( Video via Flyin’ Ryan RC )
Parrot Swing, a sort of hybrid quadcopter that combines vertical take-off with horizontal flight. It’s the latest in ongoing attempts to bring together quadcopters and fixed-wing drones, but this one is notable for its particularly small size, and its X-wing configuration.
The video below will offer you some detailed information and a test of the drone.
The post Video:Parrot Swing mini drone test appeared first on Drone Inner.
End of 2015, the successor to the first Bebop Drone from Parrot appeared on the market, the Bebop 2 . In design terms almost the same, but with a significantly improved flight time. The camera specs remained unchanged from the first version. How Parrot Bebop 2 proves itself in practice, read in this review.
Both Bebop drone may in fact be controlled by a smartphone or tablet, using the Free Flight app 3. But that does not fly as good as with real sticks under the thumbs, and in addition the first Bebop had a rather fragile build quality.
Better build quality
The latter is definitely improved with the Bebop 2. The product feels more ‘finished’. Flight time has pretty much doubled since the Bebop 1, so you can stay up in the air for up to 25 minutes at a time. The housing is made of a somewhat sturdier plastic and the battery clicks firmly into place.
Skycontroller
For those of you that don’t know what the Sky Controller is, it’s the name that Parrot gave to their remote controller. I guess it makes sense to have a different name for it if you sell it separately and it does sound cool.
And although it’s not cheap, there is another big advantage to the SkyController. It also pushes the range out to about 2km. A lot more than the 200-300 meter I’ve been getting with the app.
But big and awkward ruin much of the appeal of the Bebop. The controller is considerably larger than the drone, and while the two devices will fit into a backpack, you won’t get much else in there.
Camera
There’s Parrot Bebop 2’s biggest disappointment: the camera. It’s the same camera found in the first Bebop, providing 14 megapixel stills and 1080p video. There’s no 4K video, but I can live with that. What’s really disappointing is the quality of video: colors are washed out, there’s very obvious tearing, and artifacts. Parrot still doesn’t offer an option for removable storage, so you’re stuck with 8 gigs of memory, which fills quickly when shooting 1080 video. You can download footage from the Bebop to your phone via Wi-Fi, but that will cost you in battery life and phone storage.
Fine flying machine
It must be said: the Parrot Bebop 2 is a fine drone to fly. The device is nice and stable and it is really fun to do with circles. The flight time is also impressive. We have not timed, only 20 minutes flying time per battery. The package comes with two batteries,one goes into the drone, the other in the Skycontroller. The SkyController was designed to use the same battery as the Bebop 2. This means that, when the battery in your drone is running low, you can change the batteries and keep flying. Just stick your drone’s battery in the SkyController and visa versa. As the SkyController doesn’t use as much power as the Bebop 2 does you’re still good to keep going. A very nice way to extend your flight time.
Conclusion
The Parrot Bebop 2 is definitely a big improvement over its predecessor. The build quality is fine and the flight time is impressive. Unfortunately the price is on the high side: the Bebop 2 with Skycontroller costs $799. For that money you buy nowadays Phantom 3 Pro or Yuneec Q500, and then you have more value for money, especially if you want to mainly photos and videos.
If you’re looking for a drone that’s easy to take along, fun to fly and you don’t care much about range or video quality then Parrot Bebop 2 is a good choice.
The post Parrot Bebop 2: An improvement, but the camera… appeared first on Drone Inner.
Here is the test of a drone that does not fly, but which rolls: Drone Parrot Jumping Max.
Drone Parrot Jumping Max: a drone like no other
Ten years ago, the Jumping Max Race was called a radio controlled vehicle. In 2015, they say a drone. Indeed, if you are used to a drone being a small flying object (like me), you will be surprised by unpacking the Max Jumping drone.
On the box, you can see the drone, which looks more like a race car than a helicopter, and we have a glimpse of the proposed functions: jumping and rolling, talking and listening through the drone, and finally the turbo boost. As usual with the Parrot drones, you need to download Freeflight 3 (iOS or Android), which will allow you to control the Jumping Max Race.
