A guide for property owners and security managers. Every spec here is checked against the manufacturer's own pages, with US reference prices. At the end: how to turn any of this hardware into real surveillance, with live video, recording, and AI alerts.
Buy a consumer DJI. The Mini 5 Pro covers it at the lowest price (~$760 reference); if you need detail from a distance, step up to the Air 3S with its 3x optical zoom (~$1,099).
Prioritize flight time and zoom. In consumer gear, buy the Mavic 4 Pro (51 min, triple lens); if budget allows, go straight to the Matrice 4T enterprise drone with its 112x hybrid zoom.
Buy a drone with a thermal camera; no consumer model has one. The DJI Matrice 4T is the reference (640x512 thermal, ~$7,400); if the budget doesn't stretch, the Mavic 3 Thermal.
The three current DJI models. None carries a thermal camera: they're built for daytime patrols and inspection, not for spotting people in full dark. Flight times are manufacturer maximums; expect 20 to 40 minutes in the field depending on wind and battery.
1-inch sensor (50MP, f/1.8), 4K/60 HDR video, 36-minute flight time (52 with the Plus battery). Weighs under 250g, which simplifies registration requirements in several countries. Very strong daytime image; at night, its low-light mode helps but doesn't replace thermal.
Dual camera: 1-inch wide (50MP) plus a 3x optical telephoto (48MP). The telephoto is what matters for surveillance: license-plate or face-level detail from a safe distance. 45-minute flight time, 4K/120 video.
Triple-lens Hasselblad camera (100MP, 4/3), dual telephoto, 6K/60 video, and 51 minutes of flight time, the longest in the consumer tier. Vision sensors down to 0.1 lux for low-light flying, though the camera itself stays visual, not thermal.
640x512 radiometric thermal at 30Hz (super-resolution to 1280x1024), a 48MP telephoto with 16x to 112x hybrid zoom, and up to 49 minutes of flight time. For night work: full-color Night Scene mode, a 100m infrared auxiliary light, and low-light sensors. This is the reference drone for perimeter and night work.
Prior-generation thermal in a lighter, cheaper body. Buy it for medium-sized properties where thermal matters but the budget doesn't reach the Matrice: it still holds up in 2026, and it's officially distributed.
Goes head-to-head with the Matrice: 640x512 thermal, a 50MP wide camera, a 48MP zoom with 10x optical (160x hybrid) zoom, and 42 minutes of flight time. Two things we could not verify and you should confirm before buying: its real street price, and how it gets live video out to integrate with a platform.
| Model | Camera | Thermal | Max flight | US reference price | Live streaming |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DJI Mini 5 Pro | 1" · 50MP · 4K/60 HDR | No | 36 min (52 Plus) | ~$760 | RTMP (DJI Fly), with guide |
| DJI Air 3S | 1" 50MP + 3x tele 48MP | No | 45 min | ~$1,099 | RTMP (DJI Fly), with guide |
| DJI Mavic 4 Pro | 100MP Hasselblad + 2 tele · 6K/60 | No | 51 min | ~$2,199 | RTMP (DJI Fly), with guide |
| DJI Mavic 3 Thermal | Visual + thermal (prior gen) | Yes | ~45 min | check with dealer | RTMP (DJI Pilot 2) |
| DJI Matrice 4T | 48MP tele · 112x zoom | Yes · 640x512 radiometric | 49 min | ~$7,400 | RTMP (DJI Pilot 2) |
| Autel EVO Max 4T V2 | 50MP + 10x optical zoom | Yes · 640x512 | 42 min | unverified | confirm before buying |
Specs checked against DJI and Autel's own pages, July 2026. Flight times are manufacturer maximums with no wind.
On pricing outside the US: the figures in this guide are US retail reference prices. Local pricing runs higher once import duties and taxes are factored in, and it varies by country. If you're buying outside the US, confirm current price and availability with an authorized dealer before deciding rather than relying on the numbers above.
Any of this hardware, on its own, doesn't watch anything: the video stays on the pilot's controller, the camera records for no one, and the incident gets discovered the next day. The other half is the platform. Consumer DJI drones stream over RTMP from the DJI Fly app (documented by DJI, step-by-step guide here), and the fixed cameras that complement a drone, Hikvision and Dahua being the most common, speak RTSP out of the box. Hover takes in both signals: the video lands live on a private page on your phone, gets recorded with a timestamp, and the AI watches every stream to alert you the moment something matters. See how it works, with pricing, here.
One with a thermal camera. Consumer drones (Mini, Air, Mavic) don't have one: their low-light sensors are visual and don't replace thermal for spotting people in the dark. The DJI Matrice 4T (640x512 radiometric thermal, 112x hybrid zoom, up to 49 minutes of flight) is the 2026 reference; the Mavic 3 Thermal is the prior generation, lighter and cheaper.
For daytime patrols of a small property, yes: buy the DJI Mini 5 Pro (1-inch sensor, 36-minute flight time, ~$760 US reference price), the entry option that gets the job done. What no budget drone does: thermal for nighttime, or continuous watch; that's where fixed cameras come in.
Yes. Consumer DJI drones stream via RTMP from the DJI Fly app (documented by DJI); that's the path to get the live feed into a platform like Hover and watch it on any phone. There's a step-by-step guide.
Any IP camera that speaks RTSP, the industry standard: Hikvision and Dahua ship it out of the box (port 554). Fixed cameras cover gates and choke points around the clock; the drone covers what they can't see.
The figures in this guide are US retail reference prices, verified July 2026. Outside the US, confirm current pricing and availability with an authorized dealer before deciding; import duties and taxes will change the delivered cost.
Either way, the next step is the same: watch it live, recorded, and AI-monitored, from your phone.
