Best LiDAR Drone for Accurate Data Capturing | Expert Recommendation to Choose

Data Capture Planning
1

I researched about the best LiDAR Drones for data capturing over the past few days because I’m planning to start using drone-based LiDAR for mapping and 3D modeling projects. I’ve read reviews and performance comparisons on Rock Robotic, Geo Week News, and DroneDJ, and they are marking these two as some of the top choices right now:

DJI Mini 5 Pro Fly More Combo with DJI RC 2, Drone with Camera

www.amazon.com/DJI-Beginners-Omnidirectional-ActiveTrack-Batteries/dp/B0F6XN1J7K

DJI Mavic 4 Pro Drone 512GB Creator Combo (DJI RC Pro 2) with 100MP Hasselblad Camera

www.amazon.com/DJI-Creator-Hasselblad-Triple-Camera-Transmission/dp/B0FK7VH9BW

However, I’m having trouble deciding which one would best suit my needs. My main goals are accurate terrain data, high point density, and efficient post-processing workflow. I’ll mostly be using it for topographic surveys, construction site mapping, and vegetation analysis.

For those who have experience using these or similar systems, which LiDAR Drone setup do you recommend for professional data capturing?
Also, how does the Rock Robotic software workflow compare with DJI’s when it comes to data accuracy and processing speed?

Any insights, setup recommendations, or flight planning tips would be really appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

2

you are gonna have to do a bit more research. those two drones are smaller drones with cameras. you can do mapping using cameras and photogrammetric techniques with good results, but this is not lidar and those drones are too small for a lidar sensor. plus i don’t think you can swap the payloads on them. well the mini for sure you can not. not sure if you can with the mavic but don’t think so.

pretty easy to look up lidar vs photogrammetry pros and cons.

you are gonna need an m350 at minimum or m400 if you want dji. pretty sure the cheapest lidar sensor is the dji L2 but it has it’s share of limitations/quality concerns.

we have m350 with r3pro. mostly happy, have had a few bugs with the r3pro. would likely choose an m400 and maybe ultra if we now had the choice, but we fly large sites. 100s of acres.