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.

 

 

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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.

 

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Longer charging and shorter flight time spoils the Typhoon H Pro

While the Typhoon H Pro is the premium offering from Yuneec, DJI sits firmly at the top with a much higher market share and loyal fan-base. DJI, faced with the Yuneec attempt to challenge it, has simply stepped up its R&D and offerings. And from the average consumer point of view, it is clearly superior in the market.

The latest consumer drone in the Yuneec arsenal of RC quadcopter and hexacopter drones is the Typhoon H Pro. While the specs and six propellers of the Typhoon H Pro look nice, three obvious and serious issues have been identified by experts, keeping the DJI Phantom series ahead—the battery performance, ease of control, and size.

DJI Phantom 4 and Typhoon H Pro are both equipped with excellent video cameras and are similarly priced, and both have autonomous and safety features that make flying easy. However, Phantom 4 is significantly ahead of the it with two distinct and patented features—TapFly and ActiveTrack. These make it possible even for inexperienced pilots to fly the drone and do it safely and smoothly.

A major drawback of the Typhoon H Pro is its battery recharge time—a full charge takes well over two hours. That is twice as long as the time it takes the Phantom 4 to fuel up. Typhoon H Pro flight time can be shorter. Almost any DJI Phantom 4 review suggests flight time of close to 28 minutes. On the other hand, despite Yuneec claims of 24 minutes, live tests average only about 22 minutes for the Pro With a two-hour recharge time, Typhoon H Pro pilots will definitely need to keep a few extra batteries on hand.

Although the Typhoon H Pro hexacopter design is meant to add stability in flight, it has also made the drone a very heavy and bulky drone. With its remote control unit stacked with a multitude of buttons and switches, the Yuneec drone can be difficult to control.

The Typhoon H Pro is a hexacopter—its design is supposed to offer an added degree of stability in flight. In addition to making the drone heavier and harder to carry, the extra weight has also led to a shorter flight time, compared to DJI Phantom 4.

The Typhoon H Pro is one of the many modern drones with a 4K camera. While the Typhoon H Pro camera is likely to get some acceptable reviews, some experts have already pointed out the washed-out colors and the blurry frames. In addition, its video downlink relies entirely on the internal wifi card, lagging behind DJI, which offers its revolutionary Lightbridge 2 streaming feature.

The remote control unit has a display that is only basic in resolution. And the crowd of buttons and switches only adds confusion for the users.

 

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Just the battery you could know why the Typhoon H is worse

The battery performance of Yuneec Typhoon H is annoying for its recharge time.It takes more than two hours for a full charge which is twice as long as the Phantom 4.

Here is some case from pilots with Yuneec Typhoon H battery.

“I was out today and tried an experiment I have suspected that when running videos most of the time 15 minutes is about as safe as I can get on a new Typhoon H battery. Next battery flew for 35 minutes taking about half dozen photos at about 400 feet out and 200 feet up. The third battery I flew fast and high taking a few videos and photos and got a low battery at 400 feet up and barely got it down in time, 20 minutes.

Bottom line you have to pay attention to ‘everything’ when you fly, weather, wind, taking videos, flying fast and climbing fast. I have two DJI Phantoms and they will fly circles around these Yuneec’s, the Yuneec’s are very slow in response time. Do love the camera that takes fantastic videos in 4K though.”

“I took my Typhoon H up for its first flight. All I basically did was hover at different altitudes and moved short distances taking a series of pictures. From the first picture to the last picture was only about 15mins. Then I was forced to land with low voltage warning. The battery meter on the st16 was showing over 14 volts and the little icon showed half battery. So I took it up again to about 85 feet to take one last picture and before I could frame the shot it started to return to home. Will the battery break in or is something defective. Other Typhoon H owners say they are getting 18 to 20 mins. Oh, and the wind was minimal.”

