The Drone Files

New brand Athorbot is hoping to make a splash in the 3D printing scene with its new line of DIY kits which includes two pre-assembled models — the Brother and Buddy — and one Prusa i3 clone in full DIY kit form named the A01. Prices range from $220 for the A01 up to $535 for the dual-extruder Buddy.

Both the Buddy and Brother have a very similar metal frame design which differ only in size. The frames feature stamped metal sheets for the upper part of the gantry, 2040 aluminum extrusions and linear bearings for all 3 axis. The image below shows the Brother (left) and the Buddy.

The Buddy features a print volume of 210 x 200 x 270mm with dual Bowden extruders paired to a single hot end while the Brother features a larger print capacity of 300 x 300 x 300mm with a single Bowden extruder. Both printers also feature the same console box design.

Athorbot Buddy ($535)

• Full metal frame with separate console box
• Pre-assembled
• Dual Bowden extruders with single hot end
• 210 x 200 x 270mm print capacity
• Linear bearings
• 24V power supply unit
• Aluminum heated bed with glass surface

A setup that uses dual extruders paired to a single hot end is a much better way to print with multiple filaments as it eliminates the need for having two hot ends which can be very difficult to tune and print with. Dual hot ends also mean the print volume is significantly reduced due to nozzle offset. Although the dual extruder / single hot end setup has its own set of potential problems, it appears to be the more practical approach to multi-filament printing.

Athorbot Brother ($448)

• Full metal frame with separate console box
• Pre-assembled
• Single Bowden extruder (can be upgraded to dual extruders)
• 300 x 300 x 300mm print capacity
• Linear bearings
• 24V power supply unit
• Aluminum heated bed with glass surface

At $535, the Athorbot Buddy is the most expensive in the line and is a good printer to consider if multi-filament printing is a feature you need. Although it costs more than double what other DIY kits with similar print capacities would cost, it is still reasonably affordable for a 3D printer that is multi-filament ready considering that an original Prusa i3 MK2S with the multi-material upgrade kit would cost about $900. Athorbot is, of course, not Prusa but whether the Buddy has the quality and reliability to justify its $535 price tag remains to be seen.

The Athorbot Brother features a large print capacity of 300 x 300 x 300mm

Another interesting thing about the Buddy and Brother is that product pages claim these printers will be shipped with glass beds. This is something I’ve never seen before since glass is a very tricky material to ship and often glass items tend to arrive broken or cracked. Athorbot also claims that both printers can be assembled in just five easy steps taking about 10 minutes. This is certainly good news for those who hate spending hours assembling DIY 3D printers.

Click here for more details on both the Athorbot Buddy and Brother at GearBest.

Athorbot A01

• Full metal frame featuring 2020 aluminum extrusions
• Unassembled DIY kit
• Direct driver extruder
• Auto bed leveling
• Filament detection switch
• 270 x 210 x 200mm print capacity
• Linear bearings
• 24V power supply unit

For those who are keen on fully assembling their own 3D printers, there is the Athorbot A01 which is a Prusa i3 clone that features a full metal frame with 2020 aluminum extrusions. Priced at $220, it certainly costs more than other entry-level DIY kits such as the Anet A6 and A8 but I believe that sturdy metal frame is worth it and the A01 also has some neat features such as a filament detection switch and auto bed-leveling. It also features a 24V power supply unit when most other DIY kits feature 12V. Like the Buddy and Brother, the A01 also features linear bearings for all 3 axis. Click here for more details on the Athorbot A01.

About a week ago, DJI released a teaser video that hinted on a new product to be released on October 11. Since the video’s release about a week ago, speculation has been rife about what exactly DJI has under wraps at the moment. The video itself doesn’t say much, apart from being eloquently cryptic.

Some hints about the new product can be found in the video’s script which goes like this:

What is it that allows us to dream? To fear, to feel. Every flicker of light reflects the world around us and makes us who we are. Our minds will not compromise but keep on wondering, looking for the images that reach our hearts. The eternal tension between the creator and his creation is what gives us the desire to strive for perfection in all that we do.

