Parrot ANAFI The Ultra compact Flying 4K HDR Camera Drone - Grey

Having had a several drones over the years - starting from a small Hubsan X4 (good) and working upto the larger (but cheap) drones , I have always been disappointed with functionality, image/camera quality and build quality - last drone with brushed motors burst into flames mid air - so you get what you pay for I suppose. I looked around at all the higher end units with gimble mounts for GP cams etc and settled on the ANAFI with the built in 4K cam and gimble.I am so glad I did. The Parrot ANAFI has blown me away with all the functionality, build quality, stable flying and especially the 4K image quality for Vids and stills. At this price point its a great drone for the flyer who wants to take it to the next level.I have only flown it several times since purchase due to the winter weather, however I took it out again this weekend in some blustery breezes and it handled itself really well, video footage was steady and smooth due to the excellent gimble. Again even in the wind the GPS and Return to Home function got it bang on above the mini helipad mat it took off from. Some great features on the phone app for some cheeky panorams, funky spirals etc are nice, plus you have Tortoise and Hare modes if you want to rip it up a bit, in fact the FreeFlight 6 app is a credit to Parrot. Other great features are the battery and flight times - I get a good 25 mins from each battery (worth getting the additional battery) and they have good discharge, safety and sleep function if the Drone is unused after 10 days. The Controller unit is slick, easy to use and feels like an Xbox one controller - so very familiar :) and has all the main camera functions, RTH etc as buttons, so you do not have to use the touch phone screen too much. One of the controller on board levers allow the gimble/cam to move to a straight up or straight down position, which is awesome for great videos and the follow me functions.The fact it is has the fold-able prop arms and so compact is great (3rd party ANAFI equipment cases are abundant ) it can travel with me to far flung places. Absolutely love this drone, and at the current price point its a great buy.

I did quite a bit of research before buying between this and the DJI Pro 2 and DJI Zoom, which are both almost twice the price of the Anafi. I'm no pro film maker and just couldn't justify spending the extra on either of the DJIs and, having had it for a few weeks now, I'm very glad I didn't as the Anafi is superb and more than what I need. It doesn't have the range of the DJI but then with current / impending laws governing flying within visual sight, the ability to fly the DJI 8km away seems somewhat redundant - I think the Anafi will travel about 2.5Km, subject to finding a low interference area.The zoom feature is very useful and the Aanafi camera swing enables the camera to look directly upwards, which neither of the DJI's can do. Pictures and video with the 20MB camera are great and, unless you're a filmmaker, are easily a match for the DJI.It doesn't have avoidance sensors fitted other than a ground sensor to stop you dropping it straight into the ground. It gets to about 500mm from ground level and then stays there until you hit 'land' button. Accordingly, you have to exercise some skill in flying it, which kind of adds to the fun.It does have 'hand launch' / 'hand landing' abilities which allows you to let it take off from your hand rather than the ground if your on uneven ground or perhaps in in a boat.The software doesn't include 'follow me' function, which is a paid for add-on if you want it. At the time I bought the drone, this was £0.99, which was a minor extra cost, although this may have been a sale price.Battery life is great at about 25mins per full charge battery. That said, you'd want to get at least one spare battery as the batteries do take a couple of hours to fully charge, which can be a pain. Batteries are light in weight and very expensive - £90Software and flight is pretty intuitive after a couple of practice sessions in the garden.It is also pretty sturdy and will take a few visits into the hedge followed by a crash landing when one of the legs folded inwards. Turn it off and on again and you're all set to go again. Props look very flimsy but they're really not and are pretty impressively durable - my old GoPro karma drone props would shear off at the sight of a hedge branch.The drone packs up very neatly into a large sunglasses case, albeit that the hand controller doesn't come with a carry case - the drone itself only weights 1/3 kilo whereas the DJIs are almost 3 tiles as heavy.All in all, very pleased with my purchase and possibly should have gone for the extended pack as this came with 2 extra batteries plus the carry case for the drone, controller, spare batteries and spare props / cables.

Good points..LightPortableStableDecent cameraDecent flight timeBad pointsFlew off on two occasions. Once on start up and once while attempting to hand land it.Android app was updated rendering the drone useless with no video feed.Apparently this situation has been resolved now but I was left with an expensive paper weight for over two weeks with little to no feedback from the company.This drone was so close to being perfect but a few hiccups and very poor communication from the manufacturer led to it being returned.Maybe sometime in the future when everything is stable I may try it again..

Small compact design but a very capable quad that holds its height & position well even in windy conditions. Good quality 21 megapixel camera with 4K video & x3 zoom. Great app full of functional features with good flight timesIt's only weakness is range in urban conditions due to external WiFi interference. Make sure you have correct lead that fits your phone only comes with USB to C lead which is fine for charging but for flying you will need appropriate lead for your phone brand.