Parrot AR Drone 2.0 Power Edition – App

The Parrot AR Drone 2.0 Power Edition’s app is where things start to fall apart. Available for iOS and Android devices, we found it to be sluggish and glitch prone, often resulting in unwanted or stuck navigation commands. This caused the drone to take its own actions, crashing into anything in its way and leaving us a little red faced and irritated.

The app takes age to boot up, too, but is well laid out and easy to navigate once things have sprung to life. It features a range of settings and gallery options which surround the standard flight mode and a selection of in-app purchasable extras. The app connects to your Drone via Wi-Fi and signal and range between the two devices was strong and never faltered during our time with the device.

Having used both an iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S to fly the Drone, we found the app came unstuck and fell behind the flying gadget’s actual movements on all too frequent occurrence.

Parrot AR Drone 2.0 Power Edition – Performance

The Parrot AR Drone 2.0 Power Edition veers between precise, ultra-responsive flying awesomeness and having a mind-of-its-own.. As such, the Drone’s main failing is in its inconsistency. While the Parrot AR Drone 2.0 is skilled enough to comfortably manoeuvre down tight office hallways or through the door to your home, it also has a tendency to go a bit wild. Some of this can be put down to the laggy app, but not all.

The 1280 x 720p HD camera is a brilliant addition, with flight footage often proving interesting and entertaining to watch. That said, it could still be improved. Its positioning at the very front of the drone is a little restrictive. If fitted with a slightly wider field of view lens and at marginally lower angle, the resulting footage would be instantly improved.

The barrel-roll is the Drone 2.0’s party piece but you better act fast if you want to do it as it requires a more than 30 per cent battery charge to throw a flip. Double tap the screen and a flip should be the response. In practice, however, this can be very hit-and-miss, with the Drone taking an ‘I will if and when I want to’ approach to the commands.

Should I buy the Parrot AR Drone 2.0 Power Edition?

Put concisely, no, probably not. There is no denying that the entertainment factor of the Parrot AR Drone 2.0 Power Edition is huge at first, but this novelty quickly wears off, leaving you with little more than a £300 big kid’s toy turn paperweight.

Although leading the field in consumer available flying drone toys, the Parrot offering is always struggling to meet the requirements of its lofty price tag. When it works, it works beautifully. The trouble is that this it does not always function as expected.

Verdict

The Parrot AR Drone 2.0 Power Edition is fun, it is fast and it is nimble, but it is also hugely expensive and the entertainment is short lived. Plough your £300 into the ground a couple of times and it soon looks a little worse for wear. Put up with the glitchy app and your patience is soon warn thin. In short this is a luxurious toy for those with more money than they know what to do with.

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