DJI Alternatives: The Top 5+ Best Options That You Don’t Want to Miss Out On

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As you may know, the U.S government, as of late, put DJI, known as a UAV producer, on its Entity List, the same U.S trade blacklist which Huawei ended up in earlier. 

Given how famous DJI is in the globe as the most prominent drone maker and that its products are often the top choices you can purchase, that is a piece of hot news for the numerous individuals who are into capturing impressive aerial photographs & recordings. 

While it is a mind-boggling issue, on account of the brand’s responses, analyst insight, as well as our insight into the UAV business, we have specified all you may want and need to know regarding this circumstance. Above all, we are putting together some of the best DJI alternatives that you likely desire to look at. 

Please note that we also refer to the term drones as UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles), unmanned aircraft, flying machines, flying robots, or automation in this post.

Without any further ado, let’s delve right into the key parts.

DJI is banned in America: Is it true?

No, their flying robots are not restricted in the U.S. In case you had read somewhere that the brand suffered a ban, that might have been an amplification of the order that the U.S government agencies will not utilize the company’s UAVs any longer. 

Suppose you are among people who have been following along. In that case, you may know that just about any agencies by the United States government ownership or control have been declining to use DJI’s flying machines for some time now. The reasons are stated in the Entity List as: 

“DJI has “enabled wide-scale human rights abuses within China through abusive genetic collection and analysis or high-technology surveillance, and/ or facilitated the export of items by China that aid repressive regimes around the world, contrary to U.S. foreign policy interests.” 

For a closer analysis of why DJI is in that list, you may want to read here.

It is worth noting that more up-to-date laws are crucial, yet they do not have to do with purchasers like you and us who purchase Mavic automation models to operate at home. 

Please bear in mind: The Government Edition UAVs constructed by the brand will get moved out from service. At the same time, the comparative government edition uncrewed aircraft vehicles designed by Parrot will be in use. 

And that DJI has got placed in the commerce entity list essentially implies that American enterprises are not permitted to sell parts to this company. As for you, feel free to purchase its UAVs like you did yesterday. 

Want more peace of mind? The brand made a Twitter statement on the 22nd of Dec 2020 to confirm its “innocence.” For further information, you can check out the analysis that debunks the common myths regarding this firm. 

Your best DJI alternatives

For users who are concerned, as long as you adhere to the brand’s guidelines, with the proper settings, there is no need to worry about whether your flight information gets locally secured or not. A few account info makes it to the company’s servers in China in case you have bought products straightforwardly from their website and/ or get an active account with them. That being said, you have the option to operate a UAV offline; at that point, download the flight info before connecting again with the Internet to stay away from getting it to sync to the brand’s servers.

What if you still feel unsettled? Or, what if you find it is okay yet wish to have an idea of which else is fantastic in the market these days? Then, how about we dig into the following list of the most impressive non-DJI flying robots out there.

The shortlist

1. Parrot PF728000 ANAFI Drone, Foldable Quadcopter Drone – Parrot
2. Autel Robotics EVO Drone Camera, Portable Folding Aircraft – by Autel Robotics
3. Autel Robotics EVO II Drone – by Autel Robotics
4. Hubsan H501S Quadcopter – by Hubsan
5. Yuneec Typhoon H Hexacopter – by Yuneec
6. 3DR Solo Quadcopter – by 3DR
7. Skydio 2 Autonomous Drone – by Skydio

1. Parrot PF728000 ANAFI Drone, Foldable Quadcopter Drone – Parrot

Key specs:

This product unit is among Parrot’s most terrific consumer camera UAVs. Defining an articulating gimbal’s power, the 4K HDR/ 21 MP camera boasts the ability to point right down and pivot to pointing as far as possible up. That is amazingly incredible for inspection services on commercial flying robots, yet is incorporated into a collapsing quad constructed from the customer’s point of view.

What is more? The model is an improvement from the brand’s standard generally foam build. Where foam is suitable for size building and not adding a lot of weight simultaneously, this Parrot drone is a considerably sleeker bundle whose body is out of plastic.

You can find a basic arrangement of attributes and highlights in these excellent DJI alternatives, such as compactness, 4K camera stabilized, collapsing propellers, & collapsing propeller arms. It is worth mentioning that the remote control utilizes your cell phone as the screen, and you have the option to make the drone flight day longer by swapping batteries. 

Read full review here.

2. Autel Robotics EVO Drone Camera, Portable Folding Aircraft – by Autel Robotics

Key specs:

If you have owned a DJI – Mavic Pro Quadcopter, you may find this Autel Robotics automation’s construction & flight attributes are familiar. This commonality shared is undoubtedly not something bad – it implies a 4K camera stabilized, portable collapsing construction, as well as the unwavering quality you can count on, as it were. 

It is safe to say that the brand is among only a handful of UAV producers that construct a product in that form factor. Rather than being a toy manufacturer attempting to step up its machine, this drone boasts commercial quality and reduces in size so that you can store it in your rucksack. 

The product unit delivers a solid experience flying in the air, to the point that not many can match. Best yet, the Autel Live Deck introduced manages to make video transmission even better. 

3. Autel Robotics EVO II Drone – by Autel Robotics

Key specs: 

This drone is one of the best DJI alternatives aside from being a significant update to the original Autel Evo flying machine. Sharing a large part of the similar idea for form factor & flight qualities, the model is indeed an update in pretty much every way. 

