Yuneec Breeze 4K Quadcopter drone review

Yuneec launched the Breeze 4K Quadcopter drone last year, an intelligent and rather small quadcopter.

The Yuneec Breeze 4K Quadcopter drone is lightweight and designed to fit in a backpack, though at 13 ounces, it still needs to be registered with the FAA. The plastic body feels a little more fragile than that of the GDU Byrd, which I happened to be testing at the same time. The good news is that pretty much every part you’re liable to break is for sale individually, making it easy, if perhaps costly, to get your drone back in the air should you crash or otherwise break it. Also, it comes in a little suitcase that keeps it protected from drops while you’re carrying it.

The Breeze comes with a 4K-capable camera (30fps) on board, though there are several important caveats to bear in mind. First, there is no stabilizing gimbal, so the steadiness of your video is directly proportional to your skills as a pilot. Recognizing that the newcomer won’t have those piloting skills yet, the Yuneec Breeze includes a host of preprogrammed auto-flying modes that go a long way toward improving stability and therefore video quality. There’s also some built-in digital stabilization, but, and here’s the second caveat: digital stabilization only works with 1080p video, not 4K footage. While the Breeze clearly wants to tout its 4K capabilities, they’re of limited usefulness without stabilization.

The bottom line for the Yuneec Breeze is that it flies well enough for light hobby and aerial photo use while being badly limited for any sort of serious airborne shooting of a professional sort. Its maximum flight speed of just over 10mph and maximum vertical ascent speed of a measly 2mph are both very slow but this itself doesn’t matter all that much since the Breeze can’t exceed a range of a little over 300 feet horizontally or vertically.

On the other hand, the manual flight controls that Yuneec gave the Breeze through the control app are remarkably flexible and user-friendly by the standards of a smartphone-operated drone. Furthermore, while the UAV’s selection of autonomous flight options is pretty basic, it’s more than enough for a drone that has to stay within 330 feet of its operator at all times. We should mention here that Yuneec has not included or even built a manual controller device for the Breeze. Since the focus here is on portability and compactness, this little drone can only be flown via smartphone/tablet app. Quite frankly, the app is good at what it delivers, so for the price the Breeze is selling at, our complaints are small on this front.

The overall flight experience of using the Yuneec Breeze is quite good in our view. Despite the range limitations imposed upon this little drone, it delivers some great highly localized aerial shooting and flight control experience. Furthermore, if you simply activate its automated Follow-Me, Orbit or Selfie options, the UAV will do a great job as an airborne photographer even if it’s not particularly useful as a manually flown exploration and aerial video survey drone.

In terms of drone security, we also love how well the Yuneec Breeze manages to keep itself safe during unforeseen losses of flight control. Thus, if the signal between drone and smartphone is lost, the Breeze will simply hover in place for about a minute before returning to the place it took off from and landing by itself. The hover and land mechanism also kicks in if your phone dies suddenly or if you happen to get a call whole you’re busy using the Breeze.

On the other hand, onboard obstacle avoidance is outside the price range of the Yuneec Breeze, so if you’re flying the little UAV, make sure to keep an eye on where it goes and more importantly, setting it to performs automated functions in a crowded bit of sky can easily cause the drone to hit something while it obeys its instructions. The absence of this last feature is a definite limitation if you’re thinking of having this little drone zip along behind you while you move through forested areas or urban environments with lots of vertical obstacles. In any case, thanks to the above-mentioned speed limitations of the Breeze drone, you’re definitely not going to use it to follow you as you move along quickly on a bike, skis or a snowboard.

Yuneec Breeze now sells for no more than $390 with two batteries, a carry case and a couple of rotor guards included.

 

The post Yuneec Breeze 4K Quadcopter drone review appeared first on Drone Inner.

Yuneec Breeze teardown: A flying white chubby boy

It was known for being acquired by Intel, and amazed everyone at CES by performing a stunning obstacle avoidance show, which was revealed as a fake one. Its flagship, Typhoon H is seldom seen in Chinese market. But the reason behind it seems to be Yuneec’s focus abroad, nothing strange if the Typhoon H is little known in China. And today I’m going to give review to another Yuneec product, Yuneec Breeze.

Unboxing | Build Quality

The box is white, same as the aircraft itself, showing a sense of minimalism.

In the box: accessories as well as a storage box, which I personally like, for it makes the drone’s storage easier.

Aircraft X1, propeller protector X4, flight batteryX1, storage box X1, spared propeller set X1, charger X1, cable X1, user menu.

There are screws for the spared propellers, but no screwdriver is included. The capacity of the battery is 1150mAh, a little higher than Dobby’s 970mAh.

The plastic storage box is quite soft but with a very tight “Push” button, creating a lot of trouble when trying to open it.

Yuneec Breeze has soft lines, which makes it look chubby and cute, despite an obvious bump on top of the aircraft for GPS antennas. The white color is also appealing, though might be a bit hard to keep it clean, I guess.

Like many drones in the market, Yuneec Breeze is plastic, too. But its shell is thinner, with a poor texture and even some cracks on it. The build quality is not impressive in general.

Sensors at the bottom of the drone: the large one is IRS, and small one is OFM, for hovering and positioning respectively.

Landing gears at the bottom need to be unfolded manually, otherwise the glass of the sensors will directly touch the ground and get scratched, affecting the precision of hovering and positioning.

When the landing gears are unfolded, the Yuneec Breeze is lifted to about 1cm above the ground, giving effective protection to its bottom. But folding the gears back is a tough job, because the springback is very strong. With no cushion on the gears, the frame arms are hurt due to the strong impact force when folding the gears back.

And the openings on aircraft body is rough too. You can see the cables connecting the main board and motors straightly from the back of the battery compartment. Thermovents are set on the top of the arms, left no cover or protection from the rain which can directly get to the battery and main board, and you can say goodbye to your drone.

Rain can get into the aircraft body from the thermovents on top, risking short-circuited problems.

Cables can be seen from the gap between a motor and the frame arm.

Probably because Breeze is not properly sealed, I found something inside the IRS (on the other side of the glass).
There is no way to remove it, driving an OCD like me crazy.

A huge interface exposes the USB connection as well as the main board inside the aircraft, something so rough that I’ve never seen in other drones…

The camera of the OFM is not at the center, again, driving me crazy.

