@RockGrumbler I saw that @kubiak was using it with their Pixel 2 XL. (I have the non-XL version) So it should be okay, as Pixel phones always have as modern an Android OS as you can get. Another review on Amazon said they needed to put their phone into airplane mode first in order for it to work.
Never used a drone before, and figured $18, what the heck… Except that I bought two, so $36… Oops!
I figure that will give me a chance to destroy one in the process of getting the hang of flying it, and then will have another one at the ready with plenty of spare batteries.
I got one of these last time they were listed. It was a chance to see if I’d like a more expensive drone. Turns out, it works really well! It took me a few tries to get it it work with the app (I use a Pixel 2XL), but it worked great after that. The app controls work surprisingly well and I’m happy with the quality of the video and pics. I’d say this is definitely worth the price.
@kubiak
Yep, for $20 without an extra battery last time, it was a super deal for a FPV drone, for $18 with an extra battery is a super duper deal.
It’s a pretty stable drone for its size and cost. It’s quite easy to fly, but has an altitude ceiling that’s quite low. Also its picture quality is really pretty bad. Just don’t expect too much from it and you’ll be pleased.
I don’t know if “low” is only fifteen or twenty feet, or if “low” is barely above face level.
I just bought two, and while I only got them to be fun toys, I keep having to climb up a fifteen foot ladder to look around.
Stuff like: Is the chimney cap still in place? Are the roof shingles messed up? Are the gutters clogged? Where did the Frisbee land? How much damage did that woodpecker do the the side of the house right under the roof? etc.
So the hope is that maybe I can use this instead at least some of the time.
@Narwalt It’s higher than 15ft. It barely clears the roof of my 1 story house. So I’d estimate maybe 30ft or so?
It tries to do a good job of keeping stable in a breeze, but it can’t do a very good job and bobbles around quite a bit. So trying to use it to look under your eaves would probably be risking a collision.
That would require it to be able to fly up the chimney, though, past the flue and in a pretty tight space. Plus it would have to be able to see directly above it.
An endoscope type inspection camera would probably be better for that.
Unless, you’re talking about Santa with his legs sticking out, but that I could see from the ground.
@Narwalt- The post i made was for bbf!! I meant- fly high enough to look see if ‘Fat Ass Santa’ is stuck on his way down, the Flitt shit not even entering the chimney at all & while you’re checking the gutters, your shingles, etc!! Narwait, i meant to say this to bbf. My Bad!!
Decided to try it this time around, as it’s been a while since I bought a drone. Seems really good for the price. I hope the app works with my Samsung Galaxy S7 Active!
Ordered then cancelled when I did some research and discovered it only has a 33 foot range. Still a good price but my neighbors windows are way farther away than that…
I purchased this last Meh and hung onto it for a Christmas present. Indoors it’s quite stable, but I don’t think there’s a way (or can’t figure out) how to turn it. It’s a pain since the camera only faces one way.
Ha, I just put my $10 quip debacle credit to use. I have a eight dollar drone coming my way to add to the extensive/ expansive drone collection that I already possess and some times fly…
WTF, I suppose it’s worth the $8 risk after finally finding something “worthy” of the last VMPBRIBE code before that expires… supreme-honored-army
The James Bond fold-into-something-the-size-of-a-flashlight cool factor was the tie-breaker.
Read the comments in the link (today’s writeup) from last time to do this with open eyes. (Hobbico out of business but might have been bought out… so download that app onto every mobile device early.)
Just got it yesterday, and have been playing around with it.
It’s fun, but pretty much useless for its advertised purpose, unless you plan to go back in time with the photos and post them on 2005 era Myspace.
It’s pretty much 2005ish camera phone quality. Maybe '08 if I’m being generous.
I put a microSD card in it, and the quality of the pictures stored there wasn’t any better.
Still, as a fun FPV drone toy for under $20, I definitely feel it was worth the purchase.
Some notes:
The two flying modes, camera towards and camera away, change the controls based on the perspective of either you looking at it head on, or as if you’re in the cockpit. However, it doesn’t appear to reverse the turning directions, so those are always from the perspective of staring at it face on in either configuration. I prefer to fly it based on an in cockpit perspective, so the opposite turning controls are still taking some getting used to.
The “flash” on it is significantly dimmer than my keylight, so the only uses it seems to have are to better differentiate which end is the front and serve as a picture taking indicator.
On my android 7.0 phone, I had to disable cellular data in order for it to work.
Makes sense, I guess, as the drone’s wifi signal doesn’t connect to the internet, so the phone would insead ignore it and try to send data through the cellular network, unless that’s specifically disallowed.
