Month: September 2017

If you’re trying to decide between the Phantom 3 and the X-Star Premium, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. We realize that these two drones are some of the most popular and well-known on the market. We’ve decided to size them up against one another to see what, if anything, tips the balance in favor of one over the other.

These are both hobbyist drones and for good reason—they’re both excellent drones for hobbyists and budding professionals. However, as you’ll see in our comparison, there are some small but notable differences. We’ll look at a couple of categories that will help you narrow down your choices. Click here to see our additional list for the best camera drones of 2017.

Let’s get into the drones.

Camera

Winner: Tie

Both drones utilize an ultra HD 4k camera, perhaps the best camera to go on a drone besides an actual action camera or DSLR camera (we don’t recommend attaching your DSLR to the drone, it’d be too heavy!). Both cameras can rotate from their take-off position while the drones themselves can obviously turn. This will give you a greater field of view and different viewing angles with overlapping planes.

A UHD 4k camera is not going to come cheap, that’s why the prices are so high for these respective drones.

Here are our reviews the best action cameras of 2017. If you’re also in the mood, click here for the best DSLR cameras of 2017.

Performance

Winner: Phantom 3

While the Phantom 3 has a slightly lower battery life than the X-Star, it has almost twice the operational range when unobstructed.

The Phantom 3 also has two additional modules that enable you to track it whenever it moves out of your sight. You’ll be able to see through its eyes through the drone’s smartphone app. However, if you’re looking to maximize the Phantom 3’s operational distance, it can be difficult to position it just by what the drone sees. That’s why it has built in GPS and positional modes to make sure you always know where it is.

Looks and Style

Winner: X-Star

Aside from being a fantastic shade of orange, the X-Star also has four glowing lights under each propeller, making it visible during nighttime flying. If you want to have the sweetest looking drone in the sky, the X-Star is your machine. You’ll definitely stand out as the pilot of this awesome drone as you take some of the greatest shots imaginable with its ultra HD camera.

The X-Star also comes in white. On the X-Star the color looks just as great. No offense to the Phantom, but the X-Star just has a sleeker, built-for-the-sky type look.

Overall

It was difficult to make a final decision on these drones, since they’re so closely related and matched. We know you’ll be happy regardless of which drone you choose. Both the Phantom 3 and the X-Star are on the border between a hobbyist and professional drone, but both are remarkably easy to fly. The trick with both is that you’re going to have to test their limits. That doesn’t mean fly them into a hurricane, but there are a number of precautions you can take in order to extend the life of the drone.

The Yuneec Typhoon is a unique drone and clearly separates the hobbyists from the professionals on our list of the best drones (click here for the guide). As a hexacopter, it has two more propellers than your standard DJI or Mavic drone. You may be asking why it has a need for two more propellers. Apart from gaining additional lift (and looking cool), it sports a new improved camera operating system. This system is only one of many intricate features you’ll find on the Typhoon.

Camera

The Typhoon really is a marvel of drone engineering. In addition to having six propellers, its camera and mounting system are also pretty neat. The camera is 4k UHD, which is kind of an industry standard for hobbyist and professional drones. It’s mounted under the belly of the drone. The mount allows the camera to twist a full 360 degrees in flight.

In combination with the maneuverability of the drone itself, you can capture just about any sort of shot at any kind of angle.

Performance

For a drone of this price, it gets nearly half an hour of flight time and has all the features to let you know that the battery is getting low. In fact, it will land itself if the battery runs too low to sustain its flight.

Basically, the drone employs just about every strategy to either keep it aloft or keep it from crashing.

Systems

The Typhoon generates more lift than with its two extra propellers. In the case that one or more of these propellers fails in-flight, the Typhoon is equipped with state of art fail safe system that will keep the drone aloft until you can recover it or fly it back to you.

It’s advisable that you recover the Typhoon as quickly as possible should this happen rather than keep it flying. If you need to recover it right away, one of the switches on the Typhoon’s controller will return it to you.

In order to capture a variety shots, you’re going to want different angles. Everything about the Typhoon is designed to be efficient in your photography or videography. The Typhoon has four primary modes that give you a wide range of options of which to film or shoot.

• Journey—Goes as far as 150ft away from you.
• Routing—Plan a set of objectives for the drone to follow and observe.
• Orbit—Flies in a circle and keeps the camera trained on you.
• Point—Identify something for the drone to lock onto. It will orbit it and keep the camera trained on it.

As you can see, the Typhoon’s hefty price tag is due in large part to what the drone is capable of.

Overall

To sum up, the Typhoon is a marvel in drone technology. No wonder it was named one of the best pieces of technology at CES (Consumer Electronic Show) 2016. While it may just about every fail-safe in the book, its still a hexacopter, different than the quadcopters you’re probably used to seeing. Thus it will require some experience with other drones and some practice before you take it out into the wilderness.