Many of us have played with radio-controlled cars. Increasingly, people have upgraded to radio-controlled helicopters and other flying objects, particularly the quadcopters like the Parrot AR.So, when the opportunity came up to get a respectably workable drone at a big discount, I jumped on it. This is the Micro Drone 2.0 from Extreme Fliers. The Micro Drone 2.0 is really small. That’s why there’s the “micro” in its name. It is a quadcopter, so there are four rotors, one at each end of the X-frame which makes up its main chassis. The drone measures just 145 mm long from tip to tip across the X-frame, plus about another 20 mm at each end for the rotor that goes beyond the edge. It’s also awfully light, weighing about 36 g. The Micro Drone 2.0 comes with a number of parts in its box. Aside from the drone and its 4-channel radio-controlled remote, there are: The main difference between this Micro Drone version 2.0 and its predecessor is that the new drone has an onboard camera port and comes with a camera module included.

The camera module has a swivelling lens head that lets you adjust the vertical shooting angle. The camera module is mounted under the belly of the Micro Drone, and the cables need to be plugged into the Micro Drone’s onboard port, pictured below. To get started, the battery needs to be mounted into the slot under the Micro Drone’s belly, and then connect the power cables together. There is no on-off switch. Connecting or disconnecting the cable switches on or off the power to the Micro Drone. Once powered on, LED lights under the rotors will turn on. The black rotors are the front, and they have white LED lights under them. The back rotors are red, and they have LEDs blinking red and blue alternately under them. The remote radio-controller needs to be paired up with the drone. Set the drone down on a flat surface. Turn on the controller, push the throttle (left stick) from down all the way up, then back all the way down. The controller will beep. It’s then paired, and you can pretty much get started on your first flight.

The manual provided with the Micro Drone 2.0 is absolutely horrendous. It’s wrong in so many ways. Either that, or the people who assembled my Micro Drone 2.0 have royally messed up the wiring. I spent two hours trying to “debug” my Micro Drone. Extreme Fliers: You really need to fix your documentation. (Or do I somehow have a Micro Drone 2.0 with completely messed up wiring?) The awful manual aside, the Micro Drone 2.0 works. It’s not so easy to fly as it looks in the videos. microdrone md4-1000 pricesThere’s quite a bit of learning curve trying to take off, hover, and land properly.ar drone parrot ubuntu I’ve heard that in flying a real helicopter, one of the most difficult tasks is to simply hover still. ar drone 2 tipps

Well, that’s pretty much the same with this drone. Even in an indoor environment, where there’s no wind, I can barely keep the drone hovering over the same spot. Fortunately, the Micro Drone 2.0 is quite hardy. Despite several accidents, including dropping from height, landing sideways, and colliding with objects, the drone (touch wood) always comes out unblemished. It’s really well made. The two control modes, which I mentioned in my complaint above about the manual, lets you choose which way you prefer to fly your drone. ar drone power edition ราคาThere is no right way or better way. parrot ar drone 2 motor emergencyI prefer Mode 2 (the manual calls it Mode 4), and this is where the right stick alone controls the tilt on all directions. ar drone power edition ราคา

This is how the controls on a real helicopter work. The left and right movements on the left stick then controls rotation. I’ve not yet had the opportunity to try out the camera module. I’ll post an update when I do. One thing’s clear is that the camera is not weightless, so attaching it to the Micro Drone 2.0 will reduce flying time, which is already a relatively short 6 – 8 minutes on its own. The Micro Drone 2.0 is a great level up from radio-controlled cars. There’s a bit of a flight training needed to properly handle a quadcopter, but this drone is a lot easier to manage than other flying objects. Quite importantly is the inclusion of a camera module, because after all, how much fun can you get with a drone that can’t do anything apart from just flying around. The camera is quite low resolution, but it’s better than nothing! Front view of the Picoo Z. Rear view of the Picoo Z. Interior of the Picoo Z. The Picoo Z (also sold under the brand name of Air Hogs Havoc Heli in North America) is a miniature remote-controlled 2-channel helicopter manufactured by Hong Kong-based Silverlit Toys.

In the United States it is distributed by Spin Master. Designed by the Belgian engineer Alexander van de Rostyne, the Picoo Z was the smallest remote-controlled production model helicopter in the world (Guinness World Records) in 2006. However, Silverlit beats their own record again in 2013 with an even smaller RC helicopter-Nano Falcon[1] Weighing a mere 10 grams, the Picoo Z measures 170mm long, and has a main rotor span of 130mm. The helicopter is controlled by a 3-frequency a-b-c infrared controller, with two channels (one for the main rotor and one for the tail rotor) allowing independent user control of throttle (main rotor RPM) and tail rotor RPM. It is designed for indoor flying, but can also be flown outdoors in calm conditions with minimal lighting, otherwise the sun will overpower the IR transmitter and cause the Picoo Z to crash. The Picoo Z is made of tough EPP (expanded polypropylene) foam and comprises a lithium polymer rechargeable battery and 2 micro motors.

