Download the repair tutorials and learn how to replace the Parrot Bebop 2's spare parts. Repair tutorials are organized by difficulty level from 1 to 5: 1 being the easiest, and 5 being the hardest. Download the repair tutorial for the EPP nose Download the repair tutorial for the feet and antennas Download the repair tutorial for the GPS board Download the repair tutorial for the camera Download the repair tutorial for the motors Download the repair tutorial for the central cross Download the repair tutorial for the fan Download the repair tutorial for the vertical camera Download the repair tutorial for the central bodyWhich phone do you think "won" at MWC 2017? Sony Xperia XZ Premium. Moto G5 / G5 Plus. Nokia 5 / 3 / 3310 Saygus V2 (yes it was there)Parrot is trying to expand the reach of its consumer drone products with two new gadgets now available to buy, the Jumping Sumo and the Rolling Spider. The names are slightly silly, just like the products themselves, which give you a taste of the full drone experience at a fraction of the price, and which are probably best for kids new to the world of smartphone-controlled robots and people who think the AR Drone looks cool but aren’t willing to spend wads of cash to find out.

The new Parrot drones feature designs tailored to their unique purposes – the Jumping Sumo is squat, heavier and features a long ‘tail’ type appendage to facilitate its trademark leaping ability. ar drone 2 trimmungThe Rolling Spider is a quadcopter, like its older sibling the AR Drone, but it’s a fraction of the size, and the spare design lives room for only a small vertical camera that faces downwards and is used for flight stabilization.parrot ar drone gyro flyer Both have casing flourishes that give the devices vaguely animalistic guises, in keeping with their names and the market position Parrot is going for with these bots, and they even come with sticker sets to let you create some additional flare. parrot ar drone offerta

Both are also designed to make sure that your playing with them won’t overly damage your surroundings, thanks to large rubber wheels on the Jumping Sumo and optional plastic wheel attachments on the Rolling Spider that let it run up walls but also provide a buffer from its small plastic blades.ar drone 2 charger flashing The Jumping Sumo has a camera that can deliver streaming wide-angle video, albeit at low 640 x 489 resolution and just 15fps to a controlling smartphone or tablet, but neither of these drones is really designed for photography. ar drone 2 externe antenneInstead, their main purpose is fun, and the design decisions made in each case supports a few main functions, including aerial tricks for the Rolling Spider and both vertical and horizontal jumping capabilities for the Jumping Sumo.parrot ar drone error messages

Overall, the design decisions that went into both work for the mass-market youth audience they’re going for, but I’m a much bigger fan of them pared down with any stickers removed, and luckily that’s how they come out of the box. The economy of size employed in the Rolling Spider is especially impressive, as the drone can literally sit in the palm of your hand. If you’re used to using a Parrot drone of any of the AR series, then getting accustomed to the controls and performance of the new models won’t be difficult. Despite their vastly different design and purpose, they still work a lot like their larger siblings. The counterpoint to this is that if you haven’t used Parrot drones for any length of time, getting used to their touchscreen-based controls will definitely take some time, and could involve some frustration. Parrot’s decision to go with smartphone controls on its series of drones are what set them apart from most remote-controlled competitors, but the on-screen controls are like operating FPS games on touchscreens, which means they’re less responsive than traditional hardware joysticks you might find on a gamepad, and you’re going to experience a lot of ‘meant to do this but did that instead’ when you’re coming to grips with it.

There are differences, too; the Jumping Sumo has 90 degree and 180 degree quick turn options, for instance, instead of a free-form directional virtual pad, and buttons to initiate its jumps, which can be optimized for either vertical height or horizontal distance. You can also pre-program a routine for it to follow in the new Free Flight 3 app Parrot has released for these new drones, which is a nice way to get use out of the drone for beginners without having to master the controls. The simplified controls have some advantages: it makes it easier to line up the drone for jumping up on ledges or across divides, which is a lot of the fun of the ground-only Jumping Sumo. The live camera helps here, too, despite the low-resolution feed. As for the Rolling Spider, it’s a lot more like its elder sibling, but has pre-set controls for doing instant loop-de-loops and flips, and it of course is able to fly and scale the walls. The new tricks are nice, but what I like about the Spider is its diminutive size – you can easily use this drone in the house without worrying much about smashing up your surroundings, especially with the wheels attached, and even in small spaces like apartments.