To use the Jumping Max Race, you have to connect it via Wi-Fi. Indeed, while the Rolling Spider that I tested was used via Bluetooth, it is used in Wi-Fi, taking advantage of greater scope. I do not know if I am special or not, but I found that the Jumping Max Race was much easier and intuitive than the Rolling Spider. In just a few minutes I managed to drive it properly.
Rolled, jumps, turns
The Jumping Max Race drives up to 13 km/h and jumps to 75 cm. It may sound a little bit, but believe me, inside it is enough. As the photo above suggests, you see what the drone sees when you pilot it in the Freeflight 3 application. In this way, if you are quietly sitting in your office chair, you can still bring your drone on the other side of the apartment with no problem.
However, there is a significant latency between the drone and your smartphone. It is sometimes annoying and it is better to have an eye on the Jumping Max Race to see where it goes in real time.
The Jumping Max Race allows Freeflight 3 to make some jump sequences and fun figures, such as a jumping tops for example. It must be confessed that Parrot did well this point. Another thing I appreciate about this drone is the autonomy. You will have about 20 minutes of fun per charge, which is much better than a drone that flies for example Hover Camera (around 8 minutes).
Last thing that makes the Jumping Max Race is an interesting drone in my opinion: the spacing of the wheels is adjustable, to allow two different driving modes. Spread the wheels and enjoy excellent handling. Shorten the distance between the wheels and you can sneak everywhere. The procedure is instantaneous and it is quite practical.
Overall, this drone is very fun and especially resistant. It always falls on its wheels, and does not become damaged at all.$99 for this Jumping Max Race.
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Consumer drone technology has gained incredible popularity in the past year. Drone companies are fighting tooth and nail to create unique, intuitive and innovative drone technology that not only stand out in the market, but also more affordable. However, some have succeeded while others have been held back, whether it’s funding, lackluster sales or insufficient R&D capabilities to innovate. The ruthlessness of the competition has shown its form this past year as a surprising number of drone companies or tech companies entering the drone arena have experienced different downfalls.
Just last month, drone startup Lily Robotics announced it was shutting down. Despite its 34 million USD in pre-orders, the startup was unable to secure financing to unlock its manufacturing line. “We have been racing against a clock of ever-diminishing funds,” founders of Lily drone stated.
Forbes reported how Lily’s demise is [just] the latest high-profile blunder in the difficult drone industry. “Late last year, GoPro, which had been promising a flagship drone for more than a year, had to recall its quad-copter, Karma.”
The recall was mainly a result of battery malfunctions that had its drones losing power mid flight. Soon after, the decision to cut about 200 jobs in an attempt to reduce operating expenses was announced. CNN Money noted that this came “just weeks after GoPro posted a significant sales decline and larger-than-expected net loss for the the third quarter [of 2016].”
Layoffs have darkened even Parrot’s story, which has a more extended history of building drones. Earlier this year, the company announced that it would be laying off a third of its employees (290 employees), in its drone division. Parrot’s struggle comes hand in hand with its attempt to gain consumer market share that is currently dominated by DJI.
The Verge analyzed why companies may be crumbling under the market pressure, “It’s hard to sustain growth with expensive electronics that get purchased once for niche industries and upgraded rarely over the next two or three years.” This is especially so for companies that only hold single digit market shares, like Parrot and 3D Robotics.
3D Robotics has in fact now redirected its focus to developing software for other drone makers, like Site Scan, an aerial analytics platform. The restructuring has come after 3DR experienced less than satisfactory demand of its Solo drone.
The former chief revenue officer of 3D Robotics himself stated, “It’s just going to be inherently more difficult for a Silicon Valley based, software-focused company to compete against a vertically integrated powerhouse manufacturing company in China.” 3DR CEO puts it simply, “Drones are really really hard to do well and you can’t just buy the parts.”
