360 rotation of the gimbal. DJI has the market cornered so that why it’s asked for. If you are serious about getting into commercial work then get a P4 and your 107 and make that your work drone and keep the H as your creative drone. Better yet a Mavic as those things can fly easily in and out of almost anything. Once you seek to make $ on these things it gets murky real fast. It always seems the potential return is less then the risk and making a living as a camera drone operator is a very hard thing to do currently. You are up against all those real estate flyboys who bought a phantom at Best Buy and think that’s going to make a difference in a sale. Many of them crashed and now want someone else to take the hit on a crash and I’ve talked to countless people who see my H and tell me that basic story...
Last question for yourself is do you have the passion to fly and look at and edit countless hours of properties? I suppose if you were doing say downtown Dubai it’d be pretty amazing but how many non descriptive homes need drone shots? And high end real estate brings high maintenance clients and the most unreasonable demands that often times are in direct conflict with proper safe flying. I am not trying to throw cold water on your idea and there could be an opportunity for you in your town that makes sense for you. I do hope that’s the case but unfortunately we all know the real estate game is pretty sketchy and tight with their money hence all the DIY agents and phantoms.

 

[PatR]

DJI has expended countless man hours and $$ meeting with first responders, insurance companies, and disaster relief agencies to promote their product capabilities, which in turn has established a de facto performance standard which is often now the performance spec demanded by various agencies. DJI also makes systems specific for those industries. Yuneec initiated their promotional efforts with those groups only after the 520 was coming to the market, leaving them late to the game and fighting an uphill battle.

You either know your system and have the ability to sell them to the customer or you don’t. You either have working samples to prove your system can equal or exceed your competition or you don’t. It’s the way business works, you have to accurately sell what you can do and better your competition in the process.