Yuneec Typhoon H: when two extra propellers don’t compensate for camera and control issues

Yuneec Typhoon H is a hexacopter and the landing gear retracts during flight. The design – with six rotors as opposed to four in the DJI Phantom 4 – is supposed to be futuristic. But this apparent aesthetic appeal of the Yuneec Typhoon H is easily lost among in the complexity to handle the drone. To make it worse, the additional weight caused by the six propellers actually compromised the flying time and altitude limit of the drone.

As experienced by many pilots, the sheer weight of the Yuneec Typhoon H makes it more cumbersome to travel with, as evidenced by a DJI Phantom 4 comparison. A Yuneec Typhoon H unboxing may manage to impress the user at first glance. The carbon-fiber material looks neat. The build quality looks good. The controller feels and includes a built-in screen.

However, the impressions start to turn negative when a simple DJI Phantom 4 vs Yuneec Typhoon H benchmarking is carried out. The concerns start appearing soon after a quick inspection of the Typhoon H remote controller. Also, the various ways of controlling the DJI UAV compared to how the Typhoon H is handled make an interesting comparison.

As seen in almost any DJI Phantom 4 review, the drone’s neat and compact control has thoroughly impressed UAV experts and pilots alike. Compared to Yuneec Typhoon H reviews on forums like DroneCompares or yuneecpilots.com, DJI Phantom 4 has received overwhelmingly positive responses. The icing on the cake is the cool DJI Go app, which allows users to do a lot of stuff from their smartphones or tablets. Moreover, features like ActiveTrack or TapFly – that are nowhere to be found on a Typhoon H – make flying the Phantom a cakewalk. Yuneec drone relies solely on GPS and instances of signal loss are far too frequent.

The deal-breaker for the Yuneec Typhoon H actually comes through its video. Its 4K video quality doesn’t appear as crisp and clear as they’re supposed to. The colors look washed out. And the frames look edgy. One Typhoon H reviewer on a popular social media network actually complained that he “couldn’t capture close to the level of video quality that was possible even with the Phantom 3.” The camera is a modular one, but it’ not supported by a live streaming technology as good as the Phantom’s Lightbridge 2.

Although on paper the Yuneec Typhoon H does remain a strong, high-end drone, it’s the little details that made it an inferior proposition than the Phantom 4. There’s nothing majorly wrong with the machine itself and Yuneec China seems to have put in a lot of R&D efforts to offer a ‘whole package’. However, unfortunately, when control and connectivity features are taken into account, Yuneec Typhoon H simply didn’t reach the top-notch level of engineering. It is ‘just another OK drone” – and that’s a pity because Typhoon H did promise to be something spectacular especially after the Yuneec Intel alliance was announced.

 

 

The post Yuneec Typhoon H: when two extra propellers don’t compensate for camera and control issues appeared first on Drone Inner.

Ultimately, the GoPro Karma Gimbal is an ‘OK’ gimbal

GoPro’s Karma Grip motorized gimbal mount was first released as part of the Karma drone kit. Part of the marketed appeal of the GoPro Karma is that it’s more than just a drone. Specifically, it’s a drone that has a removable gimbal to allow you to take the camera/gimbal and attach it to a separate handle (called Karma Grip) that you can use without the drone.

In order to do this, you’ll utilize the lock-ring to unlock the gimbal from Karma the drone, and attach it to the Karma Grip.

Once you’ve done so, you can then lock the Karma Grip itself, ensuring the gimbal stays put:

On the back of the gimbal are four buttons and four LED status lights.  These lights state the battery power of the gimbal, which is charged via USB-C cable.

The other four buttons are used to:

Record button: Start/stop video recording, or take a photo
Mode/Power: Change between photo/video modes, or power on/off the gimbal
Highlight button: Set a highlight tag that GoPro apps can use later to identify something exciting
Lock Orientation button: This is used to lock the orientation of the camera.

This last button is notable as it allows you to keep the camera either level to the ground, or set at a specific orientation.  This is useful when you may want to film something not level with the horizon, such as a bike computer on your handlebars.

The Grip is designed to be able to clip into the Karma mounting ring, which allows you to then mount it to any GoPro compatible mount location.