The challenge for most companies competing in the consumer drone market is getting such complex products out on the shelves at a competitive price and with quick turnaround, which Chinese manufactures like DJI or Yuneec are able to do. Though consumers are interested in diverse styles of drones, consumers look for something that has all three – easy to use, safe in the air and at an affordable price point. It will be interesting to keep an eye on what’s to come as more start-ups and players emerge from the Chinese market.
The post The Highly Competitive Consumer Drone Market appeared first on Drone Inner.
The Parrot Bebop 2 is a high-end drone with surprising capabilities! This drone is the main competitor of the DJI Phantom 3. We tested for you the different features of this drone!
Before being able to fly the drone it is first necessary to update the firmware. This is done simply by downloading the Freeflight application and updating the internal program. Once this step is done, it will be necessary to parameterize the magnetometer of the drone. Simply follow the instructions and orient the drone in the different positions indicated by the setting screen of the Freeflight 3 application.
Once this stage is completed you are on track to take off your Parrot Bebop 2! Once the drone is on the ground, a simple button will take off.
Piloting the Parrot Bebop 2
This drone is childlike simplicity, take-off and landing are assisted by the embedded electronics and the drone is particularly stable and pleasant to fly. The flight controls respond quickly and during our tests we did not feel latency between the controller and the drone movement, so it’s a very good point!
The Parrot Bebop 2 also has a very nice feature of automated looping! Indeed by pressing a simple button on the smartphone, the drone is able to realize a figure of 360 degrees which will impress your friends. This function is a bit “bluffing” because even if the figure appears complex all this maneuver is managed electronically, observers will be impressed even if you do not do much.
In flight, the drone is very aggressive but despite its record acceleration and its high speed it is extremely maneuverable and finally very nice to drive even for a beginner pilot. This drone will be suitable for all persons starting the piloting of quadcopters.
Parrot Bebop 2 Features
One of the exciting features of the Parrot Bebop 2 is of course the “route” functionality that will enable you to program a specific path that the drone will traverse! Indeed the drone Bebop 2 being equipped with a GPS chip, it is able to locate in the space and therefore to follow predefined paths! Moreover, thanks to the management interface, the programming of this route is extremely simplified. Simply click on the different points of stops on a map so that the drone starts to make the course. At each stopping point the orientation of the HD camera is also defined to record an aerial shot of the hair! A view of the route and the recorded points of sight you can go about your activities while being assured that the drone will carry out the task that you have recorded. It’s just the perfect feature to shoot you in action and to keep timeless memories!
Conclusion
The Parrot Bebop 2 isn’t going to match more capable drones on performance, features, or video quality. But if you are happy with a quadcopter that can comfortably tool around your backyard at a modest maximum altitude, the Bebop is worth a look. If you want a model that can fly further, higher, offers better video quality, and is absolutely steady in the air, consider instead one of the DJI Phantom 3 models.
The post Parrot Bebop 2 test appeared first on Drone Inner.
The Phantom 3 Standard has a famous reputation for being an affordable all-rounder and quite frankly it is the best choice that can be made. The Parrot Bebop 2 on the other hand is most certainly a very well thought out machine. Both of them are fit for beginners, are lightweight and compact and deliver 25mins flight time according to the drone companies. Both drones can fly faster than the 15 m/s average (36 mph) and have the same flight features. So which one you’ll be purchasing?
Design&Remote Control
Coming to the more hardware oriented side of things is where the Parrot Bebop 2 really starts to shine like the little gem it really is! The Bebop features a feather light (almost 400g) fully reinforced ABS molded quadcopter frame and finished off with a very light yet extremely durable EPP (expanded-polypropolene) foam body that protects the parrot p7 dual-core CPU and quad-core GPU with its internal 8GB flash memory built onto a magnesium shelf that essentially acts as a cooling plate that shields all software from electromagnetic interference!
