Parrot-->Anafi..or move to other options?

[Eagle]

Hello parrot community..
I was the owner of a bebop 2 with fpv pack...i liked the bebop 2 as my first drone..found it reasonably stable even though it had a tendency to drift a little
My only issue was the average camera
Also during one of my flights with moderate wind it decided to shut its engines and fell like a stone..luckily it was near landing and fell from 7meters height at soft soil..ended up with a scratched camera lens protector and a damaged battery..I contacted parrot but after 2 months of exchanging emails and feeling that parrot customer service were forgetting my answers and asking me the same things i decided to ignore the incident and stop emailing them even though they accepted to give me a replacement
Last week i sold it..
Now am looking for other choices...anafi has a great camera but i dont know if its as stable as the bebop 2 due to its size during flights..also i read too many threads of anafis falling out of the sky with out any user error...
I dont know if i should buy an anafi or look for other options...xiaomi mi 4k is a great options as well with same price as anafi..(i dont know xiaomi's customer service but i dont have the best impressions from parrot)

 

[ufosaboveus]

this is exactly to the point I was making in another thread I started. There is no doubt that some of the crashes or runaways were not operator error... it is definitely happening. The point here is that if you look at the biggest drone company, DJI.. those issues happening with them too and from what I am reading, DJI customer service stinks. Now granted they sell a lot more than the other guys but still... the mavic air is not exactly the honda accord of the drone industry here. I looked at all the models in the $500-$750 price range and all of them have their share of issues. I think the realistic truth here is that drones are going to have some degree of issues. Not saying it is fun and not saying it is ok for manufacturers to ignore legitimate claims for manufacturer related failures. I think they all try not to pay out when people lose their expensive drone and try to get it covered under warranty. I bought the Anafi because it offered the best feature set for my needs. Everyone has to look at what their needs are I guess and pick the one that best fills that need.

 

[Vassilag]

I am a software developer myself and I can totally understand the complexity of "flying a drone". Unfortunately the technology behind these things is not mature enough and we should be prepared for bad things too. Sometimes I am amazed with how well this thing flies calculating countless parameters in real time, gps reception, streaming live video, recording to SD, calculating battery, flight parameters logging, geofence restrictions etc all at the same time! with such a small cpu. I can assure you this thing has millions of lines of code behind it and surely all this code is not tested enough under all conditions (snow, low temperatures, sea, high temperatures, skyscrapers with glass facades, sand etc...).

Overall, I am very satisfied with my Anafi and I wouldn't think a different drone at this price range. On the other hand I expect some software bugs from time to time - as it happened before Christmas for Android users - but even in this case Parrot responded very quickly acknowledged the problem and fixed it in a week or two. - Very fast in programming time!

Best Regards
Vassilis

 

[Eagle]

There is a new xiaomi coming out next month its called x8 se and it will be direct competitor to Anafi (similar price,,similar size and specs),,
How is the Anafi during moderate wind? is it stable to fly or drifting all over the place ? (due to its small size and weight)

 

[BGabor]

I am civil engineer and construction supervisor. My first drone is the Anafi. I am just learning it. I have an opinion about the made in China products and I think maybe the Anafi technical details are more supervised by the french tech guys. But the parts are made in China also? I don't know. (But at the building sites, there are lot of experience about the products lifetime and the advertised specs vs life, after a few months.) Maybe it is not true at the drone market but it was in my mind when I bought the Anafi.

 

[Seitenwerk]

At least at the moment I am not too excited for those Xiaomi drones considering that their apps (at least here in Europe) are either not available or in Chinese. That alone will prevent me from being interested in them. No idea if they are at least of decent quality but I am not expecting that much.

 

[Krusty Geeza]

There is a new xiaomi coming out next month its called x8 se and it will be direct competitor to Anafi (similar price,,similar size and specs),,
How is the Anafi during moderate wind? is it stable to fly or drifting all over the place ? (due to its small size and weight)

I'm finding that when it is within about 5 metres of the ground, it is accurate to within about 30 cm in all directions in winds up to about 25 k/ph. When it is higher than that it's around about a metre in all directions. That is the same or better than the new Xiaomi, if you look at their spec's, but not quite as good as some of the DJI's that remain within 10 cm of their position, thanks to having many more sensors & a much higher price!

 

[Crash]

There is a new xiaomi coming out next month its called x8 se and it will be direct competitor to Anafi (similar price,,similar size and specs),,
How is the Anafi during moderate wind? is it stable to fly or drifting all over the place ? (due to its small size and weight)

I have used the Anafi in significant wind (30 mph gusts) at 100ft. it held up very well with minimal drift. The battery drained faster, which is to be expected, but it did a good job with great camera stability.