Who Are the Major DJI Competitors?

[damoncooper]

With all the quality problems, I'm keeping my options open (in case my newest P2 suddenly decides to commit suicide or "pilot error" creates an opportunity to upgrade).

Important to me: HD+ stabilized aerial video, flight time, stability / maturity of the platform ( ie magnetic declination is not a new concept), size, weight and price is last in priority for me, assuming $2,000-$3,000 range with FPV.

Thanks in advance.

 

[ElGuano]

If you think DJI is bad, you should see some of the discussions around product quality and updates out of the likes of 3dr and Walkera. Everybody's got growing pains.

 

[damoncooper]

Aren't there any upscale leaders?

 

[varmint]

Aren't there any upscale leaders?

Walkera is DJI's closest competition for consumers. The Tali H-500 will mark the first "serious" multirotor from them, although they have plenty of experience with lower priced 350 (phantom) size quads already, they've been more oriented toward the less serious crowd.

Tali H-500 is the one to watch for DJI's first serious kick in the ***. http://walkera.com/en/

However if you're looking for a competor that actually supports their products, you may need to keep looking. I serously doubt that Walkera has anything better to offer than DJI when it comes to support and/or community involvement.

 

[kydan]

Blade's 350QX also is targeting the DJI crowd.

Obviously DJI is leading the pack, but their horrible customer service is going to catch up to them quicker than they realize.

 

[wkf94025]

I can't see it going volume the way DJI is/can, but the QAV500 and similar RTF/ATF kits (e.g, Team Black Sheep) are better in some ways than being trapped inside the Chinese version of the original Mac with rotors. These kits are often based on Naza, and not very out-of-the-box. However I think 90% of our collective DJI frustrations during the past year have been associated with compass, gimbal, and battery, and my sense is one can be Naza-based but DJI-free in those important areas on these types of quads.

http://www.getfpv.com/multi-rotor-frame ... -quad.html

Kelly

 

[Thesmokeshow]

If you talking about fc/or Brains of a bird there is actually a lot of choice.
microkopter, super-x , hoverfly pro etc

but for a whole set-up plug and play thing under 3 gs there is not much out there and other than dji.

The other option is to buy a frame then build one yourself it cost the same amount money and could easy carry a gopro.
There are alot cheap fpv frames out there for around 200- 400 buy and different fc/motors/ ecs some soldering skills you can easily do it under 3 grand

 

[maher]

And who is the competition for the pro market?

I was thinking to buy a DJI S1000 and may be do all the paperwork to go commercial in Canada, but after surfing some others forums about the S1000, it doesn't look like DJI gave any more support to the pro community…

Maher

 

[wkf94025]

If you talking about fc/or Brains of a bird there is actually a lot of choice.
microkopter, super-x , hoverfly pro etc

but for a whole set-up plug and play thing under 3 gs there is not much out there and other than dji.

The other option is to buy a frame then build one yourself it cost the same amount money and could easy carry a gopro.
There are alot cheap fpv frames out there for around 200- 400 buy and different fc/motors/ ecs some soldering skills you can easily do it under 3 grand

How great would it be for every quality component supplier to agree on an open bus protocol, connector/cabling standards, so that best in class building blocks can be more plug-n-play than hard-core DIY. Systems integrators can build upon this foundation with customer service and system know-how being their primary value-add to the ecosystem. I am thinking of the Apple early 80's Super Bowl commercial of Apple vs IBM.

kelly

 

[damoncooper]

Aren't there any upscale leaders?

Walkera is DJI's closest competition for consumers. The Tali H-500 will mark the first "serious" multirotor from them, although they have plenty of experience with lower priced 350 (phantom) size quads already, they've been more oriented toward the less serious crowd.

Tali H-500 is the one to watch for DJI's first serious kick in the ***. http://walkera.com/en/

However if you're looking for a competor that actually supports their products, you may need to keep looking. I serously doubt that Walkera has anything better to offer than DJI when it comes to support and/or community involvement.