Though the build quality is not impressive at all, still there is highlights. The camera, for example, is 1-axis and can be adjusted with the dedicated app, instead of doing it manually like Dobby.

Mounting propeller protectors to Yuneec Breeze is very easy, because they are simply fixed by snaps. It brings convenience for setting, but also risk of falling off by a slight impact.

Though Dobby’s body is thick, thanks for its foldable design, it’s still narrower than an iPhone 7 Plus. Apparently Breeze is less portable than Dobby. Its size reaches 196x196x65mm, larger than iPhone 7 Plus even when it’s folded up, impossible to fit in your pocket.

Put Breeze in the storage box and it has nothing to do with portability anymore. The box is a bit larger than an 8-inch cake box, which can only be put in a backpack instead of a chest bag.

Flight | Control

Because the controller and the aircraft is connected with Wi-Fi, the maximum controllable range of Yuneec Breeze is only 80m (at height) and 100m (at distance), typical spec of mini drones emerged since last year. Selfie is the main application scenario.

Yuneec Breeze uses app— the most common way for control. There are two ways of control, joystick and slider. The former serves just like a controller, with the right stick for horizontal moves, and left for ascend/descend and heading. But still, the virtual sticks are not sensitive enough to peer the real ones.

Also when you are flying Yuneec Breeze in joystick mode, you can press a button and the drone will mimic your smart phone’s motion. Latency for this mode is not bad, but still not sensitive enough to get the drone back when accidents happen. So my suggestion is to fly in a wide open space.

The setting of Slider mode, on the other hand, is disastrous. Pushing up for controlling the done back and forth, down for heading, right for ascending/descending and left for pitch. The design is unreasonable and every difficult to predict the attitude of the drone if you don’t look at it.
But the most complicated thing is you can’t control the flight and camera simultaneously.

There are six flight modes:

Pilot Mode：Joystick control, ordinary flight mode

Selfie Mode：Slider control, with the drone facing to the pilot

Orbit Mode：Slider control, using GPS to circle around a certain point

Journey Mode：Slider control, by using camera pitch to calculate the trajectory of the aircraft, Breeze will fly away from you and then back to you.

VisionTrack Mode: Joystick control. In Follow Me, Yuneec Breeze uses GPS to track your movement.

*FPV Mode: Not released yet.

Orbit: In Orbit mode, you need to manually choose a point, and Breeze will circle around it basing on the GPS information of this point. Besides, the camera gimbal also needs manual adjustment, too. But due to GPS error, Breeze is often astray when circling.

Journey: By using camera pitch to calculate the trajectory of the aircraft, Breeze will fly away from you and then back to you. Because Breeze doesn’t have any obstacle avoidance on board, always watch out for obstacles when using this mode.

VisionTrack: In VisionTrack mode, use two fingers to frame a target on the screen, and Yuneec Breeze will adjust its heading and automatically follow the target. You can switch between Watch and Track modes manually.

In our test, the Watch mode is very unstable, with a lot of shakings during recording, because the gimbal keeps tilting up and down. While the Track mode often goes off course when following a target. Can’t figure out why.

Yuneec Breeze is equipped with a 13 megapixel camera, capable of recording 4K/30fps without electronic stabilization, common among small-size drones.

Remember Dobby’s image quality? Due to the lack of built-in damping balls and stabilization gimbal, the edges of images that Dobby shoots will blur out, and videos shows severe jello effect like the screenshot above.

Equipped with built-in damping balls, Yuneec Breeze does a much better job in shooting and recording, compared to Dobby. No sign of jello effect basically. However, limited by its flight stability and camera quality, the overall camera performance is just so-so.

Resolution of the above image reaches 4160X3120, but image quality is not impressive. Color reproduction isn’t precise; details are not clear; ISO and shutter cannot be adjusted either.

In terms of recording, the footage at 1080p shows visible shakings even when Breeze is hovering and with stabilization. It seems the single axis can only control the camera’s pitch, instead of reducing shakes.

Although Yuneec Breeze manages to satisfy the most basic shooting needs, consider its price is as high as 3000RMB (3299RMB originally), its price/performance ratio is low.

Duration | Summary

After several landings and taking-offs, the real flight time of Breeze is a little longer than 10min, still a gap with the announced 12min. Given the wind speed and operation during the test, such a gap is acceptable, anyway.

Still, 10min flight time is too short for a mini drones with portability and such a high price, meaning it’s not suitable for daily use. Few people will spend this amount of money and effort just for a 10min flight.

But on the other hand, it’s encouraging to see drones like Breeze launched to the market. Small and smart drones are the future of drone industry. In whichever industry, it’s good to have someone dare to give it a go.

Yuneec Breeze

Good points:

1. Adorable appearance, fresh color, appealing to female consumers
2. Storage box to protect the aircraft from collision and scratches
3. Built-in damping balls reduces shakes and increase camera performance
4. Single axis gimbal to control camera movement

Weak points:

1. Poor build quality and material texture. Exposed connector and unreasonable design
2. Not foldable. Poor portability.
3. Mushy control. Slider design is a nightmare
4. Flight and camera cannot be control at the same time
5. The quality of images and videos is not satisfactory
6. Flight time is too short
7. The price is too high.

Tear apart | Notes


From top to bottom: cooling fin, IRS and OFM. Processor and ISP should be behind the fin. Modules are properly set on the main board, cables are well organized and neat.

The camera in Yuneec Breeze can be tilted by a steering gear, and the camera is directly connected to the main board. Damping balls serve as cushions between main board, frame arms and motors, effectively reducing vertical high frequency shakes, the best way to solve jello effect problems.

The build quality inside Breeze is better than that of Typhoon H. however, Yuneec should really improve Breeze’s shell…

 

 

The post Yuneec Breeze teardown: A flying white chubby boy appeared first on Drone Inner.

I returned the Yuneec Breeze finally

I’ve been thinking of dipping my little toe into drone photography. I want to start out with baby steps and considering the Yuneec Breeze, mainly because it’s small and portable, reasonably priced, and unobtrusive. I don’t like calling attention to myself when out taking photos, even with a DSLR, so a big noisy drone is out.

I’m not really concerned with range, battery life, just want something simple to start with and not too expensive! I realize that quality vs. cost are generally mutually exclusive, but I don’t think I could handle crashing a $1000 drone.