Of course, the battery performance of a drone will depend on what the pilot does with his bird, and what the conditions are on any given day. More wind means less flight time, as the drone has to work harder to stay stable. Still, with a two-hour recharge time, Typhoon H users will have to bear with the inconvenience of carrying two extra batteries or three.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Compared to DJI,Yuneec is also full of power

Now the consumer drone market is becoming crowded and companies like Yuneec, and DJI, will have to focus on honing drones and software for business users.

Flying a drone is tricky business. The prosumer models are powerful, fast and can get into trouble in a hurry if you don’t know what you’re doing. That’s why smart, logical design and intuitive controls are so important in the drone game.

Don’t get me wrong, the $1,299, six-rotor drone is expertly designed. It has a third more rotors than, say, the DJI Phantom 4 and, unlike virtually every other drone I’ve tested, folds up for relatively easy transport: the rotor arms fold down to the body when not in flight.

The Yuneec Typhoon H is also an intelligent drone, more or less matching DJI on autonomous flight control features, including built-in obstacle avoidance and the ability to track objects on its 4K camera.

It is paired, though, with one of the more confusing remote controls, called a ground station, I’ve encountered in some time.

Like the DJI Phantom 4, Yuneec’s Typhoon H arrives in a rather large gray foam box. Lacking a handle, it doesn’t quite qualify as a carrying case (you can buy a drone backpack separately). Inside is the drone, with all its rotors folded down, the sizable remote control (the ST16 Ground Station), a bag of a dozen propellers, a large drone battery, AC/DC charger with cables for both the drone and remote, a sunshade for the remote’s 7-inch screen, a neck strap to hold the remote and a 16GB micro SD card and SD card-sized micro SD card adapter.

Before we get to flying, it’s worth spending some time talking about the remote control. Unlike the DJI Phantom 4, which uses a much smaller and lighter remote that’s paired with your iPad or iPhone running DJI flight software, Yuneec’s Ground station is an all-in-one device. The centerpiece is a 7-inch screen running Yuneec’s Android-based ground control interface, which offers real-time updates on altitude GPS and satellite availability, current position, altitude, speed, distance from pilot and photography presets. It’s also where you access most of the drone’s deeper settings and more powerful modes.

Yet despite my reservations about the Yuneec Typhoon H, especially its bloated Ground System, I still think it’s a really good prosumer drone. Yes, it will take more time to figure out.

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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…

 

 

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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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The Highly Competitive Consumer Drone Market

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.

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Yuneec Typhoon H let my girlfriend and me down!

OMG! What a nightmare. My Yuneec Typhoon H remote controller is dead on arrival. It ruined my mood for the flight of Yuneec Typhoon H.

I called Yuneec support and was requested to return it back for repair after spending $1300.

Repair, well, I don’t think anyone agrees to have a repaired unit after spending so much dollars. I learned from the forum that the repaired unit doesn’t work as well as the brand new one.

With my tons of phone calls to push for an exchange, they agreed to send me new one considering I’m the valued customer.

A week later, I received my new controller. I have to say that I’m a beginner. I had to call the support again and again to get it work. It took around 2 hours and many tries to bind the hex.

The support told that if it still didn’t work, I might need to have the remote controller sent back to them again. Again? I did want to kick the Typhoon H off at that time. I told the support, I needed a full refund if it didn’t work this time and I would tell my friends not to purchase anything from Yuneec.

The support seemed to sense something and became very patient after that. With his help, I get the remote controller bind to the hex. I thought the nightmare ended up there. I started to try my first flight after everything was set up. I took off the Typhoon H. It ascended to 10 meters high. I noticed the landing gear was in the live video. Shouldn’t the landing gear retract itself at this height? I tried with my remote controller but still failed to have the landing gear retract. I ascended the Typhoon H and thought the landing gear might retract. But nothing changed when it was 20 meters high.

I landed the Typhoon H and call the tech support. I operated with their instructions but it would start and one leg would get stuck. My patience worn thinner and thinner. I didn’t even want to fly it anymore.

