DJI Matrice 600 (M600) Flying Platform: My In-Depth Review

Our Take

The DJI Matrice 600 (M600) is an exceptionally flexible ready-to-fly commercial flying platform suitable for almost any professional application, except heavy payload transport.

With a 6 kg payload capacity, up to a 36-minute flight time and centimeter-precise navigation (with upgrades), the M600 is designed to meet the demanding needs of almost any aerial imaging & data collection job, including:

• professional film making
• multi-sensor imaging (crop surveying, land management, research)
• LIDAR applications (surveying, mining, construction)
• live HD video (news broadcast, live events)
• thermal imaging & inspection (oil-and-gas, wireline)
• and more

IDEAL FOR PROFESSIONAL FILM MAKERS

The Matrice 600 is a great choice for serious professional film making and aerial photography.

The M600 exploits DJIs new A3 Flight controller, which works synchronously with Lightbridge 2 advanced video transmission allowing it to produce HD live streaming from as far as 5 kilometers away. As everyone close to the drone industry knows, DJI’s live video transmission technology is second-to-none.

The Matrice 600 can handle most camera setup up to 6kg, which means you can easily carry any of DJI’s Zenmuse cameras, DJI’s Ronin MX gimbal – or even a RED Epic.

AN INDUSTRIAL WORK HORSE

The M600 is designed to be modified for a wide range of commercial & industrial uses.

The Matrice 600 payload bay can be hold almost any set of cameras and sensors (up to 6 kg) that you need to fly.

For aerial mapping and surveying, a 6 kg payload means you can carry multiple imaging sensors – IR, NIR, FLIR or even LIDAR.

On the software side, DJI’s two SDKs and onboard API make it easy for your developers to deploy custom mobile apps and to script advanced flight controls for almost any requirement.

Like 3DRobotics’ Solo 2.0, the M600’s flexibility and programmability make it easy for professional drone operators to develop unique, reliable and inexpensive UAV solutions for many vertical applications.

That said, the DJI Matrice 600 stands apart from the 3DR Solo and other “prosumer” drones by its far greater payload, a 5km range, broadcast-quality live video streaming and a more stable and redundant 6-rotor configuration.

This is a serious commercial multi-rotor UAV that can be used in many ways.

The M600 is DJI’s most powerful commercial flying platform to-date and offers many advancements over DJI’s popular S900 and S1000 ‘Spreading Wings’ workhorses. The S1000+ is really just an aerial platform with no integrated electronic devices on board, whereas the M600 is a fully-tested and integrated aerial camera system.

Priced at $4599 (without camera or gimbal), the M600 is less expensive and offers a far more refined flight and camera control system than almost any comparable multi-rotor offered by a commercial drone manufacturer today.

READY TO FLY

One of the most time-consuming parts of setting up a new commercial flying platform is dialing-in the flight & imaging controls and the hardware to work seamlessly, reliably, and without fail.

This isn’t an issue w/ the M600 – everything related to flight & camera control on the M600 has been rigorously tested and tweaked.

That’s because, unlike most other commercial drones, the DJI Matrice 600 is not an untested kit.

This is an honest-to-goodness ready-to-fly commercial flying platform that comes complete with a flight controller, video transmission system, propulsion system, flexible cargo bays, an onboard redundant-GPS autopilot, a dedicated remote controller, a great mobile app and rechargeable batteries.

It’s even got internet connectivity: you can stream video straight from the camera to YouTube!

On top of that, the new A3 Flight Controller automatically adjusts flight parameters based on your latest payload configuration.

FULLY PROGRAMMABLE WITH TWO NEW SDKs

DJI offers robust Software Development Kits (SDKs) for developers to customize the M600, M100, Inspire 1 and Phantom series for commercial use.

There are two SDKs offered right now: one for building mobile apps, and another for interacting with the Onboard API.

1. Mobile App SDK

DJI’s Mobile App SDK makes it easy for developers to build niche-specific mobile apps for a wide range of applications.

Three examples of custom mobile apps developed for the DJI Matrice series so far include:

Autopilot Phantom

Turn the Matrice 600 into a “smart drone” that can be controlled using your smartphone or tablet computer.