The script drops a few clues here and there. Words such as “light” and “images” and the close-up of a camera lens that appears at the end of the video seem to indicate that the new product could be a new high performance camera. Judging from DJI’s acquisition of Hasselblad — makers of high-end medium format cameras, in January this year, the new product might very well be a new camera that utilizes Hasselblad technology.

And since the video features aerial footage interspersed with some footage taken on the ground, this new camera could possibly be yet another DJI camera that can be mounted on its drones or used with its Osmo gimbals on the ground. Many have also speculated that the video could be hinting on a new DJI Phantom 5 with an all-new camera.

Judging from past DJI product release dates, the Phantom line has not seen any major update since the Phantom 4 was released in March last year. There has been some reshuffling and update of the Phantom line since the P4 was released but nothing major so could the new product be the long-awaited Phantom 5? Interestingly, there has been no leaked photos of the new product like what happened with the DJI Spark.

At the moment we can only speculate so stay tuned to see what DJI has to offer tomorrow.

RCMoment is currently offering 3 coupons for a couple of entry-level selfie drones. This includes the JJRC H43WH, S29W and JJRC H66 Egg Drone which comes in a special Christmas theme. All three drones cost less than $50 and make great entry-level introductions into taking aerial selfies. They may not have the same camera quality and flight performance as the more expensive DJI Spark or Zerotech Dobby but at least they won’t burn a hole in your wallet.

Here’s a summary of the three drones on offer:

• S29W ($10 off / coupon code S9W10)
• JJRC H43WH with two extra batteries ($12 off / coupon code BU003)
• JJRC H43WH ($7 off / coupone code OR9617)
• JJRC H66 ($8 off / coupon code OR927)

The quirkiest of the three drones above is the JJRC H66 Egg Drone which, as its name suggests, has the shape of an egg. It also features a red and green Christmas theme which makes it an ideal and inexpensive toy gift for this coming Christmas.

Unlike other toy drones, the H66 features a transmitter (remote controller) that can be operated by one hand only. The transmitter has its own accelerometer (G-sensor) so piloting the drone is as easy as tilting it sideways or forwards and backwards. It also features an HD 720P WiFi FPV camera which is not bad for a toy drone that costs $40. With coupon code OR927, it can be yours with an $8 discount.

The cheapest drone in the list is the S29W folding drone. Priced at $32.99 before discount, it is also the smallest and most compact one of the three. It is available in white, red, yellow and blue and features a 0.3MP WiFi FPV camera and conventional RC transmitter. Both transmitter and drone are so small, you can fit them easily into your pockets. With coupon code S9W10, you can get the S29W with a $10 discount.

The last model in this list is the popular JJRC H43WH which I had reviewed recently and found to be a pretty decent entry-level toy drone for selfies. It has a nice folding design that allows the drone’s motors and arms to fold downwards like a book and an HD 720P WiFi FPV camera. It’s the only drone in this list that does not come with a conventional RC transmitter and relies instead, on the JJRC app, to fly. In other words, the H43WH is flown using the controls on your smartphone’s screen.

RCMoment is offering two kits for the H43WH. The first is a basic kit which comes with only 1 battery and is priced at $37.99. The other kit comes with two extra batteries and is priced at $45.99. Coupon codes are available for both kits (refer to the list above).

DJI unveiled its latest aerial camera — the Zenmuse X7 two days ago after about a week of intense speculation among fans and industry observers. Along with the X7 comes the world’s first aerial lens mount system for 35mm cameras — the DL-Mount and four prime lenses.

So all that bloated speculation we’ve been seeing for the past week ended up being a bit anti-climactic after all. A large number of fans were hoping to see a new mid-range aerial photography drone or a successor to the Phantom 4 with a brand new camera. The X7 is nevertheless still exciting news, especially for those involved in professional aerial photography. With the introduction of the DL-Mount, DJI has quite simply produced the world’s first flying DSLR that was specifically designed for aerial photography.