I am more interested in photos that video, so I was wondering if anyone has any full-size images taken with the Yuneec Breeze.

Then someone told me that “the camera aboard the Yuneec Breeze may be like that of the Zerotech Dobby. Without a gimbal, the still photo quality of any drone shots will be compromised by rotor micro-vibrations, on the one hand, and “jello” or banding caused by the digital stabilization, on the other.”

(Via Dobby)

(Via Dobby)

I checked out the Dobby photos, it looks decent enough to maybe print as 8×10’s which would be acceptable to me. I am not looking to use this for anything more than what I would use my iPhone for.  As I said, I am mainly interested in photos and not so much on taking video.

I went ahead the pulled the trigger on getting the Yuneec Breeze, as B&H Photo has a sale going on right now. I am thinking it will be a good starter kit, then go from there. At least with the Breeze I will get my foot in the door.  I still haven’t’ decided on getting the optional remote w/goggles…they are currently on backorder anyway so there is no rush.

Well, I received my new Yuneec Breeze and had no success with connecting to my iphone 6s Plus wifi. I was able to sporadically connect with an older Apple ipad mini enough to apply the latest firmware upgrade and then test it briefly indoors. Given the wifi issues I was experiencing, I was all set to return it and had it boxed up and ready to ship.

This morning, I hesitantly decided I would give it one more try with my iphone and lo and behold, the Yuneec Breeze appeared in my wifi connections with no issues. Took it over to the local park where I thought maybe the artificial turf would protect it in the event of a crash. It flew perfectly and I was able to snap a few photos.

Here’s sample taken this morning. I edited it slightly using Photoshop CC with mainly some minor smart sharpening and a graduated filter to bring back some of the color in the sky.

(Via Yuneec Breeze)

I must admit there’re lots of jpeg blurring. I think it might be okay for smaller prints. I’m guessing the “fuzziness” of the artificial turf might exacerbate the problem, but I see it clearly in other images as well. The Breeze was really designed and marketed for the selfie crowd, used to using smartphones and tablets. I think it would probably also work well for simple shots for as well.

I plan to continue testing for a few days and if the wifi connection remains stable and reliable, then I think it might work out for my purposes after all.

Now I’m returning the Yuneec Breeze after all for other issues. Think I might relinquish myself to shooting from terra firma, at least for the time being. Besides there’s a Nikon 70-200 f4 out there somewhere with my name on it!

 

 

 

The post I returned the Yuneec Breeze finally appeared first on Drone Inner.

Major causes of Yuneec Breeze indoor crashes…

Scan the Yuneec Breeze forums to discover Breeze drone crashed every now and then, especially indoors. What’s the major causes of indoor crashes?Let’s see the two stories firstly.

“I had several crashes indoor, I would say out of 8 flights the Yuneec Breeze went drifting and ignoring my command 6 times. I could catch her a few times then shutting off, but I got my piano and some probs damaged.

It is certainly an issue with the optical flow sensor or some similar sensor. When the drone flies over a carpet, my black or my grey couch I noticed slow response to my commands. The Breeze drone starts drifting. In two cases, after a short side drift, it went crazily fast to one direction until it crashed (the motors are switched off then).

Please be very careful indoors. At the moment I cannot recommend the Yuneec Breeze indoors. Even an experienced pilot can’t do anything as the drone ignores all commands from my phone in these cases (except emergency shutdown). Low light conditions seem to have a big impact on the sensor.

Yuneec should provide a manual control mode to fly the drone without the optical sensors or just let the pilot override the automatic reactions. Until then I’ll stay outside.”

“Indoor light can be insufficient for the infrared sensors to gauge height. I cannot use the Yuneec Breeze in my studio indoors as I have a dark floor and it cannot map a thing. I have to place a piece of paper under it to get the flow sensor working to take off. Once in the air, it was not good and did do things on its own. This time I was prepared and managed to not crash like the first time I tried this same scenario. My house there is no problem during the day because I get natural light from windows.

I purchased the controller. It’s good and gets you back to being the pilot not a swiping fiddling fool.

The headset is useless for flying as the latency is too nutty for me. I may try it again in a more open space but my FPV needs to be real time. The larger phones are great for the controller and I’m very happy with touch controls for camera being separate from sticks. The tilt has a trim on the dpad that makes it actually work smoothly. It is now a very reliable quick pop up and grab a shot tool. 8 mins is about right for the battery. Battery times are always over stated by everyone in this biz.”

I think the major causes of indoor crashes are:

1. Flying over counters, couches, chairs will throw off the ground distance sensor.
2. Flying with GPS “on” indoors
3. Lots of wifi signals in the area, condos especially
4. Poor piloting

 

 

The post Major causes of Yuneec Breeze indoor crashes… appeared first on Drone Inner.

Yuneec Breeze indoor and outdoor flight test

Just got my Yuneec Breeze not long ago, decided to test it out inside because weather outside was crap. Followed all the instructions on how to fly in doors, checked the firmware it was up to date and turned GPS off. Everything went accordingly, it hovered at three feet, the wind from the blades caused it to move side to side which was expected. I raised it to about five feet and it became more staple in the air as it hovered. I toggled the camera, I took a picture and viewed it while it hovered. Then it beeped, flew straight up to the ceiling, popped two guards off and vigorously circled the ceiling while bouncing. I tried throttle down but it wasn’t communicating, then it beeped again and just dropped nine feet to the floor. The phone display IPS failure which I assume shut off the drone. I examined the Yuneec Breeze no cracks, three blades are ruined, the GPS cover popped off. I pulled the battery out for awhile and put it back together and powered it up. GPS was showing 15, the drone lights was showing green on the wing and full blue at the back but the IPS was orange on the phone and the camera is working fine. I checked the flight log and it show 3 minutes and 30 seconds, changed the blades but I’m scared to test it again. When I tested inside there is lots of room, good lighting, pine floors and only a couch for an obstacle.

I replaced the damage blades and took my Yuneec Breeze outside the other day. I kept it at a safe flying height, just to test if everything is in good working order. I ran the first battery that was originally used and just hovered at five feet to see if it would reproduce warnings. The second battery. I played with it, moved foward/back and side to side no issues. I’m thinking because indoors, with Wi-Fi on all the devices and three cell phones. I’m wondering if by chance there was some communication disruption. It still doesn’t explain while hovering it beeped and had a radical behavior of its own. I’m just happy it fly’s and not happy looking for replacement blades because no one carries them and I have to order them.

