Parrot Anafi
£649, parrot.com
Once upon a time, all you needed to enjoy the great outdoors was yourself and a sense of adventure. You can still get by with those, but now we’re spoiled for choice with gadgets that love the natural landscape as much as we do, and let you explore it it all new ways. The most exhilarating of these is the camera drone. For the longest time, DJI has had the market sewn up, but that could be about to change; Parrot has released its new folding drone, the Anafi, and it’s gunning for the DJI Mavic Air’s crown.
Parrot’s 4K HDR flying video camera is built for ‘anytime, anywhere’ use, from dusty dirt trails to snow-covered vistas, with a 33mph top speed to cover the distance. The camera films in 4K HDR and 4K Cinema (4096x2160) at pro quality, so those dramatic peaks will look amazing. The 21MP, 1/2.4-inch Sony CMOS sensor should produce epic stills too. Its three-axis gimbal keeps the camera moving smoothly, and can even tilt to record straight down or straight up – a drone first.
The only downside, and the reason why the Mavic Air might cling to its hovering crown, is that the Anafi has no obstacle-avoidance tech. But if you’re confident in your flying skills and want an affordable drone with a superior camera, generous 25-minute battery life and a suite of intelligent flight modes, throw the Anafi in your backpack and hit the trail.
tech-o-Meter