Summary / Reader Response of the DJI Matrice 300 RTK draft no.1

Based on "The DJI Matrice 300 RTK" article by Avetics webpage (n.d), it is the latest commercial drone platform that takes inspiration from modern aviation systems. Offering 55 minutes of flight time, omnidirectional sensing and positioning and more, it’s a new standard for the commercial drone industry. Expect the agility and reflexes of a spider with a max speed of 23m/s and a service ceiling of a whopping 7000m.

With 15 kilometres Max Transmission System and an operating temperature between -20 and 50 degrees Celsius, you can expect mission success and operational safety. In winter or any extreme cold conditions, it can adapt to the environment well with its self-heating battery, ensuring no hiccups when starting up the drone. Moving on to its camera functions, consisting of a 12MP wide camera with 82.9 degrees field of view, a Radiometric Thermal Camera, a 20MP 23x Hybrid Optical Zoom camera and a Laser Rangefinder that goes up to 1200m expect no disappointment with its operational capabilities.

Accessories such as the TB60 Intelligent Flight Battery, you will no longer run out of power during critical missions. Although bulky but well prepared, the battery station can manage up to 8 flight batteries and 4 remote controller batteries.

The Matrice 300 RTK outweighs other drones out there in terms of performance, reliability and user experience. It is well suited for scout missions from the Army. Other drones such as the DJI Mavic 3 and Air 2S can compete with the M300 RTK. The Skydio 2+ is one you should avoid.

The all new OcuSync Enterprise enables transmission up to 15 km away and supports triple-channel 1080p video. Real-time auto-switching between 2.4 GHz and 5.8 GHz enables more reliable flight near high-interference environments (DJI Matrice 300 RTK, 2022).

The refined airframe and propulsion system provides a maximum descend speed of 7m/s, 7000m service ceiling, 15m/s wind resistance and a maximum speed of 23m/s (DJI Matrice 300 RTK, 2022).

The M300 RTK can record mission actions such as aircraft movement, gimbal orientation, photo shooting, and zoom level to create sample mission files for future automated inspections. With its AI spot check, it can always capture consistent results. Waypoints 2.0 can create up to 65,535 waypoints and set multiple actions for one or more payloads. Flightpath planning is also optimized to maximize flexibility and efficiency for your missions along with flight information and navigation display. The M300 RTK can also identify and follow moving objects like people, vehicles and boats. Its controller comes with a 5.5-inch 1080p display means it maintains clear visibility even in broad daylight (DJI Matrice 300 RTK, 2022). Perfect for scout missions.

Camera is powered by the Zenmuse H20N. The Zenmuse H20N comes with Night Vision. The H20N has a 20x Hybrid Zoom and 128x Max Zoom. At low light missions, the H20N is a go to as its wide and zoom cameras make it an extremely powerful tool. During a half-moon night of 0.12 lux, it is possible to observe humans and vehicles 500m away (H20N VS H20T, Heliguy, May 2022). Perfect for stealth missions.

On the other hand, the DJI Mavic 3 wins in terms of camera quality and flight distance of 30km. With a flight time of 46 minutes, it not only records aerial videos at high resolutions and framerates, but it also captures up to 1 billion colours with a 10-bit D-Log colour profile. An outstanding quality of 5.1K video recording and DCI of 4K/ 120 fps (DJI Mavic 3, 2022). Standing at 2600 SGD, it is no surprise affordable it is especially with its camera quality.

The DJI Air 2S is the best all rounder drone. For its price, features and functionality, it is no wonder why this drone is affordable at just 1380 SGD. It has a 12km FHD Transmission, 31 minutes flight time and obstacle sensing in 4 directions. With its superb camera quality of 5.4K/30 fps and 4K/60fps video, it is understood why many tech consumers are going for it.  It even actively avoids obstacles in more complex scenarios and at high speeds (DJI Air 2S, 2022).

However, the Skydio 2+ is the drone to avoid. With its price of 1577 SGD, together with its features and functions, the DJI Air 2S easily outweighs the Skydio 2+. A range of just 6km and flight time of 27 minutes, it is easily one to avoid purchasing (Skydio 2+, 2022). With its only new feature camera framing KeyFrame there is not much you can get out of it. Similarly like the other 3 drones, the Skydio 2+ has a navigation system by Scout but does not contain that military grade system to be compared with the other 3. Easily, this drone is one to avoid. With its price, the 3 DJIs mentioned are a better choice. 

Evidently, the DJI Matrice 300 RTK wins the comparison between the 3. At its price point of 16,700 SGD, you are getting a package of updated technology, performance, reliability and robustness. Many of its features can lead to mission success. It’s a drone hard to miss out on for how well it functions.

 

References:

Avetics Global. (n.d). DJI Matrice 300 RTK. https://www.avetics.com/dji-matrice-300-rtk?gclid=CjwKCAjwt7SWBhAnEiwAx8ZLai2nKfOhGEBuHchGSgFFTniFHMl5X3IhC28RUNdwrbFDL4GE0YGyRRoCyOkQAvD_BwE

DJI (2022). DJI Matrice 300 RTK. https://www.dji.com/sg/matrice-300

Heliguy (2022, May 11). DJI Zenmuse H20N vs H20T. https://www.heliguy.com/blogs/posts/h20n-vs-h20t

DJI (2022). DJI Mavic 3. https://www.dji.com/sg/mavic-3?from=store-product-page

DJI (2022). DJI Air 2S. https://www.dji.com/sg/air-2s

Skydio (2022). Skydio 2+. https://www.skydio.com/