This is the third “real” drone I’ve owned (two previous were from DJI). I’m not a super pilot and had multiple crashes with the previous drones and always felt a little uneasy flying them. So, I was pretty excited to try this out. My initial impressions so far:
Overall impression: If you want a drone that completely flies itself and can take videos of you doing anything active and keep up (follow you), this is it. It is basically sci-fi level technology. It’s not perfect, so I was stuck between 4 stars and 5 stars, but at the end of the day I think this product deserves 5 for making something that so many others have promised but never actually delivered.
Wow Factor: 5 stars. Overall, I would say this is an amazing piece of technology. I wasn’t sure how well it would work as compared to the marketing videos, but I have to say, in terms of the smarts on this thing, it is really something special. I think you have to experience it to understand, but it really feels like something from the future.
Build quality: 5 stars. I would say quite high compared to other drones I’ve bought, but to be fair those were from 1-2 years ago. Feels premium and sturdy, even though it is much lighter than I expected from the pictures (which is a positive).
Portability: 3 stars. I would get the backpack they sell on their website, it made a big difference. As is, I had to get creative to make sure I could carry it around easily as it didn’t fit in any small backpack I had at home. But because it is light and durable, I ended up figuring out a few easy ways to carry it around once I stopped worrying about it being fragile.
Noise: 4 stars. It’s a normal amount of noise, didn’t feel especially quiet or especially noisy for a quadcopter drone.
Collision Avoidance: 5 stars. This is a big part of what makes this drone unique, and it is really cool. This thing can really fly through anything I’ve tried so far. DJI is nowhere near the same level here, it is a completely different story.
Image Quality: 4 stars. I use the 4k capture mode. This one is a little tricky to rate, because I use it quite differently from my previous drones. I feel like for the kind of activities I use this drone to capture, the quality is quite good. But I think if you are looking for the best landscape video of a lake during sunsets (like in the DJI marketing videos), DJI is still better video quality.
Follow-me/Lead: 5 stars. Again, this is basically what this drone is about, and it is completely different from anything from DJI or anything else I know of. Follow mode is really fun to use, and it’s all I used the first few times. Recently though I find Lead mode is nicer for me for some activities. You should try to see what works well for you, I guess it depends on what activity you want to do with it. Especially good if you can fly it in an area with trees on both sides as it will fly low to avoid them (you can also make it fly low in the mobile app, but I usually don’t bother to do this).
Ease-of-Use: 5 stars. For me, this is the most important part. This is a drone I can use because I don’t have to worry about crashing it. So far, I have used it in running, biking (streets and mountain biking), hiking, playing frisbee and then some test runs around my neighborhood, and I haven’t had any issues. I even tried it indoors a few times (but I think they tell you not to do this in the tutorial so it might void the warranty). Also, you can’t use it in rain or stormy weather.
Packaging: 4 stars. This is not something I usually care about, but I know a lot of people do. I think the packaging is quite nice, but I don’t know if it makes anybody go wow or anything.
Other notes: It took me some time to figure out everything I can do with the phone app. Creating a clip is easy once you realize it’s something to do once you’ve landed. I now use the stabilize option for clips all the time, it works very well. The modes of Orbit, Dronie and Rocket are the most fun to use so far for me from the expanded list of modes, and the on-screen controls are OK, though it takes some getting used to (you won’t crash it no matter what, it’s just about getting it to go where you want). I don’t have an Apple Watch so I don’t know about the experience there, but you basically only tap a few times on your phone when you use it so I guess it’s the same but on the Apple Watch. If I get one I will update this.
I’ve been flying drones since the original phantom, and currently own a mavic pro in addition to the Skydio. I got into drones because I found the aerial video perspective so captivating, and I use mine quite a bit to capture footage while traveling and playing outdoors - I love biking and hiking, often times with my family. Before getting the Skydio, I really loved my mavic, but having used the Skydio for the last month I’m pretty convinced it is the future for me (and probably the industry). Having said that, the Skydio is quite different from the mavic and it doesn’t measure up in all areas, so it’s important to understand the tradeoffs.
Flying Skydio is a very different experience from other drones. The AI features mean that it is completely capable of flying itself which means that you can have it film you or others (or anything else) without needing to pay attention to it. This means you can use it for activities that are just not possible with a mavic. For example, I will take it on mountain bike rides to get footage that I would never be able to get from a mavic because I wouldn’t want to stop to pilot the mavic.
