27/06/2024: Videos of DJI Agras T50 unboxing and performing a route mission.
26/4/2024: The DJI Agras T50 was just announced for the Australian market. See details here.
26/4/2024: To see the T50 bundles and pricing, go here.
Both the T30 and T10 share these advantages as drone-based spraying systems:
- Access: Spray areas that can’t be accessed by vehicles or that vehicles get bogged in
- No ground impact: no earth compression/crop damage (unlike utes and tractors)
- Safer: Much less potential to get herbicide/pesticide on your body, unlike back-pack sprayers and ute sprayers.
The T30 is best if one or more of these criteria relate to your situation:
You see a lot of potential for drone spraying on your own or others’ property’s and plan to blanket spray/spread more than 10 days per year, and expect this to increase with time. You might also be planning to add one or two more T30’s later to swarm them (operate two or three T30’s from a single controller / Field Mission).
You plan to spray/spread on other people’s land (as a commercial business), not just your own land. Because you need a licence (for any size spray drone) if spraying on other peoples property. Getting a licence and spraying others’ properties would normally suggest you would go with a spray drone with larger capacity so you can cover more ground and handle larger spray jobs as the business grows.
You are ok with a larger / heavier drone and are used to using large generators and moving them around a property.
Your budget is higher (T30 is approx. 42k, T10 is approx. 25k) but you don’t mind this as you see your T30 proving a strong return on investment after a year or less of use.
The T10 is best if one or more of these criteria relate to your situation:
You are ‘dipping your toe in the water’ with drone spraying, have a smaller property, or plan to blanket spray/spread up to 10 days per year, or only need to do isolated spot spraying.
You only want to spray/spread on your own land (no licence needed with the T10 on your own land).
You want to be able to carry the drone around with one person (the T10 is only 13kg without battery and an empty tank). It also requires a much smaller generator than the T10 (to charge the battery station out in the field).
Your budget is lower (T30 is approx 42k, T10 is approx 25k)
Spraying Productivity
T30
The T30 achieves an efficiency of 40 acres per hour based on a dosage of 6 L/acre (herbicide or pesticide mixed with water/carrier), spraying width of 9 m, flight speed of 6.5 m/s, and height of 2.5 m.
T10
The T10 achieves an efficiency of 15 acres per hour on average (with a dosage of 4.8 L/acre, spraying width of 5 m, speed of 5 m/s, and height of 2 m).
You also need to consider your own water/carrier dilution ratio. And note these figures are claimed by the manufacturer, it's always good to make them about 15% more conservative for real world use.
Granule/seed spreading Productivity
(fertilizers, seeds, or any dry granule sized 0.5-5mm)
T30
35kg spreader tank capacity
spreading width of up to 7 meters
Hourly spreading capacity of 1 tonne, based on a dosage of 20 kg/667 m², flight speed of 4.5 m/s, and row spacing of 6m.
T10
10kg capacity
spreading width of up to 7 meters
Hourly productivity of 14 acres based on dosage (of seeds) of 2 k g/667 m², flight speed of 7 m/s, and row spacing of 5 m.
Licencing
T30 - licence needed
The T30 is more than 25kg when filled with liquid/granules so you will need to get a "REPL" licence (about $1500.0 - $2000.0) , and a 25kg "REPL license upgrade" or “Agras Flight Test” (about $1200.0). For spraying on you own land or someone else’s land.
T10 - no licence needed when spraying on your own land.
The T10 is rated to under 25kg (24.8 kg), so if operating on your own property, you do not need a Remote Pilot Licence (RePL) or Upgrade / Flight test. You will need a RePL licence if spraying on other people’s property but not the Upgrade / Flight test since the drone is under 25kg.
For more details see our article “4 Steps required by CASA to be able to operate a spray drone on your own land in Australia”.
Generator
If you don't already have one, you will likely need to buy a generator as spray drones are commonly used on rural properties , far from access to mains power.
T30
The T30 charging station needs a generator with:
7200W charging power
Total external AC current greater than 32A
Two or more 15A AC output from generator
The T10 drone charging station needs a generator with:
3000W charging power
Total external AC current greater than 16A
Two or more 15A AC output from generator
Click here to see suggested generators, specs and prices.
Go to T30 pricing and bundle options
Go to T10 pricing and bundle options
You may buy the Agras T30 or T10 from the link below: