I’m voting the Xiaomi Mi off the island
If a price point of $610 as touted by Bloomberg is true then Xiaomi may have shot itself in the foot before it even launches. For another $390 you can have a P3P, the minimum standard in my opinion for a commercial multirotor.
“While making good-quality products, the price point has to be competitive as well,” Li Zhuoqi, a marketing director for Xiaomi, said without disclosing a price or sales estimates. “We have set a very thin margin for drones but the product line is set to be profitable.”
The Mi drone is to be launched tomorrow, the 25th of May.
The target market I am sure is not commercial ops, its a jolly expensive selfie drone though with HobbyKing recently launching a watch based follow me selfie last month for $454
We know it has a Sony 4K camera sensor and a gimbal that is pretty maneuverable. At a guess it can rotate 360 degrees like the Typhoon H from Yuneec.
The advantage DJI has over both Yuneec and shortly Xiaomi is that several companies provide software to do things with the image output. Commercial things for agriculture and GIS.
DJI also have lightbridge a long range video link, a mature GCS and spares in most countries.
Unless the new Xiaomi drone is packed full of amaze balls feature a commercial user is still better off with a P3P.
The Phantom 4 is cool and shiny and new. It currently has less third party software support and wrinkles in new systems always need to be ironed out.
The Yuneec Typhon H looks good and weighs less than the magic 2kg but again lacks 3rd party software support, at the moment.
When Xiaomi first started talking drones the price point was supposed to be sub $200! The time it has taken them to develop has moved goalposts quite dramatically.
DJI with their aggressive pricing and product placement are a tricky act to beat.
We will find out the full specs tomorrow, I might be utterly wrong.
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__91169__Quanum_FollowMe_Aerial_Action_Camera_Drone.html
