There isn't a whole lot of wiggle room between toy helicopters/quadricopters and enthusiast remote controlled helicopters. The former are inexpensive toys that often cost less than $100 and are often really difficult to fly. The latter are extremely expensive devices for hobbyists that require a lot of room and safety precautions. Drone 2.0 sits in the middle; it's a $299.99 ($369.99 for the Power Edition with two extended batteries) quadricopter you control with your smartphone or tablet. Drone features two built-in cameras, is easy to fly, and can be controlled without too much danger of it flipping over or smashing into things. If you want a satisfying flying toy that can take photos and (silent) videos and makes you feel like a gadget genius for controlling it with your mobile device, the Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 is a dream toy. App-Controlled DroneThe drone itself is a plastic quadricopter with four plastic rotors. Two styrofoam bodies are included: an indoor body with foam rings surrounding the rotors, and an outdoor body that keeps the rotors exposed.

The bodies slip right over the drone frame and stay securely in place with a little pressure. The drone doesn't have a power switch; it's activated by plugging in a battery, setting it in the battery slot, and setting the body over it.Drone 2.0 doesn't come with any sort of controller, because it relies on an Android or iOS device connected to a Wi-Fi hotspot the drone generates. Yes, you need a tablet or smartphone to pilot it. On the other hand, it means whatever you use to control it can double as a point-of-view display for the drone's onboard cameras, and that you can customize how the drone behaves based on the controls. The app uses a two-"stick" control system by default, using the left stick (an area on the touch screen you can move in four directions) to control elevation and the drone's direction, or yaw, and the right stick (another four-directional area) to move the drone forward, backward, left, or right relative to either where it is currently facing or relative to a universal direction set when you turn the drone on.

If you have an Nvidia Shield portable gaming device, you can control the AR.Drone 2.0 with its physical analog sticks, which makes piloting the drone feel more responsive. Camera FunctionYou can record whatever the AR.Drone 2.0 sees through its forward- or down-facing camera in 720p quality. The mobile app handles all recording and storage, so any video or photos you take are automatically added to your smartphone or tablet; the drone doesn't have any onboard storage. It doesn't record sound, because the drone's rotors would drown out any audio it could capture. Video quality is decent indoors, but don't expect anything better than what you'd shoot with an inexpensive smartphone.FreeFlight software is your main method of both piloting and recording video from the AR.Drone 2.0, and it's the simplest way to update the drone's firmware. It can also map out and geotag your flights, upload your photos and videos to Parrot's AR.Drone Academy service, and browse other users' photos and videos.

FlyingBoth flying and shooting movies and photos with the AR.Drone 2.0 is surprisingly intuitive. parrot ar drone planeThe drone does a very good job of staying stable in the air, hovering consistently in a small area when you're not directly controlling it. black ops 2 origins drone part locationsDespite this, be prepared for a few crashes as you get the hang of flying it, and you should probably keep the indoor shell on until you know you can control the drone. parrot ar drone light kitFortunately, it automatically shuts down when it crashes, letting you know something went wrong in the app and preventing damage that could come from rotors spinning uncontrollably against a surface.  ar drone 2 in dubai

If you have a backyard or a big enough room, you can figure out how to fly the AR.Drone 2.0 in just a few hours of entertaining experimentation. While the Nvidia Shield's physical controls were the most responsive, I didn't have any problem flying the AR.Drone 2.0 with my Google Nexus 7. It takes a lot of energy to keep a drone aloft, and that means you'll be swapping or charging batteries about every 10 minutes. A full charge on the battery gives the AR.Drone 2.0 about 12 minutes of flight, which isn't very impressive but on par with other remote controlled drones. The battery charges with the included AC adapter, and it takes approximately an hour and a half to fully charge. Drone 2.0 Power Edition comes with two higher-capacity batteries that give you combined 36 minutes of flying time, but unless you're willing to invest in either the Power Edition or additional batteries your flights will have to be short and sweet. A stunt command lets you make the AR.Drone 2.0 do barrel rolls or flips by double-tapping the screen.

It's a fun trick, but it also kills the battery quick; in my tests, after a few barrel rolls, the drone was down to less than 30 percent of battery life after only five minutes of flying. Once the battery power gets below a certain level, the stunt function stops working so it doesn't run out of power mid-flip. You can still keep flying it until the battery becomes critically low, at which point the drone will power down and attempt to land safely.Drone 2.0 is a nice middle ground between toy and enthusiast device. It's not a remote controlled helicopter for hobbyists and it's not a quadricopter camera mount for professionals, but it's much more than just a toy helicopter. It's especially appealing if you have an Nvidia Shield, which gives you one of the few ways to fly it with conventional controls instead of a touch screen. If you have the cash, and you're looking for a fun tech toy that isn't a new game console, this is a quadricopter to consider.While other flying-camera makers have gone after enthusiasts, the Parrot Bebop is very approachable to average consumers looking to start shooting aerial video and photos without a big investment.