My main complaints with both drones are around battery life. The battery on the Rolling Spider is especially paltry, netting you only 6 minutes of continuous flight while the Sumo gets 20 minutes (flight is battery-intensive.) You can easily swap out battery packs, and use them between both drones, but you need to charge them via micro USB cable in a drone itself, which means they aren’t so easily replaced with a full pack. These toys are great fun for those looking for a novel gadget to get beginners and those on a tight budget interested in drones, but they’re definitely not going to win over the serious enthusiast, and they offer up too many compromises to please demanding users. Overall, the main advantage here is the price tag, since the tricks alone, while enjoyable, will probably only keep you interested for so long before you start itching for something with more range, battery life and aerial photography possibilities.Right now, I’d like to be flying and rolling the quite entertaining Parrot MiniDrones around the office, but I can’t.

They’re busy getting a recharge. When you’re using the $159, Jumping Sumo or $99 Rolling Spider MiniDrones, it’s easy to forget all the time you’ll spend waiting for them to recharge. Even with a spare battery, 8 minutes of battery life for the Rolling Spider and roughly 10-15 for the Jumping sumo doesn’t add up to the 1.5 hours it takes to charge each battery. See also: Google-Backed Robot Concierge Accepts Tweets as Tips The problem is especially vexing for both drones since the only way you can charge the batteries is by placing them inside each one and running a USB cable from your computer (or wall charger) to the micro-USB port on each robot. It’s a shame, really, because these robots are fun and they share many positive characteristics like faces with illuminated “eyes” that change color to let you know if the droids are connected and ready to fly or roll (you can add stickers to give them even more personality), the excellent, easy-to-use and free FreeFlight 3 software that runs on your smartphone or tablet (iOS and android) and responsiveness that easily outstrips their larger Parrot AR.

There are, of course, far more differences, ones that define the purpose, characteristics and overall quality of each MiniDrone. Parrot’s tiny flying MiniDrone is, in some ways, like a scaled down version of Parrot’s HD-camera-carrying AR.Like the larger flying robot, Rolling Spider is festooned with sensors that help make flying the quadrocopter child’s play. In fact, Rolling Spider is, like AR.Drone, smart enough to hover in place and, also like the larger drone, it’s controlled by a smartphone app, the aforementioned FreeFlight. It is, however, much easier to connect this tiny drone to the phone. It uses the new low-energy Bluetooth 4.0 (aka Bluetooth Smart), which allows the app and gadget to bypass the old Bluetooth handshake and connect directly through the app as soon as the drone is on and the app is ready. In no time, I had the app installed and Rolling Spider connected to it. Parrot MiniDrone Rolling Spider without wheels.Image: Mashable, Niki WalkerThe Rolling Spider MiniDrone can fly unadorned or you can attach a two large, but very light-weight wheels that cushion the drone if it hits the floor or a wall, but also let you fly/roll along walls and ceilings.

This, though, is not as much fun as it sounds and while I left the wheels on, I preferred to fly Rolling Spider freely around the room.One co-worker described it as buzzing like a bee. Another said Rolling Spider sounded like a swarm of killer bees. Parrot Mini Drone Rolling SpiderImage: Mashable, Niki WalkerRolling Spider can hold still or respond to the slightest movement of my left thumb on the direction and altitude joystick stick and right thumb on thrust in the FreeFlight 3 app. It takes a bit of practice to learn how to use these controls in tandem. The direction joystick is sort of an absolute control while the thrust also controls direction based on the tilt of your phone. FreeFlight 3 app in Rolling Spider mode. You use both thumbs and tilt the phone to maneuver.Image: Parrot, screenshotThere are some boilerplate tricks like in-air forward and back flips and even a dive move that you really need some space – and height – to execute. While flying, I can capture some super low-resolution photos from a camera set into the base of the drone.

