With the introduction of Parrot’s new mini-drones, one thing is obvious. This year both Kids and Adults will want to be mini-drone pilots.
Last Friday in Toronto, Parrot launched a new generation of thirteen revolutionary smart mini-drones (actually five new mini-drones in a variety of colors) that hit the trifecta of land, air and sea. As with the original, all of these second generation drones can be easily controlled with Parrot’s Free Flight app via Wi-Fi. However these new line of mini-drones have increased battery life and amazing new smart technology.
The Night and Race are two Land Based Jumping Mini-Drones that resemble the Jumping Sumo.
- The Jumping Night can reach a modest 4 mph speed and has two LED lights for night use. Available in a variety of cool colors and names (Buzz, Diesel, Marshall)
- The Jumping Race has larger / wider tires, can leap up to 2.5 feet into the air and reaches a blazing speed of 8 mph. The Jumping Race has three new sleek sexy colors code named Jett, Max and Tuk-Tuk
The feature I love on these two land mini-drones is they also have walkie-talkie capability that lets you communicate through the drones’ built-in microphones. Great for being able to tell your son or daughter to stop playing and come in for supper. Both Jumping Night and Jumping Race have VGA-quality camera for video and photos and 4GB internal storage. As with any robot, the Jumping drones can also talk with “bip,” “ziiip,” and “groutch” noises.
The Night and Cargo are the two new Air Mini-Drones in the Parrot fleet.
- The Airborne Night can reach a max speed of 11 mph. I can tell you having limited flying experience, flying the Airborne Night with the Free Flight app is not very difficult. A few minutes of training and you can perform some pretty cool flips. The only recommendation is that you make sure you have plenty of space. The white LED lights on the Night can be adjusted via the app also. The Airborne Night is available in three colors Blaze, McClane and Swat.
- The Airborne Cargo has a built in a 3-axis accelerometer and a 3-axis gyroscope into the Cargo that can automatically stabilize in flight thanks to an on-board autopilot. The Airborne Cargo does not have the lights seen on the Airborne Night but there is a plate on top that enables you to carry a small (Lego) figurine. The Airborne Cargo is available in two (Mars and Travis) combinations.
A cool feature of the Airborne mini-drones is they are self aware. Simply toss the mini-drones into the air and watch the motors kick in and it will start to fly automatically.
My favorite of the new line is the Water Based Mini-Drones.
- The Hydrofoil is a cool air drone that rotates 90 degrees to propel the device at a maximum speed of 6 Mph two inches above the surface of the water. However this mini-drone can also be detached from the hydrofoil and take flight at 11 Mph in the air. The Hydrofoil also has a built in camera that can take VGA-resolution photos.The Hydrofoil is available in two distinct color combinations (NewZ and Oak)
The mini-drones range from $129 to $239 CAD and will be available fall of 2015. With Parrot introducing more technology, more design and more fun across air, land and water it means that both Kids and Adults will want to be mini-drone pilots.
For more information or to acquire: Parrot’s Mini Drones
About Parrot
Founded in 1994 by Henri Seydoux, Paris based Parrot creates, develops and markets advanced consumer technology products for Smartphones and tablets.