Alright. Took the Breeze drone to work yesterday, large indoor space (warehouse) empty and the only obstacles are four pillars. I haven’t been able to try any other features with the app because I’m always in no GPS mode and the images it took looked great because of the no wind environment. Again I set all the settings of the app to their lowest, recalibrated the Yuneec Breeze at five feet and gave it a whirl. I figured nothing could possibly go wrong, I tested its limitations stop height at 9.8 feet.. it didn’t stop, distance 30 feet… it stopped and became uncontrollable just hovered. So I walked towards it to gain control again, no response.. question is 30 feet my wifi limit or was it doing what it’s suppose to do without GPS landed and shut off. I did however charged both batteries, noticed the actual flight time wasn’t what I expected and it seemed I only got about eight minutes per battery. I am defiantly ordering the controller, I find using the cell phone my fingers are too big, I noticed the Yuneec Breeze drone simulate two motions when controlling it and the response time was almost precise to the action of my movement on the phone. I guess you can say I’m very cautious with this drone, I’ve seen a few videos of Breeze’s acting on its own or maybe issues of inexperience pilots smashing into objects, who can’t blame themselves and I will be honest when I say my first crash was not human error it was just hovering. I guess i have a few more months to properly learn how to control this drone in a safe environment until winter is over and the fun really begins.

 

 

 

The post Yuneec Breeze indoor and outdoor flight test appeared first on Drone Inner.

Is Yuneec Breeze so simple as Yuneec says

There’s a drone in drone industry, and the company that makes it, Yuneec, says it’s a total breeze to fly.

No flight experience or even a flight controller is needed–you operate it all on your smart phone, with an app.

Yuneec doesn’t even call the Yuneec Breeze a drone, but instead a “flying camera,” one which the company suggests should be used for group shots and selfies.

The Breeze sells for around $400, which is a pretty low price for a drone. A comparable device from no. 1 drone manufacturer DJI also sells for $499–but DJI’s Phantom 3 Standard comes with a flight controller that must be mastered before the drone can take off–and videos are recorded at 2.7k resolution.

The Phantom weighs 2.6 pounds, while the teeny Yuneec Breeze is under a pound, and promises heftier 4K video resolution. The Breeze has internal memory, offering only 12 minutes of flight time before re-charging.

I spent some time with Yuneec recently checking out the Yuneec Breeze, flying it by a seaside cliff here in the South Bay area of Los Angeles with product manager Trent Siggard.

In Siggard’s hands, the Yuneec drone took off as a flying camera swiftly. The app offers choices like “Selfie” mode, where the camera flies in place at eye level, to snap shots of you and your friends, and “Follow Me,” mode–where the Yuneec Breeze camera senses your presence and moves with you as you change locations.

We played back the footage on my phone pretty easily, and I later transferred the files to the computer, where they looked decent–about what you’d expect for a $400 drone. (That day we also looked at Yuneec’s top of the line Typhoon H, which blew the Yuneec Breeze, as you would expect out of the water. The images were steadier, richer in color and looked outright amazing.)

After our cliffside drone sessions, Siggard and I went into town and sat at an outdoor cafe, where we both got the Yuneec Breeze to fly at eye level, for some selfies. All worked well.

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

I clicked the Yuneec Breeze “launch” button on the app, the Yuneec drone 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 it 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.

At my first glance, the Yuneec Breeze wasn’t a total breeze for me– but with time to master it, hopefully it will be as simple for me as Yuneec says it should be.

The post Is Yuneec Breeze so simple as Yuneec says appeared first on Drone Inner.

Back to the future with Yuneec Breeze 4k

Yuneec China 12-minute flying selfie stick not what the world needs.

Good ideas catch on and are quickly imitated, as the selfie stick shows. But it is unlikely that UAV drone manufacturers will look to copy a drone “selfie” like the Yuneec Breeze 4k that gets easily buffeted by the wind with a battery life counted optimistically at 12 minutes.

Indeed, unlike the Yuneec Breeze 4k, if a selfie stick is damaged or lost it can be easily replaced. But the beetle-shaped 1-pound Yuneec drone at US$500 makes the prospect of damage or flyaways a bit costlier.

On damages, the Yuneec Breeze 4K does come with fold-in propellers, but not a dedicated carrier offering foam or other protection. The landing gear in the Breeze is made of plastic that can easily chip or break if carried in a backpack unprotected and hand guards for the propellers are missing-in-action.

Just that R&D effort alone raises question about the commitment of Yuneec to quality and reliable usage as it targets first-time drone buyers in a push that UAV drone manufacturers just starting out appear to have already won with prices as low as $99 for versatile models that can add 4K cameras from other manufacturers.

In fact, even the 4K in the Yuneec Breeze 4K name should be taken with a grain of salt as many early reviewers suggest using 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 of 80 meters–and then hopefully post it to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube Instagram or WhatsApp.

At that price and for far better camera features at a 2.7K video feed and a 3-axis gimbal and reliability the DJI Phantom 3 Standard is true value for money, especially for first-time drone buyers, and time tested for GPS reliability and under $500. There is really no comparison that the Yuneec Breeze 4K can stand up to.

In fact, unlike the Yuneec drone, the DJI Phantom 3 returns to the user at the press of a button and does the same if the control signal is ever lost and the stability of the drone in flight and hover brings back razor-sharp images.

However, the Yuneec Breeze 4k camera is not mechanically stabilized when filming in 4K, though images are electronically stabilized at 1080p–showing that 4K is not always 4K.

All of this has caught the attention of initial reviews of the Breeze with comparisons not at the nimbler and reliable models like the DJI series, but at newer drones that have flying times more than double the Yuneec Breeze 4K.

And the inevitable comparison of the Yuneec Breeze 4K is to the Yuneec Q500 4K, which has struggled as a bulky product beset by internal WiFi card issues and GPS reliability. Yuneec has attempted to move on from the Q500 4K with the Typhoon H class-but the legacy problems have reportedly impacted production and engineering fixes for the hexacopter.