The Parrot Bebop 2 has all of its function buttons layed out on an app which is a bit too crowded to concentrate on everything that’s going on. Some of the functions, like the Emergency button, is well marked and at the middle-top of the tablet on the app. All the other nice features that can be utilised when filming or just when flying for fun require going into different menu’s while flying which is not very user-friendly.
The Bebop 2 does become a very well tamed machine once the use of the Parrot skycontroller is incorperated and is definitely a neccessity if you plan on filming with the Bebop. It can be flown directly from the Parrot freeflight3 app (which is free) but is much harder to fly by use of the accelerometer on your tablet or smartphone. The one other issue with flying the Bebop from the App itself is that the drone will only fly as far as the WiFi connection will allow between the drone and the apple or android device.
The Phantom 3 Standard on the other hand, has a iconic white plastic body. It is a very good machine to learn on due it’s gimbal and camera being removable and of course the size of it. It’s a large drone but it is big enough to handle wind quite nicely. It’s GPS system works very well and has all the function buttons marked with nice icons in a very comfortable and easy to operate layout for the user.
The remote control reminds me of a scaled-down version of the one that shipped with the Phantom 2 Vision+. It’s streamlined, so there’s no need for a separate Wi-Fi extension module, and the AA batteries are replaced by an internal rechargeable battery. A micro USB port sits at the bottom to recharge. Four LED lights indicate the charge level, and a single power switch turns it on. A clamp sits on a metal rail to hold your smartphone—it’s big enough to hold an iPhone 6 Plus, but it can’t handle a tablet like the remote for other Phantom 3 models can.
Range
Parrot Bebop 2: 300m (2000m with skycontroller )
Phantom 3 Standard: 1000m
Camera
The Phantom 3 Standard records footage at 2.7K (1520p) resolution at 30fps or 24fps with a 40Mbps bit rate. The Standard tops out at 48fps when shooting at 1080p, but can shoot at 50fps or 60fps at 720p. All standard lower frame rates—24fps, 25fps, and 30fps—are supported for those resolutions.
Image quality is on par with the Phantom 3 Professional and Advanced. The 1/2.3-inch sensor captures 12-megapixel JPG or Raw DNG images at a 4:3 aspect ratio. Image quality is similar to a point-and-shoot camera with Raw support.
While the Parrot Bebop 2 boasts a 14-megapixel camera that can capture 1080p video. For capturing images and video, the Bebop 2 takes a different approach than most drones: it uses a fisheye lens attached to the nose instead of an external camera mounted on a gimbal. Instead of using a remote to manually pan and tilt a camera, you can shift your focus within the wide field of view generated by the fisheye, a trick accomplished through software.
The Bebop 2 has done a nice job improving the quality of video when you are panned straight down to the ground, a viewpoint that is unique to aerial filming and can produce some magical results over interesting terrain.
Unfortunately, the camera itself hasn’t been upgraded much. When you compare the blurry, compressed footage to what some pilots shot at identical locations with camera from Phantom 3 Standard, the Bebop is clearly far inferior.
( Video via Patrick Jourdheuille )
Price
the Parrot Bebop 2 is priced at $483 and $549 with FPV Bundle, while the Phantom 3 Standard is $499.
The last choice may come down to the camera and price.
The post Parrot Bebop 2 vs Phantom 3 Standard:The choice may come down to… appeared first on Drone Inner.
Test the Parrot Airbone Cargo Mars, an agile mini-drone, lightweight, robust, efficient and of excellent quality: the best choice in terms of entry-level drones!
The drones come with the virtual reality the flagship technologies that made the cabbages of the high-tech news in 2016. Indeed, these small autonomous devices (because powered by batteries), allowing to carry out tasks not within the reach of men, with disconcerting ease. On holiday in the Maldives, how to do a close up of the island in height? If renting a helicopter or an airplane is within your reach, at a lower cost, using a drone, shooting at altitude becomes as easy as filing a letter in the mail.
