Parrot - Hydrofoil Orak Drone - Black
Model: 46012BBR
SKU: 4419900
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Customers are satisfied with the Hydrofoil Orak Drone's ease of use, citing its simple assembly and smooth, easy-to-control flight. However, some users expressed concerns regarding the battery life, noting that it is shorter than expected, especially when using the hydrofoil attachment. A few customers also mentioned that the camera quality could be improved. Overall, the positive feedback on ease of use is prominent.
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I consider myself to be somewhat of an accompished novice in drones/quadcopters/etc, and own approximately 20 at this point. This "Hydrofoil 'Orak' Drone" is average. I judge a drone on three categories: 1) How easy it is to set up/start using right out of the box. 2) How easy it is to fly obviously 3) Flight time/battery life, and charging time. 1) The most negative about this drone is the set up. This thing was a nightmare to get up and running. Typically one can simply pull a new drone out of the box, pop batteries in, monkey with the remote a bit, and your flying away. This thing however, requires assembly to say the least... The drone itself is flight capable out of the box, but the "Hydrofoil" has to be assembled, and then clipped to the drone. Assembly time is about 15-20 minutes which isn't terrible but will require your full attention for the 20 minutes I assure you. Next is the remote, oh wait, it doesn't come with a remote which is part of the selling point of using the app on your phone as the remote. Loading the app on your phone is easy; registering, confirming email, syncing to phone(it shows up in Bluetooth connections actually named 'ORAK'), etc, and getting the app to actually work is another story. ALL in, took me about an hour with this thing before I was up and running. 2) The remote on your phone is actually pretty slick and the saving grace to this thing. It has three different modes depending on if your flying drone by itself, attached it to the hydrofoil, etc, and it has a plethora of different flight controls, some of which I'd never seen before so that soothed some of my 'assembly required' pains. As opposed to a standard joystick-in-hand remote, it takes a little getting used to but is far better with all of the flight control options and makes flying a lot simpler(imagine two cars-first car is older, rear wheel drive only, no traction control. Second car is off the showroom floor, fully loaded, four wheel hi and low, with all wheel traction control). Once attached to the hydrofoil it's yet again, a whole different story though... Flying/sailing/hydrofoiling is cumbersome, and not exactly what a drone is intended for. So in theory it sounds cool/fun and kind of is just for a change of pace, however I got bored/frustrated with it after about 10 minutes. Which brings us to number three. 3) Flight time is actually pretty decent, against charging time when flying the drone by itself. Flight time drone by itself I've gotten up to 15 minutes, typically between 10-12. Attach it to that hydrofoil and literally cut your flight time in half because of the added weight obviously the drone is using more power. In addition, depending on how much drag from the water your getting will also drain the battery. Flight time with hydrofoil attached is as quick as for minutes, no more than seven. In conclusion: there are better options out there, for far less money. For the $160 spent, your paying a lot of extra money for a cool remote on your phone, and the brand name Parrot. Pass...
Posted by RICO1
Parrot is known to make quality products, and this little drone is no other. Works seamlessly once paired to your phone. Camera for still shots isn't the greatest , but over all the drone fairs well due to its ability to transform working as a hydro and a regular drone. Battery life is short, so buying a secondary back up is advisable. All in all a great little drone!
Posted by Kunzee80
Fun to play with and like that you can use the drone by itself or with the boat.
Posted by jojo