$15 000 000 USD was not enough to make Lily drone fly?

The Lily drone is so striking when the video was put online. After 60,000 pre-orders and $ 34 million raised, the company just announced that it would never go out. Just for the comparison, Hover Camera only raised $25M and delivered the final product to the customers. -Is it a good product? Not at all! But they made something real without complaining that they have no money.

The idea of Lily drone was good: a fully autonomous drone requiring no control to operate. The design was successful and had contributed to the total success of the crowdfunding campaign.

But it is at the financial level that the startup has not transformed, by failing to find enough funding from investors or banks to achieve production start-up. Seriously? $15 000 000 USD was not enough to make Lily drone fly? But Lily started to sell not existent product and got $ 34M on top of $15M. And now their excuse is that there was not enough money to manufacture the autonomous drone.

“We have been racing against a clock of ever-diminishing funds,” they said. “Over the past few months, we have tried to secure financing in order to unlock our manufacturing line and ship our first units — but have been unable to do this. As a result, we are deeply saddened to say that we are planning to wind down the company and offer refunds to customers.”

The founders announced that all backers would be reimbursed within 60 days. If your credit card has expired since then, you will need to fill out a form to receive the $ 500 you advanced.

The drones of the market now offer automatic tracking functionality of the remote control or a point of interest. The DJI Mavic Pro is doing very well for example. You can browse our guide of the five pocket sized drones.

The post $15 000 000 USD was not enough to make Lily drone fly? appeared first on Drone Inner.

Watching this Hover Camera review before investing $599

Hover Camera is foldable and portable,it folds like a book. Very easy, simple to fold. Looks nice, compact after folding.Though small, it is also equipped with a pretty decent little camera. It shoots video in 4K, stills at 13 megapixels, and even has a built-in flash.

Designing the cover is tricky. For maximum safety, it should cover as much of the propellers as possible. But covering the propellers comes at the cost of increased weight and reduced efficiency. Because of this, the cover has to be hollowed out as much as possible to reduce weight and extend flight time (in practice, the Hover camera helicopter can fly for about 8 minutes on a single charge).And the Hover camera isn’t efficient enough as this cover reduces flight efficiency significantly as admitted even by its product manager.

Another issue is that the Hover Camera connects to an iOS device over direct Wi-Fi, which limits its range.But of course Hover camera isn’t a full-featured drone like DJI’s Inspire or Phantom. While it does shoot 4K video and have a 13MP camera, it’s meant to be more of a close-up camera or tripod – not a true aerial camera. The WiFi connection will drop when it gets about 60 feet away from you, and it’s just not meant to fly that high. The WiFi connection did drop once or twice on me, but this was before I even asked the company what the limit was – so it was definitely occurring when I was pushing past that 60 feet boundary.

The biggest issue, however, is that the Hover Camera lacks what both the Mavic Pro and the GoPro Karma have: A stabilizing three-axis gimbal. This feature keeps their cameras rock-solid in the air, immune to vibrations and buffets of wind. That’s why video from either of those models will vastly outshine anything the Hover Camera is capable of producing – even if it has the desirable ultra-high-def 4k spec on paper.

Reviewers have noted that the Hover Camera video leaves a lot to be desired. There’s considerable vibration, which can produce a “jello” effect not seen in drones with quality stabilizing gimbals.

We found it very informative to watch Norm Chan’s Tested review. Norm starts out really, really wanting to like this drone. But the more he used it, the more he found it needed work. (Not only were there problems with the video quality, Norm also found some problems with the Hover Camera’s tracking abilities. When walking down the street with the drone following him, Norm found it could “lose tracking, and then crash into a tree or something. Not very impressive.”

As for the video?

Here is a short video using the Hover Camera Passport for those of you who want to see it in action:

“There just isn’t enough processing power to give you high quality video,” he says.

That’s not to say this machine doesn’t have some merits. But if you’re considering the Hover Camera, we’d encourage you to invest less than 10 minutes watching this review before investing $599.

The post Watching this Hover Camera review before investing $599 appeared first on Drone Inner.