The contents of the box
Once the package of your drone opened you should normally find in the box no less than 7 elements: the Parrot Airbone Cargo Mars drone itself, a figurine, a rechargeable and removable 550 mAh battery, a micro-USB / USB cable, Two bulkhead hulls for pairs of propellers, a quick start guide and finally stickers.
These stickers will give a unique look to your drone, to make you stand out during drone racing competitions, if you ever intend to participate.
Parrot Airborne Cargo Mars, zoom on the design of the drone
Launched in 2015, the Parrot Airbone Cargo Mars is one of the most complete entry-level drones, combining agility and simplicity of operation for basic options. No need to go to risk to film the flank of an erupting volcano with this drone, it will melt under the heat. However, given its tariff positioning, it is easy to understand what tasks it is dedicated to. Thus, the drone is built on a hard plastic framework, the fundamental base of which is the central block, which embeds the functional circuits and the camera.
Above this control center, four quadrilaterals are grafted, the ends of which carry, on the one hand, the notches for fixing to the central block and, on the other hand, the rotors and blades of the four helices of which the drone is made. Finally, each pair of propellers (right and left) is delimited by a rigid harness, in order to avoid any accident related to the rotation of the said propellers.
The characteristics of the drone
Ultra-light and compact, the Parrot Airbone Cargo Mars only displays 63 grams to the scale, for contained dimensions of 180 x 185 x 40 mm. Propelled by 4 relatively powerful engines giving it a autonomy of 9 minutes at full power (18 km / h without the hulls). This is a flash memory of 1 GB, which you can extend by means of a memory card.
The connectivity of your smartphone will be via Bluetooth 4.0, whose maximum range in relation to the Parrot Airborne Cargo Mars is estimated at 20 meters. Various sensors are also included, including a 3-axis gyroscope, a barometer and a 3-axis accelerometer with accuracy of plus or minus 50 meters. All this tackle allows in a record time the drone to make turns at 90 ° and 180 ° and make loopings easily.
As for finally capture the photo or video, it will be done thanks to the mini-camera embedded, capable of filming images in 460 x 640 pixels.
How to fly the Parrot Airborne Cargo Mars?
If you’ve always dreamed of being in the cockpit of a flying aircraft, now is the opportunity for you, with this Parrot Cargo Mars, to realize this one. With the only difference that your cockpit is limited to the screen of your smartphone, and that you carry nothing heavier than 63 grams of material … it is already that.
Thus, the Parrot Airbone Cargo Mars is piloted through an application compatible with iOS and Android. The application offers an interface of the purest and simplistic, highlighting two disks used to control the drone, one for the horizontal direction and the other vertical. This interface is supplemented by two gauges showing the level of charge of the battery of the drone and the duration of the flight already carried out.
The upper part of the interface provides a variety of touch-sensitive buttons, including one for activating the camera, for photo or video capture.
Are you looking for a drone for your first experience with these miniature flying devices? The Parrot Airbone Cargo Mars is quite ready to fulfill this task.
The post Parrot Airbone Cargo Mars test appeared first on Drone Inner.
Since I now have both, a Parrot bebop 2 and a DJI Phantom 3(advanced) i thought it might interest some to read a quick comparison of my experience with both.
Flight characteristic/stability/speed
In fairness, I think both are impressive. The Phantom 3 is heavier, has more inertia and you feel that, but on the other hand, its more stable too. It can descend much faster and without wobbling, the GPS position and altitude hold also seems to work even more accurately. Parrot bebop 2 is good enough here for me. Maybe when doing time lapses it matters, otherwise, not so much. The bebop is a more nimble, and because its so light and small, its more fun to toss around without worrying too much.