Thanks. The Walkera Tali H-500 looks really good.

 

[ElGuano]

And who is the competition for the pro market?

I was thinking to buy a DJI S1000 and may be do all the paperwork to go commercial in Canada, but after surfing some others forums about the S1000, it doesn't look like DJI gave any more support to the pro community…

Maher

There's a LOT of competition in the pro market. DJI doesn't make minis, and they don't make anything over 1100mm. True "heavy lift" copters meant to carry Reds (or dual Reds) are currently the province of specialized niche manufacturers. A lot of them do use DJI flight controllers though.

 

[gunslinger]

Hubsan has a new entry nearly ready to go.

http://droneflyers.wordpress.com/tag/hu ... 8-ghz-fpv/

-slinger

 

[chuddly]

I find it almost laughable that some people expect emerging tech to be flawless right out of the box. Quads to consumers is a VERY new market and with any new market with new tech you have to go into it knowing that YOU are going to have to sort out alot of the bugs on your own. Its a tinkerers game. I bought into 3d printers a couple years back and it was the exact same way. VERY high buy in price....only marginally works right out of the box...tinkering with settings to get a good usable outcome...groups of us that bought in early banding together to solve problems only to have our ideas and fixes taken and used on the next gen printers. Its the same with quads right now. Each company is trying to emerge as the top in this market so they are devoting more time to new features and models than to making the current ones ROCK SOLID. Give the quad market 5 years and you will unbox one with a perfect working gimbal and HD cam for $200 (or less) and the thing will fly for an hour and have GPS way points and never have an issue. For the mean time though remember we are in an infant market with ever changing tech....unfortunately the manufacturers are not our saviors we are on our own.

 

[Mal_PV2_Ireland]

I find it almost laughable that some people expect emerging tech to be flawless right out of the box. Quads to consumers is a VERY new market and with any new market with new tech you have to go into it knowing that YOU are going to have to sort out alot of the bugs on your own. Its a tinkerers game. I bought into 3d printers a couple years back and it was the exact same way. VERY high buy in price....only marginally works right out of the box...tinkering with settings to get a good usable outcome...groups of us that bought in early banding together to solve problems only to have our ideas and fixes taken and used on the next gen printers. Its the same with quads right now. Each company is trying to emerge as the top in this market so they are devoting more time to new features and models than to making the current ones ROCK SOLID. Give the quad market 5 years and you will unbox one with a perfect working gimbal and HD cam for $200 (or less) and the thing will fly for an hour and have GPS way points and never have an issue. For the mean time though remember we are in an infant market with ever changing tech....unfortunately the manufacturers are not our saviors we are on our own.

I agree 100%

 

[Happyflyer]

Well worded.
Another 100% agree.

 

[wkf94025]

I find it almost laughable that some people expect emerging tech to be flawless right out of the box.

Give the quad market 5 years and you will unbox one with a perfect working gimbal and HD cam for $200 (or less) and the thing will fly for an hour and have GPS way points and never have an issue. For the mean time though remember we are in an infant market with ever changing tech....unfortunately the manufacturers are not our saviors we are on our own.

I think you exaggerate the expectations of many who have voiced significant frustration with DJI. Communication costs very little, and what's most maddening to me at least is that they appear to not understand their market and market opportunity. If they did, a slight reprioritization of resources would simultaneously delight many of us, and greatly increase their position and future in the entry-level quad video market. And if they own the entry level quad video space, that's a great foundation for eventually controlling the middle and upper segments of the market. Why wouldn't we stay with them if we've grown up on NAZA, Zenmuse, et. al. and the support has been good?

Agree completely with your 5 year forecast.

Kelly

 

[Flying Cephlopod]

This one is still a year out, so it's anyone's guess how good or bad this product will be, but there's a kickstarter campaign for the Hexot:

http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2014/06/17/ ... or-masses/

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sq ... ial-camera

Why would six propellers be better than four--especially with a relatively limited flight time?

