Agricultural drone manufacturers are like many others in the manufacturing space. They post information about what their product can do under perfect circumstances. Here is my experience with realistic DJI Agras T10 efficiencies.
When getting ready to purchase a spray drone people look at acres per hour to determine what drone will work best for them. There is an important thing to watch for when looking at that statistic. Manufacturers sometimes refer to acres per hour as acres per flight hour. That means that in one flight hour a drone can cover 15 acres for example. This does not factor in the amount of time refilling the drone on the ground. The longer it takes for you to fill the drone the lower your actual acres per hour efficiency will be.
The most acres per hour I was able to get out of the DJI Agras T10 was in the 10-12 range. This was with a sub one minute refill time. Also, having a generator that could keep up with continuous battery charges. There are some factors that play into this, one being the height at which the spray drone flies. If the drone is flown higher in the air, then the spray droplets will be more dispersed and cover a greater area.
Now, the posted efficiency for the T10 is 10-15 acres per hour. It is safe to say I am within the posted efficiency range. If I were to dial in my landing and refill procedure, I could get closer to that 15 acre per hour efficiency rating.
This is important to consider when deciding to purchase a spray drone because although the posted efficiency would work, the actual efficiency might differ. This could be the difference between spending countless hours flying and getting the project done.
Reach out with any questions you have about spray drones or their efficiencies.