Parrot AR Drone 2.0 Power Edition

Parrot drones were just featured in a DevinSupertramp video that came out yesterday. There’s a behind the scenes video too featured in the endslate/video description if you’re on a mobile device too.

Last time these popped up, it caused to start heavily researching quadcopters. To see if this was a good deal. I had never flown anything before or really looked into “drones”. That was about 9 months ago… I went down the rabbit hole.

I now own 4 different prebuilt and have built many from scratch.

Prebuilts:

  • UDI U818A
  • Hubsan X4 H017L
  • Syma X5C
  • DJI Phantom 2 Vision Plus

Self Builds:

  • 300mm Racing Hex with FPV (First Person View)
  • 250mm Racing Quads with FPV (2 of them)
  • 400mm Y4 “TriCopter” with FPV
  • 550mm Photography Hex with Camera Gimbal
  • 300mm Y3 Tricopter Fully Autonomous “Follow-Me” In Progress

I can say definitively, the Cameras on these AR Drones are not worth the effort or cost.

Do yourself a big favor and get yourself a Syma X5C (or newer X5SC) instead. On Amazon prime, For under $65 you can get the bird, physical controller with sticks instead of wonky touch screen. Then pickup some extra batteries, extra props, and a multicharger. You’ll still be at or under $100. You’ll get much more control over flying and have a similar recording camera experience.

To over generalize you are looking at a few possibilities with getting into “drones”.

  • $50-$150 - Toy/Trainer Grade. They work extremely well for the money and can teach you how to fly before crashing a $1500+ setup. The downside of the toy/trainer grade is the cameras don’t give you much to work with… It’s more for reviewing footage than sharing on youtube.

  • $400-$600 - Self built fun fliers/racers/FPV in the 200mm to 500mm size range. Takes a good deal of time, but you have a high performing and repairable craft.

  • $750-$1500 - Pre-built Aerial Photography platforms. The DJI Phantoms and 3DR Iris/Solos of the world. Amazing photos and videos that are incredibly simple to use.

  • $1000+++ - Self Built Autonomous /Photography Platforms/Long Range Exploreres/Heavy lifters.

TL;DR - Start with a Syma X5C from amazon instead. If dead set on controlling a fun quad with your phone, get the parrot minidrone “Rolling Spider” instead.

how about google out Cyphy Lvl 1 from kickstarter or youtube, i know it costs bit more, but get features that others doesnt have, i cannt wait for mine coming in feb

I second pretty much everything Voodoo said. I have a UDI U839 (a VERY fun and VERY tiny $30 quad) and a Syma X5C. The Syma is FANTASTIC bang for your buck. Flies VERY stable, easy controls, cheap batteries and chargers, popular with lots of spare parts available for when you crash… I can go on.

Just get one and then decide if you need to upgrade to something more capable.

Are there any cameras that you know of for the Syma copters that broadcast so you can view the stream live on a phone/tablet/laptop?

Is the X5C-1 better and worth the cost difference?