DJI’s newest drone can fly in heavy rain — and has its own robotic dock

You wouldn't want to fly most drones in a rain. The M300RTK was the state-of-the-art until today, when the fine print says that snow and heavy rain are not good for flying. The new DJI M30 enterprise is specifically prepared for heavy rain, high winds, high altitudes, even in icy and snowy conditions.

Image: DJI

The M30 is small enough to fit into a large backpack or small rolling case, and with self-locking arms that snap into place, it can be folded. The design of the 8.2-pound drones still has the tubular arms common to industrial drones, but it's a lot closer to the foldable drones that helped DJI dominate the category.

Image :DJI

The M30 doesn't have as long of a flight time as the longest-lived drones, but it is taking advantage of its size.

GIF by Sean Hollister / The Verge

The fine print is that the dock can support drones up to 7 kilometers away, but do note that the dock has its own built-in weather station, surveillance cameras, antennas, 25-minute automatic fast battery charging, and can support drones up to 7 kilometers away.

The DJI Dock must be used in accordance with applicable laws and regulations, and its advanced functions cannot yet be used in jurisdictions where a human pilot must stay within the drone’s line of sight or maintain physical control of the drone by holding a controller.

The FAA has taken baby steps towards letting automated drone-in-a-box missions proceed on a case-by-case or company-by-company basis. American Robotics was greenlit for some that have minimal human involvement last January.

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There is an internal battery for power failures, and it can support a 4G dongle.

Image: DJI

The M30 and M30T are the two models of the camera. I will let DJI explain.

The M30 model integrates a 48 megapixel 1/2’’ CMOS sensor zoom camera with 5×~16× optical and 200× digital zoom, a 12 megapixel wide-angle camera, 8k photo 4K/30 fps video resolution, and a laser rangefinder which can give the precise coordinates of objects up to 1,200 meters away. The M30T features an additional 640x512 px radiometric thermal camera.

The M300RTK has a three-pilot emergency landing feature, as well as six-way obstacle avoidance sensors.

The M300RTK started at $10,000 and up, but we didn't get pricing right away. The new M30 models come with a completely new RC Plus controller with a larger 7-inch screen and protection for use in heavy rain, as well as a swappable external battery. There is a new flight management software package coming in October for the Zenmuse H20N.

Image: DJI

If you're interested in the drone-in-a-box:DJI Dock, it's currently being tested with selected users and will be available for purchase from Q4 2022, according to the press release.