Review of the quadrocopter Parrot Bebop Drone 2

The Bebop 2 presented in the review received a number of improvements and a new FPV package. Find out more about the Parrot Bebop 2 Power here!

About company

The French company Parrot CA dates back to 1994. Officially, Henri Seydoux is considered the founder of this company, but in fact, three people founded Parrot – Jean Pierre Talvard, Henri Seydoux and Christina De Tourvel. Parrot – translated from English – a parrot, and this name is not given by chance.

The company specializes in the field of speech recognition technologies. Parrot is a leader in navigation and entertainment systems used in cars. The company supports and promotes a new generation of wireless communication – Bluetooth Smart, producing high-quality wireless audio devices based on it.

Since 2010, the company has firmly established itself in the home UAV market. The first drone was the “forever” popular – Parrot AR.Drone. Using his example, first-person controlled flight over Wi-Fi was implemented for the first time. In 2014, Parrot CA announces – Parrot Bebop, which subsequently received no less recognition from the consumer, even despite the minuses present. A year later, based on criticism of the first version, the developer announces a completely updated – Parrot Bebop 2.

Immediately after the release, the Parrot AR.Drone was awarded the CES Innovations award in the Electronic Gaming Hardware category. And two years later, the developer will finalize the quad and present the user with an updated version – AR.Drone 2.0, the demand for which continues to grow today.

Review

The build quality of Bebop 2 is at a very high level, the plastic is of high quality, you immediately understand that you have a high-tech product in your hands. Quad is aimed at a wide audience of users without reference to experience. In other words, even those who have never held a remote control in their hands will be able to master piloting Bebop 2. The whole process of operating the quadrocopter is intuitive and simple.

Quad control implies two options: using a smartphone / tablet (IOS / Android via the FreeFlight 3 application) or in tandem with the Parrot Skycontroller 2 remote control. When controlling one smartphone / tablet, the distance will be no further than 100 meters. The Parrot Skycontroller 2 remote control will allow you to move away to a maximum distance of 2 km. The control equipment supports the connection of an FPV headset – Parrot Cockpitglasses (via HDMI port), providing together the most complete and indescribable flight experience.

Advantages

Unlike its predecessor, the advantages of Parrot Bebop 2 are obvious:

He got bigger.
More powerful – due to the high winding density in brushless motors, as well as due to the installation of more efficient speed controllers.
The camera has been improved on it, now it shoots noticeably better, even in low light conditions. And due to the new optics and a larger tilt angle of the camera itself, much more information will now enter the frame.
The developers equipped the drone with a powerful battery, which made it possible to double the flight time compared to the previous model.
A powerful LED light has been added to the rear of the drone.
A new GPS controller was installed – Ublox Neo 8M, with the advent of which the number of satellites captured was increased – up to 19 (against 12 for its predecessor), thereby ensuring exponential positioning accuracy.

Bebop 2 was tested in a wind tunnel, where it was tested for wind resistance. As a result of improvements, lateral wind resistance has been noticeably increased. Now a stable controlled flight is possible with a crosswind speed of up to 16.2 m/s. For the Parrot Bebop, this limit was up to 13 m/s.

Equipment

On the official website of the manufacturer, the Bebop 2 drone is available in 2 trim levels:

Parrot Bebop 2 FPV (includes Parrot Skycontroller 2 + Parrot Cockpitglasses)
Parrot Bebop 2 Adventurer (includes Parrot Skycontroller 2 + Parrot Cockpitglasses + transport backpack + 2 sets of rotors + access to the paid “Follow me” feature)

Drone Parrot Bebop Drone 2 is available in 2 colors:

Black with white insert
Black with red insert

Specification

Drone

GPS:

there is

FPV:

there is

Flight plan function:

there is

Return home function:

there is

Auto takeoff/landing function:

there is

Max flight range:

up to 2km

Follow me feature:

yes (paid)

Waypoints function:

yes (paid)

Altitude hold mode:

there is

AV signal transmission frequency:

5GHz (Wi-Fi 802.11)

Radio frequency:

2.4GHz (Wi-Fi 802.11)

FPV display:

any gadget (IOS/Android)

Drone battery type:

3S 11.1V 2700mAh LiPo

Max flight time:

25min

Max. horizontal flight speed:

64.8km/h

Stabilization:

6 axis gyroscope

Motors:

brushless type

Drone lighting:

LED

The weight:

500gr

Dimensions:

328×382×89mm

Flying environment:

Outdoors

Camera

Matrix:

14MP F/2.3 CMOS

Video:

1920 × 1080 at 30 fps

FOV (vert/horiz):

180°

Photo resolution:

4096×3072

Media type:

built-in 8GB

Video Format:

mov H.264

Appearance

Motors

Bebop 2 brushless motors, in-house developed by Parrot CA. They proved themselves excellently on the first version of the Parrot Bebop. Especially for the second-generation drone, the power plant has undergone refinement, thereby making it possible to improve the already indicative flight characteristics by an order of magnitude.

