ok so this might be a dumb question but here goes. we do a lot of inspection work and occasionally some broadcast stuff and the client wants us to fly a specific thermal + RGB combo unit that isnt a Zenmuse product. its about 1.1kg including mount. i know the I2 has the dual battery setup and the official payload limit is listed around 1.35kg for the gimbal, but that number seems to assume you're using a Zenmuse and the weight distribution is designed around that form factor.

has anyone actually rigged a third party payload on an Inspire 2 and flown it with any reliability? im not talking about hacking anything just a proper mounting bracket situation. the CG shift is what worries me more than the weight honestly. and before anyone says it, yes i know the Inspire 3 handles this differently with the accessory port but we dont have budget to upgrade right now.

yeah we did something similar for a powerline inspection contract, ran a FLIR Vue Pro R on a custom bracket. the CG thing is real, took us a while to dial in the mount position so the aircraft wasn't fighting itself in hover. flew fine once we got it balanced but i wouldnt say it was plug and play by any stretch. the I2 is pretty tolerant as long as you stay within the weight budget and dont do anything aggressive with the sticks. slow coordinated movements and it handles well enough for inspection work.

one thing we noticed is the motors run noticeably hotter with the non-standard payload, something about how the flight controller compensates i guess. we cut our flight times down by about 15% just to be safe and kept a closer eye on motor temps post flight.

what mounting interface are you using though? thats the part that always gets vague in these threads. the Inspire 2 gimbal port isnt really designed for generic brackets and ive seen people bodge it in ways that make me nervous. not saying you are but its worth thinking about whether the mechanical connection is actually rated for what youre hanging off it, especially if youre flying over anything or anyone.