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Digital Camera World
Digital Camera World
Hillary K. Grigonis

DJI’s newest drone can fly in the rain – and the battery lasts nearly an hour

The DJI Matrice 4 in flight over mountains.

DJI’s newest enterprise drone is IP55-sealed for flights in dust and rain. Announced on June 10, the DJI Matrice 400 boasts an impressive 59-minute flight time, LiDAR obstacle sensing capable of detecting even small objects like power lines, and payloads of up to 6kg.

As part of DJI’s enterprise line, the DJI Matrice 400 can be customized with a number of different DJI camera modules, as well as third-party options and additional payloads like lighting. With a lightweight 1 kg payload, the drone offers a 59-minute flight time, dropping to 31 minutes when fully loaded with 6kg of gear.

While DJI has included IP ratings on enterprise drones before, drones like the M300 have an IP45 rating. With the IP55 rating, DJI says the Matrice 400 can fly in dust and even rain, as well as temperatures as low as -4°F / -20°C and as high as 122°F / 50°C.

The Matrice 400 also continues expanding DJI’s LiDAR-based obstacle detection, allowing the drone to detect objects as small as power lines at low speeds. The drone will also mark those power lines on the screen in red with Power Line AR, a tool designed to aid in tasks like power line inspections.

(Image credit: DJI)

The Matrice 400’s imaging capabilities depend on which payload is mounted to the drone’s three different gimbal attachment points. With the Zenmuse H30 series, for example, the drone is capable of real-time vehicle, vessel, and subject detection.

The drone, which can reach speeds of up to 25 m/s, also has a Terrain Follow mode, which automatically adjusts the height of the drone as the ground terrain changes. The drone’s ability to detect landing patterns on ships supports enhanced takeoff and landings from ships. Additional intelligent flight modes include cruise control, and FlyTo for automatically adjusting speed based on the surroundings, smart tracking, and point of interest or POI.

As part of the enterprise series, the drone’s high-end features and price put the quadcopter out of reach for many aerial photographers and videographers, but the new features are noteworthy – perhaps it’s not too much to hope some form of IP rating makes its way into consumer models.

Another interesting note? While DJI hasn’t yet officially launched the earlier Mavic 4 Pro for the US amid tariff drama, DroneNerds, A US drone retailer, has the DJI Matrice 400 listed as available for pre-order reservations for around $10,500.

In the UK, you can pre-order direct from DJI for £11,250. The Australian price will be AU$18,550.

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