Would the Parrot Bebop Quadcopter Drone with 14MP Full HD 1080p Wide-Angle Camera be a good solution for follow me esk8 video? What’s the flight time and recharge time? Any other suggestions? thanks
1 Like
No and maybe
The follow-me feature on that drone is a $20 add on within the app which is lame. the Bebop 1 sucked, battery falls out, is hard to remove and charge, and only lasted like 10 minutes, but if you were talking about Bebop 2 (mine), that is a 25 minute flight time, the New Bebop Power is 30 minutes.Charge time is under an hour in most case, not sure what it is from 0-100 though
Personally my usual path goes under bridges and have trees and power lines so follow me would likely be a problem, they seem to loose tracking where it’s too high up which is where I would need to fly it
I would suggest a DJI Spark due to it’s smaller size and front sensors that prevents it from crashing into things. They camera is better and also uses a real 2 axis gimbal instead of the digital stabilization used by the Bebop
Hmmm, its the Beebop 1 I think. THe only reason I was looking at it was the price, its $99. The DJ Spark is almost $500, so not gonna do that 
. Thanks for the advice.
DJI Spark is what you’d recommend? I’ve been waiting for a collision avoidance follow me video drone to arrive around that price point, but lately i haven’t been paying a lot of attention to the market.
I think for what we do it would be ideal, but i can totally see @mmaner 's point about it being pricy for funsies videos. I wonder about a sale though…
@mmaner what’s your upper limit? black friday is coming! maybe we can help each other find something here.
The dji mavic is a cracking drone too. Actually folds smaller than the spark with no sticky out bits. The only drawback with the follow me mode is it doesn’t follow the terrain as far as I can remember. I took it skiing/boarding and it followed but the altitude didn’t change. This might have been updated though.
Honestly I don’t wanna spend more than a couple of hundred. It would be fun, but of real practical use to eskate so I’m unlikely to spend more than that. Id love to hear about it if you find anything.
1 Like
But the sport mode doesn’t work together with follow me, it will follow you to about 20 mph
1 Like
Oo good point…wonder if there’s a hack for that…
@longhairedboy Parrot’s Black Friday say is $50 off for the Parrot Bebop 2, so the bundle is $450 vs original $500. It comes WITH a physical controller that boosts the range from something like 400 meters to 1.2 miles. The FPV goggles are as shitty as they come, it’s just a plastic shell you stick your phone in, but I get dizzy since there’s no focal adjustments.
https://www.parrot.com/us/black-friday-selection
The DJI Spark Black Friday is $400 vs original $500] It does NOT include the $149 (black friday $119) Physical controller which also boosts range from 400m-ish to 1.2 miles. at $400, it’s a no brainer, Spark as better image, build quality and app https://store.dji.com/event/black-friday?gclid=Cj0KCQiAus_QBRDgARIsAIRGNGgunXuFLCB7QKwPsKzjFklONh9K2LSWWcHB1UTTv0vPQWNZEjDgtfQaAuONEALw_wcB
1 Like
Bebop 1 doesn’t even do follow me mode. There might be a third-party software that will allow for that but I haven’t tried it.
But honestly, Bebop 1 is such a flop I wouldn’t recommend it. Not only it has low flight time of only 10 minutes (if you’re lucky), it has multiple GPS issues and software bugs that will probably make it crash or do a fly away.
Bebop 2 would be next logical choice and it is much better drone. If you can get a good price on that, it could be a good choice to do a quick follow me stuff but don’t expect wonders.
Spark is too expensive for what it offers. You really need a controller to do anything useful with it. Wish it was foldable as well. It is small but arms and propellers always hook to something so you cannot just throw it in the bag.
Mavic is awesome but also very expensive.
But most important thing is to know that follow me modes are really limited and very frequently doing strange stuff and/or loosing sight of you. Still tech in development IMO…just have someone film you
I just looked again and found again that managed to go to 30 mph
2 Likes
Aren’t we DIY people here? $200 DIY RACING drone. no follow me mode, but come on! it is fast!
yeah i want something that can legit film ride videos. On bendy trails under a canopy, low altitude, and fast. I may be asking too much. 25mph is acceptable but 30 is ideal.
1 Like
The Bebop is the Meepo of drones. A quality drone will last longer. Check out Craigslist. I’m always seeing inexpensive used DJI drones there.
2 Likes
oh give them a little more credit, it’s more like a Boosted of drones.
But yes, if extreme portability is not needed. DJI Pantom 3’s can be found for cheap
2 Likes
i own the dji spark, purchased for $ 500 on Amazon and then paid another 200 dollars for the controller. I own several drones, but the spark is the most convenient, it has a ton of sensors (safety), a gimbal (a must) on the camera and is small and light. I believe it is the best $ 500 - 600 dollar drone on the market. If you have the dough i’d recommend the Mavic but the spark does just about everything the Mavic does in a smaller body. Make sure you buy extra batteries.
The only thing that sucks is that if you are in a no-fly zone there is almost no good legal way to get around it, and you won’t be able to fly, which is usually a good thing safety wise. Check your area before buying.
1 Like
What you needed was the Lily, an amazing autónomous drone capable of following you…
…unfortunately the whole kickstarter project fell down like a ton of bricks with finantial problems after receiving $34 millón dollars from 60.000 backers.
This should have been the drone you were looking for.
2 Likes
Was this one of those kickstarter scams ? Did anyone ever receive one ? Was this one of those take the money and run deals ? I wonder what happened.
1 Like
No really. They had true finantial dificulties. Seems that is one thing to conceptualize and design, and another league is pre-producing and delivering when margins are so small. They are already giving money back to investors. So no, no rip-off scam with this one. Just finantial gremlims.
The drone in the other hand was nothing short but amazing. You wear the tracking device like a wristwatch; was water proof and launchable from the water surface; had autonomous shot lead, shot follow, etc.