In fact, some drone pilots suggest Yuneec risks getting lost in the crowd of low-end drone manufacturers that for now are not in the long-term game of innovation to gain customer loyalty like DJI.

 

The post Back to the future with Yuneec Breeze 4k appeared first on Drone Inner.

Yuneec Breeze Review: Everything you should know-Part II

The post is the part II of the Yuneec Breeze In-Depth Review.

Emergency landing with hard exit

The individual flight modes are explained in detail at the last post. If there are still questions during the flight, there is a help button in the upper right corner. This again displays information on the control elements. In the worst case, the drone can be landed – where “land” is the wrong word: if we touch the upper bar of the operating display twice, we can switch off the Yuneec Breeze immediately. It simply falls from the sky, which is why this possibility should only be used in case of emergency.

The partly automated modes require a position determination by GPS; The Yuneec Breeze 4K does not find any satellites, for example in indoor rooms, it can only be flown with the full-man pilot mode. Then the assisted modes would simply not be accurate enough, too dangerous. Even with a GPS connection, however, the user must ensure that he does not fly against obstacles; Sensors for a collision warning does not have the drone as mentioned.

Stable position thanks to GPS and IPS

In addition to GPS positioning, the Yuneec Breeze 4K also offers an Indoor Positioning System (IPS), which is designed to help the drone in interior spaces while holding the position. On the other hand, the drone has installed additional cameras on the underside, which recognize textures on the ground and give the device orientation.

An infrared sensor at the bottom also measures the heights of the copter. This is particularly important when we activate the automatic return function: Here, the user can set before the start, at what height the Yuneec Breeze should fly back. When a connection is lost, the drone will return automatically if no connection can be restored for one minute. Even in the automatic return function, the drone can not detect any obstacles.

13-megapixel camera points to the pilot

By default, the camera is aimed at the pilot, so it does not show forward as usual with copters. This also underlines the purpose of the device as a “self-drive”. If we do not want us, but the landscape filming and photographing and therefore the camera prefer to use forward, the control can be inverted. Then the drone can simply be turned over and flown without having to use it with an inverted control.

The camera of the Yuneec Breeze has 13 megapixels and optionally takes videos in 3,840 x 2,160 pixels at 30 fps, in 1,920 x 1,080 pixels at 30 fps and in 1,280 x 720 pixels at 60 fps. Photos are recorded at 4,160 x 3,120 pixels. The field of view of the camera is 117 degrees, the angle can be set vertically between 0 and 90 degrees. Stabilized recordings are only available in full HD and HD, the 4K videos are correspondingly more blurred. The stabilizer works electronically, there is no optical stabilization or even a gimbal.

Electronic stabilization only with Full-HD

The electronic stabilization works quite reliably, but in some situations it is clearly visible. If the movement of the cop in the air is particularly violent, this can be seen in a kind of flirting in the picture. The image margins and the overall image remain stable, but individual parts of the video image, for example, very high contrast. However, we are still finding this acceptable against the backdrop of the price of the drone.

The 4K recordings we feel only in very calm flight situation as usable – thus with almost wind still. If you are familiar with video editing, however, you can still use a software stabilization.

The quality of the photos is equivalent to a mediocre smartphone camera with 13 megapixels. Details look very thick and blurred, but the quality is sufficient for sharing in social networks. However, large-format prints should not be looked at too closely.

Good video quality

The video quality is good for us, especially from the 4K mode, we were also surprised by the weather conditions in which we recorded. Although very fine structures result in compression artifacts, on the whole the quality is good. Also in full-HD recorded videos – preferred by us because of the stabilization – are qualitatively sufficiently good.

With the camera of a Mavic Pro or an even more expensive drone, the Yuneec Breeze can not keep up, but the drone costs less. Take care, however, of the pilot, but with the backlight: Then it can easily come to blue fringing, as we have seen in trees in a bright, white sky.

The Yuneec Breeze has an internal memory of 16 GB, a slot for a Micro SD card does not exist. Recorded videos and photos can either be loaded onto a smartphone or tablet via the app or played on a PC by cable. In the Breeze cam app, the recorded videos can be cut and split into small movies after the download. This lets you upload photos and movies directly to Facebook, Instagram, or other social networks. The cutting function provides the necessary tools to perform simple machining operations.

The flight time is too short

The Yuneec Breeze 4K uses replaceable batteries with a nominal charge of 1,150 mAh. According to Yuneec, they should allow a flight time of twelve minutes, but with video recordings, we have not gone beyond ten minutes in our tests. Compared to other manufacturers’ drones, this is an under-average value that is too short in everyday life.

The battery takes an hour to fully recharge. In our opinion, pilots need at least three batteries to use the Yuneec Breeze effectively. Luckily, the batteries with currently $50-60 are not too expensive, but buyers must pay attention to these additional costs.

Conclusion

The Yuneec Breeze 4K costs around $500. It includes spare rotors, four plastic rotor protectors, a battery, a charger, a USB cable and a plastic box for the drone.

We like the concept of the Yuneec Breeze 4K very well: The idea to launch a drone on the market, which explicitly addresses even inexperienced users who simply want to make videos and photos, we think it makes sense.

This is “Your Flying Camera” rather than a competitor to the Mavic Pro which is ultraportable and powerful yet, or other entry to mid-level drones.

The post Yuneec Breeze Review: Everything you should know-Part II appeared first on Drone Inner.

Yuneec Breeze Review: Everything you should know-Part I

The Chinese company Yuneec calls its small quad-copter “Selfie drone” or “flying camera”. It is called Breeze 4K and is to be particularly suitable for simple video recordings and photos, which the pilot himself can make.

The Yuneec Breeze 4K is compact, it fits into a plastic case, which is only 215 x 205 x 73 mm. The drone itself measures 196 x 196 x 65 mm, with attached propeller protection 327 x 327 x 65 mm. The propellers themselves are not rigid, which is why they can be folded inwards to save space. At 385 grams, the copter is relatively light.

Yuneec Breeze 4K is easy to carry

Due to the compact packaging, the Yuneec Breeze can be carried along very easily and comfortably on the road, which is not only practical when traveling: in many large cities in America it is not permissible to fly a drone in the city center. This is far more convenient with such a small drone, especially if you are not driving.

