Matrice 350 RTK is DJI’s latest flagship drone, it builds on the successes of its predecessor the M300 and comes with a range of upgrades. With its upgraded capabilities the drone offers significant improvements in terms of aerial operations in industries such as public safety, infrastructure, mapping, energy and more.

Improved ingress protection rating of IP55 and a weatherproof design make operating the M350 under harsh weather conditions a breeze. It now has added protection against solid objects. Be it snow or sand, you can fly it without a hassle. While with other drones you’d have to cancel the mission at the first sign of rainfall, the M350 is built to resist water spray from all directions. While we wouldn’t recommend flying it in torrential rain, the M350 will enable you to continue operations in challenging scenarios.

Matrice series drones are highly acclaimed for their safety and redundancy features, and the M350 takes it all up a notch with its improved design. All four arms feature a magnetic arm lock mechanism which locks them in place. The safety mechanism prevents the craft from taking off and it notifies the operator if its arms aren’t safely secured in place. Even during flight, the drone notifies the operator of any threats or hazards that could jeopardise the mission such as elevated wind speeds, obstacles, signal interference and more. The new transmission system also adds to the safety & reliability of this drone by enabling strong connectivity in complex scenarios— but we felt this deserved a segment of its own so more on that later.

One of the headlining features of the M350 is the night-vision FPV camera that offers improved performance for nighttime operations. The low-light image-sensing capabilities push the drone beyond conventional norms and make it ideal for after-dark search and rescue and surveillance operations. The enhanced FPV camera enables operations in challenging visibility and even low-light scenarios.

Originally launched with the M30, the RC Plus was an upgrade in every way from its predecessor, the RC Pro controller. The RC Plus’s larger 7-inch screen is brighter, and it can go all the way up to 1200 nitts, making it well readable under direct sunlight range, with a resolution of 1080p. You now have more buttons for increased control and all the button’s tactile feedback has been improved for ease of use. The moment you pick it up, the improved ergonomics do not go unnoticed. The controller provides more grip and its sturdy construction paired with the large screen and button placement, allows you to easily control the drone. Thanks to its sleek and intelligent design you can now manoeuvre the drone without changing your grip or performing difficult finger movements. What is even more exciting is that the M350 supports the dual-control feature which enables two pilots to work together on the same drone platform. And with the extra buttons, pilots can now seamlessly switch between the payloads or views.

While the M300 and M350 provide the same amount of flight time of 55 minutes, the M350’s upgraded TB65 batteries can now go up to 400 charging cycles. This compared to the 250 cycles the older TB60 offered, almost doubles the effective lifespan of a battery. Additionally, the new batteries also feature heat sink grooves for improved cooling capabilities while charging. To further improve the efficiency of the TB65 batteries, DJI has designed a new intelligent battery station which offers enhanced battery charging capabilities that ensures batteries’ longevity. The new charging station has 3 new charging modes – storage mode, ready-to-fly mode, and standard charging mode. Storage mode lets batteries charge up to 50% and retain it when there are no immediate flight plans. The ready-to-fly mode on the other hand tops up the battery from 10% – 90% in under just 25 minutes. The charging mode makes the battery ready for the drone’s next mission once the charge on the initial set of batteries is depleted. Finally, the standard mode tops up the battery to its full 100% capacity and retains it, making the battery ready for immediate deployment on critical missions. And oh, did we mention that there are LED indicators on the batteries for easy visibility of the charge levels? The new and improved battery station also has a cooling system with strategically placed vents to optimise the battery charging efficiency. This improved cooling system will also go towards lengthening the average battery’s lifespan. One of the more underrated features of the new charging cases is that it comes with a set of wheels that rotate 360 degrees. The wheels significantly improve the mobility and the ease of transporting the batteries.

One of the most reported benefits with the M350 is the new carrying case. We all know that while flying or operating the drone itself is a breeze, lugging it to and from the field is a different story. However, DJI has remedied this concern by completely redesigning the DJI M350’s protective case. A comparison between the cases will show an astounding 31% reduction in size and the addition of 360-degree wheels to improve mobility. The internals are also customisable! The foam inserts can be removed, replaced or rearranged for your specific requirements accommodating new payloads and gear such as an extra controller, batteries and more.

If you have an inventory of payloads that you purchased for your M300 such as Zenmuse H20N, L1, P1, H20S and H20T, you can rest assured that they will fit right onto the M350. The new M350 is backward compatible with all the M300 payloads and accessories– including the batteries! If you are new to the commercial drone space and the M350 is your first drone, you can browse through the extensive library of payloads and accessories from DJI and configure your drone to fit your requirements.