Drones ManlioProsumer DroneVideo DronesFollow QuadcoptersRated QuadcoptersQuadcopters DronesQuadcopters ReviewsQuadcopter StuffQuadcopter TodayForwardThe Phantom 4 is DJI's most advanced "prosumer" drone ever, and it looks pretty sharp, tooThe Zik generally performs well, but various kinks make it fall short of the $400 asking price. Active noise cancellation and passive noise isolation Intuitive mobile app and onboard controls Short battery life, proprietary battery Slightly erratic Bluetooth performance Sound quality is pleasing, but could be better You do know that Parrot makes more than just the AR.It was at CES earlier this year that we first caught a glimpse of -- and subsequently began geeking out about -- the Parrot Zik by Starck. For those unfamiliar, these headphones are jam-packed with enough technologies to make even the geekiest audio lovers smitten. Priced at about $400, they feature Near Field Communication (NFC), Bluetooth connectivity, on-board capacitive touch-control, active noise cancellation, head detection, a jawbone sensor for speech and Parrot's audio-enhancing DSP app for iOS and Android -- not to mention a striking design by the renowned Philippe Starck.

This isn't the first time Parrot and Mr. Starck have worked together, but this does mark their debut in the portable audio market (as opposed to home-based speaker systems). In the case of this review, not one, but two Engadget editors spent some time testing the product. So, do they impress? More importantly, are they worth the $400 asking price? You know the drill: meet us after the break where we'll lay it all out.Himes Comments on the Latest NSA Revelations U.S. Rep Jim Himes, a member of the House Select Committee on Intelligence, issued a statement last week in response to a Washington Post article that revealed the NSA violated its own rules for electronic surveillance 2,776 times.   Himes statement is below:   “I am… Sky Viper Camera Drone Editor Rating: Excellent (4.0) Oct 24, 2014 Toy helicopters are incredibly common these days, but toy helicopters with cameras aren't. There's the Editors' Choice Parrot AR.Drone 2.0, but that's less a toy helicopter and more a very user-friendly tech-head's splurge.

You'd be hard-pressed to find a camera-equipped drone for under $100, but Sky Viper made it happen. The Sky Viper Camera Drone is a $79.99 quadcopter with a VGA camera built into it. It's simple, it's fun, it's easy to use, and unlike pricier drones, it actually is a toy. If you're looking for a non-video-game tech purchase as a gift or for your own home or office, this is a nice gadget that you can justify as a holiday impulse buy. DesignThe Camera Drone itself is a typical toy quadcopter. It has four rotors, two of them yellow to indicate the front, and two of them black to indicate the back when flying. Each rotor is mounted on a plastic arm with a thin, open cylindrical foot that keeps the toy a few inches off of the ground when not in flight. View All 6 Photos in Gallery The center of the drone, which holds the rechargeable battery, camera, and micro USB port, is a small cylindrical chunk of plastic covered by a very thin, removable plastic shell that slides onto the thin arms connecting to each rotor.

The battery sits on the underside of the center chunk, with a pair of short wires leading to a connector extending from it. parrot ar drone hoogteThe connector plugs into another pair of wires leading into the body of the drone. ar drone 2 brugtPlugging the two sets of wires into each other serves as the drone's power switch. parrot ar drone usatiThe battery's power connector plugs into the included USB cable (which leads to another two-wire power connector) to charge.black ops 2 drone kopen ControlsThe remote control is a functional and button-laden device made of black plastic and powered by four AAA batteries. cost of microdrone md4-1000

It has 13 separate buttons and switches, but half of them can be ignored most of the time. parrot ar drone billigTwo control sticks dominate the remote, with the left stick located next to the rotation trim adjustment buttons, and the right stick flanked by the pitch and yaw trim adjustment buttons. A power switch in the center turns the remote on, making a red LED flash and a hidden speaker beep until it makes contact with the drone and turns on a green LED to indicate you're ready to fly. A three-way switch below the power switch adjusts flight control sensitivity. Finally, a shoulder button on the left triggers automatic stunts, and two shoulder buttons on the right control taking photos or recording videos with the drone. Little remote control helicopters are by no means easy to fly. They're finicky and can take some time to learn to maneuver without constantly smashing them into the ground. Quadcopters are easier to control because their four-rotor design makes them much more stable when hovering, but even they can be tricky.

Fortunately, the Camera Drone turned out to be very forgiving, but after about ten minutes of rocky starts and wild crashes I found myself piloting it through PC Labs reliably. It's not as stable and easy to control as the Parrot AR.Drone 2.0, with its mobile device controls and automatic adjustments, but for a toy helicopter it's fairly simple to manage. The left stick controls elevation and rotation, and by default rests in a downward position. It's loose on the vertical axis, so if you move it up or down, it will stay there and not spring back to its original position (though left and right motions will return to center when you let go). Slowly pushing the stick up increases the rotor speed and makes the quadcopter elevate, while pushing the stick left and right makes it rotate. The right stick rests in a center, neutral, position, and makes the drone tilt forward, backward, left, and right to move. If the drone seems to drift or spin when the controls are in a neutral position, you can adjust all six axes with the small trim buttons around the sticks.