Parrot AR.Drone 2.0

[Frederik S]

Parrot's infamous AR.Drone just got revamped and we take the new and much improved 2.0 version for a spin around the block. The new drone comes with updated on-board hardware and brand new software tricks as well.

Show full review

 

[Dark Revenger]

...easily recognizable against any type of surface and almost all colors you would normally find outdoors, except maybe hipsters.

You made my day.

 

[Yo_Wattup]

You made my day.

was about to say the same thing.

Very cool toy

 

[natr0n]

angry parrot is not pleased of this mockery

 

[diopter]

What happens when you fly this thing over a sudden fall in ground level, like an open man hole cover as a silly example? It uses ultrasonic sensors for altitude control, so would it suddenly drop altitude like a stone if it detected that it was suddenly too high in the air i.e. far from the ground level?

 

[Sasqui]

What happens when you fly this thing over a sudden fall in ground level, like an open man hole cover as a silly example? It uses ultrasonic sensors for altitude control, so would it suddenly drop altitude like a stone if it detected that it was suddenly too high in the air i.e. far from the ground level?

My assumption is the accellerometer would correct that, good question though.

Just have to buy one and test it out

 

[BernardV]

I was about to order one of these the other day, but then after a pretty hefty research session I found the poor battery life (around 12 minutes per 90 minute charge cycle) to be too extreme to ignore, given the price.

There are a few solutions to the problem of course..

1. Buy a bigger battery -- not designed for the drone or approved by the manufacturer but should work.. that will push up flight time to 20 minutes per flight, unless you buy multiple of those @ around 20-50$ a pop.. now imagine buying two to three extra of those? Now your entry level fun drone has turned into a 400-500$ excercise.. :/ not worth it in my opinion.

2. Buy more of the manufacturer approved standard battery's -- each one will add 12 minutes or so, but again total price has again gone up substantially.

Unless money is no object or you are really willing to live with the horrible stock battery performance I would not recommend this as a good buy.

 

[Frederik S]

The AR.Drone 2.0 has a pressure based altitude sensor so going over a deep hole with a rapid transition would most likely not affect its altitude compared to ground level. It most uses the ultrasonic sensors when flying very close to the ground. In this respect the 2.0 is much better than the original.

Flying time is 12-15 minutes per charge, and the batteries around $35 last time I checked which is not bad considering the flying time they provide. Batteries for RC helicopters with the same amount of flying time are about the same and the Drone can do so much more than a regular RC helicopter.

I think the majority of users would be totally satisfied by having two batteries.