Parrot AR.Drone Quadricopter : A New Flying Experience

Courtesy of www.rchelicopterfun.com

The AR.Drone quadricopter or quadrocopter is a revolutionary product merging the very best of several worlds, such as video gaming, modeling, and augmented reality. The Parrot produced quadricopter is remote-controlled by an iPhone4, iPhone3GS, iPad or iPod Touch 4th Generation and equipped with several sensors, such as a vertical camera, front camera, and an ultrasound altimeter. The best thing is it could also be used in video gaming, for instance AR.FlyingAce, a battle between two AR.Drones. Read more our Parrot AR.Drone review.

You can get these in the package; the AR. Drone, four types of adapter, 1,000 mAh Li-Po battery, 3 cells Li-Po balancing charger, indoor and outdoor hull, sticker for outdoor hull and a manual (see above pictures for detail).

How To Fly AR.Drone

To fly this thing, you need to have the Apple products like iPad, iPod or iPhone, and then you need to download the Free Flight software to control the AR. Drone at http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/free-flight/id373065271?mt=8, but you need to register first. You can alter the pre-programmed command by using this software if you want to have a different flying experience.

Auto-Flight Features

The sophisticated gadget comes with several best features. The one that I like is the auto flight functions. When you lose contact with it, the automatic flight will automatically get into action, where it will hovering stationary until the battery depleted, and then decide by its own to land it if the entire battery has been used. You can also turn on the auto-flight mode if you want to do something for a while.

The computer will do everything for you, you only need to tell what to do. For instance take-off is easy, just press auto take-off button and set the altitude you want the toy to hover. It will stay that way until you take control and give another command.

Because everything is pre-programmed within its processor, you can’t fly the toy pass the given flight parameter. Therefore, you can surely fly it even if you are a newbie, but if you want to learn everything related to this RC Toy, feel free to visit its site at http://ardrone.parrot.com/parrot-ar-drone/usa/.

Camera

AR.Drone equipped with two cameras (front and vertical/down), very useful when you want to see what the toy sees. Front camera refresh rate is a bit slower than down camera. Down camera is needed in auto-flight mode. Unfortunately, this RC helicopter gives no video recording features.

Battery

The battery will last for approximately 12 minutes and full charging takes about 90 minutes. I would recommend – for longer battery’s life - to stop using the toy when the power in the battery is only around 20%.

How to Repair AR.Drone

The durability of AR.Drone is good, the carbon fiber frame and polypropylene foam body give a good protection to the electronic component within. In case of any crash happens, you can learn to repair it by yourself from seeing this video. But you need to have a spare set of gear, blade and the AR-Drone tool.

Some safety features also given to it, such as it will turn off when some sort of excessive pressure given to the propellers. This will prevent the motor getting burnt.

When seeing the capability such as the auto-flight, newbie-friendly functions, the built-in camera, the durability and stability, you can expect to get this at more than $500, but the AR.Drone price is much cheaper only around $300.

If you like to own this awesome toy after reading this Parrot AR.Drone review, you can purchase it at AR. Drone shop for discounted price. For more gaming experience, you can visit the Apples iTunes stores and find some games for the toy.