Yuneec Breeze looks set to get lost in the crowd

With its limited range and connection issues, the Yuneec Breeze comes at a major disadvantage to cheaper consumer drones already on the market and that have many of the same features if not better.

Early users have found that the weight of the Yuneec Breeze, at about a pound, and awkward oblong shape make it susceptible to being easily blown off course by wind gusts, diminishing its promise as a stable platform for “selfie” shots. At the same time, even hovering nearby someone using an app on a smartphone underscores the danger of sending the Yuneec drone too far away, especially for the camera’s functionality.

“Basically you can get 4K video out of it, but in reality you want to use the 1080P video that is going to give you a much more stabilized and ready to use video,” Bo Lorentzen, said in a review of the Yuneec Breeze on fpvguy.com

And that little tidbit is a recurring theme in other threads about the Yuneec Breeze —specs that seem to promise the features of higher-end drones, like the solid 4k camera from the DJI Phantom 4 with Lightbridge 2 technology in the controller, but in reality are closer to a spate of copycats that remain underdeveloped. That includes the one battery that comes with the Yuneec Breeze with a 12-minute, at best, air time and that lacks the kind of carrying case to protect the propellers of the Yuneec Breeze during transport for what presumably would be spontaneous use.

“I think the target audience for this is gonna balk at the price of this product,” said Attila Von Stryker1. “This set of features is going to appeal to the $100.00 audience at the local Big Box Store. Too much expensive tech for the utilitarian task of a flying selfie stick. These products will be the inevitable failed precursors to better things to come.”

In fact, Attila Von Stryker1 notes, even some of the advertised features of the Yuneec Breeze that seem to set the Yuneec drone apart from a spate of lower-end models from UAV drone manufacturers may backfire if they prove to provide patchy service, a problem seen with higher-end Yuneec drones.

“People will opt for a less capable, yet still “good enough” option at a more affordable price point,” said Attila Von Stryker1.

“I have expensive GoPros but most of the time I fly a $100.00 RunCam, Mobius or SJ4000 and they do a good job in most cases without the potential loss of a $450.00 GoPro. The first company to streamline the tech to just the bare essentials enough to accomplish this task at a ‘good enough’ price point will have a decent chance at a breakout product.”

As noted, the camera onboard the Yuneec Breeze is one of the questioned tech factors as it appears to be billed as on par with the 4K video camera used on DJI’s Phantom 4K UHD drone, meaning that the Yuneec Breeze should deliver quality image feeds. But as buyers have noted, the camera is not connected to a gimbal and its point-and-shoot type process is better suited to capture video using EIS (electronic image stabilization) at 1080p, not at 4K.

That is really disappointing, SergeantAsh pointed out, and “means that when shooting 4K, the picture will shift whenever there is wind or if you manually control the drone to travel forwards/backwards or tilt it.”

On another point, the folding propellers are probably not enough of a safety feature to avoid damage if the Yuneec Breeze is carried loosely in a backpack, and the app used to control the Yuneec drone from a smartphone does not stand out from those used in cheaper “selfie” drone products hitting the market.

“It will be interesting to see if there is a market for many various brands of the same (basic) machine – and if the camera stabilization is good enough to justify the price tag,” said reviewer Craigiri.

 

 

 

The post Yuneec Breeze looks set to get lost in the crowd appeared first on Drone Inner.

Read This First Before You Buy 3DR Solo!

Like many people I bought into the excitement with Solo based on marketing 3DR successfully pulled off dubbing Solo the first smart drone ever. This is based on 3DR Solo‘s patented Smart Shots that take the skill out of getting the perfect aerial shot, and was marketed to enable you to allow the drone to either control the camera while you fly the drone, or have Solo control the drone while you control the camera, conducting a two person task but requiring only one person to operate the drone, hence the name Solo. Though automated modes (like orbit, follow, and cable cam) are pretty standard now with most all drones available after 2015.

