As I have explained how to choose propellers size and pitch before, in this post we will mainly focus on the type of material, how it could affect flight performance and the value. Good props can improve your aircraft’s control-ability, increase the battery life, improve your video quality, and many other good things. Are carbon fiber propellers better than plastic propellers? When choosing multicopter props, not only we need to consider the size and pitch of the props, we also need to choose the type of material: carbon fiber, plastic, fiber glass reinforced, wooden props etc. Carbon fiber props are almost twice as expensive as the common plastic props, and they are promoted to have better performance than the cheap plastic ones. So is that true? What are the advantages and disadvantages of carbon fiber props? Here is what I’ve found personally. • Carbon fiber props produce less vibration due to their stiffness, and they are more quiet too when spinning. • Less jello in the video.

• They are lighter and significantly stronger than plastic when crashed, but not indestructible. • Come balanced straight out of the box (usually). • Perform well under high RPM (work well with high KV motors). • Light weight props mean less inertia, thus faster motor speed change, and the control feels more responsive. • Carbon Fiber props have slightly shorter flight time than plastic props of the same size/pitch. • Less thrust than plastic props. • Because it’s tough and hard to break when crashed, the motor bearing will take most of the impact. Many tests have been done on how good the carbon fiber props are, compared to plastic ones. I have found people reporting back with two different stories. One says carbon fiber props are better (for example this one), the others say, no, it’s not noticeably better. I think they might be both correct, for their own situations, and the brand/make of the props they have tested.

But it’s really not fair to say, “Carbon Fiber props are better”, or “Carbon Fiber props suck”, only based on the 2 sets of propellers you bought randomly off the internet. Also the propellers need to be balanced well before the tests, otherwise it would be meaningless. I notice many of these tests were using a cell phone for vibration measuring, which is not accurate at all (as it misses some vibration frequency bands). Personally I have not tried these type or props. parrot ar drone wikiI don’t think wood props are popular either in the multicopter world, since they are expensive and heavy.parrot ar drone galaxy s2 I think they might work well for FPV aerial photography with larger and more powerful multicopters, but might not be as good for aerobatics/stunt flying because of the increase in rotation momentum due to heavier weight that makes them less responsive to changes in motor speed.ar drone flight recorder amazon

In my experience CF props are better, but there are so many cheap copies which have not been properly tested that they might do more harm than good. It’s worth a trying carbon fiber propellers, so be careful when choosing and only buy from sellers good reviews. The funny fact is that carbon fiber props are actually made of plastic based materials impregnating some carbon fiber and plastic is also carbon based. I would recommend to try CF props out if budget permits. It might improve your flight experience, but it’s not an “essential” upgrade. parrot ar drone elite reviewIf you are a beginner just learning to fly, plastic props are more than good enough, as you are likely to crash and break many props before mastering the skills.parrot ar drone target Would you like to be a better aerial photographer of videographer? what are the best bagpipe drone reeds

Check out this course that now only costs $49 (half off) and includes everything you need to know to be able to make gorgeous shots with your drone. Rules, regulations, flying and recording as well as tips and tricks like how to avoid pprop shadows and jello.We've been excited for the Parrot AR.Drone since we first heard about it early this year. After a few different hands-on opportunities at various conventions, it was hard to not see the amazing potential the device had once you got it outside of the little 10 foot by 10 foot tent that was home to its demonstrations. After spending an entire week with the Parrot AR.Drone, it does have some down sides, but is still the coolest RC toy I've had a chance to play with.Drone is a quadricopter that is piloted using an iPhone, iPod touch, or even an iPad. When the device is powered up, it starts broadcasting its own WiFi network. Using the companion Free Flight [Free] app, you connect to this wireless network and begin controlling the unit.

The network it creates isn't encrypted at all, but the AR.Drone does bind itself to the first device that connects to it to prevent other people from hijacking your flight session. Unpairing your phone is as simple as pressing a small button on the underside of the device. Once you're connected to the AR.Drone via the Free Flight app, you're immediately shown whatever the front facing camera sees. The top left button cycles through what is displayed on the screen between the front facing camera, the bottom facing camera, or a mixture of both. With both displayed you can continue pressing the button to swap whether the front facing or bottom facing camera is shown in the corner or filling the screen. Just below the camera cycling button is a button that allows you to edit the settings of the device. From here you can tweak nearly everything such as how quickly it will climb, how much it will bank on turns, how sensitive the iPhone controls are, and even the SSID the AR.Also in the settings is what kind of shell you're currently using and whether or not you're flying outdoors.

Included with the Parrot AR.Drone is the large indoor shell which protects the propellers from bumping in to things as you fly it around your house as well as the much sleeker outdoor shell. Swapping these is easy, they fit over the front facing camera and are secured on the back with a magnet. Outdoor hulls are available in three different colors for $20 each, and a replacement indoor hull will run you $30. The first thing you notice with the AR.Drone when you pull it out of the box is just how incredibly light and fragile the whole unit feels. The two different hulls and the body of the unit itself are made of EPP, or Expanded Polypropylene, a material that is widely used in most RC aircraft. It's able to bounce back and retain its shape, but just like other RC aircraft, I don't see the AR.Drone being able to handle much abuse. Thankfully, Parrot has an entire online store with every part you'd need to completely rebuilt your AR.Drone if you had to. Flying the device itself is very easy, although doing anything more than just basic maneuvers requires a bit of getting used to.

