Surveillance Drones: Best Options for Sale – Our Top Picks
There are all types of drones that you can buy. There are aerial photography drones, inspection drones, racing drones and also surveillance drones. Surveillance drones are used by freelance drone pilots, law enforcement agencies, and the US Army for many different reasons. Some people worry that these drone operations are used to invade people’s privacy, but this shouldn’t be an issue as long as the pilot flies the drone correctly and follows the FAA’s important guidelines and drone regulations that are set in place for privacy protections and public safety.
Extra equipment can be attached to most surveillance drones, such as cameras for live feed video, infrared imaging, heat sensors, and radar. Most of the time, this type of drone is capable of flying at night.
These three drones are the top surveillance drones for sale for these kinds of operations. Click the Amazon link beneath each picture to see more information and pricing.
DJI Mavic Air
The DJI Mavic Air is the most compact lightweight surveillance drone. The legs of it fold into the body, and the entire drone can easily fit in the palm of your hand. It also comes with a hard case for easy carrying.
The small size and weight allow the Mavic Air to fly incredibly fast for a drone, at up to 43 mph. It can only fly for about 21 minutes, which is pretty typical for a vertical takeoff and landing quadcopter drone. It’s unlikely that you will crash it in that amount of time because of the advanced vision-located flight system. It’s GPS utilizes Visual Inertial Odometry (VIO), Advanced Pilot Assistance Systems (APAS) and object detection.
It is equipped with a 4K camera stabilized on a 3-axis gimbal that shoots 12MP pictures and can store up to 8GB of data.
DJI Inspire 1 v2.0 Quadcopter
This drone is ready-to-fly out of the box after purchase, which provides convenience since there is no assembly required and the battery is included. It only weighs 6.27lbs (including the propellers and battery), so it flies pretty fast. The battery is a Lithium Polymer battery.
Its GPS is highly advanced;it uses a Vision Positioning System and Optical Flow technology to maximize indoor flying and prevent crashing. The DJI Inspire is very popular amongst drone pilots because of how easy it is to fly and how hard it is to crash.
The SD card holds 16GB of data, double the amount that the Mavic Air can hold. Its camera takes 4K 720p video and 12MP pictures. The camera isn’t the absolute best compared to some aerial photography drones, but it is still good.
When you are flying it, the radio reaches up to 1.2 miles.
Potensic T18
This is one of the most amazing surveillance drones available. There is a lot to love about this drone. It can be used with the POTENSIC-G app or even with a VR headset if you have one. One of the biggest benefits of using this drone is that it can be flown at night since it has LED lights on it. Not all drones have external lights for night flying,so this is something to keep in mind. If you do take it out at night, remember to follow the FAA flight regulations still, they still apply even if no one can see you.
When flying during the daytime hours, it has a Return to Home feature which allows you to easily turn the drone around and come back to you when the battery is almost dead. You can use this feature automatically or manually. The location features use GLONASS positioning plus GPS location. GLONASS is a satellite GPS.
It has a great camera as well. The camera shoots 1080p video through a 120° wide-angle lenson a 9-axis gyroscope. The camera lens is also adjustable.
With the 1000mAh battery (lithium ion), the drone weighs 2lbs.
DJI Inspire 2
This is the second version of the DJI Inspire;it’s a huge improvement from the original version. The Inspire 2 can record video at up to 6k at 30fps. The Inspire 1 could only record 4K video, as can most other drones. That makes this drone one of the most advanced for aerial photography, even though that’s not what it was solely designed for. This drone was made to do incredible surveillance and to fly very fast.
Its maximum speed you can fly this drone is 58mph, extremely fast compared to other quadcopters. The flight time is still only 27 minutes, but since it can accelerate from 0 to 50mph in 5 seconds, you will be able to fly pretty far in that short amount of time and back. You can even fly in extremely low temperatures because of the self-heating feature, which keeps the internal temperature at a good spot at all times.
The GPS and location features now have terrain detection and upward obstacle avoidance so that you don’t bump into a ceiling when you’re flying it indoors. The Inspire 1 has great location detection skills; they were just slightly improved for the Inspire 2.
Why Surveillance Drones?
Surveillance drones can be used for many important jobs, hence why the police department and the US Army use them. Surveillance drones are very reliable, durable and responsive. Their advanced flight systems technology allows them to be maneuvered into hard-to-reach areas and are flown back out just as easily.
The mounted camera that usually comes on surveillance drones works very well and has an adjustable lens, but you can also add your own drone camera instead. As well as other equipment for thermal imaging or surveying.
The top 4 surveillance drones you can buy are the DJI Mavic Air, the DJI Inspire 1 v2.0 Quadcopter, the Potensic T18 and the DJI Inspire 2. All of these are great for any job that you require doing. The DJI Inspire 2 is best for indoor flight, and the Potensic T18 has one of the best cameras for recording video.
When using any kind of surveillance drones, it is important to review the laws and guidelines in your area while also respecting the expectation of privacy as well as public safety.
Kennedy Martinez
kennedy@dronethusiast.comKennedy Martinez is a resident writer who joined Dronethusiast at the beginning of 2019. She has years of experience reviewing drones and other tech products. When it comes to flying drones, Kennedy loves the ability to create artistic videos from a unique point of view. Kennedy enjoys researching new drones and other exciting products that are available to consumers which is why she is committed to creating the best buyer's guides for our readers.
