During this summer I started exploring two passions I have: motorbikes and drones. While taking the license for the first ones, I also entered the flying UFO world.
Are you intrigued by drones? Starting might be easier and cheaper than you thought!
All photos are property of mine, shot from Canon EOS 1100D 18/55mm or 50mm.
DJi Tello is a really compact drone, but extremely fun. The price on this DJi is extremely inviting; it can be bought at around 100€ on most sites, like Amazon. It's a product born from a collaboration between Ryze Tech, a Cina based drone company, Intel, which provided the Movidius Myriad 2 VPU (Vision Processing Unit, for further information you can consult Intel and last but not least, DJi obviously, which provided the flying software, optimized the drone and commercialize it in Europe and North America (the DJi Tello is sold with the Ryze brand in Cina and Asia in general).
Small price = no performance? Not in this case.
Compared to the multitude of drones at a price point of under one hundred, this is really performing. It's a great start for beginners who haven't past experience piloting aircrafts and it's really important to have something cheap in case of collision. You don't have to worry too much while learning! In the last 3 to 5 years the drone's market has really evolved, both in characteristics and entry price: nonetheless, having the full ability to pilot one is something that needs hours of practise to learn. I really suggest starting with something simply and proceed from there, rather than jump on an Hasselblad one (which is quite amazing, my dream DJi drone!).
Let's see some photos before continuing the review, with the box contents and more.
The box includes:
- The drone
- A battery pack
- 4 pairs of propellers (8 in total, so you have already replacement ones)
- 2 pairs of propellers-guards, 4 total
The drone's charge happens trough microUSB cable, which is not included in the box. I really suggest to buy a seconday Battery pack alongside the drone; you can change batteries on-the-run to double the autonomy (and the fun too!). The official battery is this.
Each battery is produced by Fullymax and has 1100mAh and 3.8V. Those are extremely light as well, only 26 grams. A full charge last between 10 to 15 minutes, depending on drone's usage.
On the drone there is a small mark on opposite propellers side, in fact the type of propellers are different. Changing them is really easy with the accessory included and the elasticity of the material makes them quite durable in case of impact.
Propellers guards are really useful to make the drone "bounce" in case of crash and to prevent damage to itself and surroundings.
Finished the description of all accessory, let's talk about the drone itself. It's easy to configure the Tello app and pair it with the drone; just download the application on your Android or iOS device, even if the second category showed best performance. The drone acts like a flying router, so the connection is through Wi-Fi, 2.4 GHz to be precise. Controls and joypads displayed on the touch screen are oriented towards the "face" of the drone, where the camera is. This might catch people by surprise at first, because you can use your joypad to move your drone onwards and see it going backwards. After some practice with the reference system you can really display your piloting skills.
On a technical side, DJi Tello has 12 128-bit processors, vector SHAVE optimized for artificial vision. It has two driving mode as wel, Normal and Sport. In Normal the feedbacks on commands is quite slow, which is perfect to take shots and videos. Turning on Sport mode, rotors start using maximum power and the drone really flies. You can also do extremely stunning and funny tricks with the 8D Flips command, which allows to use the Touchscreen of your device to draw fancy tricks (backflip, frontflip, loops and many more).
The transmission rage is 100m and the video quality is 720p. It's possible to choose between normal and high quality when taking pictures. Below the UI to control the drone from iPhone 6s Plus.
The downsides of the drone, compared to the low purchase prices, are: the sensor on the camera has just 5MP, which is probably obsoleted with current standards; the streaming of contents, which I'll explain in details. Basically, the drones doesn't have an SD card slot or a memory, so upon shooting photos or collecting videos, those will be streamed through WI-FI connection to your device. This system has two major drawbacks: you don't have a reliable memorization system, given that your using your phone memory, and, most important, there is lag in videos, mostly when flying far from the drones. Using an external Wi-Fi repeater can solve this problem. I will talk about all accessories for DJi Tello in a future post! 😁
In conclusion, hovering is really stable, there are sensors on the bottom side of the drone for departure and landing, even if the battery discharge. With a small amount of accessories and a minimal expense you can have fun with a drone, while learning skills to pilot better and larger models. Check regulations in your area for the flying zone and the requisites to pilot one. In Italy, this drone can be used without license, which is a huge plus!
The project is part of Aerial-Italy, a format created by myself to reunite the drone community (and the future enthusiasts!). Your support it's extremely important to make this project growth, my aim is to get an Hasselblad drone and start showcasing the hidden gems of Italy. I'm sure that I can get there with the community effort!