Food

The characteristics of the Parrot Bebop 2 battery deserve special attention 3S 11.1V 2700mAh LiPo. With the 25 minutes of flight declared by the manufacturer, in practice, with a moderate wind with gusts (up to 10 m/s) in a calm piloting mode, the drone showed 40 minutes of flight (battery charge at the beginning of the test – 100%, at the end – 5% with a warning and auto return ). We think other comments are unnecessary!

Camera

On board the Parrot Bebop 2, a 14MP camera with digital 3-axis stabilization is installed at an angle in a polypropylene box. The all-new wide-angle Fisheye lens has really improved low-light shooting. The camera shoots video in 1920 × 1080p resolution at 30 fps in H.264 format, as well as photos in resolution: 4096 × 3072 in formats: JPEG/RAW/DNG.

The quality of the video recording deserves respect, but you can’t say the same about the photo, it could be better. Digital stabilization from Parrot works flawlessly. We were pleased with the shooting angles of the camera, it can shoot almost under itself.

Control

As mentioned above, the Parrot Bebop 2 can be controlled:

Smartphone/Tablet (IOS/Android)
Smartphone/Tablet + Parrot Skycontroller 2

flight properties

In flight, Bebop 2 is flawless, due to the competent setting of the flight controller, low weight (500g), powerful power plant and a new battery. Dynamics will please many. Speed ceiling: up to 64.8 km/h (previous model: up to 47 km/h). Depending on the user’s skills, 3 drone activity modes are available: Simple/Standard/Advanced.

For safety reasons, any forced blocking of the rotation of the motors leads to their emergency stop.

The drone overcomes a height of 100 meters in 18 seconds.

Max. the lifting speed is 21 km/h.

Flight modes

Earlier function follow me was not available for Parrot Bebop 2. The developers have finalized the FreeFlight 3 mobile application to freeflight Pro and now thanks to visual recognition technology and GPS tracking system the drone can recognize and track the object for shooting. Select one of the flight modes on the screen of the paired gadget, define the object and the drone will shoot its movement according to the selected settings.

There are 5 modes available in total:

Auto-Follow – using a completely new tracking technology based on the GPS positioning of the smartphone and visual recognition, it ensures the acquisition of the object with high accuracy throughout the entire route.

climbing– in this mode, the drone, analyzing the barometric data of the paired smartphone, will obediently shoot the vertical ascent of the object. The mode is relevant for climbers.

Perfect side– choose from which side of the object it is better to shoot and the drone will shoot unique shots with its participation.
Auto Framing– The drone uses a unique visual recognition algorithm to keep the subject in the center of the frame.
Magic drones– 4 selfie options are at your disposal: Orbit (shooting 360º around the subject) / Boomerang (shooting in front, behind and opposite the subject) / Parabola (shooting in an arc above the subject) / Zenith (shooting the subject from top to bottom and from bottom to top).

The “Follow me” function that allows the drone to follow the object is paid – $ 19.99. But before buying, the developer offers the user a free 15-day test drive. Note that similarly, you can activate the function – “flight plan”thanks to which it becomes possible to fly to points.

Price

On the official website of the manufacturer, depending on the configuration, Parrot Bebop 2 is sold at the following prices:

Parrot Bebop 2 FPV – 3$99.99
Parrot Bebop 2 Adventurer – 579.99$

Conclusion

Parrot Bebop Drone 2 from $399.99

Functionality

9/10

Flight time

9/10

flight qualities

8/10

compactness

8/10

Equipment

9/10

Reliability

8/10

Price quality

10/10

pros

Design/Modular design
Build Quality/Weight
Electronics work
Positioning accuracy
Camera (Stabilization)
Flight time
Flight modes
Auto takeoff/landing
Security/Ease of Use
Ready to fly out of the box

Minuses

Price
Paid features: Follow Me and Flight Plan
Built-in memory (total 8GB)

An excellent drone for action flights, an indescribable feeling when piloting is done using a remote control and FPV goggles. Bebop 2 is a very dynamic and, at the same time, remarkably stable drone, which is what catches it. The ease of use is amazing, you don’t have to learn a lot on simpler models to understand the intricacies of piloting. It is worth noting that Bebop 2 is more “sharpened” for dynamic FPV flights, it should not be considered if you are looking for a UAV for large-scale high-quality shooting, although, as practice has shown, it does not do a bad job with this either.