Review: Parrot Beebop Drone & Skycontroller
Drones are hot at the moment. So, it’s no surprise that I’m taking a look at one that will get your attention.
This is the Parrot Beebop Drone. It’s a quadricopter. It comes with a 14 megapixel camera with image stabilization that does 1080p video and has 8GB of internal storage. On top of that, it has embedded GPS which opens up all sorts of possibilities. GPS lets the Parrot “find home,” which automatically puts the drone on a course to its point of origin if it’s above 10 meters off the ground. There’s more functionality coming that will expand on this in future software updates. The Bebop Drone is both light because it is made of ABS plastic and hard, impact-resistant foam. The rotors can be easily removed using an included wrench. Now you can pair this to your Android or iOS smartphone or tablet via WiFi and use an app to control it. But by doing so you can only fly it short distances. Fortunately, Parrot can help you with that.
This is the Parrot Skycontroller. Simply supply your own tablet or smartphone (in my case, I picked a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1), install the app, and then use WiFi to pair the tablet to the Skycontroller. The Skycontroller will automatically find and pair itself to the Beebop drone. Once you do that, you can fly to up to 2 kilometers. It also allows you to connect via HDMI, USB, and to first person view glasses as well.
So, how do this combo work? Very well once you get the hang of it. It took me a while to get used to flying it and I have to admit that I had a couple of rough landings before I got comfortable with it. But once I got the hang of it, it was very very fun to use. Hint, you should learn to fly it in an open field with grass to avoid breaking the drone. Plus use a large tablet so that you can fully use the first person POV that the onboard camera gives you. Controlling it with the Skycontroller makes life so much easier as you can make incredibly precise adjustments in mid flight. Both the drone and the Skycontroller are powered by common lithium ion polymer batteries. While the battery in the Skycontroller had power to spare after 1.5 hours of use, I had to replace the battery in the Beebop drone after 15-20 minutes of flying. Fortunately, I had four of these batteries at my disposal and I used all four in my testing.
When it comes to the camera, it was impressive, if only I cleaned the lens first. First, here’s a picture. Click to see it at full size:
Now here’s a three minute video of a flight of the Beebop Drone. There’s no sound because it is not capable of recording sound. Set it to full screen and 1080P to see it in full quality:
If it were not for the fact that the lens was dirty, the image quality would be absolutely perfect. Tip: The best way to get the video off the drone is to connect it to your computer via USB and drag and drop it off the drone. I tried to access it wirelessly using the app on the Android tablet that I was using to test it and I couldn’t get that to work.
So, what does all this drone goodness go for? This combo retails for $1100 CDN. Clearly at this price point, the Beebop Drone is no toy. But based on my testing, those who would pay this kind of money are not looking for toys. That makes the Beebop Drone and Skycontroller a must for someone who wants a drone that allows them to get great quality video and precise flight control. If that’s you, you should be getting yours now and I assure you that you’ll have zero complaints.
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