The DL-Mount system currently has four prime lenses with focal lengths of 16, 24, 35 and 50mm and a maximum aperture of f2.8. Unlike most conventional camera lenses that are made of aluminum and plastic, the X7 lenses have carbon fiber bodies to save weight. As a result, the X7 weighs only 630g with lens attached. This is significantly lighter than most full frame cameras.

At the heart of the X7 is a Super 35mm sensor capable of capturing 6K DNG-RAW videos at 30fps (5.2K ProRes up to 30fps) and 24MP stills. The X7 also offers a dynamic range of 14 stops making it ideal for shooting in all kinds of lighting conditions. Like earlier Zenmuse cameras, the X7 was designed to work with the DJI Inspire 2.

This year we’ve seen quite a number of quirky toy drone designs appearing and the Lishitoys L6059W is one such model. This is one selfie drone that looks like it was inspired by AeroSystems’ Sprite drone which appeared two years ago.

While the Sprite is a professional drone with a premium price tag, the L6059W is an entry-level selfie drone that costs less than $100. To be precise, it costs $72 and was designed for those who want an affordable introduction into selfie drones. The sample L6059W featured in this review was kindly sponsored by GearBest.

Product Highlights

• Dimensions: 280 x 280 x 180mm / 90 x 90 x 180mm (folded)
• Platform: Quadcopter
• Diagonal motor distance: 207mm
• Flight features:
• Altitude hold
• Headless mode
• G sensor
• Auto takeoff / landing
• 2 flight speeds (Low and High)
• Fly-by-app
• Propulsion: brushed motors / 140mm 2-blade propellers
• Weight: 161g (with battery)
• Camera resolution: 2MP stills (1280 x 720) and HD 720P video
• File format: JPEG/AVI
• Battery: 3.7V 900mAh Li Po
• Charging time: 150 minutes
• Flight time: about 10 minutes
• Control distance: about 50 meters

Like the Sprite, the L6059W has a body that resembles a bottle with its camera hanging at the bottom. The motor arms can be folded downwards when the drone needs to be stored. With its arms deployed, the L6059W looks a bit like a bouquet of black flowers. Such is the quirkiness of its design that it would surely attract a lot of questions from friends and onlookers.

Overall build quality is good and the drone feels well put together. The design is neat and there’s nothing sticking out or looking out of place. The battery is hidden in its own compartment and there are three LED lights at the rear for orientation. The L6059W comes with a conventional RC transmitter (remote controller) and can also be piloted using the LS Drone app on your smartphone.

Flight Performance

The L6059W flies well as long as you fly indoors where there are no strong wind currents. Due to its vertical fuselage, it tends to catch more wind than other drones so flying it outdoors when it’s windy can be very difficult even in high speed mode. Winds can also cause a lot of problems when you’re attempting to land the L6059W. Due to its tall design and somewhat small footprint for its landing legs, it topples over very easily.

The L6059W has two staple features of selfie drones — altitude hold and headless mode. With its 900mAh battery, it has a pretty decent flight time of about 10 minutes. Due to its rather symmetrical design, flying it at distances of over 10m can be a bit tricky because at that range, it becomes harder to differentiate between the drone’s front and rear.

Although there are 3 LED lights at the rear, they’re not very visible if you’re flying under sunlight or bright indoor lighting. With that said, headless mode can come in handy when you lose orientation of the drone.

FPV Camera

The L6059W’s WiFi FPV camera is the most interesting feature it has. This is one of few toy drones under $100 that allow you to manually control the camera’s tilt angle using the transmitter. The camera can tilt up to 90 degrees which makes it possible to shoot aerial photos and videos with the camera facing directly down. It is obvious Lishitoys has put a lot of effort into making this a decent selfie drone. Not only can the camera tilt, the body itself is attached to the motor arms via four rubber dampers that greatly help prevent motor vibrations from being transmitted directly to the camera.

The result is quite good with hardly any jello effect seen in videos. Having rubber dampers on a sub-$100 toy drone is quite a rare thing to see and this is a feature that can be usually seen in proper aerial photography drones. The L6059W’s vertical design also helps in stabilizing videos somewhat. Due to this vertical design, the drone has an inverted pendulum effect which helps a bit in stabilizing videos. Since the propellers are located at the top, the drone tends to sway more at the top than the bottom where the camera is located.

