Yuneeca Typhoon Q500 4K review

A review by one of our customers (Mr. Paul), who has been a helicopter pilot for 7 years - mainly acrobatic 450 and 250 class machines. However, he recently came up with the idea that he would personally test what the phenomenon of multicopters (also known as drones) is all about. He chose as his test subject Yuneec Q500 Typhoon 4k - that is, in his opinion, a machine of no small importance - but about that later in this text.

First let me start with my perspective. As any pilot of the acrobats I mentioned earlier knows - stability is not among their best sides. In particular, I'm talking about the 250 class. That's why I was eager to see what it was like for the aforementioned Yuneeca. And here I let myself be surprised. The machine is incredibly stable, What's more, thanks to the flight assistance systems, even wind gusts of up to 24 km/h are almost imperceptible. In addition, the machine is very responsive to rudders, which I personally liked. However, if someone prefers slower responses to the sticks - go ahead. The manufacturer also thought about this by building into the side of the transmitter a very intuitive to use potentiometer that allows you to adjust the response of the machine to the rudders. The quadrocopter itself is suitable for both beginners and advanced pilots. This is due not only to the previously mentioned ability to adjust the model's response to the rudders but also to equip it with a couple of different "flight modes". I will briefly characterize each of them below

Yuneec Q500 4K flight modes

1. Smart mode - It allows the machine to be controlled in the easiest way for a novice pilot. Regardless of the orientation of the machine relative to us, tilting the tilt stick to the right always means that the machine will fly in that direction. Of course, the analogy is for inclination in any other direction. I can't even imagine how much I would appreciate this feature if I were just now taking my first steps in the air, especially when controlling a machine facing me, which I'm sure anyone with some experience as a pilot will understand.
2. Angle mode - In this mode, the control of the machine is carried out in the classic way, i.e. the machine responds to the inclination of the stick relatively from the position relative to the pilot. This is the mode in which I fly.
3. Home mode - This is the mode by which we can get out of even the biggest burns without cost. When you switch the transmitter, it will make the drone automatically stabilize, rise to a height of 10 meters to then position itself around 4-8 meters from the transmitter and land safely. All this, of course, automatically (although also in a limited way responding to our commands)

Of course, these are not all the software functionalities that the manufacturer has provided to users. Yuneec Q500 Typhoon 4K is equipped with a follow me mode, which does an excellent job of recording scenes of following an object, thanks to which it automatically follows an object designated with a few touches on the transmitter's screen without the intervention of the remote control. A variation of this mode is watch me mode, in which the machine watches automatically go to watch the pilot.

GPS can also be turned off in either mode, which is sure to be appreciated by more advanced pilots as well as professionals who need to get the job done whether or not solar activity allows them to fly with assistance.

As I mentioned earlier, the machine is very responsive to the rudder. With the GPS off, it is able to reach speeds of about 60 km/h, with it on circa 35, which by all accounts is a very good result. The engines have no shortage of power and the flight time is about 20-25 minutes depending on the weather and how you fly it.

A separate issue is the transmitter itself. It has a very large, easy-to-read display that relays live video from the camera as well as telemetry data such as flight altitude, machine speed, and information about the charge level of both the transmitter itself and the battery in the model. I think that building the aforementioned display into the transmitter is a great idea. A little controversial for this is the positioning of the rods. During my experience as a pilot, I have learned that the gas stick in the neutral position rests on the bottom of the. Well, not in this case. Yuneec decided to center it and start the motors with a separate button. This is a rather unusual approach however after two weeks with the machine I find that you can get used to it. Of course, it is possible to select any remote control *mode of the apparatus of interest . On the plus side, the camera is controlled by a potentiometer located near the sticks on the left side of the transmitter. This allows one person to simultaneously control the camera's position and flight, which in my case was a downright key parameter. The buttons located on top of the transmitter, which we can easily operate while flying, are responsible for starting and ending the recording once the picture is taken.

CGO3 4K Camera

The last but not least part of the machine is the camera. And this one definitely does not disappoint. In addition to perfectly stabilizing the camera with a 3-axis gimbal and vertical tilt adjustment, it provides downright amazing image quality. It is distinguished not only by recording video in 4K resolution at 30 frames per second, but also by the ability to record video in full HD quality at 60 or even 120 frames per second so that we can enjoy the beauty of the bird's-eye view post-frame videos we have taken. But that's not the most important thing yet. In both video and stills, I didn't notice the fisheye effect so characteristic of many of today's prized cameras like gopro products. I consider this to be an incredible plus for this set. It is also possible to capture images in 12 MPx quality.

If I have already mentioned the performance of the machine itself, it would be worth mentioning something about its construction. The whole thing is made of fairly rigid plastic. It may not be an ideal material, although so far in use it works perfectly well.

Another issue already is the accessories that the manufacturer is raking us with. He included one set of spare propellers and everything we need when operating the drone i.e.: chargers for both the machine and the camera, a memory card for the camera, interfaces to update Yuneec, a device to hold the motors while screwing and unscrewing the propellers, a code card that allows us to read the messages issued through the machine via LEDs and, in my opinion most importantly, up to 2 batteries. Another interesting addition is the handheld gimbal (Steady Grip), thanks to which we can shoot our videos not only from the perspective of the machine but also ourselves.

"Steady Grip is part of the Q500 set"