Why I choose the yuneec Q500 as my first drone?

If you are shopping your first drone, or you are searching a drone which is easy to fly and has a noticeable camera. Then I’d like to recommend you the Yuneec Typhoon Q500, just as I choose the Typhoon Q500 as my first drone.

When we choose drones, one model rules the skies. DJI’s Phantom drone, the Phantom 4 in particular.

Though similar in size, weight, and price, the Typhoon is no Phantom knockoff. It’s not a Phantom killer, either. Both have their strengths, and which one is best for you depends largely on what you plan to do with it. The Typhoon’s camera produces excellent results, and while the drone is slower and more sluggish than others, it’s remarkably easy to pilot. It’s a drone for people nervous about trying to control a $1,200 piece of flying equipment.

The Typhoon Q500 looks a bit more aggressive than DJI’s shining happy drones, with sleeker lines and a back end that resembles the head of the space-creatures in Alien. It’s also larger than the more familiar Phantoms, and made of plastic far flimsier than I’m used to seeing. That’s partly due to the fact that the Typhoon Q500 landing gear (and gimbal) can be snapped off with no special tools and stored in a much flatter package.

Unlike DJI’s offerings, the Typhoon’s base controller ships with a built-in screen in the form of a small Android device sporting 480p resolution. On one hand, it’s nice not to have so many different parts to keep track of. But there’s no way to add a bigger, clearer screen when, for example, a new iPad mini is released (the mobile device I currently use with the Phantom 3).

The screen is bright, though flying in direct sunlight remains difficult. To be fair, that’s true of every screen I’ve ever used to fly a drone. Yuneec helpfully includes a sunshade that attaches, awkwardly, to the controller with suction cups. It doesn’t completely solve the problem, but it does help.

I found the controller familiar enough to all but eliminate a learning curve. First-timers should have an easy time with it. The Typhoon’s video and still image capture buttons are chunkier than anything I’ve used, but that makes them easier to find without looking down at your hands. The included app is intuitive enough that I never cracked the manual. The touch screen is responsive as well, which is good because some of the menus and buttons are really tiny.

The Typhoon’s flight control system is great overall, it makes flying dead simple and trumps everything I’ve used save the new controller for the Phantom 3.

If you are a green hand, Yuneec Typhoon Q500 is quite a good choice.It might take a fairly skilled pilot to take advantage of all these options and features, but at the end of it all, it’s more than worth it.

 

 

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Indoor flights with Typhoon Q500 4K gps off

Some experienced pilot that’s able to properly control the Typhoon Q500 4K in Angle (Pilot) Mode, and they do not exceed any altitude/distance limits or fly in any ‘no fly zones’ in your area, they are willing to disable/turn off Typhoon Q500 GPS. So how?

WARNING: Smart Mode and Home Mode, along with their corresponding features, only work when GPS is active and the Q500 has a suitable GPS signal/lock. If you disable/turn off Typhoon Q500 GPS the drone can only be flown in Angle (Pilot) Mode. And if you cannot properly control the Q500 in Angle (Pilot) Mode the aircraft may crash or even ‘fly away’.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Yuneec drone Crash damage and ‘fly aways’ are NOT covered under warranty.We do not typically recommend disabling Typhoon Q500 4K GPS for any reason, especially if you’re a first-time or low-time pilot. However, if you’re an experienced, you could try.

And do NOT disable/turn off Typhoon Q500 4K GPS unless you accept ALL responsibility and liability for crashes or ‘fly aways’.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Every time you turn the Q500 on it will default to having Typhoon Q500 4K GPS active/on (even if you disabled GPS the last time is was powered on).

Step 1) While the ST10 and Q500 are powered on and linked (and the motors are NOT running), move the Proportional Control Rate Slider on the right side of the ST10 to the uppermost (rabbit) position.

Step 2) Move the right-hand stick all the way to the right and hold it there until step 3 is completed.

Step 3) Move the Flight Mode Selection Switch from Smart to Home and Home to Smart mode 4 times in 3 seconds.When GPS has been disabled successfully the Q500 will emit an audible indication and the Typhoon Q500 4K GPS status on the ST10 screen will show ‘Disabled’.

Also, the Main LED Status Indicator will flash purple and the Below Motor LED Status Indicators will flash three times per second then will stay off for one second.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

 

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