As some of you may already know, I had a brief stint with a Skydio2 last summer. It lasted ten days, the the drone decided to plunge into a canal.
I pondered if I had to have it repaired or not, and in the meantime I acquired a 2nd hand Skydio R1.
Right from the start, it dawned to me that ( apart from three shortcomings that I will debate later), this drone seemed to me much more well thought off and made than the 2.
- better flight manners ( less hectic)
- better hit protection, thanks to the 'cage'
For an upcoming video project, I had to do some testing with another R1 following my R1 following me. The resulting video follows : ( sorry for the grim weather, here in Italy it's still winter somehow)
R1 filming R1 filming me
At roughly 23 seconds, you can see the mayhem trying to happen.
I seriously doubt that a Skydio2, or 2+ would have passed this test still flying!!!!
The two drone were actually both following me, at different distance and heights.
Add to this the fact that it seems like the Skydio 2+ has still some...ehm... caveats that prevent it's use in Europe, and that's why I strongly feel like the R1 is the best Skydio drone, IMHO.
Shortcomings?
Sure:
- Size and weight : I mainly use it to film MTB rides, and had to use some ingenuity to gather together a backpacking solution
- Flight time: 15 minutes is way less than the 25- 28 minutes of later Skydio drones. But keep in mind that no-one wants to have a look at 20 minutes of footage depicting some old dude riding on an MTB without some editing spice added. I use the drone footage in short bursts together with GoPro's to tell a story.
- Software on controlling phone: not so advanced.
Anyway, these are just my 0.02$.
Thanks for reading.
P.S.: needless to say, I flogged my once wet Skydio R2 on the 2nd hand market. Buyers swears he will be able to repair.... I hope so.
I pondered if I had to have it repaired or not, and in the meantime I acquired a 2nd hand Skydio R1.
Right from the start, it dawned to me that ( apart from three shortcomings that I will debate later), this drone seemed to me much more well thought off and made than the 2.
- better flight manners ( less hectic)
- better hit protection, thanks to the 'cage'
For an upcoming video project, I had to do some testing with another R1 following my R1 following me. The resulting video follows : ( sorry for the grim weather, here in Italy it's still winter somehow)
R1 filming R1 filming me
At roughly 23 seconds, you can see the mayhem trying to happen.
I seriously doubt that a Skydio2, or 2+ would have passed this test still flying!!!!
The two drone were actually both following me, at different distance and heights.
Add to this the fact that it seems like the Skydio 2+ has still some...ehm... caveats that prevent it's use in Europe, and that's why I strongly feel like the R1 is the best Skydio drone, IMHO.
Shortcomings?
Sure:
- Size and weight : I mainly use it to film MTB rides, and had to use some ingenuity to gather together a backpacking solution
- Flight time: 15 minutes is way less than the 25- 28 minutes of later Skydio drones. But keep in mind that no-one wants to have a look at 20 minutes of footage depicting some old dude riding on an MTB without some editing spice added. I use the drone footage in short bursts together with GoPro's to tell a story.
- Software on controlling phone: not so advanced.
Anyway, these are just my 0.02$.
Thanks for reading.
P.S.: needless to say, I flogged my once wet Skydio R2 on the 2nd hand market. Buyers swears he will be able to repair.... I hope so.
