Yuneec Typhoon H Pro with Intel RealSense Technology - 4K Collision Avoidance Hexacopter Drone, Carbon Fiber (YUNTYHBRUS)

Chapter 1: Out of the box, calibrated accelerometers and compass a total of three times (compass in three different locations). In two flights, hover was very unstable laterally, with drift side to side and forward and backward that did not correct itself over distances of more than ten feet. (Vertical stability was very good.) Called Yuneec USA tech support and, after description of the problem and after I sent them the telemetry from the flights, they sent me a return authorization and UPS label for return to Yuneec USA to correct the defect. Total flight time thus far: 5 minutes. Estimated time in transit and repair: 4 weeks. So far: great Yuneec support -- bad Typhoon availability. We'll see.Update (Chapter 2): Typhoon was shipped to Yuneec in California and delivered there July 7. I spoke with Yuneec USA customer support July 12 and was told that they wouldn't know anything about when it would be repaired and returned until, at the earliest, July 19.Update (Chapter 3): Got an email from Yuneec yesterday saying they have finished the repair ("GPS Module Circuit Board") and shipped it back to me (they provided the UPS tracking number). Yuneec turned the H around in seven days, which is a week faster than I expected. Yay! Now the H will spend seven days in the care of UPS (unavoidable, but Boo anyway). Total turnaround time: 21 days. Can't wait to see how it flies.Update (Happy Ending!): (I'm about to lose my position as top critical review.) After four batteries worth of flying in the last 24 hours, I am pleased to announce the Typhoon H has straightened up and flies right. First a review of the platform, then the camera. In a hover it is stable enough to park it at 10 feet and take your eyes off it while you fiddle with the camera settings (or read the instruction manual for the fifth time to try to figure out how "journey" works). Rock solid stability, even in 12 mph gusty wind. It is very responsive and moves fast if you want it too (it climbs like a missile.) But if you don't want the go-fast mode, the rate slider slows it down enough for really smooth photography and nice slow soft landings. In addition, the "advanced" channel settings allow you to add expo curves to the rates to flatten out control response around the centers of the stick positions -- sorta get the best of go-fast and slow-and-soft. All the flight modes seem to work as advertised. In orbit and POI it does a very good job of keeping the camera on the subject. Same with "watch me". I did a very primitive test of "curve cable cam" (e.g., waypoints), and it follows the path the way I would expect. Journey mode somewhat eludes me, but I'm working on it. I leave testing of "obstacle avoidance" to people who have more money than I do. Battery life: longer than my ability to look up in the air -- 20 minutes the one time I ran the battery down to the level where the Typhoon started to complain. A note on the user manual: The very abbreviated (to be charitable) explanations of the flight modes and the camera pan modes sort of boil down to "get it up in the air and experiment until you understand how it works". Fortunately, it didn't do anything very alarming while I was experimenting, so I'd say there's nothing wrong with that approach.Camera: It's a very good 4K camera, and a really good gimbal, for the price point (the next step up goes for $3500 or more). The gimbal works very well and the video is very smooth, even with the platform jerking around in go-fast mode. The CGO3+ is a good match for the platform, but it seems to me that the platform could also handle some of the more expensive stuff. I was lucky enough to get both cloudy and bright sun, and the camera took perfectly presentable (actually spectacular) 4K video using the "full auto" settings. However, to get really great video in sunshine, I know I'll still have to use filters, slow down the shutter speed and fool around with exposures (hence the need to be able to park the thing in the air while you fiddle with the camera settings). (There's a lot of good stuff on YouTube about how to use filters on these cameras -- see Tigger's RC reviews among others -- it's easy and cheap and produces incredible results).ST16 controller: mostly positives. Well balanced, and easy to hold with no neck strap. I'll never find an RC radio screen that's bright enough for my tastes, but this is pretty close. Some three-way switches that control two-way functions, but nothing that really confused me. I encountered software updates for both the H/CGO3+ and ST16, and the update procedure worked exactly the way the instructions said (more importantly, it all booted up and worked after the update). The ST16 is Android-based, so hack away!Conclusion. If you want instant out-of-the-box gratification this might not be the one. It's a little bit leading edge, particularly for the price, and it took a three week excursion back to the mother ship to get it working right. But now that it's working ain't nobody gonna take it away from me. It's everything I hoped for. One other note: I'm not happy that it needed a trip to Yuneec USA for fixing, but the process of working with Yuneec customer support was as painless as I can imagine. I debated four or five stars: one point penalty for not working out of the box, or forgive the three week trip because it worked fine in the end. Five it is. So long "critical review".

