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| Promedio 0/5 |
The AEE Drone Sparrow is a quadrocopter whose propeller drives are completely protected from mechanical influences. From the optical appearance and design one could think that this drone is especially suitable for beginners.
According to the manufacturer’s data, the copter has a camera to generate images and video material and another cam below the aircraft, which works similar to a vision positioning system and is supposed to keep the drone in the correct position in the air.
Which technical features, gadgets and specialties you can expect after buying the AEE Drone Sparrow and if it is really worth the money, you will find out in the following report.
Technical data, features and more
The AEE Sparrow could be rather classified as a Selfie drone, it has a typical design and has various functions. In the scope of supply are further elements contained around the housing and/or the cage to convert. For this purpose silver struts are included in the package, with which you can convert the black housing and thus change the appearance of the quadrocopter.
Battery and flight time
The supplied battery is a lithium polymer flight battery. There are 2 of them included in the delivery. This is even the first time that we see a battery with a very cool design. Someone has made an effort. But is there also power in it?
Apparently! The battery doesn’t weaken that fast during the flight time, it keeps the drone in the air for 10 minutes by supplying it with enough energy. According to reviews you can fly 8-10 minutes per battery charge.
How long you stay in the air depends on your flying style. Since the battery is replaceable, you can extend the flight time at will. A second battery is included in the delivery, so you can fly for 20 minutes with one stopover and one change.
The battery itself is 1200 mAh and has an operating voltage of 7.4 Volt. It is simply put into the charger, the flight battery is connected to the charger and can be charged.
Control, range, sensors and flight behaviour
A remote control is unfortunately not included in the package. The AEE Sparrow drone is only controlled via smartphone. What we think is a pity, there is hardly anyone who does not have a Smartphone, but the fact that you need one to take off at all speaks against this quadrocopter.
However, it has to be said that this is a selfie drone anyway, these usually do not have any extra transmitters but are basically only controlled by the smartphone or tablet via touch field.
The connection range between the drone and the smartphone is said to be only about 30 meters, which is a bit short. A 720p FPV signal is also transmitted to the end device and displayed on the smartphone in real time.
There are infrared sensors on all sides of the copter. These are visible on small squares arranged in pairs, which are placed on the sides.
A problem with the control is the fact that the AEE Sparrow drone looks almost the same from all sides. The manufacturer has tried to mark the backside with a yellow sticker and in the front there are 2 LED lights, which can be used to identify the front and backside, but for fast manoeuvres where the drone is at a certain angle to you, this could be a problem.
Theoretically, you can remedy this by sticking coloured adhesive tape on the sides of the drone, so that the current «line of sight» of the drone can be better classified. Additionally you can use the FPV picture.
In the middle is a compartment in which you can insert the cuboid battery. Then you have to start the Sparrow Drone by pressing the red button on the top. It will connect automatically to your device if you have already started the app on your smartphone.
Now the copter can be started either from the palm of the hand or from a plane. Theoretically it is also possible to land it on the hand again. But experiences show that this can also go wrong and is therefore rather less recommendable.
In the interior the drone flies very calm and balanced, it is perfect for selfies. Outdoors, however, we advise you to fly only when there is no wind, because we think the system does not steer strongly enough against the wind currents, which is probably due to the aerodynamic design of the copter. We have also noticed this with other selfie drones. They are primarily designed to shoot a selfie and not to fly in strong gusts of wind.
Camera, memory, photo and video recording
On the rear side at the yellow mark there is a Micro USB input and a Micro SD card slot. You can use memory cards up to a size of 64 Gbyte.
On the opposite side is the photo sensor, surrounded by 4 LED spotlights. The lens has a wide angle of 120 degrees, so you don’t have a fisheye that produces devoured pictures, on the contrary, the photos look really good! furthermore, the camera can be moved down about 90 degrees in its vertical position.
The camera provides us with Full HD videos with 60 frames per second and 12 megapixel photo shots. Unfortunately the video recordings are neither mechanically nor software technically stabilized by a gimbal system.
In our opinion, one could have at least set up a gimbal system on the software side, which is a pity, as the camera sensor is actually quite good despite its small size. Photos are very clear and neither too bright nor too dark, nor do they have a grey haze but provide a decent colour depth, which definitely speaks for this drone. All pictures can be viewed on the smartphone when it is connected to the copter.
Assets and drawbacks
In order to make the decision to buy easier for you, we have summarized the most important points which could be important for the purchase.
Advantages:
- You can start the drone from the hand
- Detects obstacles
- Up to 10 min flight time
- FPV real time transmission
- Recordings can be viewed on the smartphone
- Pictures are produced with 12 MP
- Video recordings in Full HD at 60 frames per second
- LEDs and flashlight on the front side
- Rotors are quite well protected due to the design
- Very high quality picture and video material
- Good price/performance ratio
Cons:
- Has no remote control (only controllable via smartphone and app)
- Fairly susceptible to wind
- App sometimes crashes
- Charging time per battery up to 120 minutes
Conclusion
In the meantime, the AEE Sparrow 360 is available for less than 100 €. For this price the camera is really damn good. It is suitable for selfies, but videographers will rather have less fun with the drone. The low range and the wind susceptibility of the copter as well as the lack of a gimbal system can be a real problem for drone pilots.
Nevertheless it is worth the price, but we recommend to fly the drone indoors to shoot fast selfies.