Three days later, my girlfriend told me she would like to watch me flying the typhoon H. I thought it could still fly at least. So we took the drone to an open area. When I tried to fly the typhoon H, the new controller had lost the binding to the aircraft body again. I started to try to bind them again and it took us 30 minutes with trials. It worked finally. But what most ridiculous thing was it lost signal from the aircraft again when my girlfriend was ready to what me flying.

I started the procedure again and again but my trials went in vain. I called tech support and they were even not able to help. I was recommended to send my Typhoon H for test. Seriously?!!!

The Typhoon H just ruined my day! I could see how frustrated my girlfriend was.

Should I send it back to repair or full refund? It is like an endless nightmare and I’m tired of everything about Typhoon H.

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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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My two Yuneec Typhoon G crashed for no reason

I do not want to write negative reviews to be honest. I do understand that it do effect the way you make a decision. But this is the reason we need to write the truth here.

Every time I see the drone fly free in the sky, I dream of having my own drone and flying it proudly. I read a lot of reviews online and watched a lot of videos. The Yuneec Typhoon G came to my choice finally based on the strong recommendations from my one of friend who owned a Yuneec Typhoon H. He convinced me of purchasing the Yuneec Typhoon G as it is easy to start with and can fly with my Gopro 4.That’s great! I made the choice happily.

I unboxed the Yuneec Typhoon G carefully, checked the parts I received and I started my first flight after everything was great. I turned on the Typhoon G and remote controller. I was studying and tried to get to know more about this unit. Then I smelt something uncomfortable. I looked around but couldn’t find anything wrong. I then touched the Typhoon G accidently and was shocked. The Typhoon G was badly overheated and emitted a burning smell when I hadn’t even flown it at all. I turned it off and called the support immediately. I was recommended to send it back for test. I was not so happy about that but still looking forward to receiving it very soon with my friend’s comfort.

A week later, I heard from Yuneec support and they agreed to exchange a brand new Yuneec Typhoon G for me. I was so happy and thought that’s why my friend recommended Yuneec.

The exchanged unit worked great at first. I thought I got the hang of it and purchased a lot of accessories from Yuneec just to have my Gopro 4 fly with it. However, that was when the nightmare began.

With the live video feed, I could see that the gimbal shaking like crazy. I was afraid that it might be too loose that it just dropped off my GoPro 4. I landed it immediately and try to reinstall my GoPro. It worked better later after I reinstalled but the footage was still shaky. However, when it was about 100 meters away from me, I received a warning that the WIFI signal is weak. It lost the signal after that and the screen went to black. I landed it, checked all the connections and rebooted later. Everything worked correctly at first even the live HD video was not that clear. However, 7 minutes later, it started to float when I did nothing to it. Shouldn’t it hover there? I tried to stop it but my trials were in vain. It floated towards a tree, stroke to the tree and hanged there finally. My Gopro 4 got broken. The gimbal wasn’t able to hold it firmly and it just dropped off from the tree.

I was requested to send it to Yuneec support. However, I’m hesitating as I didn’t just want to fly it at all, I hope to do aerial photography.

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Yuneec Typhoon wifi problems reconfirm why Yuneec fails to challenge market leader DJI

Yuneec China has long been striving to offer a formidable challenge to DJI – the largest of all UAV drone manufacturers in the world. Unfortunately, Typhoon wifi problems, along with other issues with the hexacopter, have made pilots deeply disappointed and frustrated. Online forums like dronecompares or yuneecpilots are already swamped with tens of hundreds of complaints from users who say the Typhoon wifi problem is bigger than what Yuneec is willing to admit publicly.

The Typhoon wifi problem has a clear precursor in the way pilots struggle to get their drone airborne – it takes forever to establish the GPS connection and to get the Typhoon wifi going. As a result, the connection of the camera keeps snapping back and forth with the ground and the Typhoon wifi connection is lost intermittently. Pilots have submitted first-hand reports of Typhoon wifi problems where they experienced sudden loss of connection and the recording stopped without any notice.