Let’s talk flight times. Users were promised 20 minutes on a fully charged battery and when I first purchased my 3DR Solo I was getting around 17-18 minutes without a gimbal. 8 months later and I’m only around 11-12 minutes (without a gimbal) and light use.

What’s the range? 3DR Solo is the worst drone among its competitors in regards to range. Without upgrading to better aftermarket antennas your looking at around 300-500 yards before Solo hits Return To Home mode (known as RTH), results improve if your in a rural area with virtually no wifi interference. If your in a really congested area like NYC, it could be substantially less. Some say you want to always maintain eye contact while flying but depending on the situation for the shot you need, this is a major problem because that range is also the same for altitude but less. You also have to consider limitations when flying a programmed mission.

Upon Solo’s debut 3DR was scrutinized for pushing to release Solo in June 2015 despite complications with their camera gimbal that caused Solo users to wait months before it became readily available sometime in late August 2015, and still had serious bugs to be worked out. Even now users still casually report complications with Solo’s gimbal.The major issue with the gimbal is that it produces a large amount of vibration and jello in your footage which is mostly due to the bad factory assembly of the gimbal’s HDMI cable, which once in flight, picks up a ton of vibration that’s seen in your recorded video footage. The only solution to this problem is to purchase an after market HDMI flat ribbon cable which is thin enough to pick up much less vibration and shake.3DR Solo also has an issue that requires it to take a much longer time than any of its competitor’s drones to get a satellite lock, and once again the only solution is to upgrade the satellite chip yourself. Also if you want to fix the range issue internally, you would have to upgrade the wifi card in both your Solo and the controller. Which brings me to my next point, unless you plan to modify/customize Solo to make it better, don’t bother buying it. If your intimidated about taking things apart and putting them back together, I do not recommend buying 3DR Solo.

Speaking of 3DR Solo’s value, when I bought my Solo, I paid $1000 without the gimbal, and the gimbal sold for another $400. I wanted to shoot in 4k so I payed another $500 for my GoPro 4 Black and another $80 for a high bit rate 64GB SDChip. This doesn’t include the price of upgrades, so you see I spent over $2000 for my Solo. Then 5 months after I purchased it, for $1000 you get the Solo and gimbal, now you could get it just for around $500 as 3DR is no longer making consumer drones,you talk about a punch in the face. Also Solo’s resale value is really poor. Word has gotten around about the out of the box Solo performance and gimbal poor gimbal quality, and of course that means trying to sell Solo isn’t an easy thing. I see guys online place their Solo’s for sale and wait months with no buyer. Just go on Ebay and search used 3DR Solo and watch an item til it sells.

As a Solo user who’s apart of all the Solo forums and multiple Solo Facebook groups, if I did it all over again, I would have bought a DJI Phantom 3/4 or Mavic Pro over Solo.

The post Read This First Before You Buy 3DR Solo! appeared first on Drone Inner.

Hover Camera Passport:Could you get what you pay for?

Drones have evolved quickly in the past few years, but lately we’re entering a new era. These new models are more compact, less expensive, and – for many consumers – more appealing. After all, not everyone wants to lug around a massive backpack or case in order to be able to take aerial footage.

The new, foldable eyes in the sky are: The Mavic Pro, by DJI. The Karma, by GoPro. And the Hover Camera Passport, by Beijing’s Zero Zero Robotics.This last model, at $599 US, is the least expensive. And, as a result of its unique design and some cool features, has been getting a lot of attention. We can sure see why.

For starters, the Hover Camera Passport doesn’t look like any previous commercial drone. When folded, it’s about the size and shape of a video cassette. What? Yup – it’s like an elongated cube (also known as a cuboid). But it unfolds to reveal two wing-like cages, each of which contain two motors. Those cages are lightweight carbon fibre, and they serve a couple of purposes.

Structurally, they allow for the mounting of the motors and the encasing of the propellers (which means the protection of your fingers!). They also allow for that folding mechanism, which is pretty slick.

