Matrice 400 and Matrice 4D share weather sealing, enterprise radios and FlightHub 2. They do not share a job.
M400 is the crewed heavy-lift: payload choice, Zenmuse L3, long irregular flights. 4D is Dock 3-native: scheduled visual (or 4TD thermal) with no crew on the pad. Buy the wrong one and you either pay for mass you never hang, or you hit a 2 kg integrated camera when the brief needed LiDAR.
Neither flies a plant room. That is a third path, not a footnote.
What they share
IP55. Enterprise transmission. FlightHub 2. DJI Care Enterprise as a cost floor we put on the quote. RC Plus 2 class controllers. That is the ecosystem, not the reason to pick one airframe.
Matrice 400: payload and endurance
Up to 59 minutes with an H30T-class load in DJI's published figures. About 6 kg payload. That envelope is why L3, dual-sensor stacks and custom gimbals sit here, not on 4D.
Obstacle sensing on M400 is rotating LiDAR plus millimetre-wave plus fisheye. DJI's wire figure is 12 mm at 25 m/s. Power-line AR is the inspection overlay. This is the aircraft we send when the sensor is the job.
Who it is for: utilities with conductors, survey teams that need L3, mining corridors, SAR endurance, SDK payloads. It is not Dock 3's native aircraft. Repeat Monday orthos belong on 4D.
Matrice 4D: the pad that flies itself
About 54 minutes in the dock context DJI publishes. The camera is in the airframe: wide, medium tele, 48 MP tele, laser rangefinder. 4TD adds thermal. Five-direction oblique in one pass is the photogrammetry argument. FlightHub 2 routes the repeat mission. Dual aircraft on one dock is how you keep a cadence without a pilot on site.
Who it is for: construction progress, scheduled infrastructure, public-safety pads, security loops. It will not carry L3. If the brief is bare earth under canopy, stop shopping 4D and look at M400 plus L3, then still walk what the pulses miss at the building.
Specs that change the buy
| Spec | Matrice 400 | Matrice 4D |
|---|---|---|
| Max flight time (DJI published) | 59 min with H30T | 54 min (dock context) |
| Payload | About 6 kg | Integrated camera, about 2 kg class |
| Dock 3 | No. Crewed. | Native |
| LiDAR | Zenmuse L3 | Not compatible |
| Thermal | H30T payload | 4TD variant |
| Wire detection (DJI) | 12 mm at 25 m/s | 12 mm at 15 m/s |
| Best for | Heavy payload, LiDAR, irregular flights | Repeat visual from a prepared pad |
Prices live on the PDPs. Do not copy a catalogue figure into this table.
The third path: rooms the aircraft cannot enter
L3 through canopy still leaves the stair, the shed and the loading dock. Photogrammetry from 4D still leaves the plant room.
Walk those on SHARE C1 Pro when the cloud has to join the drone block on AUSCORS NTRIP. Use SHARE C1 when the day never leaves cover and you already occupy control. Relative under 1 cm on a clean walk. Absolute under 5 cm with RTK. C1 from $6,199, C1 Pro $7,999 AUD incl GST. In stock, available to buy now.
How we run both: one site model. How we merge: air and ground. Stack chooser: aircraft, dock or handheld.
How we route a mixed fleet
Power corridor with thermal plus visible, wires in the picture: M400 with H30T.
Weekly ortho on three compounds, no pilot on site: 4D on Dock 3, FlightHub 2 in the middle.
Terrain under scrub plus a plant that must be as-built: M400 with L3, then C1 Pro on the same grid.
Routine dock monitoring plus the odd L3 block: 4D on the pad, M400 in the trailer, handheld for interiors. One FlightHub 2 view for the aircraft. MapShare for the walk the client has to open in a browser.
DJI Care Enterprise Plus is the protection we put on Matrice-class quotes. Activate it in DJI's window. Do not wait until the first hard landing.
Talk through the job if you are staring at both airframes and a building you cannot fly. We name the aircraft, then name the walk. Matrice 400 · Matrice 4D · C1 Pro
Read next: choose the capture stack · scope the lift and the gap · AUSCORS NTRIP
FAQ
Can Matrice 4D carry Zenmuse L3?
No. L3 is an M400 payload on the dedicated connector. 4D is an integrated mapping camera for dock work.
Does M400 replace a handheld scanner indoors?
No. RTK on the aircraft does not help inside a steel shed. Walk it.
Should I buy both airframes?
If you have a repeating pad and a separate LiDAR or heavy-sensor job, yes. If you only have one of those jobs, buy that one, then add C1 Pro if interiors are in the brief.
