Discussions

I am new to the UAV world and have been searching and researching for months now and thought I would join the community and ask some questions on the things I have been researching. I am in the process of starting my own business and one of the things that I seem to be having trouble with is picking out the "right" UAV. I will be flying the unit around high voltage electrical equipment and it needs to be an extremely reliable unit. A lot of the flying will need to be done autonomously; Anything up close will be done with sticks but it needs to have very good waypoint flying. I need a UAV, Ground Station, HD monitor on the controller and a larger HD screen separate from the controller and the two can't be tethered together like the DJI lightbridge does. I have looked at  Draganflyer X4-ES and almost purchased it but thought I would do a little more research first. I have looked at the Aeronavics platform but its titanium legs puts it out of the question as if it fails and falls, I can't have a metal unit falling near high voltage equipment. Carbon fiber would be better. A smaller platform would be better in case there is an accident it may not damage as much equipment but it needs to be able to carry a good camera, something nicer than a GoPro. I will also need mapping software for photgrammetry. I am a total rookie here and all, the only experience I have is a week long class in Denver from the manufacturers of the RDASS, a half hour of flight each night for months with hobby drones, and what I have learned pouring through the web and researching components and units endlessly. From what I can see it seems like there isn't a whole lot of options, there's different platforms you can choose from but the electronics are limited you either pick from DJI, 3DR, Draganflyer, those very expensive Aeryon units, or the Lockheed Martin Indigo. Maybe theres more out there and I don't know it or maybe I really don't have enough experience to pick the right unit. Thats why I am asking for help! Any guidance or thoughts would be greatly appreciated.