Parrot AR Drone 2.0 Review

Parrot AR Drone 2.0 Review and Analysis

\Parrot has been known to put out good models of UAVs, but does the second AR Drone live up to this reputation? Find out here on our Parrot AR drone 2.0 review. SciAutonics.com, your go-to source for the best drone reviews, will take a comprehensive look at the design, performance, and overall value for money of this quadcopter.

Inside the Box

Unlike most available drones, this Parrot drone ships with nothing but the machine itself, the battery, and its charger. It has no controller, as its controls are dependent on either a tablet or a smartphone. This setup works for both the benefit and the disadvantage of the UAV (more on this later on our quadricopter review). Nevertheless, it comes out of the box ready to fly, provided you already have its app on your device.

Now Selling For Only $309.98

Average is a good word for the battery of the AR Drone 2.0, as it’s neither bad nor impressive. Depending on the package deal you choose, your UAV would come with a 1000 mAh or 1500 mAh battery. Regardless of your choice, the flight time would be more or less 12 minutes – depending on the conditions you are flying in. 

It does drain easily whenever you pull off some flying tricks, though. For instance, if you want to do a barrel roll, a simple tap is all it takes to do the move. But be prepared, as that move alone would eat 30% or so of your quadcopter’s battery. 

Parrot AR Drone 2.0 Specifications

What does the AR Drone 2.0 offer? Before we start with our full-on Parrot drone review, let’s take the time to check out its core specs:

Build

Now, let’s discuss the design of this Parrot drone. Obviously, it still mirrors the appearance of the first AR Drone, albeit with a few improvements. Our team has no complaints with the design – in fact, we even admire one of the add-ons for this machine: the outdoor hull. 

This hull is a thick brace for the dimensions of the drone that protects the propellers. It weighs down the quadcopter a little bit, but that’s not much of a sacrifice considering the cash it saves you on repairs. The padding and foam for the body are an excellent safety measure, especially for beginners prone to crashes and bumps.

Camera

The AR Drone’s camera is, at best, decent. Its integrated HD cam is good enough to shoot clear photos. In terms of video output, the lens could capture standard 720p clips at 30 fps. It’s nothing cutting-edge, but it gets the job done. At the very least, the camera is better than what mini drones have. Given the price of this quadcopter, this is a great offer.

Of course, some issues with quality are still present. The color isn’t exactly the best, plus the sharpness and clarity could both use some improvement. But given its sub-$300 price point, what this quadcopter has isn’t bad at all. 

Navigation

The only time you can control this UAV with a physical controller is when you have NVidia Shield. If you don’t have this nifty gaming device, you’ll have to master the controls of the app available for both Android and iOS users. This is where things become a little problematic.

To be fair, the navigation isn’t all bad. There are a few good points worthy of mentioning with the AR Drone 2.0. For one, it is easy to learn the basics of the app – how you maneuver the machine, perform a landing, and more. It also has fun camera modes and navigation shortcuts, all of which are useful for every pilot. The machine could even fly indoors just fine.

Unfortunately, the laggy and glitch-prone performance of the app outweighs these benefits. The lag causes some delays with the controls you input, thus risking a crash – or worse, a flyaway – if you have no idea what you are doing. 

The UAV tries hard to be precise with each move, but it remains inconsistent in doing so. In the end, this isn’t just about the lack of a physical controller to guide the drone – there really are a few glaring performance issues with this quadcopter.

The Verdict

The Parrot AR Drone 2.0 is far from the best; drone reviews from other websites even say it’s quite a problematic machine. Factoring in our own Parrot AR Drone 2.0 Review, we can say that – to some extent – we agree with the consensus. While this presents the fresh idea of smartphone-only controls, there are still a lot of issues for the manufacturer to iron out. Until these issues get resolved, you might want to look for another drone with camera to play with.