The combination of having rubber dampers and vertical design results in videos that are more stable than what you’d normally get in other cheap toy drones. The L6059W also comes with a 2MP HD 720P camera that features a wide angle lens. The lens has a field of view of 110 degrees which makes this drone a pretty decent entry-level selfie drone. The camera is certainly no match if compared to a DJI Spark or cameras that can be found on mid-range smartphones but for a toy drone, it is considered good. The only thing that is stopping this drone from taking very stable aerial videos is the lack of a mechanical gimbal.

Conclusion

The Lishitoys L6059W is a very competent entry-level selfie drone with a competitive price tag. The camera performance on this drone is the best I’ve seen so far in toy drones. The combination of having rubber dampers, a tall design with the camera placed at the bottom and a 2MP HD 720P wide angle camera means the L6059W has aerial photography performance that is far better than most other toy drones in the sub-$100 price range.

It also flies reasonably well indoors and in calm weather conditions. Due to its tall design, the L6059W is not exactly aerodynamic and struggles a lot when the wind picks up. It would be great if Lishitoys introduced a brushless version of this drone with a mechanical gimbal stabilizer and upgraded full HD 1080P camera and sell it for a higher price. I’m sure it will sell quite well. Due to its brushed motors, the L6059W is not suited to flying in windy conditions.

Thanks to its foldable design, the L6059W makes a good toy drone that can be used to take selfies when you’re travelling. If selfies are your priority, then the L6059W is a good option to consider. If you’re looking for a selfie drone that also does well as a casual sport flier then there are better options out there.

The Lishitoys L6059W is available in green or red at GearBest for $72 shipped. Click here for more details. For a limited time only, GearBest is offering a discount on the L6059W with coupon code L6059WF. With this coupon code, you can purchase it for just $55.99. The coupon is valid till 31st October, 2017.

When a mission is considered dangerous, dirty or annoying to humans, UAVs are desirable and used for such operations. Unmanned aerial vehicles have different purposes, but one of its most useful goals is tracking and monitoring. Popularly known as drones, UAVs have become an essential gadget for the law enforcement agencies. Individuals and actors are also seeking its usage for personal and private purposes. Surveillance drones have different sizes and capabilities. Many of them can be launched manually, while some are as large as an airplane.

Components of UAVs

Although some surveillance drones are installed with facial recognition applications, heat sensors, infrared technologies, motion detectors, live feed cameras, GPS, dash cam, license plate reader, and speakers for listening to conversations. Tiny drones will easily go unnoticed through the window or in a restricted area without people noticing that someone is spying on them. The notable thing about UAVs is that it is easy for anyone to fly. In fact, a drone can be remotely controlled or automatically controlled depending on the objectives of the pilot.

Usefulness of UAVs

Surveillance UAVs are often equipped with sophisticated imaging gadgets that offer the detailed flyer photographs of people, terrain, vehicles, homes, and even minuscule objects. They are designed to perform surveillance project that former monitoring techniques cannot carry out due to their limited capabilities. UAVs have been successfully deployed to support missions like fugitive investigations, drug bust interdictions, kidnappings, and search and rescue operations. Some years back, the FBI has successfully implemented UAV in more than eight operations, two of which jeopardized concerns about national security. UAVs can be used for emergencies and catastrophe management, national weather service and traffic management, and crisis/crowd control management. Flying just one drone for surveillance is like having 20 police officers on patrol. Yes, that’s the fact.
UAV Users and Privacy Issues

Due to their small size which makes them undetectable in urban and rural areas, UAVs will continue to fulfill the functionality and efficiency of current police tasks. UAVs are not only available to law enforcement agencies; it is also used as a hidden camera by companies and private individuals. But when used by entities, apart from government agencies will endanger the privacy of individuals. Technological companies are using surveillance drones to monitor the movement of celebrities and governmental officials; they also take their pictures without their consent. Private investigators have also deployed the use of surveillance drones to track and monitor their targets, thus waiting for “prey” to fall into the bait. Technological giants like Google also make use of this surveillance drones to update Google Earth and Maps. The elements of the underworld are not excluded. They use the UAV gadgets to stalk and track their victims.

