I’ve had the AR Drone 2.0 for about a month now. It started out with a lot of excitement which was quickly crushed with a broken crossbar and two motors failing. Luckily with a little creativity I was able to fix the crossbar and since I got the drone for around $50 cheaper it wasn’t as hard to part with the cash for motors.

The crossbar issue could have been avoided if I didn’t fly the drone into the wall and crash from 5 or 6 feet up… here’s how that went down:

Learning to Fly the AR Drone 2.0

You’ll want to have as wide open space as possible. The above video is a good example of a failure of trying to fly in close quarters. The absolute control is a great feature, but it’s not available on the iPod touch so you may just want to get used to flying in standard mode. If you’re flying inside you may just want to hover for quite a long time.

Recording

Recording is a fantastic feature although you’ll notice that the recordings are video only – no audio. You may argue that there is nothing but propeller noise but that’s part of the experience. I’m kinda bummed that they couldn’t include a microphone.The bottom camera can be interesting.. but it’s nothing beautiful. Here’s and example of what you’ll get from both cameras:

Value

At $300 the AR Drone 2.0 is a great value if you’re smarter than me and don’t crash enough times in the first week to cause $115 worth of damage. If you’re not smarter than me you may want to factor that cost and others into the drone value. You may want to even by an extra for parts :o) It will save you $ in the long run.

Verdict

It’s a great value drone. You’re not going to find one this size for this price… especially with streaming video and ability to control with your mobile device. To make it affordable it’s not the most durable creation you’ll find on the market but if you’re smart about how you fly it parts will last a reasonable amount of time.