Hi, I am looking for small drones that would be used for commercial/industrial purposes. One caveat is that they cannot have any of the flight control systems sourced from China. Are there any US, Korean, or Taiwanese-based drone companies that the group could recommend?
There are, but all the electronics still come from China. Unfortunately, there is no American maker of flight controllers or ESCs, and no company really matches what DJI offers in the consumer market. DJI is popular because they’re good at what they do.
@Brooke
Check out ModalAI Flight Core.
Rafe said:
@Brooke
Check out ModalAI Flight Core.
That’s interesting. Hopefully, we’ll see more homegrown products and chip manufacturing in the years to come.
Rafe said:
@Brooke
Check out ModalAI Flight Core.
Cool… only $300, though. Lol.
Our company uses Freefly drones that are US-based. They are ok, but we still miss the DJI models.
Look for the UAS Blue List.
None that aren’t involved with politicians trying to restrict hobbyists.
samuelpat said:
None that aren’t involved with politicians trying to restrict hobbyists.
Most NDAA-compliant manufacturers don’t sell to consumers because of the high price of American-made components. If I were just a hobbyist, I’d never pay $400+ for a flight controller just because it’s compliant. Most NDAA-compliant components are sourced from Taiwan and assembled in NATO countries with lower labor costs, yet are still 4-5 times the price of their Chinese equivalents.
This is the list you’re looking for:
Freefly Systems. 100% no Chinese parts besides hardware and screws. All PCBAs are made outside China, and they are Blue Approved.
Skydio is the only option I know of, but everyone says their price-to-performance ratio doesn’t come close to DJI.
Parrot Anafi is a good option.
Raleigh said:
Parrot Anafi is a good option.
I’ve heard the Anafi has a tendency to fall out of the sky unexpectedly, especially older models.
Skydio is an option. I know it gets mixed reviews, but it matches your requirements.
For that exact reason, we use Parrot Anafi Gov models at work. Not a bad drone, but expensive.
+1 for Freefly. Excellent drones, excellent support. Also, check out WISPr. They have a new model, ‘SkyScout,’ coming out.
If OP doesn’t need to work on DoD lands, they can probably use an NDAA-compliant supplier instead of full Blue List, which opens up more options.
Skydio is overpriced.
Thanks for all the amazing feedback, folks! You all are awesome!