If you do want to control Skydio you can do so using the onscreen joysticks. I’ve never really trusted the collision avoidance on mavic (and I hear that mavic 2 is pretty similar), but with Skydio I trust it completely and it dramatically changes my mindset while flying. With my mavic I’m constantly sweating bullets worried about crashing it, especially if I’m trying to film something interesting, whereas with Skydio I can just push it around with zero stress while I focus on the thing that I’m filming.
Now the big tradeoff is that the wireless range is *much* shorter than with a mavic. Since I tend to like to keep the drone close enough to easily see it, the lower range hasn’t been that big of a deal for me. But if your main thing is exploring over the hill, Skydio is *definitely* not the drone for you.
The other thing to be aware of is that the onscreen joysticks don’t give you nearly the level of precision you get with physical joysticks. Because the collision avoidance is so good, I find I don’t need as much precision, but still something to be aware of.
It’s somewhat of a hidden feature, but I’ve also been amazed by the kinds of shots I can get with CableCam on Skydio. You basically setup two camera views and Skydio goes back and forth between them. Other drones can do something like this but the full 360 trustworthy collision avoidance is a game changer because it means you don’t have to worry about the cable path being obstacle free before pushing go which means you can set it up extremely quickly in all kinds of cool scenarios.
Image quality is another important area. Skydio does extremely well in some situations, but in lower light or flat light situations the image is somewhat muddy compared to mavic. That said it also doesn’t have the focus issues of mavic which in my mind kind of makes this a wash.
Skydio isn’t as small as a mavic (obviously) but it still fits in my backpack and carry on suitcase which is good enough for me.
The other major bonus is that Skydio seems to do regular software updates which add some pretty major features, whereas my mavic is pretty much the same software as the day I bought it 2 years ago.
I would prefer a drone that had the best of both worlds, but the things Skydio enables me to capture and do (without the stress of flying) are powerful enough that it’s become my preferred drone.
I bought the original R1 right when it came out and was so impressed. My sports are mountain unicycling and mountain biking and it is great for both. The most amazing thing about it of course is the obstacle avoidance. I've used DJI products since 2013 up through the Mavic 2 Pro and the R1 crushes anything they've ever made for follow/obstacle avoidance. No comparison. The Skydio literally will not crash. You can try but it will not. And the improvements they've come out with since the original release are fantastic. Unlike DJI, software is actually a core competency of the Skydio team it seems. Everything is polished and works. Don't get carried away and think that this is the one drone you need but if you want to shoot yourself AND your friends (instead of just your friends), doing something cool, this is it. I have 3 batteries and that has been enough for my typical rides.
I’ve been looking for something like this for a while to take with me when I travel. Saw some reviews and they all said this thing actually lives up to the claims so I decided to go for it. The main point of this drone is that it flies itself and is super easy to use. It takes almost no time to set up and then it’s basically set it and forget it, letting me pay attention to what I’m doing/seeing versus having to worry about flying the drone and not crashing. Great for epic views or for just following you around. Other than travel, been using it while hiking or just having fun outside with the family. The R1 seems kind of big when you get it but it’s surprisingly portable. Could be quieter though. Overall I’m so far very happy with the R1. It is expensive, but it is amazing and in my opinion it’s worth it.
Like the tagline says, this drone flies itself, and it does it so well. I use it mostly for biking, specifically with my e-bike (which I use both for commute as well as recreation), and the videos come out so cool. I don't think there is anything else out there that can let me create these types of videos.
Feature Product
- The world's most advanced autonomous device, Skydio R1 flies Itself to capture amazing footage of your adventures, making it the easiest and most fun camera you will ever use.
- Simply choose a person or vehicle to track using the mobile or Apple Watch and R1 will do the rest, getting amazing shots while flying around any obstacle autonomously.
- Effortlessly direct R1 with one tap to access cinematic skills like follow, lead, orbit, dronie-no pilot or controller required.
- R1 intelligently positions itself for every shot by understanding where people are in the scene and anticipating where they will be up to 4 seconds into the future.
- Running, biking, playing in the park-no matter what your adventure is, you can trust R1 to capture all the action with dynamic movement in 4K video that you can share directly from your phone.
Description
The world’s most advanced autonomous device, Skydio R1 is the easiest and most fun camera you will ever use. Running, biking, playing in the park - no matter what your adventure is, you can trust R1 to capture all the action in dynamic 4K video that you can share directly from your mobile device.
There's no smarter drone - the Skydio R1 is even flyable from your Apple watch! It has no problem following me through trees while on a bicycle or running - absolutely no worries about crashing, landing, or hitting other objects as it flies for you. It takes great action movies and feels like it is straight out of the future.
I love it, this thing is so smart it is scary, it will follow you everywhere.
Best drone on the market. The software is insane and super easy to use.
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