Advantages of UAVs

The pros of UAVs for surveillance outnumber the cons. With UAVs, smuggling, trafficking, theft, and terrorism can be carefully monitored and controlled. Natural phenomena such as volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, earthquakes, iceberg breakage and floods can be controlled and humans evacuated to avoid losing lives. Finally, surveillance can be placed on poaching, road traffic, and others. Surveillance drones are here to stay, and by 2020 there will be saturation of drones all over the world. Then drones will be our new form of kite.

One of the few interesting trickle-down technologies that have made their way into cheap toy drones this year is GPS navigation. Just two years ago, GPS was a feature you’d find only on drones that cost at least a few hundred dollars. Now it’s possible to get a sub-$100 toy drone with GPS that actually works.

One such toy drone is the FEILUN FX176C1 which costs just $65 shipped at GearBest. The FX176C1 has all the staple features of a GPS drone and this includes:

• Position hold
• Return-to-home (RTH)
• Waypoint navigation
• Flight trace
• Point of interest (Orbit)
• Low voltage RTH

The FX176C1 comes with a 1MP WiFi FPV camera and can be flown using either the supplied RC transmitter (remote controller) or by using the FL Drone 2 app (available on Android and iOS) on your smart device.

It also comes with a 2MP camera as the FX176C2 which is priced at $87. Both models are identical except for the camera that they carry. The sample FX176C1 featured in this review was kindly sponsored by GearBest.

Product Highlights

• Dimensions: 350 x 350 x 120mm (without prop guards)
• Platform: Quadcopter
• Diagonal motor distance: 285mm
• Flight features:
  Altitude hold
  Headless mode
  Auto takeoff / landing
  2 flight speeds (Medium and High)
  Fly-by-app
• GPS features:
  Return-to-home (RTH)
  Waypoint navigation
  Flight trace
  Follow me
  Position hold
  Point of interest (Orbit)
  Low voltage RTH
• Propulsion: brushed motors / 145mm 2-blade propellers
• Weight: 210g (with battery / without prop guards)
• Camera resolution: 1MP stills (960 x 720) and 640 x 480p video
• Battery: 7.4V 700mAh Li Po
• Charging time: 210 – 240 minutes
• Flight time: about 7 minutes
• Control distance: about 200 meters

The FX176C1 has a rather cheap and plasticky feel to it and that includes the transmitter that it comes with which looks awfully outdated in terms of aesthetics. In other words, it simply feels like a cheap toy but for a sub-$100 drone that features real GPS navigation of this size, I guess such build quality is acceptable.

If you’re willing to look beyond the cheap exterior, the FX176C1 actually offers plenty of value. As mentioned earlier, it has all the basic GPS features for a drone with a WiFi FPV camera thrown in. All that for just $65 shipped.

Flight Performance

Since the FX176C1 has GPS, a WiFi FPV camera and fly-by-app capabilities, it has a longer list of flight features compared to your average toy drone. Flying it isn’t as simple as binding the transmitter and punching the throttle up (or pressing the take-off button). This is one toy drone you’ll need to fully understand first before your first flight with it.

Fortunately, the FX176C1 comes with a well-written user manual that is easy to understand and explains its many features very well (not all cheap Chinese toy drones have user manuals written in proper English). Reading this user manual before your first flight is something I strongly recommend. I also recommend performing a compass calibration since an improperly calibrated compass can result in erratic flight performance.

The FX176C1 flies like any other brushed toy drone of its size. It has altitude hold, headless mode (referred to as Easy mode in the user manual) and two flight speeds — Medium and High. It also has automatic take-off and landing. Flight time with the supplied 7.4V 700mAh battery is approximately 7 minutes. Even when there is no GPS reception, the FX176C1 can still be manually flown like any other ordinary toy drone. It is when you have GPS reception that things get interesting with the FX176C1.

