picked up a Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 from Auto 1 Essendon north VIC store today, they are one of the authorized reseller for AR Drone in Australia, the other two are EBgames and Apple store which selling for $348 and $349 respectively, thought this is a pretty good deal :)
the battery won't last too long, i played around 15 minutes and got around 20% of charge left.
there are settings in the app to adjust the horizontal/ vertical speed, max altitude, tilt angle etc
as a beginner, it'll definitely take some time to master the control
I owned the first edition version. It's not a bad device but I was glad to be rid of it.
The batteries last 15 minutes if you're lucky. You can't fly it outside unless there is literally 0 wind, the smallest amount will blow it over, crash, and then you're up for expensive parts/repairs. You can't fly it outside with the protective bumpers on and they can't go very high.
Also they never mention that the style of battery used (though common) when invisibly damaged (like in a crashed copter) can explode during charging like a grenade and throws burning napalm all over your house, so you're meant to charge them carefully outside in a garage and in a fire-proof bag.
It's fun. But the battery, low flight power, costly repairs, explosion risk… these are devices for people with tonnes of money to burn.
thx for the honest review, even it is 1.0, but it seems nothing change on 2.0 based on OP quick review.
i just going to bought it from ebgames, but i think i will spent my money elsewhere
I fly hobby grade quadcopters, planes and helis and use large lipo batteries. They are safe if you use the correct chargers and I charge on a tile or concrete floor. You can also adapt hobby king lipo batteries and chargers which are better and cheaper than the ar ones.
Have fun!
I really like my 1.0. It is useless in the wind, but I didn’t have any trouble flying it outside with the protective foam on, it does use up the batteries quicker.
My main issue is that I couldn’t get my head around the left and right directions when its orientation to me had changed. Also its hard to tell which way its facing at a distance which doesn’t help.
This is the main advantage of the 2.0 version, you can fly it from your point of view all the time, i.e you tell it to go left and it will always head to your left even though it might be its forward or right.
I definitely want to get a 2.0 in a few months. thanks for the deal!
so tell us about the performance of the drone. any good?