First and foremost, you may like that its flight times are up to forty minutes. The 8K camera & the extended range of connectivity are worth noting as well. You have the choice to move up to the Pro product unit with a bigger sensor & just a 6K camera. On the other hand, owning an Autel Robotic Evo II (also known as the base unit) means you are operating one of the 1st consumer items to take 8K video.

That is not all; the colored collapsing UAV works to fulfill professional & commercial demands apart from customers’ requirements. 

• Prominently, the Autel Evo II series’ top model features an 8K sensor, a dual-camera arrangement, as well as a tremendous infrared camera. 
• When it comes to the commercial unit & the base unit, they boast the half-an-inch 8K sensor. 
• The pro unit’s sensor is an entire one-inch 6K one. 

Do you wish them to meet your studio & independent recording demands, too? What is cool is that they would all be able to deliver the camera feedback to the Live Deck.

4. Hubsan H501S Quadcopter – by Hubsan

Key specs:

The model was among Hubsan’s 1st GPS-enabled UAVs that feature brushless engines & a 1080p camera. While that seems like something typical, senseless to brag about by the present day’s standards, it was a distinct advantage for the brand as well as the toy UAV market. 

In case you missed it, four years ago & prior, just about any toy-class flying robots, including generally the entirety of Hubsan’s UAVs, utilized brushed engines which lacked efficiency. Also, they all operated in what you may refer to as Altitude mode. 

The previous flying machines did not come with navigation or whatnot for flight support or object shirking. But when it comes to this Hubsan, GPS enables the device to hover & arrange a GPS-controlled course via your smart gadget’s mobile application.

Above all, thanks to Return to Home usefulness and the sky is the limit from there, the product unit stays being among the most incredible UAV categorized somewhere between toy-class drones & supposedly complete GPS flight control’s exceptional experience.

5. Yuneec Typhoon H Hexacopter – by Yuneec 

Key specs:

These brilliant DJI alternatives are collapsing hexacopters that come with desirable flight attributes & highlights, such as a 4K camera. The construction has been what makes the company’s UAVs outstanding, delivering six propellers’ stability & safety as well as the middle-hanging camera’s adaptability. This Yuneec’s remote control is an Android-powered gadget whose integrated screen is at seven inches; it boasts every one of the controls expected to navigate the flying robot and run the camera. 

GPS connectivity and varied intelligent flight modes should guarantee a practical drone flying experience for practically any drone operators & tasks. Owing to obstacle detection & avoidance sensors, things stay safe. For your information, you can choose the Yuneec Typhoon H Pro that takes pride in Intel RealSense technology with the capability of identifying obstacles & smartly navigating around them. 

Notably, the included CGO3+ camera provides still images at 12 MP as well as 4K video resolution at thirty frames per second. 

6. 3DR Solo Quadcopter – by 3DR

Key specs:

This product unit was among the most terrific UAVs at the time of release. You may appreciate that the sizable & potent flying robot was constructed as a companion to the GoPro. And it did excellently with a three-axis stabilized gimbal & decent peripherals for enhancing the flight. 

This model’s engines are large and impressive; there is also a flexible payload mount & a big battery. What is more? The drone is solid with corners equipped with LED lights and housing made out of plastic. 

The landing gear feels a bit fragile though it is not weak. Getting spares, for good measure, is advisable – given that a couple of the antennas are in the legs.

Generally speaking, the stability of these DJI alternatives is hardly doubtful. They hover pretty smoothly and are relatively seamless. While we do not suggest leveraging the camera by depending on the non-stabilized GoPro mount, the results are not bad. After all, in case you are in the market for a strong & dependable flying machine for different utilizations, this model is a superb choice. 

7. Skydio 2 Autonomous Drone – by Skydio

Key specs:

It is the excellent Skydio R1 Self-Flying 4K Camera Smart Drone’s follow-up. These two UAVs’ power is in the NVIDIA Tegra TX2 (known as a quick, power-efficient embedded AI computing gadget) and a variety of snag shirking sensors. 

The model counts on six cameras, with a sum of forty-eight megapixels of resolution, for deterrent shirking purposes. That thus makes it among the safest UAVs out there, as far as maintaining a strategic distance from an accident is concerned. 

Skydio places great trust in this innovation – to the point that should your drone ends up crashing, it provides free fix or substitution.

On the one hand, the brand is not the only one introducing Nvidia Jetson computer-powered UAVs. On the other hand, in its time, we have no idea of any other flying robot powered by Nvidia Jetson which is intended for consumer use and priced at no more than 1,000 dollars. You may also like that the product unit has built-in DroneDeploy, for people who want to carry out mapping or inspection undertakings. 

In terms of consumer-friendliness? The product comes with a reasonably standard 4K camera shooting at up to sixty frames per second. It is considered a class-pioneer in follow-me flight modes and delivers beneficial extra control choices. 

You have the option to control the machine through your cell phone, very much like the previous product units. Else, select the remote control or the Skydio 2 Beacon that provides you with specific UAV control, yet for the most part, goes about as a wireless tether for guaranteeing the flying robot follows you even if it does not manage to see you. 

In a nutshell

As you know, DJI has, as yet, played an extremely predominant part in the UAV market, but we are glad to see the excellent DJI alternatives out there these days. Among them, which is the best match for your needs and wants? Let us know in the comment section below.