Ryze Tech Tello Boost Combo - Mini Drone with 5MP Camera, RC Quadcopter with 720p HD Video, 13min Flight Time, Powered by DJI, White

The media could not be loaded. Over the past few years, I've wanted to buy a drone, but they just seemed too expensive for a hobby and the cheap ones had really bad reviews. Several articles rated this model as the best inexpensive drone for beginners so I gave it a shot. Overall, I was very impressed how well this thing performed for the price.-Flight time: You can about 10 - 15 minutes flight time depending on what you're doing. While it doesn't sound like a lot, it feels much longer. For longer time, just pick up an extra battery and swap it out. The battery takes about an hour and 15 minutes to charge. You charge it by using a microUSB cable connected to the drone (not included)-Setup: You download the app from the app store and connect it to your phone using a Wifi Connection. Setup was maybe 3 minutes. Tip: If you're on Android, once you connect to the Drone's Wifi, wait for your phone to say it's connected to wifi network but there's no internet and then tell it to stay connected anyway (usually takes about a minute). Once it does that, it's fine but it took me awhile to figure that out. It's clearly an Android issue and not the drone because I have the same problem with Smart Outlets / Amazon Alexa setup.-Flying: It's really easy to get the hang of flying this done. I've flown it inside and outside and even with a breeze, it was pretty easy to control. It went as high as 30' or so (one picture is of a neighborhood over a 2 story home). By default, it's on a slow setting which is better for indoors. If you're outdoors, turn on the fast setting and this thing really zips. It has a really long range and was able to control the done over a distance of more than baseball field. It easily hovers in place and is actually quite stable to control. It does need a good amount of ambient light to operate though. The drone has sensors on the bottom that it uses to look at the ground and stabilize itself. It works amazingly well but had some problems when being used indoors in more dimly lit rooms. This will not fly at dusk or night.-Picture/Video: The picture quality is really good for a 5MP camera mounted on a drone. You could come out with some neat pictures with this. The video feed on the phone itself when you're flying it usually has very little lag but the video saved on your phone can be choppy at time. It's decent enough for a drone in this price range, just don't expect professional level video. Also, the camera on this drone is fixed (always facing forward) so don't expect to angle it down for a bird's eye view.-Durability: Reading over reviews of other drones, I never understood why people kept talking about crashing them, but as a beginner you're going to crash the drone a lot. I've hit halls, ceilings, trees, the ground and many other things. The drone just stops itself, you put it flat on the floor again and tell it to take off. It's remarkably durable and haven't had any issues with it being damaged. It does come with a few replacement propellers if you need them.Overall, it's a really fun toy and a great way to start with drones. It's really well built and powerful for the price and I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to start playing with drones without spending a ton of money.

The media could not be loaded. This thing is awesome! I understand that it's a couple of years old now, but I have had nothing but fun and enjoyment from this thing. First, I'll say that I typically don't like flying drones without a dedicated remote, but the Tello is pretty easy to fly using a phone. The drone doesn't drift like other drones do, so you're not having to continually correct your movements. Next, the camera. Sure it's only 5mp stills and 720p video, but I think it's pretty good for a budget drone. It's like having an amateur photographer who can fly. Sure, the photos could be better, but he can fly! For the price it really can't be beat. The image stabilization is fantastic! The flight modes and video/photo modes are awesome too. Having easy to use things like the "Throw and go" or the hand landing are pretty cool, and circling POV shots add awesome sauce to your bland hiking photos. And while the native app doesn't support things like "Follow me", there is an app you can purchase that does a great job with it. All in all you can't go wrong with this as a reliable little everydrone!