The Yuneec Breeze is ready for use: We just have to fold out the four feet, insert the battery and press the power button. The copter then waits to connect to a smartphone that acts as a remote control.

We need to install the free Breeze cam app, which is available for both Android and iOS. Using this application, we can not only control the drone, but also make settings, view, edit, and edit the captured video, and track the live image of the camera during the flight. The connection between drone and smartphone or tablet is via WLAN, so the range is limited to a few hundred meters.

Speed limits for quiet shots

The maximum flying height is set to 80 meters from home – this restriction makes sense in the sense that users are supposed to film themselves with the drone. Its maximum flight speed is at 18 km/h and the maximum ascent rate is even at 3.6 km / h. This makes the Yuneec Breeze much slower than many competitors, such as Parrot Bebop or DJI Mavic. However, it is also possible to record extremely quiet camshafts and camera movements.

The Breeze Cam app is designed to allow users with little flying experience to get the drone up and take good pictures with it. In addition to the so-called pilot mode, in which we control the drone completely manually via two virtual control buttons on the screen of our smartphone or tablet, there are different flight modes, in which the user is able to release a part of the control and automate it.

The drone as a self-contained stick

The Selfie mode is used to photograph and film yourself without having to pay too much attention to the control of the drone. Correspondingly, this mode should be executed in a range where interference in the trajectory can not occur. The Yuneec Breeze camera will show the user in this mode. The Selfie mode focuses more on the camera image and sets the control of the drone into the background. Accordingly, we do not control the copter with virtual control sticks on the screen as in pilot mode.

These are also as documented as with other copters: The left stick regulates the yaw and the ascent or the speed of the drone, the right is responsible for the direction. This division can also be reversed in the settings. Alternatively, a tilt control is also available: the yaw and the height / speed are still controlled by the virtual stick, while the direction is controlled by the smartphone. To do this, press and hold a corresponding button on the display with our thumb.

Simplified operation

In the Selfie mode, however, we adjust the distance and height simply by means of sliders in the standard setting, also the camera is adjusted in this way in height. This control makes it much easier to focus on the image, but it is also more difficult to react to suddenly appearing objects in the trajectory. Before activating the mode, the user is explicitly advised to pay attention to surrounding structures. The Yuneec Breeze does not have built-in sensors that warn of collisions or even objects.

After a brief familiarization, the selfie mode allows us to take good photos and videos, especially when we are shooting in Full HD. Then, the image is electronically stabilized, as opposed to images in 4K. These are better from the resolution and the details, but by the constant corrections, which the Yuneec Breeze in the flight independently makes, noticeably more jerky.

In orbit mode, the copter circle flies

Beware of surrounding objects, especially in orbit mode where the Yuneec Breeze flies in circles. Again, the control is reduced, we adjust the altitude and the distance by means of the slider. At the push of a button, the drone begins to cir- culate with or counter-clockwise at the set distance. This can take place around the user himself or around an object. The circuit is interrupted at the touch of a button.

In our tests, we found that the chosen circle should not be too tight, because the camera of the drone then has problems to really fly around a center point – this is not determined by tracking. Correspondingly, we were sometimes on the edge of the video recording rather than in the middle. If the circle is big enough, the centering will work better. But then users have to pay attention to other buildings, trees, and especially people.

In Journey mode, the Yuneec Breeze flies away from us and then returns to us. There is no way to determine the coordinates that are being flown here – the Breeze 4K simply flies away and returns. Accordingly, we found the mode of all least useful.

In the follow-me mode the copter follows only conditionally

This is different with the follow-me mode: As the name suggests, the copter follows us in this mode – or the mobile device connected to it. Yuneec does not use a high-resolution object recognition, but follows us exclusively via the smartphone or tablet, with which we control the drone. This means that other objects such as vehicles, other humans or animals can not be tracked.

The tracking works fine in our attempts, sometimes less good. The drone loses sight of us, but the result is satisfactory at normal walking speed. For the Yuneec Breeze to fly us, we have to switch a switch in the preview screen of our smartphone.

We’ll continue to review in the next post,please stay tuned to us.

 

The post Yuneec Breeze Review: Everything you should know-Part I appeared first on Drone Inner.

Yuneec Breeze VS Phantom 3

Breeze is the first drone released by Yuneec targeting the mass market with the price $499. Yuneec cut down on costs by opting to use smartphones (iOS and Android) as the controllers instead of having a dedicated remote control.

So the Yuneec Breeze drone is completely controlled with the Breeze Cam mobile app, offering several flight modes – Selfie, Follow Me, Orbit, Journey and Pilot—that will work both indoors or outdoors with the help of GPS and optical sensors.

The Breeze Cam mobile app also allows users to instantly share aerial photos and videos on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and WhatsApp

With its connected Breeze Cam App, the Yuneec Breeze is able to work with a variety of automatic creative modes.

• Selfie Mode keeps the drone in a single place, facing the user.
• Pilot Mode allows full manual controls.
• Orbit Mode has the drone circle any object.
• Follow Me Mode makes the drone follow the user’s smartphone with GPS.
• Journey Mode uses camera pitch to allow the user to make and view a trajectory for the drone to fly, reach a designated spot, and fly back to the user.

Yuneec employs what they call their Indoor Positioning System (IPS) to hold the Breeze drone in place either indoors or out.

Compared to the Phantom 3 series, despite being introduced 20 months ago, has blossomed into a mature and reliable platform with many 3rd party accessories and apps. The prices have come down while the capabilities have increased (due to apps and some DJI improvements). This being the case – it’s hard to come up with a better value than the Phantom 3 series. The Standard is for the (relative) beginner who is on a budget and wants to get his or her feet wet in aerial photography – while the Advanced and Pro models have advanced features that still keep the competition on the ropes. Many experts claim DJI is 2+ years ago of most other camera drone makers – and the P3 line seems to prove that point.

Breeze is considered a selfie drone and is made for those who belong in the social media generation. This seems to fall in competition with the Phantom 3 Standard. Both are completely different designed. The Breeze’s camera is in the body of the aircraft. But the Phantom 3 Standard has a more traditional gimbal which can produce better image. And at the same time, Phantom 3 Standard has longer flight time and farther controlling distance.

The post Yuneec Breeze VS Phantom 3 appeared first on Drone Inner.

