I have seen a DJI F550 for sale for £200 but looks like it will need a controller.
Has anyone used this with their own camera equipment for survey/inspection work? Are they any good?
I believe they can be fitted with numerous equipment but having never seen or flown one not sure if this is a worthy investment.
Any pointers are greatly appreciated.
Hi
Although it’s a bit long in the tooth now these are capable machines with the right controllers. DJI / CUBE2 etc.
It’s a hexacopter so has better stability and can get safely down if a motor or prop fails, useful if you have expensive kit onboard.
But I’m not going to recommend it without knowing what you want it to do, distance, payload, speed, etc…
I’m sure others have experience of these F550 so you should see other views.
Cheers
Steve 
Cheers for the response. I am looking for a hexacopter or octocopter for that exact reason, more redundancies the better. I hope to have it fitted with a decent survey camera, possibly a lidar sensor for my obstacle survey work over congested areas. I am also considering a parachute arrest system.
I built my DJI F550 in late 2013 and I still fly it, last Wednesday I had it in the air.
Mine is on the heavy side with an All Up Weight of 2.5kg with 10,400mAh of LiPo power. Mine is geared for survey work using the DJI LK24-BT datalink with either an iPad (DJI Groundstation APP) or with a PC using the Universal Ground Station Control Software (UgCS). I also have a Zaggemetry interface between the Naza and FrSky receiver so I can data log all the telemetry onto the SD card inside the Taranis.
I have recently upgraded mine, swapping out the DJI 30Amp Opto ESC’s and Red 2212 920kv motors for the DJI E310 propulsion system, and replacing the standard plastic arms for longer aluminium arms to increase stability and shave off a few grams in weight.
Nidge.
Nidge’s aircraft is slightly modified aka Trigger’s UAV 
As standard - It’s a simple piece of kit, clones of which are available new. When DJI marketed it the motors were DJI 2212 or 2312 which swing a 10-inch prop. The battery was a choice of 3 or 4S in a size of your choosing. The payload would be a Go-Pro or similar.
Flight controllers would either be DJI’s own - NAZA or Wookong, both capable and with software still available.
I’ve run a quick exercise for a typical setup using eCalc
Frame weight 500grams
6x 2212 motors
10 inch by 5 props
6000 mah 3S battery or 4000 mah 4S
NAZA V2 controller -95 grans
30A FJI opto ESCs
fixed undercarriage - 225 grams
Go-Pro in 2 axis gimbal - 220 grams
Cables, LED nav lights 60 grams
(Weights from weighing my own items, if no weight specified it is embedded in calculation program)
4000 mah 4S
6000mah 3S:
@tchambers Tony, sent you a pm.
