Short battery life, cost dominates early buzz on Yuneec Breeze Social drone

Early looks at the Yuneec Breeze drone see comments center on the market potential for an aerial “selfie stick” that can be deployed on a whim – and so far say that the space remains wide open to other UAV drone manufacturers as the cost and battery life of the Yuneec Breeze don’t cut it.

The beetle-shaped drone weighing about a pound comes in at a penny of $419, putting it on a direct comparison with the more durable and battle-tested DJI Phantom 3 Standard. While the DJI vs Yuneec comparison for these particular models is a bit of chalk and cheese on features as the DJI drone is far ahead, the price point is relevant.

And that brings up a review of the Yuneec Breeze, which only travels close to the ground with an app-activated smartphone controller. The reason is that the Yuneec Breeze is easily blown off course by mild wind gusts as it goes to the outer edges of its 80-meter range. This makes the avowed aim of quick and easy selfies awkward because almost a perfect day is needed to get the optimum video or photo feeds.

There is however a feature for an indoor positioning sensor that could provide some fun around the dinner table, provided the battery doesn’t die and the drone drops into the soup.

The Yuneec Breeze package does not include a formal carrying case, another drawback for portability from event to event, instead providing a fairly flimsy plastic shell, lacking protective foam, that if thrown into a backpack or accidentally dropped would quickly suffer damage.

But it is the battery listed as holding a 12-minute charge, though early users suggest it is closer to 10 minutes, that disappoints. The battery of the Yuneec Breeze does have a functional slide-in mechanism into the drone body, but getting to sync and takeoff point can eat up some of that time. That means all of the action with photography needs to be planned out in advance and quickly executed because the chances of the battery ebbing early is a real threat.

A slew of kits from other low-end UAV drone manufacturers provide battery life of as long as 25 minutes and allow users to customize accessories, including preferred battery chargers, and some in the market for as low as $99. And the battery of the Yuneec Breeze also raises some of the recurring R&D flaws found with the bulky and much more expensive Yuneec Q500 4K, centered on connectivity and design.

In the case of the Yuneec Q500, the initial 4K camera was far behind the DJI Phantom 4 – and it seems this is also the case for the Yuneec Breeze. Reports say that users should take the 4K feed promise with a bit of salt and instead use 1080P to get a more stable and ready-to-use video because of the patchy connection via an app-to-smartphone WiFi and limited range.

These flaws in the Yuneec Breeze may show up as users attempt to review the feeds for upload to social media sites Facebook, Twitter, YouTube Instagram or WhatsApp. But it is another flaw related to connection problems and flyaways that concerns users most with the latest offering.

That prospect was highlighted in a review of the Yuneec Breeze by writer Jefferson Graham in USA Today after the initial flight went smoothly.

“But then, when I went home – remember this is a first impression – I tried again and user error came in,” Jefferson said.

“I clicked the ‘launch’ button on the app, and as you can see in the accompanying cell phone video clip shot by my very amused son, the Breeze took off a walloping 40-50 feet above my backyard deck. This was way, way higher than expected, or desired. I kept clicking on the app to bring it back down to earth, and there was initially no response. After a few agonizing minutes, it finally did what it was supposed to do and landed atop an outside plant.”

A selfie stick wouldn’t do that.

 

 

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