Because this I did not try Yuneec Breeze outdoor flight

Yuneec Breeze markets itself as a drone that is easy to fly without any experience and is pretty hard to crash.

However, scan Amazon.com for feedback from Yuneec Breeze buyers to discover reviews like “Not ready. Flawed indoor flight.” and “Please be very careful indoors. At the moment I cannot recommend the Yuneec Breeze indoors. ” Reviews like these should cause any potential Yuneec Breeze buyer to reconsider their impending drone purchase.

Below story comes from a buyer on Amazon.

The build quality of Yuneec Breeze is pretty good, and having two batteries and an easy to carry device were definitely bonuses. That being said, once it became flight time the fun flew away. I quickly found that it does not like flying over the vast majority of indoor setups. Had I first had the user manual I would have not bought this product.

Here are the indoor flight limits: No flying over- sparse surfaces, surfaces with patterns/textures, reflective surfaces, water, moving surfaces, or moving objects like blowing grass or animals, areas with lighting changes, dark or bright surfaces, surfaces with repeating textures or patterns… When I managed to find a surface capable of taking off from, the Yuneec Breeze drone had a tendency to wander the room rather than hover in place. I have darker carpet in my house. When I take off from the bed, which is the only surface I’ve found that does not throw a warning preventing takeoff, if the Breeze drone drifts over my carpet rather than reacting like the FAQ says and maintaining altitude, it goes up altitude and tries to power through the ceiling. To make matters worse, it would not land or react to the emergency button when this happened. I had to resort to the risky grab it out of the air and hit the power button the stop the props. On my tests where I manged to keep it from trying to scrape the ceiling, the constant warnings from the “Optical Flow Module” made the already sluggish tablet/phone based controls neigh unusable. The tablet/phone controls, while seeming nice at first as you have less gear to manage actually turns out to be a negative. The lack of a controller and joysticks that go with it means you have no fine control. What control you do have is very limited. When your OFM is freaking out, and you are trying to steer the Yuneec Breeze to keep it from wrecking, not having fine motor controls is a huge limiting factor. All in all I felt like I could not trust this Yuneec Breeze to either hover in place or follow me and capture video. Because the initial indoor tests went so poorly I did not try outdoor flight for fear a repeat of the ceiling scraping issue would cause the breeze to fly off never to be seen again. This product is not yet ready, in my opinions, and might be on the verge of being unsafe.

In Yuneec forums,many pilots noted the indoor crash. “I had several crashes indoor, I would say out of 8 flights the Yuneec Breeze went drifting and ignoring my command 6 times. I could catch her a few times then shutting off, but I got my piano and some probs damaged.

It is certainly an issue with the optical flow sensor or some similar sensor. When the drone flies over a carpet, my black or my grey couch I noticed slow response to my commands. The drone starts drifting. In two cases, after a short side drift, it went crazily fast to one direction until it crashed (the motors are switched off then).

Please be very careful indoors. At the moment I cannot recommend the Yuneec Breeze indoors. Even an experienced pilot can’t do anything as the drone ignores all commands from my phone in these cases (except emergency shutdown). Low light conditions seem to have a big impact on the sensor.

Yuneec should provide a manual control mode to fly the drone without the optical sensors or just let the pilot override the automatic reactions. Until then I’ll stay outside.”

What’s your story with Yuneec Breeze?

 

The post Because this I did not try Yuneec Breeze outdoor flight appeared first on Drone Inner.

Yuneec Breeze is good if you understand what you’re getting

I received my Yuneec Breeze 4K half a month ago and I have flown it every opportunity this wet and windy Kentucky winter has provided. I think the Breeze drone is a very solid product if you understand what it is made for and the limitations of the device. Like Yuneec’s tagline for the product, this is “Your Flying Camera” rather than a competitor to the DJI Phantom, 3DR Solo, or other entry to mid-level drones.

WHAT YOU GET: It comes with the Yuneec Breeze, a nice hard box (no handle though!), two batteries, a charger, a USB cable to transfer footage, extra props, and prop guards.

WHAT IT DOES: It’s a highly portable, stable, and easy to fly drone for recording 1080p footage and taking pretty nice still photographs. It’s meant to stay firmly within line of sight, which is a good idea for this drone’s target market. I’ve had mine 300′ feet away and nearly 200′ foot up using my iPhone 7 as the controller, and it flew perfectly fine. The batteries have been lasting me around 12-14 minutes per charge, and charge in about 40-45 minutes. Aside from the manual pilot mode, it has autopilot modes like Orbit (taking 360° video or photos of a point of interest), Journey (flies away from a POI to a pre-determined distance, then returns while taking video roundtrip), a couple of Follow Me modes (following a POI from a fixed point or the classic following behind the POI), and the ability to fly in first person view with an available headset and controller.

That being said, I’ve read a lot of comments on Amazon and on other discussion forums that one of the software updates for the drone dramatically affects the reliability of the Wi-Fi, so as of 1/17/17, I would not recommend upgrading the firmware until Yuneec has published and tested a corrective update.

WHAT IT”S NOT: The Yuneec Breeze is not going to fly miles away or exceed the FAA’s 400′ ceiling for UAS. It’s not going to take dramatic 4K footage for your next movie. It is capable of recording 4K video, but it is not mechanically stabilized, so you must run it through a filter during post processing to avoid pretty severe jitter. It’s not a speed demon because it prioritizes stability and ease of use. Think of this more like a floating cameraperson rather than full-fledged drone.

THE FINAL VERDICT: I can see why a lot of folks are disappointed. Had I updated mine and have the crappy Wi-Fi issues currently affecting many owners, I’d be upset as well. However, mine has been pretty much flawless with the out-of-the box firmware. I also knew before purchase that this wasn’t a drone that flies miles away. I’d be disappointed if I thought this was a direct competitor for a Phantom 3 Standard. It has pretty aggressive geo-fencing to help the pilot stay firmly in control. The Yuneec Breeze is a beginner drone for me, and over time as I become a more skillful pilot and video editor, the limitations will likely frustrate me. It will be time to upgrade. Until then, I’m enjoying the Yuneec Breeze and looking forward to spring weather!

The review comes from a buyer on Amazon.

The post Yuneec Breeze is good if you understand what you’re getting appeared first on Drone Inner.