Having set up waypoints, some pilots would take off and start recording aerial footage and then, all of a sudden, see the Typhoon wifi connection stop working. And they’re not a small number if online reviews are any indication. In comparison, DJI Phantom 4 signal loss instances are far less frequent – the internal wifi card of the DJI machine delivers a much more reliable performance, speaking volumes for DJI’s superior R&D.

One particular Yuneec user even went on to say that she struggled for 15 minutes to simply get the Typhoon wifi connection established – that’s the extent of Typhoon wifi problems. The drone’s owners have since made numerous complaints about the quality of the Typhoon wifi connection. For some, it is just impossible to connect using Typhoon wifi, because the wifi network on their drones simply doesn’t show up on their devices.

Yuneec Typhoon H vs DJI Phantom 4 benchmarking is not only about the Typhoon wifi performance. Even from a basic navigation and tracking point of view, Phantom 4 is a much more superior product. DJI Phantom 4 reviews are all praise for unique features like ActiveTrack and TapFly. Most importantly, inconsistent Typhoon wifi problem and issues with its GPS connection mean that its video downlink is also unreliable. In comparison, DJI offers its highly advanced and proprietary Lightbridge 2 video downlink technology.

Yuneec Typhoon H has a smaller operating range – about a kilometer – against a DJI Phantom 4 comparison, which can be safely controlled from over five kilometres away. One may think the Typhoon wifi problem is a function of how far the drone is from the ground. In fact, Typhoon wifi problems have been reported at a wide variety of ranges – from 30 feet to 500 feet. Considering the extent of Typhoon wifi problems, experts have concluded that DJI’s RC quadcopter is obviously a better machine than the more expensive Typhoon H.

One of the big promises made to the market when Yuneec announced its alliance with Intel was better navigation and safer flights. Unfortunately, the Yuneec Intel partnership has had no impact on the Typhoon wifi outage. Pilots are more frustrated than ever, and market analysts are just negative in their outlook.

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Typhoon H RealSense not so much bang for the big bucks

Yuneec hexacopter equipped with Intel’s RealSense gets mixed reviews.

Yuneec is gaining a lot of attention from top drone pilots testing out the Typhoon H RealSense for marked quality improvements over the bulky Yuneec Q500 4K and rival DJI Phantom 4.

So far however the added cost for the Typhoon H RealSense for the Yuneec drone, running at $1,800 to $1,900 before any accessories, has called into question the bang for buck of the sensor initially designed for in-house equipment.

In particular, the advertised 3-5 meters of effective distance of the Typhoon H RealSense using structured infrared light has not proven true in higher-speed outdoor aerial photography.

Plus, in a DJI vs Yuneec comparison, the Typhoon H RealSense lacks the more numerous and stable GPS connections available to the DJI Phantom 4, calling into question the ability to dodge obstacles.

In fact, when Yuneec made a sort of debut with the Typhoon H RealSense at the Las Vegas CES show at the start of 2016, a high-tech and expensive VICON demo system was employed to avoid any slipups. That is not the case for the Typhoon H RealSense models on sale now and the comparison to the top-notch DJI Phantom 4 tracking system could prove it a poor cousin.

The idea from Yuneec R&D was to install the Intel RealSense R200 camera at the factory – current Typhoon H models can upgrade for $600 – and use an Intel Atom processor module to map the drone’s surroundings in 3D.

Getting the new parts onto the drone for the Typhoon H RealSense and in sync with other equipment could be a challenge, though Yuneec has not highlighted any particular weight issue or other issues with battery life that may result. Still, electronic equipment has a way of testing patience.