They’re stored on board and I was able to download them by connecting the drone to my computer. Rolling Spider ran out of juice after a little less than 10 minutes of flying. As far as I’m concerned, that’s not enough flying time. It certainly won't get much further than your living room or backyard. Still, I understand Parrot’s dilemma. It takes a lot of power to run those four high-speed and highly responsive propellers. As it is, more than 50% of the body is battery, so I’m not sure what else Parrot can do here. While my officemates were intrigued by Rolling Spider, they were fascinated by the quirky Jumping Sumo. This robot doesn’t fly, but it’s definitely smarter, more maneuverable, and trickier than Rolling Spider. Jumping Sumo is equipped with two large wheels that can sit close to the body for high maneuverability and be pulled out for greater stability. It has an onboard webcam, which transmits VGA-quality live video back to the FreeFlight 3 app. That video, though, means Jumping Sumo has higher bandwidth needs than Rolling Spider.

As a result, it connects to your phone via Wi-Fi, instead of Bluetooth. It has, essentially, the same setup as the AR.Drone: an ad hoc Wi-Fi connection, which means that, if your phone was using Wi-Fi to connect to the outside world, it will have to switch back to mobile broadband when you’re playing with Jumping Sumo. It’s a bit more of a pain to connect this way, but mostly a minor annoyance. Image: Mashable, Niki WalkerOnce you’re connected, the smartphone screen turns into a live video feed from Jumping Sumo’s point of view — the camera points out of the front. Forward, reverse, speed and all other controls are overlaid onto of the feed. To control Jumping Sumo, I just placed my left thumb on the main control. If I held it in the center and tilted the phone around, I controlled direction, pulling my thumb forward and back controlled speed and forward and reverse. That ad hoc connection holds strong to about 25 feet, but starts to degrade after that. The MiniDrone was most responsive when I stood within 10-15 feet of it.

The FreeFlight 3 app in Jumping Sumo mode. You see what it sees.Image: Parrot, screenshotJumping Sumo can be quite fast and I was soon zipping around the office and performing mini stunts like spins, tumbles and hair-pin turns. Thanks to a retractable, spring-loaded “foot,” jumping is this MiniDrone’s biggest trick. Jumping Sumo can pop roughly 2 ft. in the air. It can also jump forward an almost equal distance. You control which jump the drone will perform through the app. Unless you look closely, you might miss the physical indication that this MiniDrone can make that kind of leap. I had some fun rolling up to co-workers who would stare in wonder at Jumping Sumo and then scream in shock when it jumped. It seemed none of them expected it to perform that trick. The idea with the jump is that you can make Jumping Sumo surmount obstacles and even jump atop tables and chairs. However, with plastic and Styrofoam wheels, Jumping Sumo is almost too bouncy to land and stay.

If I managed to hit the center of the chair, the MiniDrone would stick the landing. Otherwise, though, it would often end up back on the floor. The MiniDrone also includes a collection of boilerplate tricks, called "Animations" in the app, like a super fast spin, spin and jump and wiggle. All good for a laugh. Jumping Sumo beats Rolling Spider in the battery life category but only by a few minutes. It has, however, another frustration. While the MiniDrone is capable of recording video (there’s a button for it right in the app), it only has on-board storage for photos. To capture video you have to attach external memory. That would not be a big deal, except for the fact that Jumping Sumo only offers a mini USB port. How many mini-USB memory sticks do you have lying around? At least Parrot’s AR.Drone has a full-size USB port and offers the option of recording lower-quality video over the ad hoc Wi-Fi connection and directly onto your smartphone or tablet. I’m also not a fan of the battery compartment.

To put in the battery, you have to jam it under some of the Jumping Sumo’s flexible plastic. It’s way too easy to incorrectly insert the battery. You see FreeFlight 3's low battery message far too often.Are these MiniDrones fun? Battery life is the biggest frustration, but having two charged batteries could be 20 minutes of flight for the Rolling Spider and almost half an hour of cam-driven Jumping Sumo fun. The devices are built to last. I crashed Rolling spider repeatedly and Jumping Sumo took its share of hard knocks, but both kept on working. I know that Jumping Sumo is more sophisticated than Rolling Spider, but I wish both were $99. Even so, as gifts for your nerdy friends or adventurous children (or yourself), I still think these MiniDrones are a pretty good bet. Parrot MiniDrones: Rolling Spider and Jumping Sumo Easy to set up • Great software • Fun to fly and drive Battery life is too short • Jumping Sumo’s video storage solution is problematic