Video/photo quality
It won’t surprise anyone the Phantom 3 wins this handily. The camera, particularly of the advanced version I have, is WAY better. Even when shooting in the same resolution and frame rate as the Parrot Bebop, its so much sharper and with more detail. Its like comparing a gopro hero black with a 720p keychain cam. No more blurry trees or grass, everything is razor sharp and shooting in 60FPS makes it oh so much more smooth. The gimbal also just works a lot better than the electronic stabilization, particularly when tilting/panning. On my first landing, I managed to tip the phantom over. On the video, you cant even see that anything happened. If the video of the phantom is clearly superior, still images are in a different league all together. Yeah, same megapixels, everything else is beyond comparison. But you probably already knew that. One major disadvantage of the Phantom 3 for me is the minimal interval time of 5 seconds. When doing mapping, 5 seconds is too long and I end up waiting or slowing down a lot for the camera.
Range and endurance
I haven’t fully range tested the Phantom 3 yet. But I’ve gone out about 1km with no impact on reception at all, video remained completely smooth and free of artifacts. That’s despite missing one antenna. The resolution with lightbridge may also be better, but I’m using a 5″ phone right now, so I would lie if I said I noticed. I do notice the reduced lag. Light bridge really works pretty well, I have to admit. Using the skycontroller, I generally found the range of the Parrot Bebop to be more than adequate. It does suffer a lot more from freezes/artifacts at > 3-500m, but Id still call it good enough. The latency is more annoying in my opinions, lightbridge is much closer to an analog FPV experience. Closer than I would have thought.
As for endurance, the surprise winner there is actually the Parrot Bebop. It comes much closer to its advertised flight times than my Phantom, which only lasts 18 minutes in my tests. In fairness, that was in windy conditions, and I have a crashed one with one motor that’s turning a bit rough and that will be replaced. Maybe a new motor will increase flight times.
Features/flight modes
In general, the Phantom 3 is a much more complicated platform with a ton of features that you may or may not find useful. A few things that stand out for me because I missed them on the Parrot Bebop: POI circling mode. This truly helps making cinematic shots. And is very useful for my photogrammetry experiments. I’m also delighted to discover the Phantom 3 has a FPV mode for the gimbal, that makes it roll in turns, which can make dynamic flight shots all the more, well, dynamic RTH, flight mode and navigation features are a lot further developed, to the point where I actually had to read the manual to figure it out.
Robustness
Neither platform is a real winner in this regard, they both are fragile. My Parrot Bebop wouldn’t take a 3 meter drop on grass without the cross frame breaking, the Phantom 3 I bought had suffered a slightly more serious crash, but the damage was also a lot more substantial. Particularly the camera gimbal is unbelievably fragile. On mine, one of the alu gimbal arms was bent by nearly 45 degree. I couldn’t imagine what crash it would take to do that, since its normally protected by the landing gear, until I tried straightening it. The aluminium bends almost as easily as rubber. Except that it breaks, where rubber doesn’t. I’ll still grant the Parrot Bebop this category if for no other reason than that repairs are a lot cheaper. Most of parrots spare parts are actually reasonably priced.
Portability
What you see is what you get in this regard. When paired with the skycontroller, the Parrot Bebop requires about as much space as the Phantom + controller. Of course the drone itself is in a league of its own for compactness, so if you don’t use a SC, easy win for the Bebop. Fun fact: the Phantom controller is almost as small as the Bebop, and the skycontroller comparably large as the Phantom 3.
Price
Now the Phantom 3 Advanced version is $699 and Phantom 3 Standard costs $499,while the Parrot Bebop 2(white) is $499.
So which one should you buy?
The post Parrot bebop vs DJI Phantom 3 comparison of my experience with both appeared first on Drone Inner.
French drone maker Parrot recently said it would be laying off a third of employees, or about 290 people, in its drone division. The news was announced as part of its most recent quarterly earnings report, and it underscores Parrot’s broader struggles to succeed in the consumer drone market largely dominated by Chinese firm DJI. In its fourth-quarter earnings results, Parrot said it generated sales of about $90 million, coming in below its roughly $106 million target. It now plans to place a larger emphasis on the commercial drone market, including markets like mapping and agriculture.