But what’s cooler (and what’s grabbing a lot of attention) is one fairly unique feature of the Hover Camera Passport: Once you unfold it and turn it on (kind of like opening a lightweight hardcover book and pressing its spine), you can position it in the air and let go – and it just stays there. A downward facing-camera and sonar hold its position. If you want to reposition it, you can just grab it (without fear of the props), reposition it in the air, and it will stay there.

When you first see it happening, it looks kind of magical. And it is a neat trick.

What’s more, you can control the Hover Camera Passport with your smartphone from up to 20 metres away via WiFi. Anyone can be up and flying in a flash, and taking selfies with its 13-megapixel camera (which is also 4k video-capable). The camera can pitch up 30 degrees and down 90 degrees, so you’ve got some control over the angle of the shot. It comes with two LiPo batteries, each of which can fly the Hover Camera for ten minutes (most drones only ship with one battery).

Plus, the Hover Camera Passport has some brains. It has face-tracking (if you’re close and in good light), body tracking (if you don’t move too quickly – because it tends to lose people), orbit mode (where it flies in a circle around a chosen object while keeping the camera end pointed at it), and a panorama mode where it rotates in a single spot while capturing what it can see with its 28mm field of view.

When you add all that up, it appears to be really great value. Couple that with the ability to grab it and position it by hand, and you’ve got something pretty unique.

But – as with everything in life – you get what you pay for. Two batteries is great, but each of those batteries allows for very limited flight times. (The Mavic Pro, in optimal conditions, can get 27 minutes of airtime off one battery. That’s nearly three times what the Hover Camera Passport can do.)

As for range, 20 metres isn’t bad. But if you want to capture a breathtaking landscape, you’ll want a little more distance between your aerial camera and the earth. With the $999 base Mavic Pro, using your phone alone gives you control from up to 80 metres away. (Add on the Mavic Pro’s optional folding remote control, and it has a range of an incredible seven kilometres – all while streaming back live 1080p or 720p video to your mobile device.)

The biggest issue, however, is that the Hover Camera Passport lacks what both the Mavic Pro and the GoPro Karma have: A stabilizing three-axis gimbal. This feature keeps their cameras rock-solid in the air, immune to vibrations and buffets of wind. That’s why video from either of those models will vastly outshine anything the Hover Camera Passport is capable of producing – even if it has the desirable ultra-high-def 4k spec on paper.

That’s not to say this machine doesn’t have some merits. But if you’re considering the Hover Camera, we’d encourage you to invest less than 10 minutes watching that review before investing $599.

The post Hover Camera Passport:Could you get what you pay for? appeared first on Drone Inner.

Should you get the Xiaomi Mi Drone?

The Xiaomi Mi Drone is a collaboration of Xiaomi and another company, Flymi, which is also based in China. The Xiaomi Mi Drone is designed with a three-axis gimbal and comes in two models. One is capable of 4K video recording while the other version is a 1080p model with a 12-megapixel sensor and a 16-megapixel Sony sensor, respectively, mounted on motorized three-axis gimbals.

The Xiaomi Mi Drone can be folded flat to make it possible to carry on a backpack without being too bulky. It also is designed with propeller guards and the gimbal camera is also detachable. The gimbal is made of 149 grams of polycarbonate and carbon fiber material.

This flyer can record at 3,840 x 2,160-pixel resolution, 104-degree wide angle lens and has autopilot options, among others. Aside from the capability to record 4K video with the 4k version, this drone can also take RAW photos. Also, this quadcopter can hover over an object on the ground, can take off and land automatically and capable of waypoint flight path planning. Another interesting feature of the Xiaomi Mi Drone is its ability to track location in real-time which makes it easier for the user to find the device in case it crashes unexpectedly. It can also determine if the battery is already running low and once it detects this, the drone automatically returns to base, so to speak.

This Xiaomi Mi Drone is equipped with GPS and Glonass support that makes it easy to use outdoors. Other features include a visual positioning system to ensure stability when GPS is not available when hovering below 2.5 meters and flying time at a maximum of 27 minutes with the power supplied by a 5,100 mAh battery that can be removed and can perform well even at a distance of three kilometers. This device also comes with a remote control that is compatible with the Mi smartphone that also doubles as a viewfinder.