However, it is not a bad plan, but as seen with the Yuneec Q500 4K – products leaving the Yuneec production line have a way of coming back for tweaks, or outright part replacements as in the case of the antenna for the patchy internal WiFi card that has caused all kinds of connection complaints. That is unlike the proprietary and superior DJI Lightbridge 2, which has drawn praise for solid connections.

However, it may be the willingness of existing Typhoon H owners to pay the $600 premium that provides the best evidence for the Typhoon H RealSense because it would have to far outshine the existing ultrasonic collision prevention already installed.

So far, several reviewers who own a Q500 4K or a Typhoon H without the Typhoon H RealSense said they would wait, especially since production glitches are apparently delaying a wider rollout and Yuneec has only vaguely promised a separate Typhoon H RealSense technology at some point in the future.

And at least one early reviewer on Amazon said replacing parts broken during flyaways and erratic crashes has bumped up the cost considerably.

“I’m a little over $2800 in on a $1800 copter,” Bifster said. “I should have waited and researched issues with this unit better, before I bought it.”

 

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Follow me feature wobbly on Yuneec Typhoon Q500 4K drone as GPS flickers

Yuneec Typhoon Q500 4K drone shows wobbly response if satellite numbers drop.

More than a few drone pilots have noted the wobbles in the “Follow Me” mode as the Yuneec GPS struggles to stay connected to enough satellites. The issue centers on all Yuneec drone models, but has particularly frustrated first-time drone buyers unware of the complexities.

First off, the insert in the Yuneec Typhoon Q500 4K drone box that explains how “Follow Me” is supposed to work needs more attention to detail. But the most important aspect to note is that the Q500 must be connected to at least seven satellites. This can be a problem for any Yuneec drone, especially in some parts of the world where access to the satellite network it relies on is patchy, or non-existent.

At this point, the first-time user needs to know the difference between a fix and a lock. So for example, in a lock, it means I have a solid signal from three or more satellites, while a fix means the location is established. So a drone pilot could have a lock on 10 satellites, but the Yuneec GPS receiver board may not have a fixed location.

For the Yuneec drone models, that could mean that a flashing green light doesn’t equal a good position estimate, just a good Yuneec GPS lock. Understanding this difference is crucial in “Follow Me” as you have to position a Q500 at the height and angle at which you want it and switch from Angle Mode to Smart Mode.

The Yuneec GPS is used in all of the flight modes for the Q500, but you can manually turn off the Yuneec GPS by finding an online guide. But remember, the drone defaults to “on” for the Yuneec GPS, so you will need to repeat the process each time if you want the Yuneec GPS off.

But setting the drone into Smart Mode for “Follow Me” produces a series of imprecise stop and start moves, making it impractical unless you’re in a wide open space with no other people or objects around.

On the other hand, in a Yuneec vs DJI comparison on the number of satellites available across the world, DJI has a far wider network and the GPS and GLONASS uses sonar assistance.

And that brings up whether the Yuneec Typhoon Q500 4K drone is meant to compete with the DJI Phantom, as the advertised Q500 parallels to a Phantom are obvious. It’s true the Q500 is a bulkier drone, but it does attempt to employ features such as a landing gear and the custom camera/gimbal combination found on the DJI drone.

The Yuneec drone however lags in R&D and quality in the propellers. The plastic and other features are a bit flimsy. Those design flaws coupled with the prospect of the Yuneec GPS dropping mean it’s not a good idea to attempt to fly it indoors as it lacks the more sophisticated autonomous communication features of the Phantom.

That brings us back to the Yuneec GPS green light on the Yuneec Typhoon Q500 4K drone – it produces mixed results.

Sometimes the green light for the Yuneec GPS leads to the drone working perfectly, or it shows satellites in place and the drone does not respond at all. This leads to furious efforts to recalibrate the compass, or investigate other potential problems such as those with the internal WiFi card, which has had problems with a poorly soldered antenna. So a warning of Yuneec GPS loss on the ST10 controller could be caused by several issues.

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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!

 

 

 

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