And example of this is the front of the Seeker backpack, which even has little elastic straps to keep the bottom portion of the gimbal in place.

All of which is solid, even more so since the gimbal is lightly water resistant – meaning it’ll stand up to rain/snow. However the connectors between the camera and the gimbal are not.  Thus it won’t work in the water, and if you have a Hero4, then keep in mind the water resistance there isn’t ideal (whereas the Hero5 is fully waterproofed).

Still, there are some challenges. First is that the gimbal blocks much of the camera’s display screen – thus making it harder to see what you’re filming. Second, it lacks a microphone port, which matters to some folks. On the Hero5, I find the onboard audio so good that it’s rarely needed. But lastly, and most importantly – the gimbal often gets out of whack.

Meaning that the gimbal calibration becomes off kilter, and the image starts to tilt.  This is usually noticeable within as little as 30 seconds of running. Correcting such tilt in post-production afterwards is a pain in the ass.

Ultimately, the GoPro Gimbal/Grip is an ‘OK’ gimbal. It’s just that there are great gimbals available for half the price, and half the weight. Plus those other gimbals are far more flexible in compatibility.

 

 

 

The post Ultimately, the GoPro Karma Gimbal is an ‘OK’ gimbal appeared first on Drone Inner.

The Mavic Pro will mean different things to different people

I have been very impressed with the DJI Mavic Pro and as a first time drone owner I’ll try and break down its features based on how they impacted my decision. I purchased the bundle which came with the additional accessories and the shoulder bag. My overall rating is based on the quality of the drone because the accessories, in my opinion, will mean different things to different people.

The Drone:
So my primary qualification for getting a drone was portability. I wanted something I could take with me camping and on family vacations which would give some interesting options beyond a handheld camera. The DJI Mavic Pro certainly fits that bill. When folded it’s surprising how compact it is. The Mavic Pro also feels very sturdy and not cheaply made at all. I have put about an hour of total flight time onto the drone with no issues. It is very easy to setup and fly. Each of the 3 modes (standard, sport, & tripod) work exactly as advertised and fit different purposes. In standard mode I can hit about 24 mph, sport will do a little above 40mph, and tripod mode offers a nice slow, stable flight experience. On a fully charged battery, depending on use, I can fly for about 25 minutes before I get too worried about hitting the critical battery status.

Controller & App:
The DJI Mavic Pro’s controller is much more compact than a Inspire or Phantom controller. In addition to the DJI GO 4 app makes it very easy to change settings on the fly. It displays a lot of flight data and can even play it back later. It also does a great job of tracking flight information.

Accessories:
1. Car Charger – This accessory will come in super handy for trips. Being able to charge as you go is a big plus.
2. Charging Hub – If you have more than one battery, which I would suggest and since the bundle comes with 3 batteries, this is a great accessory. It doesn’t charge all the batteries at once, but does allow you to connect them all so you don’t have to worry about monitoring your batteries and swamping them out.
3. Charging Adapter – This is a neat little accessory which allows you to turn your drone’s batteries into mobile chargers. Not necessary for the drone experience, but very cool and I can see it coming in handy traveling.
4. Shoulder Bag – It has good quality construction, but doesn’t offer a lot of protection. Also, because it’s very compact you can really only fit the drone with a battery in it, the controller, and two additional batteries in the outside mesh pouches. Fitting additional blades or a fourth battery will be a challenge.

Suggested Items:
1.DJI Mavic Phantom 2 3 4 Inspire 1 protective Accessories Mini landing pad – Having a landing pad helps with the drone’s return to home feature. In addition to GPS the drone also takes a picture of where it took off from. Having a high contrast object like a landing pad improves this feature. It also protects the drone from dust/dirt and moisture. When using my landing pad the drone returns to home within inches of where it took off from.

2. Waterproof Hard Case with Foam Insert for DJI Mavic – Having a hard case, in my opinion, is a must for travel. The shoulder bag is great for going out and about, but I’d never use it for air travel or when I’m loading up the car for a camping trip. I’m not a fan of the “pluck and pick” cases so these laser cut ones are more attractive to me.

The post The Mavic Pro will mean different things to different people appeared first on Drone Inner.