Pros
– Very modular design. Easily foldable & stowable.
– 3 Axis easy snap-in gimbal with tilt control
– Camera 1080p 60fps or 4K
– Long range (1K/2K) 2.4 Ghz control and FPV achieved via printed circuit board (PCB) antennas.
– Extra precise GPS + GLONASS + Visual Positioning
– Automatic return to home/landing on loss of signal or low battery, or manual return to landing at push of a switch.
– Automatic takeoff and landing
– Orientation Lighting
– Large Battery 17.4V 5100mah. Gives up to 27 minutes flight time

“Mi UAV” App Features
– Compass and controller calibration
– Satellite and quadcopter status monitoring
– 720p FPV
– Three automatic flight modes: Fly to Point, Waypoint Route, Circle Point
– Real time position tracking

Cons
– Excessive flight restrictions. Can not fly further than 50m altitude or 100m horizontal range until the Xiaomi Mi Drone has achieved 5 hours (300 minutes) of cumulative flight time. Additionally, the quadcopter will not proceed beyond hover if flown in restricted areas.
– Official Xiaomi “Mi UAV” app is in Chinese. It’s somewhat impossible to use unless you know Chinese. There is a non official translated version in English, however it is an older version of the app.
– The English translated version of the app kept crashing on me. First would lose FPV view, then would lose app connection with Mi drone (although I still maintained manual GPS position hold flying). However, people are not having much better luck with the official version either
– Smartphones (like mine) can be very hard to see outdoors in daylight. Might be a good idea if Xiaomi included an AV output port for goggles.

Should you get the Xiaomi Mi Drone 1080p version which sells at $400 and the 4K recording version at $456.

The post Should you get the Xiaomi Mi Drone? appeared first on Drone Inner.

What 3DR Pixhawk mini is improved over the original?

3DR Pixhawk Mini, the next generation autopilot from 3DR. Building on the success of the original Pixhawk, 3DR Pixhawk Mini offers more in a 60% smaller package.

Pixhawk Mini is an upgraded Pixhawk designed in collaboration with HobbyKing and optimized to run the Dronecode PX4 firmware stack and QGroundControl multi-platform ground station (Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS).

For just $199, Pixhawk Mini includes autopilot, GPS, and all the cables and connectors needed to get started building DIY quads, planes, rovers, and boats.

SPECIFICATIONS

• Main Processor: STM32F427 Rev 3

• IO Processor: STM32F103

• Accel/Gyro/Mag: MPU9250

• Accel/Gyro: ICM20608

• Barometer: MS5611

• Dimensions: 38x43x12mm

• Weight: 15.8g

GPS Module: ublox Neo-M8N GPS/GLONASS receiver; integrated magnetometer HMC5983

• Dimensions: 37x37x12mm

• Weight: 22.4g

Interface

• 1 x UART Serial Port (for GPS)

• Spektrum DSM/DSM2/DSM-X® Satellite Compatible RC input

• Futaba S BUS® Compatible RC input

• PPM Sum Signal RC Input

• I2C (for digital sensors)

• CAN (for digital motor control with compatible controllers)

• ADC (for analog sensors)

• Micro USB Port

What’s Included?

• Pixhawk Mini Flight Controller

• GPS with uBlox M8N module with

  • Concurrent reception of up to 3 GNSS (GPS, Galileo, GLONASS, BeiDou)

  • Industry leading –167 dBm navigation sensitivity

  • Security and integrity protection

  • Supports all satellite augmentation systems

  • Advanced jamming and spoofing detection

  • Product variants to meet performance and cost requirements

  • Backward compatible with NEO‑7 and NEO‑6 families

• Integrated Power Module (up to 6s batteries) and power distribution board for quadcopters

• 8-channel servo output board for planes and other vehicles requiring powered PWM output.