The helicopter is recharged by plugging it into the controller. Charging generally takes 10–15 minutes and will give the Picoo Z a flight duration anywhere between 5 and 7 minutes. Range is limited due to the use of infrared instead of the more common radio frequency remote control. Because of this, ambient light may also have varying degrees of effect on the range and responsiveness of the helicopter. MSRP is between $20 and $40 USD. The Picoo Z features a self-stabilized main rotor with a weighted airfoil-type stabilizer bar that removes the need for corrective pilot input to achieve stable flight. Because of this full-cyclic-authority stabilizer design, merely applying enough lift power to cancel gravity allows the Picoo Z to hover almost immediately making it very simplistic for a beginner. The Picoo Z can reduce or increase the output through the tail rotor by means of an independent motor, allowing it to yaw left or right. Many full-sized (and model) rotorcraft have mechanically interconnected main and tail rotors so that when changing main rotor speed (and hence yaw torque), the tail rotor follows suit to compensate.

Because the Picoo Z uses independent motors for the main and tail rotors, this interconnection (mixing) is electronically provided. Despite this, many users find that they must apply constant left or right stick to cause the tail rotor to spin at the appropriate speed to prevent it from spinning wildly along the rotor axis. However, with a little practice, most users find that they can easily compensate for any shortcomings of the electronic mixing. The remote control includes a trim button that allows the user to adjust the amount of electronic compensation. The trim feature works by decreasing or increasing output of the tail rotor to lower or add torque. As with its higher-powered counterparts, aggressive throttle changes can result in strong yaw motions, an effect that is even more significant when the helicopter battery is over-charged. In order to simplify the rotor head design, the Picoo Z does not feature either collective or user-input cyclic control, which would have allowed the user to freely fly it forwards & backwards / left & right on demand.

The rotor blades are mounted on a simple rocking hinge, and the rotor has no swashplate.) Because of this limitation, the user must add left or right tail control inputs and rely on torque-induced precession (also known as gyroscopic precession) to transition to forward flight. The helicopter includes 3 stick-on weights that can be attached to the nose in order to achieve forward flight, and some owners add greater weight (paper clips or pellets) to the nose, or nose canards. These modifications do increase the forward flight speed, but can reduce hovering ability and can increase the battery drain. Another mod that allows the helicopter to fly forward is to slightly twist the tail rotor downwards. This mod has the advantage of not adding weight to the helicopter and therefore doesn't affect battery drain. It must be noted, however, that the Picoo Z lacks the ability to fly forward on its own, and without mods is only able to change its altitude and yaw. The Picoo Z also incorporates a small blue/red LED that flashes to indicate that the unit is turned on.

The LED is also useful for night time flying and locating the unit in the event that it is misplaced. The Picoo Z was released in the summer of 2006. Due to the magnitude of popularity from the consumers and the manufacturer and distributors underestimating this popularity, the first shipments were sold out instantly when they arrived in the stores.[2] This instant popularity has made some resellers offer the Picoo Z for premium prices upwards of $150 USD.[3] It has also rather quickly spawned a number of Chinese-made clones to the market that have an estimated street price of around $13 retail. Most of SilverLit's toys are manufactured in China. The popularity of the Picoo Z has also led to a fan base that has created several web sites that include forums, modification information, and tips.[4]< There are also a growing number a fan made videos being posted on video sharing sites such as YouTube. Picoo Z charged directly from the 2-channel controller. (Each variation runs on 1 of 3 different frequency channels)

The SEGA branded version is silver with a SEGA logo on the side and was available as a prize in UFO Catcher machines, distributed by SegaPrize Europe. During 2008 a range of new picooz variations have been released including Picooz tandem Z-1 (chinook style) at the Picooz Atlas-Uranus (also known as the tricooZ). All of these are 3 channel helicopters and all include three different colours. Sky Challenger is a set of two custom body picoo z helicopters. Each helicopter is equipped with an infra-red LED which is used to "shoot" the other helicopter. The set generally comes with 2 picoo z's in Red and Blue paint schemes and 2 controllers. The controllers are the same as normal picoo z controllers apart from a shoulder button used to "fire" the infra-red. There are 3 stages to the game. The 1st shot will cause the enemy helicopter to spin, the 2nd shot will cause the enemy helicopter to drop in power, the 3rd shot will cause the enemy helicopter to lose all power, causing it to fall to the floor.