(There's a good reason why you can find Parrot's drones in major retailers including Best Buy, Apple and Harvey Norman, as well as from mobile service providers.) Made from foam, strong plastic and fiberglass, the Parrot Bebop is the safer, gentler quadcopter that you can pilot with the smartphone in your pocket. In an attempt to capture some of those enthusiasts, however, Parrot perhaps stretched a bit too far, making something that was too pricey for beginners and with not enough features or performance for experienced users. It's good for what it is, but in category that's growing rapidly, it's a tough sell. Drones that came before it, the Bebop can be up and running in minutes. You'll want to charge up a battery, of course, and install Parrot's FreeFlight 3 app on an iOS, Android or Windows device. And if you're flying indoors, you can clip on the protective propeller hull, but really that's about it. There are almost no instructions included in the box, though. To figure out the controls, you can download a user guide from Parrot's site or browse the mobile app's Help section, where you'll find written and video tutorials for the Bebop.

There have been several feature updates to both the Bebop and FreeFlight app, but because the tutorials remain unchanged for the most part, some things you'll have to figure out on your own. With the $499 Bebop (£400; AU$800) you'll get two batteries and one charger; the indoor hull and four additional propellers with a small mounting tool to lock them in place. For an additional $400 (£330; AU$700), you can pick up a Bebop bundled with Parrot's Skycontroller, which can also be purchased separately for $499 (£400; If you're not a fan of flying by touchscreen alone, the Skycontroller is a very large, clunky wireless controller that gives you two joysticks, discrete controls for the camera, a button for taking off and landing and one for emergency motor cutoff, status lights for the battery of the Bebop and the controller and a return-to-home button. Additionally, you can wirelessly pair a tablet or phone with it for first-person-view (FPV) flying. The Skycontroller runs on Android, which allowed Parrot to install the FreeFlight app on it, so you don't need to pair a mobile device to fly -- you just won't have a visual from the camera.

(It also means it takes a minute to boot up before you can use it.) A full-size HDMI output on the side lets you connect an external display to see what the camera sees and also supports VR headsets like the Oculus Rift, completely immersing you for FPV flight. On top of the Skycontroller is an amplified Wi-Fi radio and four antennas allowing you to fly farther -- up to 1.4 miles (2.3km) -- than you can using a mobile device alone, which is up to 820 feet (250 meters). Unless you're in an area free of wireless interference and obstructions, this is more of a theoretical distance (for both, actually) and nothing you should actually attempt. Keep in mind, too, that while you might be able to fly out that far, with the Bebop's brief battery life, someone better be waiting at the other end. Speaking of battery life, the Skycontroller uses the same pack as the Bebop, and when you buy the bundle you get a total of three batteries. Regardless, if you want physical controls as well as increased wireless range, the Skycontroller gives you those things, along with a place to mount a phone or tablet.

There are, however, many options in the vicinity of the $1,000 mark, such as the DJI Phantom 3 Advanced or for GoPro owners, 3DR's Solo -- or any number of other, lesser-known quadcopters. Also, the build quality on my test Skycontroller was a bit iffy given its price, and the thing is really big compared to transmitters for other models. The Bebop's foam body and ABS-reinforced structure might look a bit less polished than other ready-to-fly (RTF) quadcopters, but it is deceivingly tough. The materials keep the Bebop light -- its maximum weight is 410 grams (14.5 ounces). It's compact, too, measuring roughly 12 inches (28cm) square and 1.5 inches (3.6cm) tall. Since the camera is electronically stabilized on three axes, there's no fragile gimbal to worry about should you crash. If you do crash and damage a component, Parrot has made replacement parts available -- from props and batteries to camera and motherboard -- for you to buy and install yourself. Even if you don't crash, you'll probably want to buy another battery or two, some extra propellers and a few spare landing feet (I lost three of four after just a few flights).

The camera is a step up from the one found on its previous models like the AR.Drone 2.0, with an f2.2 fish-eye lens that has a 180-degree angle of view and a 14-megapixel sensor. Though the camera can't physically move, you can digitally pan and tilt it to help you get the shot you're after. It can capture video at 1080p full-HD resolution; Drone 2.0 is limited to 720p. Video is recorded to the Bebop's 8GB of internal storage (there's no microSD or SD card slot) in MP4 format. Photos can be captured as JPEGs or Adobe DNG raw format. Drone 2.0, the Bebop has a GNSS chipset with GPS, Glonass and Galileo built in. The chipset allows the Bebop to return to its take-off location on its own and hover in place 2 meters above the ground. The Bebop can fly in winds up to about 24 mph (40 kmh) and can reach speeds of around 45 mph (75 kmh). When you can't get a GPS lock, such as when you're flying inside, a vertical camera and ultrasound and pressure sensors keep it from drifting while hovering at up to 8 meters (26 feet) above the ground.