Yuneec Breeze is for the selfies generation

A new “flying camera” Yuneec Breeze 4K from Yuneec is proper for the selfies generation and affordable to mass market.

It’s aimed primarily at social media users who want to easily capture aerial photos or videos of their exploits then share them quickly with their circle of real (and virtual) mates.

To that end, the Yuneec Breeze 4K is small and lightweight (385g), making it easy to carry around with you, and doesn’t have a dedicated controller. This isn’t some acrobatic wonder, or a drone you’re going to send half a mile away – it’s designed for close, simple, largely automated (it has GPS and optical sensors to keep it steady) flight, and it’s all controlled by a smartphone app.

Like I said, this isn’t designed to be a fun flying machine, just an affordable, easy-to-use aerial camera platform. The app control extends to about 100m, and gives you a live feed from the drone’s front-mounted camera, all the better to frame those majestic selfies.

But while the lack of a dedicated controller might limit your ability for fine-tuned control, the Yuneec Breeze 4K can be piloted directly using touchscreen controls, as well as made to fly in a variety of special modes – there’s auto take-off and landing, return-to-home, plus modes that’ll have the drone circle your position, training the camera on you at all times, or focus on a point-of-interest.

The battery gives you about 12 minutes of air-time per charge, during which you can capture footage at up to 4K quality or 13MP stills. And the app (which is available for Android and iOS from launch) then allows you to share photos directly via Twitter, WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and more.

Relatively, yes. Now the Yuneec Breeze 4K is $380, making it a lot less stressful on the wallet than the more “advanced” drones we’re used to seeing . Compared to other Yuneec series and many rival quadcopters,the Breeze 4K drone is real cheap.

The post Yuneec Breeze is for the selfies generation appeared first on Drone Inner.

Yuneec Breeze 4K review

Yuneec‘s first selfies drone Yuneec Breeze 4K is the drone equivalent of a cellphone camera, complete with an over-emphasis on selfies.

Would I bring it to a high-end real estate photo shoot? No, but it’s good at what it does: it’s loads of fun to fly and it produces the kind of images that will look good shared on small screens via Instagram and YouTube.

The Yuneec Breeze 4K is lightweight and designed to fit in a backpack, though at 13 ounces, it still needs to be registered with the FAA. The plastic body feels a little more fragile than that of the GDU Byrd, which I happened to be testing at the same time. The good news is that pretty much every part you’re liable to break is for sale individually, making it easy, if perhaps costly, to get your drone back in the air should you crash or otherwise break it. Also, it comes in a little suitcase that keeps it protected from drops while you’re carrying it.

The Yuneec Breeze 4K comes with a 4K-capable camera (30fps) on board, though there are several important caveats to bear in mind. First, there is no stabilizing gimbal, so the steadiness of your video is directly proportional to your skills as a pilot. Recognizing that the newcomer won’t have those piloting skills yet, the Breeze includes a host of preprogrammed auto-flying modes that go a long way toward improving stability and therefore video quality. There’s also some built in digital stabilization, but, and here’s the second caveat: digital stabilization only works with 1080p video, not 4K footage. While the Yuneec Breeze 4K clearly wants to tout its 4K capabilities, they’re of limited usefulness without stabilization.

Back to the controller, or rather lack of controller. Yes, the Yuneec Breeze 4K controller is a smartphone app. The controller consists of virtual joysticks that behave just like the real thing, minus all the tactile feedback that can help with your reaction times. But again, the manual controls are almost an afterthought here, the real selling point is the plethora of automated flight modes. You get the usual flight modes that every current drone has (follow me, orbit mode) plus a few others (selfie mode, journey mode, manual pilot mode).Follow me and orbit modes work like they do in Yuneec’s larger, more expensive drones. Selfie mode ditches the control interface entirely and instead offers a slider for controlling the camera. Journey mode was the most impressive—it starts with a fly-away shot and then comes zooming back in. The resulting video is nice and smooth.

In terms of the image quality, video can be a little soft at times, and stills probably won’t look good as 16×20 prints. For online sharing, it’s more than good enough most of the time. The one place I found it just didn’t work well was in follow me mode where too tight of a shot made for jerky camera movements as the drone tried to keep up.

Backing it up a bit in altitude fixed the problem, but highlighted the other big shortcoming: the Yuneec Breeze 4K really only stays aloft for about 10 minutes. Yuneec includes two batteries in the box, which doubles the flight time to 20 minutes if you switch batteries. That should be enough time to get all the selfies you need.

Yuneec Breeze 4K is a nice choice for newcomers, for more selfies drones, please refer here.

(Source)

 

 

 

 

 

The post Yuneec Breeze 4K review appeared first on Drone Inner.

Yuneec Breeze VS Hover Camera Passport

Today the small drone trend is getting hotter. Yunnec initiated it back in September 2016 with the Breeze, a tiny drone. More recently, we got introduced to the Hover Camera Passport; another little book-sized drone which folds like one, Thus let’s compare the two drones in a Yuneec Breeze vs Hover Camera Passport showdown!

Camera

The camera department is probably the same. While they both shoot 4k 30fps, the Hover Camera Passport and Breeze sport a servo-controlled automated tilting camera, a slightly bigger field of view of 117° vs the 78.4° on the Hover Camera Passport.

Hovering system

Another important feature for those who get into drones for the first time, is the presence of some sort of hovering assistance, as it may come hard to keep the drone in a determined position when there’s wind and you still aren’t fully trained. Because of that, the Yuneec Breeze packs a GPS as well as GLONASS dual satellite navigation system to guarantee accurate hovering both indoor and outdoor.

On the other side, the Hover Camera Passport doesn’t seem to feature GPS-supported hover modes.

Flight time

Hover Camera Passport announced a 10 minutes flight time in perfect environment, Breeze has longer flight time of nearly 12 minutes. But if you want to shoot good video, better to carry more batteries.

Image transmission system

Both of them use WiFi to transmit image and controlling signal, but the controlling distance of Breeze (100m) is longer than Hover Camera Passport (20m)

Price

The most important feature that users can feel is the price, so we compare Hover Camera Passport’s price with Breeze. The Hover Camera Passport’s price is higher than Breeze which is $599 but $373 of Breeze

The post Yuneec Breeze VS Hover Camera Passport appeared first on Drone Inner.