•  Cables

  • 4 pin I2C cable and breakout board

  • 6 pin GPS+Compass cable

  • 6 to 6/4 ‘Y’ adapter for additional I2C devices

  • 4 JST to 6 DF13 cable for legacy telemetry radios

  • External safety switch cable

  • RCIN cable for PPM/SBUS input

  • 8 channel RC output cable

  • 6 pin power cable for included Power Distribution Board

What’s improved over Pixhawk 1?

• One third the size–dimensions reduced from 50 mm x 81.5 mm x15.5 mm to 38 mm x 43 mm x 12 mm. Smaller airframes can now operate autonomously without making sacrifices for the Pixhawk footprint.

• Rev 3 STM32 processor allow for full utilization of 2MB flash memory. 3DR Pixhawk Mini operates at only 50% compute capacity, 40 percentage points lower than the original Pixhawk. There is significantly more overhead available to run custom code.

• Improved sensors, including both primary and secondary IMU (MPU9250 and ICM20608, respectively), lead to much better vibration handling and increased reliability.

• GPS module included–Neo M8N with quad-constellation support and upgraded HMC5983 compass.

• Micro JST connectors replace DF-13. We can all breath a sigh of relief.

• Integrated piezo speaker and safety switch

What’s improved over Pixfalcon?

• Again, improved sensors, including both primary and secondary IMU (MPU9250 and ICM20608 respectively) for much better vibration handling and increased reliability.

• Dedicated CAN port for UAVCAN applications.

• Includes 8-channel servo output board for planes and other vehicles requiring powered PWM output.

• Includes I2C breakout board for a total of 5 I2C connections.

3DR Pixhawk Mini features an advanced processor and sensor technology from ST Microelectronics® and a NuttX real-time operating system, delivering incredible performance, flexibility, and reliability for controlling any autonomous vehicle.

( Via Airsoc )

The post What 3DR Pixhawk mini is improved over the original? appeared first on Drone Inner.

DJI Mavic Coupon code!?

Now many great DJI drones are out there to choose from.Here are part of drones come with DJI Coupon codes to save a lot for you. Don’t forget to use.

Inspire 1

Price:$1999 ( 5MDG9H4F )

The DJI Inspire 1 is probably one of the most advanced quadcopters I’ve ever seen. There isn’t much that the Inspire 1 CAN’T do. it comes standard with all of the features of the Phantom 3 Professional, but with a much bigger, cooler and higher quality design. It’s almost twice as big and twice as fast as the Phantom 3 and with it’s transforming design, the propellers will almost never be seen in your videos. Additionally, the Inspire 1 comes with a 4K camera on a 360 degree panning gimbal, which means that you can control the motion of the camera completely independently of the Inspire 1. This makes it great for dual pilot operation, but also for getting locked in shots in almost any wind conditions.

For Professional video use, the Inspire 1 comes in two other variants with superior image quality to even the most expensive aerial platforms in its size. If you need a high quality camera for shooting pro quality video The Inspire 1 Pro is a version of the Inspire 1 that features a micro-four-thirds 4K camera with 13 stops of dynamic range, interchangeable lenses and a sensor that’s 8 times larger than the standard Inspire 1 camera. If you’re looking for an even higher end solution, DJI now offers the Inspire 1 Raw, featuring a 500GB SSD and 4K Raw video recording for working in professional post-production environments. The great thing about all of the inspire 1 models is that the camera is detachable, so even when your not in the air you can use cameras like the X5R with DJI’s Osmo to get professional ground shots as well.

If you want to learn more about the Inspire 1, you can find a ton of info about it in this article: ” WHY YOU’D WANT TO GET AN INSPIRE 1 INSTEAD OF THE PHANTOM 3? “.

Pros

• 4K video recording
• 360-degree camera rotation
• Excellent operating range
• Very fast
• Superb carbon fiber build quality
• Separate flight and camera control possible with second remote
• Removable, upgradeable camera
• Vision Positioning System for indoor flight
• Includes carrying case

Cons

• Bulky
• Roughly 15-minute flight time per charge with standard battery

Phantom 4 

Price:$1199 ( MCBRYFU9 )

The DJI Phantom 4 is a small quadcopter that measures about two feet from wing-to-wing and weighs 3 lbs. A 5,350 mAh (milliAmpere-hour) Intelligent Flight PH4 battery powers the aircraft’s electronics, four motors, and camera. The Phantom 4 has a non-detachable camera that puts out 12+ MP (MegaPixel) photos and 4K UHD (Ultra High-Definition) video. The Phantom 4 flies up to 45 MPH and as long as 28 min. The Phantom 4 camera shoots 1080p in slow-motion 120fps (frames per second).