Learn More

Pix4D

The Pix4D app turns your DJI M600 into an efficient autonomous mapping & imaging system for land surveying, crop/herd monitoring, utility wireline inspection, law enforcement and many other industrial applications.

The Pix4D app lets you plan your camera shots (with proper overlap) using GPS waypoints, then flies the M600 automatically without operator intervention.

Learn More

DroneDeploy

DroneDeploy transforms your drone into a powerful mapping machine by letting you plan mapping/surveying flights directly onto Google Earth maps.

2. Onboard API SDK

By interacting with the onboard system’s API, you can monitor and control your DJI Matrice 600 from any system that is wired directly to the DJI flight controller.

Using the API SDK, the Matrice 600 can be customized to support any specific application or industry. You can create:

• Custom flight commands: that work with a single keypress: return home flight paths (or hover in place); aerobatic maneuvers; camera positioning; and more.
• Autopilot apps: tell it how and where to fly using either onboard GPS or visual sensors to navigate.
• Informatics and Avionics apps: gather information from the entire system in real time.

36-MINUTE FLIGHT TIME

The DJI Matrice 600’s lightweight design and 6-battery capacity allows up to 36 minutes of flight time (empty) and up to 16 minutes at maximum payload.

EXPANSION BAYS

The M600 is an extremely flexible platform, with several expansion bays provided to hold components, payloads, sensors and imaging devices. Dual parallel CAN and API ports mean you can support complex payload configurations without touching the hardware.

UNIVERSAL POWER AND COM PORTS

The DJI Matrice 600 has dual parallel CAN ports for connecting other DJI devices – including DJI Guidance (although we’re still waiting to hear confirmation from DJI).

INTELLIGENT BATTERY SYSTEM

The Matrice 600 is powered by 6 small intelligent batteries that can achieve up to 36 minutes of flight.

DJI’s Intelligent Battery system automatically shifts power to where it’s needed most. And if one battery fails, the other 5 will keep the aircraft flying.

CUSTOMIZABLE MOUNTS

Place your components exactly where you want them to optimize functionality and weight balancing goals.

FLIGHT CONTROLLER

The DJI M600 comes with a customizable long-range controller that has an operating range of up to 3 miles (5 km).

The controller uses a rechargeable battery and comes with adjustable/assignable controls and video outputs – plus a holder to connect your mobile device.

MOBILE APPS

The M600 is compatible with DJI Pilot and DJI Go apps, which offer market-leading video streaming, navigation and informatics features out of the box.

Using the DJI Go app, operators get live video feed, key stats, battery status, flight status, transmission strength, redundancy status and other important information during the flight.

DJI Go also lets the operator control the camera shutter speed, remote focus, aperture and video and photo capture for DJI’s excellent X5R and Zenmuse setups.

It’s likely that many M600 owners will develop their own apps using the DJI SDK, however.

All DJI apps run on your choice of smart phone or tablet device which you mount directly onto the DJI Flight Controller.

ENHANCED GPS

The Matrice 600 comes with an enhanced GPS position system that offers faster satellite acquisition, more accurate position hold and supports GPS waypoint flight planning.

For centimeter-level precision, you’ll need the D-RTK GNSS upgrade (see below).

INTEGRATED LIGHTBRIDGE 2 VIDEO STREAMING

DJI’s new N1 flight controller keeps your Matrice 600 under control and responsive to you commands on every flight.

When using DJI’s Zenmuse Cameras and gimbals, adding the A3 PRO upgrade to the included DJI Lightbridge technology increases your flight range & HD video streaming range to 5 km.

GROUND STATION SUPPORT

Using the new DJI Assistant 2 app, the M600 can take advantage of DJI’s new PC Ground Control features to automate flight and camera controls using GPS and onboard informatics.

PROPULSION SYSTEM

The M600 uses DJI’s new 6010 motors, DJI E2000 PRO propellers and smooth sine-wave driven DJI ESCs.

UPGRADES

The Matrice 600 is compatible with a wide range of DJI accessories including:

A3 PRO Flight Controller

D-RTK GNSS

Camera and Gimbal Options

Shoot stabilized 4K & Micro Four-Third video and capture ultra-high-HD images from the sky with DJI’s integrated cameras and 3-axis gimbal systems including the Ronin MX, Z15, X5 and XT.

 

Specifications