This statement intrigued me. I can understand calling a Spark a toy since it is low-end and might have cheaper components than higher price-point units. But given the price range of Mavic and Phantom, that seems a stretch to me to say something costing four figures would be a toy. So I'm interested in your view of brands/models you would consider not toys? Why would they not be toys? Because they are larger units? More props? More cargo capacity? Price point? Features? My own perspective tends to be price point. Over a certain price-point, I consider something moving from toy to prosumer to professional.
UAS: The FAA Tightens the Screws
- Thread starter BigAl07
- Start date
This statement intrigued me. I can understand calling a Spark a toy since it is low-end and might have cheaper components than higher price-point units. But given the price range of Mavic and Phantom, that seems a stretch to me to say something costing four figures would be a toy. So I'm interested in your view of brands/models you would consider not toys? Why would they not be toys? Because they are larger units? More props? More cargo capacity? Price point? Features? My own perspective tends to be price point. Over a certain price-point, I consider something moving from toy to prosumer to professional.
For the record I have Spark(s), Phantom(s), a Mavic, and an Inspire 1 V2 in my inventory of business aircraft. Of these the Inspire 1 V2 is the only one I consider even slightly above "toy" and it's not what I would call professional but more pro-sumer grade. The closest I own that I could start to call Professional would be my Yuneec H520 simply because it has "some" levels of redundancy and optional payloads. As I have it set up it, it still has hobby grade components (GPS, ECS etc) so I still do not consider it Professional grade equipment. I could upgrade it with better components and it would be more "Pro" level but that's not how I have it configured.
Price is an indicator to some people but not one I use to determine "quality" of the sUAS. If I were going to use price-point as an indicator I would start around the $3,000 mark but I do not use that as an indicator. Components, cargo options, redundancy and features are what I would use to classify one as something other than toy. It just happens that when you get a unit that meets my above criteria it does fall into a higher price range but price does not guarantee quality.
Phantoms and Mavics use hobby grade components plain and simple. Keep in mind that they are off-the-shelf units designed to sell LOTS of units to clients with little to no experience. They have no redundancy what so ever in their critical systems. They have an integrated camera system with no room for expansion/change. All of these are designed for consumers who want to buy & fly TODAY and don't care about having precision equipment designed to do more.
The DJI Matrice 600 is Professional rig with redundancy in the motors, batteries, escs and more. It can carry just about any camera/payload you and if you want to stay in the "ready made" market the Alto8 is definitely a Professional setup. From there you can go Custom (build yourself or there are lots of custom build shops around the country) and you can REALLY spend some $$ from that point.
I'm not Anti-Spark/Phantom/Mavic as they all make me lots of $$ but just because I use them "Commercially" doesn't make the components any better. I try to look at it from a point of view that removes all emotion/feelings about sUAS.
Keep in mind that is purely my opinion and nothing more but it does come from decades of sUAS and decades of Manned Aviation experience but it's not "Cited" information. Take it for what you paid for it LOL!!
Of course I recognize it as an opinion and am sure I'll get others (perhaps this topic is worthy of its own thread).
Eagle One
New Member
I agree it’s not logical... but that’s what many politicians do.. more regs rather than enforcement. That’s what I’m thinking when I say they are ruining our hobby/profession..
Lawmakers often do not educate themselves on the technology before making laws and like with many laws on the books only seem to enforce when it’s convenient to them.
Lawmakers often do not educate themselves on the technology before making laws and like with many laws on the books only seem to enforce when it’s convenient to them.