GPS Navigation

With a solid GPS lock, you can use some of the FX176C1’s GPS features. By “solid”, I mean the drone is receiving GPS signals from at least 8 to 10 satellites. The number of satellites can be seen on the transmitter’s LCD screen. When there are not enough satellites (6 or 7, for example), you can still fly the FX176C1 manually but you won’t be able to use GPS features such as Position Hold.

When attempting to fly the FX176C1 with GPS, make sure you’re flying at a location that does not have obstructions such as tall buildings, large tree canopies or right next to a tall hill. Such obstructions can cause GPS signal to be weak and result in the drone being flown manually.

When there is good GPS reception, some GPS features on the FX176C1 work very well. The full set of GPS features were designed to be used only when the drone is flown using the FL Drone 2 app. When flown using the transmitter, only Return-to-Home and Position Hold are available. This is because a smart device is needed when drawing out waypoints for GPS navigation or to function as a GPS beacon when using the Follow Me feature.

GPS Position Hold and Return-to-Home are two GPS features that seem to work very well with this drone. Another interesting feature is Follow Me which uses your smart device’s GPS as a beacon for the drone to follow. Take note that when using Follow Me, any input to the app’s virtual joysticks will deactivate the feature.

Unfortunately, I’ve had no luck in the FX176C1’s other GPS features such as Waypoint Navigation, Orbit and Flight Trace. These features do not seem to work at all and I suspect it may be due to the app’s flawed map feature. When you switch from FPV view (refer to the image above) to map view (shown below), all you’ll see is a blank map although the Google logo is clearly visible at the lower left. So far, no amount of tweaking around with the app’s settings has helped me solve the blank map problem.

I suspect that the app can only be used to display the map of China and not other countries. This is a problem that I’ve encountered with other apps that were developed for cheap Chinese gadgets such as GPS fitness trackers. Since the map of where I live cannot be displayed, I’m not able to test the drone’s Waypoint Navigation, Orbit and Flight Trace features as these features simply cannot be activated at all if there is no map being displayed.

There are also other issues that I’ve experienced with the app. One issue is that I cannot disarm (turn off) the FX176C1’s motors although I can arm them via the app. If you encounter this problem when the drone is within your reach, simply grab it by its landing legs and tilt it 90 degrees to shut off the motors.

Although somewhat buggy, the app’s other features work reasonably well. It tells you the drone’s battery level, its distance from you, speed and altitude. It can also be used to control the camera for taking videos and photos.

FPV Camera

The FX176C1 features a 1MP WiFi FPV camera and the FPV feed can be viewed by using the FL Drone 2 app. You can also tilt the camera manually by about 30 degrees. Being a sub-$100 toy drone, the image quality on this camera isn’t something to shout about. Not only that, the field of view on the 1MP camera is narrow which makes flying this drone using FPV alone very challenging.

In some ways, the toy-grade camera on the FX176C1 just doesn’t do its GPS features any justice. It would have been nice if FEILUN equipped the camera with some good optics like what we’ve seen on some of the newer selfie drones such as the Lishing L6059W but then again, this is a sub-$100 toy drone with GPS. Below is a gallery of sample images taken using the FX176C1.

Conclusion

The FEILUN FX176C1 is a great toy drone for those who want an affordable introduction into GPS drones. It has some of the GPS features commonly found in much more expensive GPS drones such as the Phantom 4. However, the camera that it comes with is a big letdown and some of its GPS features such as Waypoints, Orbit and Flight Trace do not work as advertised (at least if you’re living outside of China).

The accompanying FL Drone 2 app is also somewhat disappointing. Despite this, the future of toy drones looks very positive as more and more trickle-down technology make their way into cheap and affordable toy drones for the masses.

For those who want to know how it feels like to fly a GPS drone without parting with a lot of cash, the FX176C1 is an excellent choice. GPS drones cannot get any cheaper than this, at least in the near future. Just don’t expect it to have the same flight, GPS and camera performance as a brushless drone such as the DJI Spark which costs at least five times more.

It’s been four years now since GearBest came to the online retail scene and the popular store is now celebrating its 4th Anniversary with with a whole lineup of special deals and offers. The event is divided into three phases — Preheat, Formal and Encore.