The range is pretty short, and I feel like I have to be pretty close to it. The controls generally work at a longer range than the video feed does.
The camera on it doesn’t compensate for PWM LED lights, so for some of my lower quality LED lights I’d see black bands across the screen when under their illumination.
I guess my floors might be too shiny for the downward facing positioning camera, because it doesn’t stay very steady indoors for me, but it did pretty darn good outside in a light to moderate breeze. Even a decent short gust didn’t move it very much.
It did become unresponsive outside once and shoot past my front lawn and fifty feet down the road where it waited hovering until I caught up, though, which is a little worrying. And that was when the battery was full and it was only eight feet away.
I’d say that the max height is about 15 feet at most. I feel like it got a little less than two of me above my head.
The battery gauge seems to not be the most accurate. It seems like it goes to red when there’s still 50% flight time left, and starts blinking at 25%.
What seems to be the best “oh shit” indicator, to get it somewhere safe to land, is when the green lights on the unit itself start blinking.
Sometimes it also vibrates the phone and gives a spoken warning through the app, but not reliably so.
Specs
What’s in the Box?
1x Flitt Drone
4x Blade guard bumpers
2x Batteries
1x Charger and USB cable
4x Spare blades
Price Comparison
Flitt: $29.99 at Amazon
Spare Battery: Was $9.99 at RC Planet
Warranty
90 day Mediocre
Estimated Delivery
Monday, July 13th - Thursday, July 16th
Oh the humanity!
/giphy huge-manatee
Great product for those of you who want to see what it’s like to get high.
couldn’t get it to work with modern android
@RockGrumbler I saw that @kubiak was using it with their Pixel 2 XL. (I have the non-XL version) So it should be okay, as Pixel phones always have as modern an Android OS as you can get. Another review on Amazon said they needed to put their phone into airplane mode first in order for it to work.
Never used a drone before, and figured $18, what the heck… Except that I bought two, so $36… Oops!
I figure that will give me a chance to destroy one in the process of getting the hang of flying it, and then will have another one at the ready with plenty of spare batteries.
It doesn’t fly into the can and dispense your poo-pourri for you automatically? Pass.
Should Meh be selling airport disruption devices?
It’s almost worth getting a second one, just for the two spare batteries for the one I bought last time.
@fuzzmanmatt so it’s a positive review? I’m turned off by the app only control.
Can you use it to spy on your neighbors? I’m asking for a friend.
@Kevfin as long as they have hearing loss.
@Kevfin If your neighbor is a friend, you shouldn’t spy,
/giphy amicable-chipper-sweater
I got one of these last time they were listed. It was a chance to see if I’d like a more expensive drone. Turns out, it works really well! It took me a few tries to get it it work with the app (I use a Pixel 2XL), but it worked great after that. The app controls work surprisingly well and I’m happy with the quality of the video and pics. I’d say this is definitely worth the price.
@kubiak what are you trying to pull with this positivity, this is Meh
@kubiak
Yep, for $20 without an extra battery last time, it was a super deal for a FPV drone, for $18 with an extra battery is a super duper deal.
It’s a pretty stable drone for its size and cost. It’s quite easy to fly, but has an altitude ceiling that’s quite low. Also its picture quality is really pretty bad. Just don’t expect too much from it and you’ll be pleased.
@bbf In other words, we should “brace for disappointment, it’s (not) a Fukubukuro!”
@bbf
About how low is the operating ceiling?
I don’t know if “low” is only fifteen or twenty feet, or if “low” is barely above face level.
I just bought two, and while I only got them to be fun toys, I keep having to climb up a fifteen foot ladder to look around.
Stuff like: Is the chimney cap still in place? Are the roof shingles messed up? Are the gutters clogged? Where did the Frisbee land? How much damage did that woodpecker do the the side of the house right under the roof? etc.
So the hope is that maybe I can use this instead at least some of the time.
@Narwalt It’s higher than 15ft. It barely clears the roof of my 1 story house. So I’d estimate maybe 30ft or so?
It tries to do a good job of keeping stable in a breeze, but it can’t do a very good job and bobbles around quite a bit. So trying to use it to look under your eaves would probably be risking a collision.
@bbf @Narwalt-You can also check to make sure Santa isn’t stuck in the chimmny!!
@decoratedwarvet
That would require it to be able to fly up the chimney, though, past the flue and in a pretty tight space. Plus it would have to be able to see directly above it.
An endoscope type inspection camera would probably be better for that.
Unless, you’re talking about Santa with his legs sticking out, but that I could see from the ground.
