Yuneec’s latest drone features voice controls and impressive battery life
The Mantis Q is the latest 4K travel drone from Yuneec, and it’s got a couple of interesting features such as voice control and a 33-minute flight time that might make it worth a look over rivals from Parrot and DJI.
Let’s start with its voice control. According to Yuneec, you’ll be able to verbally give it commands to have it take off, land, and record. Yuneec isn’t the first drone manufacturer to offer interesting new takes on drone controls. DJI offers gesture controls on the DJI Mavic Air, but in our review we found that this wasn’t reliable enough to use in busy environments. Here’s hoping Yuneec’s voice control efforts are more reliable.
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Yuneec also claims a 33-minute flight time with the Mantis Q, which is longer than the Parrot Anafi‘s 25 minutes and leaves the Mavic Air’s 20 minutes in the dust.
Unfortunately, you’re not going to be able to go especially far with this flight time, as range is limited to 800m (in Europe) compared to over two miles for its two closest competitors.
Pre-order: Yuneec Mantis Q for £499.99 from Clifton Cameras
A budget alternative?
You’re also giving up mechanical stabilisation in favour of an electronic version. Yuneec rightly points out that this means there’s less fragile machinery in the drone to potentially fail, but it also means that stabilisation is only available on video footage up to 1080p.
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Depending on your budget though, these minor quibbles might not matter too much to you. The Mantis Q will set you back just £449 compared to the £629 you’ll find the Anafi for or the Mavic Air’s £769, making it potentially a great budget option for photographers who don’t want to give up 4K recording. DJI’s Spark costs £449 but its video quality maxes out at 1080p.
We’ll have to wait to get the Yuneec Mantis Q in for review before we can give our final judgement though.
Pre-order: Yuneec Mantis Q for £499.99 from Clifton Cameras
What do you think of the Mantis Q’s specs? Let us know @TrustedReviews.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
