Greg Covey

Hi,

I just ordered one of the new Parrot [link=http://ardrone2.parrot.com/]AR.Drone 2.0[/link] quads from [link=http://www.horizonhobby.com/SearchCmd?krypto=G4BTCp7GMCXlhSpaeb6fHhmkp5CUJXmfr %2BjqDc8UUV2wnOwRaLqDDMYrGzQ5QKjyfYSzCRm0nDNh%0AHM kwuTD5%2Byux44kAkCpnFZWwEG8c6kY%3D]Horizon Hobby[/link]. Does anyone have one these yet?

Greg Covey

I picked up a new Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7" tablet today to use for controlling the AR.Drone. The Parrot apps are free for either the Apple or Android OS.

I also found these AR.Drome specific forums. They seem packed with information on this mass produced highly-integrated product.

[link=http://forum.parrot.com/ardrone/en/]Parrot AR.Drone Forums[/link]
[link=http://www.ardrone-flyers.com/]ArDrone-Flyers[/link]
[link=http://droneflyers.com/]Drone Flyers[/link]
[link=http://drone-apps.com/]Drone-Apps.com[/link]
[link=http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/drone-dance-for-ar.drone/id433120773?mt=8]Drone Dance for AR.Drone[/link]
[link=http://ardrone.parrot.com/parrot-ar-drone/en/ar-games/other-apps]AR.Drone Apps from Parrot[/link]
[link=http://www.digitalsirup.com/]DigitalSirup.com Apps[/link]

Here are more interesting links for AR.Drone related products and sites.

[link=http://droneshack.co.uk/epages/950002234.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/950002234/Products/%222.0%20Macgyver%20RC%20kit%22]AR Drone 2.0 Macgyver RC kit[/link]
[link=https://pixhawk.ethz.ch/px4/modules/px4fmu]PX4FMU Autopilot / Flight Management Unit [/link]
[link=http://www.i-drone.me/index.php?option=com_opencart&Itemid=54&route=product/category&path=57]Spektrum 6115 6-Channel DSMX Receiver Kit Adapter[/link]

[link=http://www.i-drone.me/]i-Drone Webshop[/link]
[link=http://droneshack.co.uk/]The Drone Shack[/link]
[link=http://ardrone.parrotshopping.com/us/p_ardrone_main.aspx]AR.Drone Store - US[/link]
[link=http://ardrone.parrotshopping.com/uk/p_ardrone_product.aspx?i=199964]AR.Drone Store - UK[/link]
[link=http://stores.ebay.com/Ar-Drone-International-Warehouse]Ar Drone International Warehouse (VGE)[/link]

Greg Covey

I took a few photos and some video while I was testing my AR.Drone inside and outside. It seems very stabile (although my piloting with a tablet needs some work) and the built-in HD camera works very well. When I had the drone up over my house in the video, you can see the camera compensate for the light once I stopped moving it around. The flip feature is pretty cool and you can see it several times during the video.

[link=http://www.gregcovey.com/Reviews/ArDrone1.wmv]AR.Drone Test Flight Video in HD[/link] (100meg)

[link=http://www.gregcovey.com/Reviews/ArDrone1b.wmv]AR.Drone Test Flight Video[/link] (39meg)

randall1959

My Feedback: (11)

Have you tried using the height lock indoors? My son had the 1st generation of this bird and when he locked in the sonar and flew over something like a couch, it overcompensated and flew into the ceiling. Last year he brought it up here and we flew it a few times and it was cool and all but the range wasn't great and it felt awkward trying to control it with a touch screen. Call me old fashioned but my fingers need to feel a gimbal, otherwise I was looking more at the Iphone than I was at the AR.
He eventually sold the AR and went to a more traditional quad. We tried putting it up against my 600mm KK quad and the poor little drone was no match for it in several catagories. The KK quad doesn't have all the nice technical features of the AR but it's performance, range, and robustness more than made up for it's limitations. Other boards are now getting into the "flip" mode now also, so that's not completely an AR thing anymore.
All in all the AR is nice and it's cute and all but just like most things in this aspect of the hobby, it has it's limitations.