 

[chuddly]

I find it almost laughable that some people expect emerging tech to be flawless right out of the box.

Give the quad market 5 years and you will unbox one with a perfect working gimbal and HD cam for $200 (or less) and the thing will fly for an hour and have GPS way points and never have an issue. For the mean time though remember we are in an infant market with ever changing tech....unfortunately the manufacturers are not our saviors we are on our own.

I think you exaggerate the expectations of many who have voiced significant frustration with DJI. Communication costs very little, and what's most maddening to me at least is that they appear to not understand their market and market opportunity. If they did, a slight reprioritization of resources would simultaneously delight many of us, and greatly increase their position and future in the entry-level quad video market. And if they own the entry level quad video space, that's a great foundation for eventually controlling the middle and upper segments of the market. Why wouldn't we stay with them if we've grown up on NAZA, Zenmuse, et. al. and the support has been good?

Agree completely with your 5 year forecast.

Kelly

I dont think its an exaggeration and I stand by my statement. Also my comment was not directed toward DJI but more the whole quad copter "scene" and all the company's. Also you will notice that I put "SOME PEOPLES"...not all people. I would also wager that more people will be in that category as we move forward because experience has shown that to be the case. More people hear about this new and neat tech and they have money to blow but don't have the skill set to tinker or patience to learn, they just want it work work NOW. Im not the first to see this or make comments on it either as we have all heard the stories of the P2V+ owners who take them out and crash crash crash and then complain that the quad sucks only to find out they didn't even know there was a manual. I see this all the time at work (i work in IT). People think i should just naturally know about everything electronic under the sun. They don't realize that I have to study and figure it all out the same way they would. They just don't have the patience or personality for it (which is fine because it keeps me in a job). Im not downing the people or telling anyone they shouldn't get into flying quads. All im saying is "know what your getting into before you spend your hard earned money and then your not happy with it".

On a side note the reason i bought the DJI was because i wanted something that would just work and i could fly. I didn't want to get into another "Pioneering new tech" thing like 3d printers were for me a few years ago. And it has been just what i hoped it would be. I expected some light tinkering and tuning but it has been a great quad with only minor issues. I just know that some people expect to unbox it and be master pilots with the "Top Gun" movie music playing in the background.

 

[wkf94025]

...we have all heard the stories of the P2V+ owners who take them out and crash crash crash and then complain that the quad sucks only to find out they didn't even know there was a manual.

All im saying is "know what your getting into before you spend your hard earned money and then your not happy with it".

On a side note the reason i bought the DJI was because i wanted something that would just work and i could fly. I didn't want to get into another "Pioneering new tech" thing like 3d printers were for me a few years ago.

I just know that some people expect to unbox it and be master pilots with the "Top Gun" movie music playing in the background.

Agree.
Agree.
Agree.
Agree.

Just wish DJI could take better care/use of people who have passion, technical ability, and realistic expectations re emerging technology. The current situation is tragic for DJI and for early adopters.

Kelly

 

[chuddly]

...we have all heard the stories of the P2V+ owners who take them out and crash crash crash and then complain that the quad sucks only to find out they didn't even know there was a manual.

All im saying is "know what your getting into before you spend your hard earned money and then your not happy with it".

On a side note the reason i bought the DJI was because i wanted something that would just work and i could fly. I didn't want to get into another "Pioneering new tech" thing like 3d printers were for me a few years ago.

I just know that some people expect to unbox it and be master pilots with the "Top Gun" movie music playing in the background.

Agree.
Agree.
Agree.
Agree.

Just wish DJI could take better care/use of people who have passion, technical ability, and realistic expectations re emerging technology. The current situation is tragic for DJI and for early adopters.

Kelly

I also forgot to add that I fully agree with your statement that communication is cheap and DJI should do a better job of it. Nothing i hate more than not being kept in the loop. A few simple emails or phone calls (even if they dont have an answer) goes along way with people. Often times a honest answer of "we dont know why its doing that but we will look into it" makes people feel better about everything.