PICKING A DRONE AS A GIFT ISN’T JUST ABOUT THE PRICE,
So you want to buy a drone as a holiday gift.
For the past few years, buyers were faced with a dilemma: Splash out on a $1,000 drone that came with a video camera, a smart app and plenty of airborne functionality. Or spend near $100 for what was essentially a toy: learning to fly them was a challenge, and the camera optics, if they had any, were inferior.
This year’s crop of drones are easier to fly, smaller, cuter and can shoot sharp 4K-video footage in the air — at prices near $500.
In that category, we’ve just taken the $400 Yuneec Breeze and $600 Hover Camera Passport “flying cameras” out for flights. Both are great first copters to get your feet wet in the land of drone photography. (Two other sub-$500 models — the Parrot Bebop 2 and DJI Phantom 1, shoot in lower-resolution video and use controllers for flight, which could take more time to master.)
THE RUNDOWN The Breeze and Passport are compact, portable and can easily fit into a stuffed backpack — especially the foldable Passport, which is a little bigger than an iPhone 7 Plus (when folded).
These drones are operated via smartphone apps that let you launch, land, fly up and down, left and right and take photos and videos of your activities.
Both have features in their apps to home in on you and follow you on bike rides, roller blading, hikes and the like. And both come with a second battery, which is vital. Both will fly for just around 10 minutes before needing a recharge.
FLY WITH THE BIRDS — NOT AIRPLANES What they won’t do is go as high into the air as the bigger drones. Their limits range from about 65 feet to 300 feet. (The new and more advanced $999 Mavic Pro from DJI can ascend 16,000 feet.)
The Breeze and Passport are positioned to be used for aerial group shots and unique video angles on the world that go higher than any selfie stick.
As I’ve found in playing with drones the past few weeks, you really don’t have to go very high to get a great shot. Nine to 10 feet in the air and you get a killer slightly aerial image that looks nothing like your friends’ videos on Facebook. And they soar, too, in video mode.
DRONE SHOWDOWN: BREEZE VS. CASPER The Breeze has more versatility. However, in my tests, this drone can have a mind of its own.
In demos with reps from Yuneec, they showed how to fly the drone inside the house and encouraged me to try. But when I did, the Breeze ran wild in the kitchen and wouldn’t respond to the app.
I gave it a second try, in the USA TODAY offices, and again, I would direct it in one direction, and it would go in another.
That said, outside the Breeze was fine and did as told. The only twist was wind. Get some gusts, and you could see the Breeze swaying when it should have been rather still.
On a clear day, I did a group shot of 24 people on Thanksgiving (again, outside) with the Breeze where it responded accordingly to direction, and the results were great. Plus, my group (and Facebook friends) loved the novelty of the drone group shot.
Unlike more expensive drones, with image stabilization from 3axis gimbals, which use motors to steady the shot, the Breeze has what it calls “Electronic Image stabilization” at the 1080p setting, not the real thing, but it seems to do the trick, and somewhat steadies the image.
That’s more than you’ll get from the Hover Camera, which has none. This is a problem when you’re flying a device in the air and can be battling wind for your soaring shots.
Still, I loved the Hover Passport. It’s really small, easy to take with you anywhere and looks like a flying cage.
The propellers are covered (which means no sliced fingers or other boo-boos) by the cage, which also protects it when you crash it into walls and such. Which you will do.
Unlike the Breeze, the Passport seemed to obey directions better. When told on the app to go somewhere, it did so. Outside, that just won’t be very high.
The downside is that footage could be shaky. Hover says a gimbal will be added next year, so you might want to wait.
Neither drone lets you shoot to a memory card — instead, the internal storage means you’ll need to move the clips and photos via Wi-Fi to your phone, or connect them to the computer.
If you’re looking for a low-cost way to add a drone this holiday season, both models operate effortlessly, get you up in the air pretty instantly and should provide hours of entertainment.
Now if the Breeze would just mind its manners indoors. Kids, you want to play outside, really.
The drone to get, if you have the money, is DJI’s Mavic Pro, which has better video quality, longer flight time, is also rather small and light, and can fit into a big pocket. We’ll be back with an in-depth review of the Mavic later this month.