Greg Covey

I haven't tried the height lock as I am experimenting now on distance options. A few companies are now making standard R/C transmitters for the AR.Drone and one even has a Spektrum Bind-n-Fly product.

The target market for the AR.Drone is really the gaming industry, not the R/C hobby. It does, however, offer some interesting technology for only $300. The improved camera resolution combined with a 7" or 10" tablet makes a relatively low cost but highly integrated FPV setup.

I tested my Belkin Range Extender today at a school yard today but the wind kept me from going too high. It was cool to fly around the field using the Absolute Control mode and watch the AR.Drone tilt itself into the wind to stay hovering in one place.

The Belkin Range Extender runs on 12v at about a 200mAh draw so my 3-cell 5AH LiPo pack easily powered it for the hour I was testing. I just set it up in the middle of the large field and fly just about anywhere.

You can see my review of the first AR.Drone model [link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/magazine/article_display.cfm?article_id=1287]here[/link]. I think the 2.0 model has better control stability.

Greg Covey

Here are some screen shots from my tablet setup. The Belkin Range Extender adds an _xt to the WiFi signal and you connect your tablet to it instead of directly to the AR-Drone. The WiFi Analyzer reveals that it is a much stronger signal than the AR-Drone, even at equal distances.

Greg Covey

I ordered some add-ons for my AR.Drone from the [link=http://www.i-drone.me/]i-Drone Webshop[/link].

The i-Drone AR Drone High Performance [link=http://www.i-drone.me/index.php?option=com_opencart&Itemid=54&route=product/product&path=72&product_id=81]Bearing Set[/link] has been recommended by many users to reduce friction on the gear shaft, improve stability, increase flight times and make the motors run cooler.

I couldn't resist buying some [link=http://www.i-drone.me/index.php?option=com_opencart&Itemid=54&route=product/category&path=25]Light Kits[/link] while I was shopping so I got a second outdoor hull that I'll use for night flying. They have all the cable harnesses so adding lights is a plug-n-play modification.

Greg Covey

I found more upgrades for my AR.Drone from the [link=http://myworld.ebay.com/global_ar_drone_warehouse?_trksid=p2047675.l2559] global_ar_drone_warehouse[/link] on eBay. Of course, I had to try these as well.

The [link=http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110896596159&ssPageName=ADME:L:OU:US:3160]VGE High Performance Propellers[/link] propellers have been specially designed for the AR.Drone 1.0 & 2.0 by a team who won the French Army micro drone contest. They are made to optimize power consumption and thrust. The blades are made of composite plastic material which is stiffer than the stock AR.Drone blades.

The [link=http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110899964379&ssPageName=ADME:L:OU:US:3160]VGE Drive Gear Bearing Upgrade[/link] is a direct replacement for the AR.Drone 1.0 & 2.0. The stock AR.Drone comes with 8 brass bushings (2 on each gear shaft). By replacing your bushings with this bearing set you will increase battery time and brushless motor life (x4). This conversion will allow your AR.Drone to operate more efficiently. The conversion is very simple and takes around 5 minutes to complete.

Greg Covey

I put both my AR.Drones in the air together for the first time just for fun. I used my older iPod Touch for AR.Drone 1.0 and my new Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 for the new AR.Drone 2.0. My WiFi analyzer showed that both drones were using the same channel but I didn't have any issues flying one and then the other.

I took a photo of drone 1.0 from 2.0 as I was flying around it. I'll get to try my Belkin Range Extender this weekend at a local R/C show. It should be interesting...

chri81

I'm a serious noob to the AR Drone 2.0. I wanted one pretty bad and was lucky enough to get one from my Father in-law for x-mas. Its amazing!!! That's actually selling it short, its ****ing awesome! Any tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I've only had about 15 minutes of flght. I'm on android Nexus 7 and galaxy s2. I'm having some difficulties staying connected, but not sure if its my device, the freeflight app.