In the Free Flight app, tapping the button at the bottom of the screen causes the AR.Drone to either take off or land. From there, holding your thumb on a button on the bottom left side of the screen allows you to move the unit forward, back, or side to side by tilting the device you're running Free Flight on. Turning side to side and adjusting your altitude is accomplished using a virtual joystick of sorts on the right. If you get in trouble, an emergency button on the top of the screen immediately kills power to the propellers. It's amazing just how much the AR.Drone does for you. It comes packed with some fairly advanced circuitry that will do everything it can to keep the device level. If you ever lose your connection to the AR.Drone WiFi, it just stops itself then slowly lands. Using sensor data from the bottom of the device, it can keep itself hover in place, even outside in a light breeze. Aside from actually running into something, the AR.Drone is also very difficult to crash, even when you're intentionally trying to get it to lose control.

If it senses that it's about to tilt too far to one direction or otherwise lose control, it will abruptly correct itself. It's really cool to see all these systems working in tandem, and if you've ever fiddled with other RC helicopters before, how idiot proof the AR.Drone is in comparison will amaze you. Unfortunately, because flying the device is such a cool experience, the first thing you immediately come to grips with is just how short the battery life is. On a full charge, I was able to fly the unit outside for around a half hour (or less depending on wind conditions) and indoors I was able to juice an additional 15 minutes or so out of the battery for a total flight time of about 45 minutes. Charging the battery back up takes an hour and a half. Another unfortunate drawback to the AR.Drone is just how mediocre the cameras on the device are. The forward facing camera sports a resolution of 640x480, and Parrot claims it delivers this video feed at 15 FPS, but in my testing the frame rate was rarely anywhere near that, or very constant for that matter.

The bottom camera is a much lower 176x144, but can display 60 FPS according to Parrot. In my testing, video from the bottom camera is a lot smoother, but it is very difficult to fly the unit using only the bottom facing camera. Because of this, more often than not I just flew the AR.Drone like I would any other RC toy in that I just watched it in the air and used my iPhone as an incredibly elaborate controller. Without a shell on, the AR.Drone can lift very light loads, allowing for things like high definition helmet cams to be strapped to it for some better video. For instance, I found this video on YouTube of an AR.Drone with a Contour HD 1080p camera onboard: Once you spend more time with the AR.Drone, other limitations begin to become increasingly noticeable. For instance, with the height limiter enabled in the options, the AR.Drone will only climb to around 20 feet off the ground which is as far as the sensors under the craft can detect. With the height limiter disabled, you can climb much higher, but flying the unit becomes incredibly difficult as it's no longer capable of hovering in place once you exceed the capabilities of its bottom-fancing sensors.

Testing the vertical capabilities of the device was the only time I had to use the emergency button. Once you take away the AR.Drone's ability to figure out where it is in relation to the ground, it loses its ability to correct its location. Flying the device on what I'd call a fairly calm day resulted in it almost being blown into some trees when a small breeze picked up. In comparison, in similar conditions closer to the ground the AR.Drone barely moved at all. Also, since the whole device operates on WiFi, you're constrained by the range limitations of both the AR.Drone and the iPhone. Parrot is claiming you can operate the device from 150 feet away, which seemed a little optimistic in my testing. Thankfully, all the cool auto-pilolting stuff I mentioned earlier comes in to play when you lose your connection to the AR.Drone and it just flies in place waiting for you to get back in range and resume flight. Overall the Parrot AR.Drone seems like a very 1.0 device with loads of potential both in future hardware revisions and in future development with the AR.

Improved battery technology, higher resolution cameras, and more powerful sensors to allow for higher flights are all things I would love to see in future models. Currently the only companion app available for the AR.Drone is the Free Flight app, but Parrot has promised other apps such as augmented reality games where two players with their own AR.Drones can have virtual dog fights, and other similar things. None of these were available at the time of this review, but I definitely can see the amazing potential for future software development. Parrot is boasting a completely open API for developers to program their own apps to interface with the AR.While I'd love to think that there are going to be all kinds of different third party apps for the device, I really can't imagine many developers devoting resources to projects that not only require you to own an iPhone or iPod touch, but also a Parrot AR.Drone-- Especially considering the mediocre uptake that iPad-only games have seen, and the iPad's market is likely exponentially larger than that of the Parrot AR.

However, if you're interested in RC aircraft and have dabbled in iPhone development, I really can't think of a much better toy to own than the AR.Throughout all my testing, I kept thinking "The AR.Drone would be cool if it did _______." If you're capable of utilizing the API to build an app that fills in the blank for whatever awesome functionality you come up with, $300 for the AR.Drone seems like a worthy investment for hobbyists. While the Parrot AR.Drone is the coolest RC Toy I've ever played with, it's hard to give it a strong general recommendation given the current lack of software. It also would have been nice to see Parrot bundle a second battery in with the unit since additional batteries are pretty much required if you're serious about flying the device. If you're OK with waiting to see what additional apps get released, and you're patient enough to deal with 90 minute recharge cycles, flying the AR.Drone will likely be one of the most awesome things you'll ever do with your iPhone.