The Phantom 4 also uses advanced satellite navigation and hi-def live streaming. The US Global Positioning System (GPS) and Russian GLObal NAvigation Satellite System (GLONASS) can geo-locate the Phantom 4 anywhere on the globe. Even better: DJI’s integrated “Lightbridge” system allows the aircraft to live-stream HD video to a user from over a mile away. See more about how the Phantom 4 stacks up to its predecessor at our Phantom 4 vs Phantom 3 page.

Pros

• Easy to fly
• Extremely stable
• Obstacle avoidance
• Incredible operating range with 720p Live View
• Return-to-home and other safety features
• Automated flight modes
• High-speed Sport mode
• Smooth 4K video capture
• 20mm wide-angle lens
• Subject recognition and tracking
• Raw and JPG still capture

Cons

• True mission planning requires third-party app.

Phantom 3

Price:$499 (PFV2GSZ5)

If you’re looking for the easiest drone to fly with the most flight time, features and great video quality, the Phantom 3 is the only option that I would recommend to just about anyone. There are a few other drones that have similar functionality to the Phantom 3, but nothing else is going to give you a great all around experience with all of the most popular features for the same price.

When I flew the Phantom 3 for the first time, all I could think was “this thing flies like a mini Inspire 1!”. It’s much more stable than the Phantom 2 and the video quality is exactly the same as the inspire 1, however there are some big differences between them. If you aren’t sure which one to buy, read this article comparing the two.

Pros

• Very stable in the air.
• Easy to fly.
• Smooth 2.7K video capture.
• 20mm wide-angle lens.
• Raw and JPG still capture.
• Relatively affordable.
• Built-in GPS.
• Return-to-home function.
• Automated takeoff and landing.

Cons

• Propellers intrude into footage
• Battery requires more than an hour to recharge
• Requires Android or iOS device

Mavic Pro

Price:$999 (Not available now,but it can ship within two weeks if you order now)

Rather than have a large, rigid quadcopter design, the Mavic Pro is foldable, and it’s small enough to fit in your bag. Similar to the GoPro Karma drone , the four quadcopter arms fold in to the body, but do so in a very neat and incredibly compact fashion.

Although it’s small, don’t let that fool you in to thinking it isn’t powerful and full of top-notch features. For instance, it can last up to 27 minutes in flight on a full battery, and it takes less than a minute to set up and calibrate to get it flying. Mounted to the 3-axis stabilisation mount is a camera capable of recording up to 4K resolution at 30 frames per second, or full HD up to 96 frames per second.

It has a minimum focusing distance of 0.5m and a 12-megapixel sensor equipped with the ability to take still RAW pictures tuned purposefully for aerial imagery. Perhaps more impressive is that the new transmission system has a range of up to 4.3 miles and can live stream 1080p footage directly to Facebook Live, Periscope, and YouTube through the connected DJI GO app.

To immerse you more in to the experience of flying the drone, DJI says its new gadget will pair with a new set of immersive DJI goggles. With these on your face, you’ll see 90-degree view straight from the drone’s camera in 1080p.

Pros

• Small, foldable design
• Obstacle avoidance system
• Sharp, distortion-free stabilized 4K video camera
• 12MP Raw and JPG stills
• Records in portrait or landscape mode
• Compact remote control
• Strong operating range
• Orbit, follow, and other intelligent flight modes
• 23-minute flight time

Cons

• Requires a smartphone for full experience
• Unable to take off from grass in testing
• Not as steady in strong wind as Phantom models

The post DJI Mavic Coupon code!? appeared first on Drone Inner.