Parrot’s story is playing out across the drone market, as once fast-growing firms constrict under market pressure and less-than-stellar sales. About 50 percent of all drone sales in North America belong to DJI, while Parrot, Yuneec, 3D Robotics and others hold just single-digit market share percentages. 3D Robotics, like Parrot today, announced lay offs back in March alongside a renewed focus on commercial operations.
GoPro, the most recent and high-profile industry entrant, arrived on the scene with its Karma drone back in September. Unfortunately, the device was prone to mid-flight power failure, causing some Karma units to fall from the sky. GoPro recalled the device and is now working to relaunch it some time later this year. The action camera company has also been forced through layoffs, having cut its staff by 7 percent in January of last year and then another 15 percent, or about 200 employees, in November.
Action cameras, much like consumer drones, have helped balloon small businesses into big-name brands. But it now appears that, with sales falling, it’s hard to sustain growth with expensive electronics that get purchased once for niche industries and upgraded rarely over the next two or three years. So for now — as Parrot’s layoffs make evident — the cool off in the drone industry remains underway.
( Via Theverge )
The post What makes Parrot to cut a third of its drone staff appeared first on Drone Inner.
Dubbed the “first plane Minidrone with vertical take-off and forward flight” the Parrot Swing is a hybrid that switches from quadcopter to plane, so the pilot gets the benefits of both.
The ultra-lightweight Parrot Swing (2.6 oz.) is dedicated to performing aerial tricks at high speed, the X-shaped wings allow for both vertical and horizontal flying modes. In fact, the Swing’s ability to go back to the vertical position in quadcopter mode is very useful, since it provides far more control than the horizontal flying mode. For instance, you can stop the drone by pushing a button and it will switch back to the quadcopter mode and stay still in the air, which is impossible to do with a plane drone, like the Parrot Disco.
According to Parrot, this is how the embedded technology works:
A 3-axis accelerometer and a 3-axis gyroscope measure the motion and the angle of the Parrot Swing and the autopilot adjusts its position. Additionally, the autopilot automatically maintains the mini aircraft at a constant altitude in plane mode.
In quadcopter mode, a camera constantly compares the current image of the ground to the previous one, every 16 milliseconds, to calculate the speed. The camera can also take VGA (460×680) photos of the ground or the landscape while in horizontal position. The 1 GB internal memory stores up to 400 pictures. An ultrasound sensor captures the flight altitude up to 13 ft, and at higher altitude a pressure sensor helps to control the Swing.
There are two ways to control the Parrot Swing. You can either use your smartphone by downloading the control app, or use the included Parrot Flypad controller. The advantage of the Flypad is that you get up to 60 metres range, whereas your smartphone’s connection will likely max out at 20 metres.
While the Parrot Swing is not explicitly designed for exclusive indoor use, its size and weight mean it’s much easier to fly indoors than a “proper” drone. It’s also so small and light that any wind outdoors will easily send it off course, into a tree, shed, or person.
Being so small and light means it’s very responsive though. For the most part, that’s what you want in a drone. You want to know that your joystick control results in a swift, fast movement. But in a confined space, that’s not always a good thing: we crashed into a few windows, door frames and ceilings by generally trying to be a bit too clever.
When the Parrot Swing drone detects impact it tends to shut off the propellers and go in to freefall, which sounds a lot worse than it is. Its size and weight mean that when it does fall, there’s no real damage upon impact with the ground. It’s not really heavy enough to break; it generally just falls like a feather and lands on its side.
The biggest negative about flying the Swing drone is that while you’re getting to grips with the controller and drone response, the battery dies. Fortunately there’s a second spare one in the box, but it’s still not quite enough.
The plane mode allows for 8.30 minutes of flying on a single charge, while in quadcopter it lasts only 7 minutes. The charging time for the ultra-lightweight 550 mAh battery is quite fast, it required only 30 minutes with a 2.1A.
Parrot Swing is a fun toy to fly with and the price point is fine at around $120.If you’re looking at drones as a serious investment and want to get a powerful and portable drone to capture stunning aerial footage, the Mavic Pro is the way to go.
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