@Narwalt- The post i made was for bbf!! I meant- fly high enough to look see if ‘Fat Ass Santa’ is stuck on his way down, the Flitt shit not even entering the chimney at all & while you’re checking the gutters, your shingles, etc!! Narwait, i meant to say this to bbf. My Bad!!
@nolrak I’ll try harder next time!
Got one last time. It flies. Battery is a pain to remove. Still not a bad buy for the $$.
That’s adorable. I can’t justify a $20 toy drone though since I have a Mavic Pro and a Spark that don’t get flown enough this time of year as it is
Decided to try it this time around, as it’s been a while since I bought a drone. Seems really good for the price. I hope the app works with my Samsung Galaxy S7 Active!
/giphy instrumental-eternal-caterpillar
So, um, does this have FPV capabilities, where you can see what the drone does through the phone while its flying?
Or do you have to download the videos afterwards?
I’d think that the fact it requires an app means FPV, but being that this is a meh product, I don’t want to make an ass out of you or me.
@Narwalt https://www.amazon.com/Hobbico-Flying-Pocket-Selfie-Optical/dp/B07C8YML8D
Ordered then cancelled when I did some research and discovered it only has a 33 foot range. Still a good price but my neighbors windows are way farther away than that…
Ok, I’m in…
/giphy responsible-ditsy-surprise
I purchased this last Meh and hung onto it for a Christmas present. Indoors it’s quite stable, but I don’t think there’s a way (or can’t figure out) how to turn it. It’s a pain since the camera only faces one way.
@kevlar51 Yes - see the video that Spheyr linked to above: https://www.amazon.com/Hobbico-Flying-Pocket-Selfie-Optical/dp/B07C8YML8D
Weird question but what are the dimensions of the box???
@MomDK about 2" x 8" x 8"
Ha, I just put my $10 quip debacle credit to use. I have a eight dollar drone coming my way to add to the extensive/ expansive drone collection that I already possess and some times fly…
Dammit, meh!
/giphy woolly-informative-walrus
WTF, I suppose it’s worth the $8 risk after finally finding something “worthy” of the last VMPBRIBE code before that expires… supreme-honored-army
The James Bond fold-into-something-the-size-of-a-flashlight cool factor was the tie-breaker.
Read the comments in the link (today’s writeup) from last time to do this with open eyes. (Hobbico out of business but might have been bought out… so download that app onto every mobile device early.)
i don’t like things that work only through an app. it’s immediate obsolescence built in.
half the things meh sells that is app controlled, apps disappear few months later. watches, badges, led lights…
Just got it yesterday, and have been playing around with it.
It’s fun, but pretty much useless for its advertised purpose, unless you plan to go back in time with the photos and post them on 2005 era Myspace.
It’s pretty much 2005ish camera phone quality. Maybe '08 if I’m being generous.
I put a microSD card in it, and the quality of the pictures stored there wasn’t any better.
Still, as a fun FPV drone toy for under $20, I definitely feel it was worth the purchase.
Some notes:
The two flying modes, camera towards and camera away, change the controls based on the perspective of either you looking at it head on, or as if you’re in the cockpit. However, it doesn’t appear to reverse the turning directions, so those are always from the perspective of staring at it face on in either configuration. I prefer to fly it based on an in cockpit perspective, so the opposite turning controls are still taking some getting used to.
The “flash” on it is significantly dimmer than my keylight, so the only uses it seems to have are to better differentiate which end is the front and serve as a picture taking indicator.
On my android 7.0 phone, I had to disable cellular data in order for it to work.
Makes sense, I guess, as the drone’s wifi signal doesn’t connect to the internet, so the phone would insead ignore it and try to send data through the cellular network, unless that’s specifically disallowed.
The range is pretty short, and I feel like I have to be pretty close to it. The controls generally work at a longer range than the video feed does.
The camera on it doesn’t compensate for PWM LED lights, so for some of my lower quality LED lights I’d see black bands across the screen when under their illumination.
I guess my floors might be too shiny for the downward facing positioning camera, because it doesn’t stay very steady indoors for me, but it did pretty darn good outside in a light to moderate breeze. Even a decent short gust didn’t move it very much.
It did become unresponsive outside once and shoot past my front lawn and fifty feet down the road where it waited hovering until I caught up, though, which is a little worrying. And that was when the battery was full and it was only eight feet away.
I’d say that the max height is about 15 feet at most. I feel like it got a little less than two of me above my head.
The battery gauge seems to not be the most accurate. It seems like it goes to red when there’s still 50% flight time left, and starts blinking at 25%.
What seems to be the best “oh shit” indicator, to get it somewhere safe to land, is when the green lights on the unit itself start blinking.
Sometimes it also vibrates the phone and gives a spoken warning through the app, but not reliably so.