I think a lot of the basic features have been covered pretty well already by the thousands of reviews, so forgive me if I glaze over the things that have been talked to death, like the image quality. I'm going to go straight into the issues I have before I talk about what I love, so if you're skimming, keep in mind that I really do like this quad and I really do recommend it for beginners.The camera had little to do with my reasons for buying this quad. I wanted something basic and inexpensive (but sturdy) that I could fly around to improve my piloting skills. I have a DJI Mini 2 for the camera, and it's a rock solid platform with all of the gadgets helping to save you from yourself. You want that for a camera-focused quad. And even if I wanted more control, I certainly didn't want to make mistakes on a $500 machine. Then I have a Blade Nano QX, the exact opposite. Ultra light, and the only help it gives you is (optionally) return to hover when you release the sticks. With that feature turned off for maximum maneuverability, it's ping-ponging off the walls in three seconds. It's not very sturdy, meaning repairs are common, and the batteries only last 5 minutes.So I saw the Tello. It's made by DJI, who in my opinion has earned their excellent reputation. It has slow and fast modes, and has options to do tricks like flips. I guess I incorrectly thought that if you could do automated flips, there must be a way to defeat the safety mechanisms and do manual tricks as well. But that's not the case. That's my fault for making that assumption, but the forced handholding doesn't end there. Slow mode isn't terrible for moving around the house and for getting pictures, but if you really want to improve your skills, you need to stick to fast mode. But fast mode turns itself off all the time, mid-flight. There seems to be a "feature" where fast mode is disabled when you're less than about 8 feet in the air. So you could be zipping around in fast mode when without warning, the quad just slows down because you passed that altitude threshold. It's jarring because the software just takes over and all of a sudden the quad isn't doing what you're telling it to do. I don't mind if this is an optional safety feature for kids, but there's no way to defeat the behavior. There's also no way to defeat any of the other protection features, like auto-hover or the minimum altitude limitation. Fast mode limits the propeller angles to a maximum of 25 degrees, and you can only reduce this, not increase it. This means no manual flips or tricks. The only way to do those is through the software, and they only work when the battery is at or above 50% charge.Indoor flying is clearly the primary focus of this quad, but some of the features require outdoor levels of light to work. Even during the day with all of my living room lights turned on, I still get a warning that there isn't enough light so hover may not work correctly (generally it's fine anyway, although it may drift a little). Using it outdoors is fine when it's really calm out, but a light breeze can make it harder to maneuver. If you're below that minimum altitude for fast mode, it's easy for a breeze to take it away because slow mode can't compete with even light breezes.One of the reasons I chose this quad was the option to pilot with a real controller. I connect my PS4 controller to my phone via Bluetooth, and use the controller to fly rather than the on-screen controls on the phone. It works really well, but the functionality is lacking. The controller allows you to use the analog sticks for control, and button combos for things like flips, takeoff and landing, still photos and movies. But there's a bunch of functionality left that isn't mapped to the controller, so you have to use the phone. This includes the things like the various video modes like Circle, Up and Away, 360, and Bounce. Throw & Go is also missing on the controller, and the option is made unnecessarily difficult as a result. The idea is to just toss the quad up in the air and have it hover in place, which would be a great quick way to launch, except you first have to tap the Flight Modes button on the app, then select Throw & Go, then click a confirmation button on a dialog, and THEN throw the quad. So much for quick. A button combo on the controller would make this so much more convenient.Don't hold out much hope for any of this to change; the last firmware update for the quad is from 2019, and I'm guessing it's reaching the end of its life and we'll see an updated version of this quad in the near future. Still, for all of the complaints I've listed above, I still enjoy the little guy. The build quality and feel is leaps and bounds better than the Blade Nano QX. It's survived a few interactions with tree branches resulting in 10-foot falls onto concrete, and when I can find a space to keep it above the fast mode altitude threshold where it won't end up in a tree, it can be fun to zip around outside on windless days. Practicing piloting around the house by camera only can be a bit of a challenge too, since I do best when my eyes are on the quad.I wish there was more room to grow with this quad. The handholding and safety mechanisms get in the way of that. But if you're new to quads and/or new to R/C flying in general, this would be a great way to learn the ropes, and still have something easy to play with even after you've outgrown it from a skill standpoint.