If you’re serious about your drone usage—say you’re a farmer or a military specialist—you’ll want to consider adding the new DJI Dock 3 to your tech arsenal. The product isn’t new, as the ‘3’ appended to its title suggests, but it does include one all-new feature.
That’s the ability to launch a docked drone (or two) into the air while your vehicle (where the Dock 3 lives) is in motion. That’s undeniably cool, even if you’re only performing tasks like expecting electrical wires or checking up on this year’s wheat crop.
Proceed to Dock 3
Feeling like an American armed services platoon delivering fiery death from a mobile launch platform isn’t going to be cheap, as autonomous launch-in-motion capability isn’t part of the stock Dock 3. There’s an extra charge for that, since you’ll have to buy something called a Vehicle-Mounted Gimbal Mount to make your “Predator missile incoming” play-acting fantasies come true. Oh, and you’ll have to buy either a DJI Matrice 4D or Matrice 4DT to stick in the Dock 3.
The rest of Dock 3 has been built around the function, with extra attention paid to vibration compensation across the Dock’s build, components, and air conditioning. Previous features, like an onboard weather station, cameras, internal batteries, and antennae, are still present. It can be externally powered and connected, but an optional upgrade gives it 4G capabilities.
Read More: DJI’s affordable new Goggles N3 make the FPV drone experience smoother
The Dock 3 has an IP56 rating and an operating range of -30° to 50° Celsius. Its communication range is ten kilometres, but this can be expanded to 25km if you’re willing to set up shop in an elevated location with relays scattered around.
Then there’s the drones. The DJI Matrice 4D and 4DT drones offer 47-minute flight durations, a new IP55 weatherproof rating, and three different camera lenses covering medium telephoto, telephoto, and wide-angle usages. The Matrice 4DT includes a NIR illumination light and infrared thermal camera capabilities. The price? Expect around R400,000 for a drone and the DJI Box 3. In-motion launch capability will be a little extra, but exact pricing for the feature isn’t known.
