so ive been running a fixed wing setup for the past two seasons doing mostly mapping and NDVI passes over corn and soy fields in the midwest. works great for covering ground but im starting to get requests from a few growers who want more detailed scouting, like they want me to get low and slow over specific areas where they're seeing stress patterns and the fixed wing just isnt really built for that kind of work.

been looking at the DJI Matrice 30T and also the Autel EVO Max 4T just to compare options. main thing im trying to figure out is whether i can still cover enough acreage in a day to make the economics work if im switching to a multirotor that needs more battery swaps. my fixed wing can do like 400+ acres on a single charge depending on wind. obviously no multirotor is touching that but im wondering if the trade off makes sense for the type of work im describing.

anyone running both types for ag work? or did you just fully commit to one or the other

we run both and honestly they serve totally different purposes so i dont think of it as switching, more like adding a tool. the fixed wing stays in the truck for the big mapping contracts and the M30 comes out when a grower calls and says hey theres something weird in the northeast corner of field 7 go look at it. you cant replicate that with a fixed wing, youre just not going to get 30 feet off the canopy and hover over a suspicious area.

the battery thing is real though, you are spending more time on the ground than you think especially on hot days when youre getting shorter flight times. we bought extra batteries early on and it helped a lot. the economics work out fine for us because we charge differently for the scouting work vs the mapping work, scouting is billed more like a consulting service honestly.

the Matrice 30T is solid but man its heavy to haul around all day. just something to think about if youre doing a lot of field to field work on foot. the EVO Max i dont have personal experience with but ive heard mixed things about the software ecosystem for ag applications specifically.