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Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 - 7/21/2012 11:34 PM   
Greg Covey



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Status: offline 		Hi,

I just ordered one of the new Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 quads from Horizon Hobby. Does anyone have one these yet?

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RE: Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 - 7/23/2012 10:54 PM   
Greg Covey



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Status: offline 		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.

Parrot AR.Drone Forums
ArDrone-Flyers
Drone Flyers
Drone-Apps.com
Drone Dance for AR.Drone
AR.Drone Apps from Parrot
DigitalSirup.com Apps

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

AR Drone 2.0 Macgyver RC kit
PX4FMU Autopilot / Flight Management Unit
Spektrum 6115 6-Channel DSMX Receiver Kit Adapter

i-Drone Webshop
The Drone Shack
AR.Drone Store - US
AR.Drone Store - UK
Ar Drone International Warehouse (VGE)


< Message edited by Greg Covey -- 8/10/2012 12:58 AM >

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RE: Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 - 7/29/2012 12:07 PM   
Greg Covey



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Status: offline 		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.

AR.Drone Test Flight Video in HD (100meg)

AR.Drone Test Flight Video (39meg)

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RE: Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 - 7/29/2012 4:04 PM   
randall1959



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From: saint joseph, MO, USA
Status: offline 		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.

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RE: Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 - 7/29/2012 10:54 PM   
Greg Covey



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Status: offline 		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 here. I think the 2.0 model has better control stability.

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RE: Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 - 7/29/2012 11:13 PM   
Greg Covey



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Status: offline 		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.

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RE: Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 - 8/5/2012 4:51 PM   
Greg Covey



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Status: offline 		I ordered some add-ons for my AR.Drone from the i-Drone Webshop.

The i-Drone AR Drone High Performance Bearing Set 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 Light Kits 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.

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RE: Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 - 8/10/2012 6:34 PM   
Greg Covey



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Status: offline 		I found more upgrades for my AR.Drone from the global_ar_drone_warehouse on eBay. Of course, I had to try these as well.

The VGE High Performance Propellers 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 VGE Drive Gear Bearing Upgrade 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.

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RE: Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 - 8/12/2012 4:17 PM   
Greg Covey



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Status: offline 		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...

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RE: Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 - 1/1/2013 3:09 AM   
chri81


 

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From: Bothell, WA, USA
Status: offline 		 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. 

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RE: Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 - 1/1/2013 5:17 PM   
Greg Covey



Posts: 5710
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From: Rochester, NY, USA
Status: offline 		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!

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RE: Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 - 4/13/2013 1:16 AM   
boats4life


 

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From: Setauket-Long Island, NY, USA
Status: offline 		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

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