so ive been running a T40 for about two seasons now and honestly its been solid but the cost of everything around it ? batteries, maintenance contracts, the whole ecosystem ? is starting to add up in a way i didnt fully account for when i first got into this. a buddy of mine is running an XAG P100 and swears by it but i dont have much hands-on with XAG gear and the local support situation is kind of unclear in my area.

main use case is rice and some corn, fields are mostly flat, nothing crazy in terms of obstacles. im doing somewhere around 800-1000 acres a season which isnt massive but its enough to justify owning rather than hiring out. anyone actually switched between these two platforms and have real opinions on the spray system consistency? the T40's centrifugal atomization has been really reliable for me and id hate to downgrade on coverage even if i save money upfront.

ran the Agras T20 before stepping up and honestly the XAG stuff is pretty decent on paper but the support thing you mentioned is the real issue ? not the drone itself. had a friend in the midwest who went that route and spent three weeks waiting on a replacement pump assembly because there was no local dealer. if you're doing this commercially and a week of downtime during application season costs you clients, that math changes pretty fast.

the centrifugal vs pressure nozzle debate is kind of never-ending on here but for rice specifically i think centrifugal gives you better penetration into the canopy so id be cautious about switching just on cost. what are you paying on the maintenance contract annually roughly? might be worth just dropping that and doing more in-house if the drone itself is working.

not sure about XAG specifically but i looked into a few of the chinese alternatives last year and ended up staying with DJI just because of parts availability. the T40 is overkill for my acreage honestly but i sleep better knowing i can get a replacement RTK module in a few days if something goes sideways mid-season.