What can
you actually buy?
The answer is different for a private buyer, a company, a police department and a school district, buying the exact same machine. Four questions below and you get your version of it, with the reason attached.
Two gates, and most
people only know
about one of them.
Can it be sold at all
Set by FCC equipment authorization. This gate binds everyone, us included. If it is shut, nobody buys the product, not a private individual with cash in hand and not a federal agency with a budget line.
Can you spend that money on it
Set by the NDAA, the American Security Drone Act, and state procurement law. This gate binds public money only. A private buyer walks straight through it without noticing it exists.
A machine can pass gate one and fail gate two. That is the normal case for Chinese hardware, and it is why banned is almost always the wrong word for it. The tool below keeps the two apart on purpose.
Four questions.
Private commercial money. The market gate applies. Procurement rules reach you only if you hold federal contracts or grants.
71 you can buy
71 shown of 83 trackedUnder the 4.4 lb threshold, so the covered device rule does not reach it. Weight on record: Tiny.
Under the 4.4 lb threshold, so the covered device rule does not reach it. Weight on record: Small.
Built in the United States, so the covered device rule does not reach it at all.
Under the 4.4 lb threshold, so the covered device rule does not reach it. Weight on record: Small.
Under the 4.4 lb threshold, so the covered device rule does not reach it. Weight on record: Unverified.
Under the 4.4 lb threshold, so the covered device rule does not reach it. Weight on record: Small.
Under the 4.4 lb threshold, so the covered device rule does not reach it. Weight on record: 2.2 lb.
Under the 4.4 lb threshold, so the covered device rule does not reach it. Weight on record: About 0.35 lb.
Under the 4.4 lb threshold, so the covered device rule does not reach it. Weight on record: Pocket sized.
Under the 4.4 lb threshold, so the covered device rule does not reach it. Weight on record: Well under 1 lb.
Under the 4.4 lb threshold, so the covered device rule does not reach it. Weight on record: Unverified, small.
Under the 4.4 lb threshold, so the covered device rule does not reach it. Weight on record: Unverified, palm sized.
Name any row above and we will verify its grant record ourselves, price it landed with duty stated separately, and tell you the honest lead time. If the answer turns out to be worse than this page says, you hear it before you commit a budget line.
Start a quote→Compiled 27 August 2026. This tool reads the same public records as the rest of the site and it is not legal advice. It answers a narrower question than most buyers ask: not whether something is popular or good, but whether it can lawfully reach you. Procurement rules vary by state and by the terms of a specific grant, so a public buyer should confirm their own rules at quote time rather than rely on a general answer. Regulatory status changes fast in this category, including by revocation of grants that were valid the week before.