Bulky, problem-prone Yuneec Typhoon quadcopter ready for a phase out?

DJI’s Phantom 3 and Phantom 4 have clearly won the RC quadcopter war with the Yuneec Typhoon quadcopter to the point that it may be time to wonder if newer model launches are an attempt by the company to move on.

The basic Yuneec Q500 model has been adapted a few times from a pre-4K camera variant to one that can hold a GoPro, but Yuneec has faced a lot of blowback over flaws in the overall model.

The top complaints on the Yuneec Typhoon quadcopter center on communications between the controller and the drone on two fronts – poor GPS fix and lock in many cases and access to fewer satellites overall in a DJI vs Yuneec comparison. The other communication aspect is the weak internal WiFi card of the Yuneec drone and the badly soldered antenna that needs a trip back to the factory to fix.

Reviewers of the Yuneec Typhoon quadcopter had initially expressed hopes that these issues were production line bugs that could be fixed in subsequent sales, but the talk is that there is such a repair backlog for the RC quadcopter from Yuneec that a logjam has been created in a rush to get new models of the Yuneec Typhoon quadcopter into the market and deal with units sent back at the same time.

This flawed R&D approach to testing products rigorously in the design phase and in beta is evident in the Yuneec Typhoon quadcopter and has flowed through to newer models such as the Yuneec Breeze “selfie” drone aimed at a potential large market that wants some fun for under $500 – a penny under, in this case.

But these new buyers then have to deal with a drone that has less than a dozen minutes of battery life, less than 80 meters of range, poor connections to a smartphone or tablet and that can be easily blown around by even mild gusts of wind.

On top of that, Yuneec has tried to go high-end with a massive hexacopter – the Yuneec Typhoon H – and compete with a far superior Phantom 4 model from DJI that regularly receives rave reviews. The Yuneec Typhoon has been faulted for cheap plastic in key parts such as the joints holding together the folding arms – and for the landing gear that is nominally retractable, but regularly seizes up in flight.

But maybe if Yuneec looks to streamline offerings it can at least cut the backlog of repairs enough to concentrate on the newer entries into the market. As it is, the Yuneec Typhoon quadcopter just keeps logging complaints over flight hours with issues such as a burning smell during batter recharges and flight times less than 20 minutes, far below the 25 minutes advertised.

Of course DJI is coming out with some new models too, the Mavic Pro, which runs off an APP on a smartphone or controller and flies for up to 27 minutes at just a few hundred dollars above the Yuneec Breeze, and which has the ability to live-stream full HD video to Facebook Live, Periscope and YouTube.

 

 

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