Greg Covey

Hi,

What is your distance between the AR.Drone and tablet when you have connection issues? I have found it best to disable my wireless router to my cable modem when flying indoors due to the unwanted signal strength. For outdoor distance improvement, the Belkin Range Extender has worked great!

I did not like the VGE High Performance propellers as they made my AR.Drone get unstable but the Gear Bearing Upgrade has worked out nicely.

I would recommend reading posts on the AR.Drone specific forums that I linked above. There is good information in those forums but be careful not to believe everything you read until you hear it from multiple sources.

Good luck with your AR.Drone 2.0 and Welcome to RC Universe!

boats4life

I got a used AR Drone 2.0 for my 28 year old son for Christmas. He hasn't had much time with it yet. He finally got the urge to use it. It was flying fine and all of a sudden it just shot up to 75 feet and lost control. The land button wouldn't work. Sounds like a loss of wifi signal. Maybe the signal extender mentioned would avoid this. If it loses control like this we could lose the model. Any advice would be helpful. Thanks

Return2Flight

Hi folks,

New to the forum here and was just looking around when I saw mention of the AR Drone. I've had mine for a couple of months now maybe. In fact I have since bought a few other quads and they are all good fun.

I used to fly fixed wing stuff about 22 years ago and wanted to get back into it thinking a heli maybe this time, but instead after a couple of weeks of late-night research Isettled on the AR V2.0. At first what caught my attention was the wifi control via my Samsung android phone. Added to that was the on-board video capability. I soon realized that I didn't much care for the phone applications control, and switched to the comfort I knew many years ago on the sticks and bought a Spektrum DX6i transmitter then added a DSM2 receiver. The receivers are available from a few sources now and greatly increase the overall fun capacity of the AR.

First I purchased the Quad-Mod 615 receiver that is made by a fellow over in the UK, and sold here in the states by one dealer. I flew with that for a few weeks then had some issues and sent the unit back to the UK for evaluation / repair. Knowing that it was going to take a while just in mail transport time alone, I found another similar receiver from a guy up in Canada (XR4-Drone). Long story short I have been flying on that unit and things are working great. Recently the UK receiver has returned and has also been upgraded to a "Quad-Mod Pro" with a rated range of 1,500 meters where the original was rated at 1,500 feet. Not sure what I will do with this unit, might possibly get another AR Drone one day or eventually build a FPV setup and use this receiver with that.

The Boca bearings upgrade are a good idea along with balancing the props/gears. I now have LED's on the way to use on the "indoor" hull for some night flying.

I have additionally been playing with the incredible little micro cameras that many have these days. They are known as the 808 spy cams. The two I have are 808-#20's and really do a nice job of 720p video. They also record sound and take still pics. They have probably been mentioned and reviewed in other areas of the forum here. Iused some soft 2-part silicone molding rubber for the vibration isolation mount.

It's an addiction indeed! In addition to the AR, I have since picked up a Ladybird quad, V959 bubble machine quad, and just the other day I jumped in for the new Hubsan X4 H107 V2 micro quad.

I did re-join the AMA and also the local flying park, but actually do all of my flying in my back yard. If I want more sky area I step through our gate and have a huge baseball park right there as you can see in some of the video samples on the page

If you are interested in seeing some video from the AR and also some comparison video from the 808 camera vs the on-board AR stock camera, then have a look at the link below. There are 3 or 4 other videos there once you are on the page. If your connection is descent then try to watch the videos in at least 480 resolution using the small or medium window option in youtube.

http://youtu.be/m1RFbNzQjys

I look forward to seeing what others think of the AR and their flying experiences with it along with some sample videos.

R2F