Hi everyone,

I was thinking of buying a DJI mavic Mini. The price is about 54K.

Actually what i am buying
1. What has reliable parts
2. Is very stable in air, indoor and outdoor
3. Able to Do video recording and stuff

I tried to find competition to Mavic
1. MI drone 4K, FIMI, X8
2. Parrot anafi
3. skydio 2
4. Hubson Zino
5. EACHINE EX4

Almost all of them are as expensive or have poor basic performance features.


Question
1. Why cant we buy high notch components and make a smart stable drone
2. Cost should not be more than 15K or else the matter ends here
3. Features should be GPS, optical flow, IR sensor
4. 4k camera with 3axis gimbal
5. Fast stable flight controller with RTH, GPS path


Can we collaborate and full fill these needs or did someone already live this dream

Surely now a days we have time to introspect..

Manpreet

Hello Manpreet ji


Here's what I find some issues


1 top notch components aren't cheap atm.
2 matter already ended
3 gps ir and optical flow itself will cost around 5k at least as nothing is mass produced like dji do.
4 4k camera are expensive as well as gimbal isn't behind. A very good 4k camera and gbal can cost 10k or higher
5 this can be achieved though


Still nothing is impossible.

Good luck friend.

We may make a similar looking drone for 15K but the performance comes at price.
DJI has an advantage of being first and were present at right time in the market. So they have more funds than anyone else and also well established infrastructure for innovation.

Cost of drone is not just BOM but also man hours i.e cost of engineers and many more.

Coming to stability of drone:
1. UAV stability is very much dependent on external hardware besides FC.
2. The motors and ESC are designed in house so they have advantage of knowing the motor+ESC control parameters which will also help tune FC. (Just like apple H/W and S/W combination).

DJI have long range HD video transmission system which is very hard to achieve. DJI HD FPV goggles camera set itself is very expensive.
Since they have wide portfolio of products the designs can be shared across teams which will further improve overall performance.

IMO DJI drones are low cost for what they actually are.

Right when you say... big brands have deep pockets so here is what the world calls as cheap drone
Name : Eachine EX4 or JJRC X12 or CFly Faith multiple rebranded
Cost about 200$
Feature s : has GPS, 3 axis gimbal, 1080p camera (upscale to 4K), 18 min flight , about 1Km FPV range. many flying modes


Chinese are best at doing everything average quality but almost fully loaded... Cant beat the price...

A proper GPS is the secret of the stability in my humble opinion. Stay where we are. Right?

I am not a fan of DJI but I admire innovation.
I don't deny that other players are offering almost similar ones at very low cost but they can't be compared to DJI either.

I accept that some of the DJI models are really expensive for what it is actually but there are some others which I feel are of low cost because
1. DJI drones are very easy to use.
2. If you are a developer they do provide SDK to make applications also which I don't think some other manufacturers out there are providing.
3. With expensive models you are introduced to wide variety of camera models which are plug n play(like inspire 2 is compatible with zenmuse X4S, X5S, X7).

Being first in the market people who are already accustomed to their product line hesitate to move to some other manufacturer as well

And also "Earn when you can". They have to make maximum profits when they are at the top.

Last but not least Instead of thinking why can't we make it think what it takes to make it.

Not entirely.. gps does play an important role.. but when indoors or lower to the ground the optical flow sensor plays a big role. The sampling rate of the OF sensor is way faster than the GPS and so the craft can correct itself quicker. The barometer is also very important for maintaining vertical stability using GPS for altitude hold is very tricky if you don't have many satellites available and even then Gps is nowhere close to the accuracy of a barometer.

And coming back the thread topic. Building a good quality drone with almost the same quality and characteristics and a DJi drone for under 15k is next to impossible. A good set of motors.. a decent fc, esc will easily cross the 20k mark.. other than that the gimble.. 4k camera ..vtx .. receiver.. will set you back a good amount. With that being said. I wish you luck in your endeavor. Cheers!

Agreed to what you said, but if we go for Mass production is it then possible to control the price of Motors and ESC? The biggest issue I find in India is we lack in developing and Also producing the hardware parts, even if do an in house design we have to rely on China for the components. But if we can design here and produce it in China maybe we may have a control over the price..

I think first you need to remove this money clause if you want to make something that is at par with DJI. keep an eye on it but lets first think what is needed to achieve this. Then search the market for right one. people are very experienced here, collaborate and come up with an optimum design & Components. Off course you can't select everything top notch that may achieve the objective of DJI like drone but the cost will sky rocket. Select the best in class and price range and test. 15k might turn 35K but it will be Indian and would remove dependencies.

Its a good thought indeed. Drone market is good here, DGCA is also now coming up with regulation. It high time some experienced and dedicated people take a shot on this.

I have a different thought on this. I agree we all use Chinese parts, they develop make and sell. They mass produce and sell to world. In India, if you go to manufacturer to produce these motors they straight forward ask you the numbers. Like how many you want, the volume goes in multiples and things start to wane. Its not that they can't produce or don't have expertise. In most of cases they do have, its just doesn't make a business sense to them. Cause we are aiming to produce something good but cheaper then china. Not gonna happen so easy.

On your idea of getting it manufactured, it is also marred with the same money aspect. First if you design something new it attracts lot of cost. if you get it manufactured and imported to India, customs and taxes are waiting for you open armed. You will find the cost is not favoring you.

The best option is to start something small, put it to test and have good results. have a plan and get investors onboard. Not so easy but if you have backing of investors and if you go to the same manufacturers to produce the part here, you will see things materialise.
Its a pain, but company and quality like DJI doesn't happen overnight.

Yes I think you definitely will. But you will need a good team of eexperts in their respective fields for r&d. Initial cost for setup of such a project for mass production seems daunting to me. But in terms of feasibility.. it is very much doable.. design of flight controllers.. custom esc.. motors is very much possible.. only things you won't have control or are the sensors .. camera n stuff unless you are willing to invest in that as well. India is way behind when it comes to drone research and also import duties on goods from china hinder home researches or innovators nobody is willing so spend so much money just to try some thing new.. and with a risk or it failing.. Indian customs department in my opinion is one of the most corrupt departments in India. Any ways.. if do you do decide to go ahead with the production of a self developed drone for mass production do count me in on your team. Best of luck cheers!

Danny is right to the point.

Its just our mindset which is preventing us to dive into all of these. We always just want to be end user, Enjoy the show and become a naysayer to the one who even wants to think about it. As Turbo mentioned, the cost may go to 35k instead of 15k but if it gives say 70-80% of what DJI is offering, people will go for it. Atleast I will. Being in-house manufacturer has lot of advantages. You get all parts easy, its fast to get (no long waiting time), you know they will listen to your complains/suggestion, price is manageable (no customs) and after all it is made in India.

 There are people who wants to change this. We need to find those. Just that !!!

Hey guys!

Apology for reviving an old thread, but I am working something similar and I wanted to continue this discussion on the thread I have created. I would love your feedback and discussions in the below thread.

http://www.rcindia.org/multirotors/made-in-india-consumer-drone/