I rarely give 5 star reviews, but....I haven't had this unit very long (just over a week) but it's my 4th UAS (Unmanned Aircraft System) and have been flying these now for maybe 3 years. I am a photographer/videographer and so that is my sole purpose in wanting an aerial device. I first had a Syma which for the little price was just an experiment to see if it would be helpful to me. It was OK for the cost, but compared to better ones extremely hard to fly.Then I got a DJI Phantom (I think it was Phantom 2), which flew nicely but the one I bought did not come with a gimbal and at the time it required "tinkering" and was complex (to me) to put one on it and get it set up. I was also told that you should do the compass calibration before every flight, not a big deal but a little dance I did with it every time, which isn't necessary with the Typhoons, and have not had any calibration issues. Also a huge plus for me was that with the Typhoon(s) you don't need to use a phone or tablet to control them since it's all built in to the controller, that may have been the reason for my initial interest in these over the Phantom.About 2 years ago I bought a Yuneec Typhoon Q500+ which I still have and love it. Many videos on youtube under Wide Eye Video (one word).I like the Q500+ so much I was very hesitant to make a change, but here is where I find advantages with the "H" (Technically H480):Camera is overall better (CGO3 vs. CGO2), more realistic color rendering and although I always downgrade the video for upload to 1080p the 4k gives one the ability to save a frame as a high quality still, (stills taken are also better and also in widescreen 16:9), and also allows more zooming and cropping if needed.The "H" has a better range and more speed, and perhaps the biggest issue I had with the Q500+ was losing the video feed to the controller more often than I liked. I have had the H over 1/2 mile away and perfect video feed and have seen on Youtube where people still had it at a mile or more.There are also a ton of other options I may not need. I never have used "follow me", or "watch me" and maybe never will but this one has the Wizard where the Q500 would actually be following the controller which might be hard to carry on a bike or whatever.I also like that the H can view what you have just finished shooting on the larger controller screen and at times when it's far out, I have engaged the Obstacle avoidance. I tried it closeby going toward a tree slowly and it did stop, gave me audio/visual and vibration warnings but don't trust these too much, it would not detect a powerline or telephone line, which are always good to find before flight.The folding landing gear is a + and - in that it allows the camera to turn 360 when up so you don't have to turn the copter but on the downside it's more that can go wrong and you better remember to lower it when landing.The Q500+ has functioned flawlessly over 2 years and maybe 50-100 flights, still like new so I hope the "H" holds up as well.The only issue I have had with the "H" is that if you have the camera tilted up all the way, or close to all the way you might catch a bit of the props in the picture, so I remember not to tilt it up too far.As far as customer service I see complaints here in some reviews but mainly about when someone's UAS has crashed. I have found their customer service to be better than perhaps any company I have dealt with and I don't know how they could cover any crash damage although if mine crashed due to a malfunction I would be unhappy I can understand why the company cannot easily determine what happened.Overall the whole package is an engineering marvel, right down to the placement of the controls and I like to see a company such as this actually innovating and not following the other guys.If you want a "tripod in the sky" in my opinion this is the best.

Very happy with this drone it's the best bang for your buck.

Pro:- Very impressed with build quality- Very impressed with flight capability & stability even in moderate wind.- Very affordable for capabilityCon:- Instructions with TH are minimal and requires a lot of digging online for understanding proper use and care.- Can not find for purchase, spare batteries or any other items (2nd controller, case, props etc...) required for sustained operations.- Camera though a very good Sony 4K UHD sensor uses a plastic lens that is not in focus from factory for some units.- No option for camera other than wide field of view