The Preheat which started two days ago offers plenty of exciting deals such as flash sales, Lucky Bags and lucky draws. A highlight of the Preheat is GearBest’s “Giving Back” deals in which loyal GearBest customers are entitled to special discounts. In other words, GearBest wants to reward its loyal customers with some really good deals.

How much discount a customer gets depends on how long they’ve been shopping at GearBest. Customers are divided into three groups — Most Loyal (customers who registered in 2014-2015), Established (2016) and Recent (2017).

Below is a summary of discounts available for the three groups:

• Most Loyal — up to $40 discount for purchases of $400 or more
• Established Customers — up to $10 discount for purchases of $120 or more
• Recent Customers — up to $25 discount for purchases of $300 or more

There is also a coupon page specially set up for coupons that offer up to 50% discount on various products. For more details about the GearBest 4th Anniversary celebrations, click here.

Toys and Hobbies

Besides the special deals and offers mentioned earlier, GearBest is also having a whole range of special deals for its Toys and Hobbies department in conjunction with the anniversary celebrations.

Various RC toys with special discounts are up for grabs. These include toy drones, RC cars, toy robots, multirotor parts and FPV systems.

One of the more exciting deals here is the AOMWAY Commander V1 FPV goggles which is on sale for just $309.99 (without head tracker). The head tracker version of the V1 is available for $332.99 — one of the best online deals you can find at the moment.

For those who are into robotics, the Xiaomi MITU Mi Bunny (pictured above) is available for an irresistible price of $117.99 shipped. Other toy robots on sale include the JJRC R2 CADY WIDA ($19.99), the voice-controlled JJRC R4 ($32.99) and the DIMEI 9007A robot dog ($37.99).

And last but not least, there is a whole range of FuriBee FPV racers on sale. Most of these FPV racers such as the DarkMax 220mm and GT 215mm Fire Dancer (pictured above) normally sell for well over $200 but for this special occasion, GearBest is offerings discounts of about 50% on most of its popular FuriBee racers.

It’s spring now and a great time to start shopping for the stuff you’ll need in the summer and that includes drones if you’re planning to do some aerial photography. If you’re into DJI products, the recently announced DJI Spring Sale is something you’ll want to check out.

The sale offers discounts of up to 20% on a select range of DJI products which includes the Mavic Pro, Spark, Mavic Air and Phantom 4 Pro. There are even discounts for the DJI Goggles and Osmo+.

One of the best deals in this sale is the DJI Spark base kit which is on offer for just $399. DJI is not only giving a $100 discount on the Spark base kit but it’s also giving away a free Spark remote controller with every purchase! Now that’s a great deal since the remote controller itself costs $150 if bought separately.

Next up is the DJI Mavic Air Fly More Combo with DJI Goggles (pictured above). This kit normally sells for $1561 and is now available for just $1298 — that’s a solid discount of $263.

For those into professional aerial photography, the highly popular Mavic Pro is now available for just $899 with a $100 discount. The Mavic Pro may seem a bit long in the tooth but it’s still a very competent aerial photography drone that’s not just portable and light but also capable of taking high quality aerial footage. Apart from that $100 discount, DJI is also giving a free Mavic Pro battery with every purchase.

Besides the Mavic Pro base kit, the Mavic Pro Fly More Combo (pictured above) also gets a discount. The kit, which normally sells for $1299 is now available for $1149.

Below is a summary of discounts and deals at the DJI Spring Sale:

• Mavic Pro ($999 / $899)
• Mavic Pro Fly More Combo ($1299 / $1149)
• Mavic Air Fly More Combo with DJI Goggles ($1448 / $1298)
• Mavic Pro Platinum with DJI Goggles ($1448 / $1398)
• Spark with free remote controller ($499 / $399)
• Spark Fly More Combo ($599 / $549)
• Osmo+ ($559 / $499)
• Phantom 4 Pro with DJI Goggles ($1948 / $1798)
• Phantom 4 Advanced with DJI Goggles ($1748 / $1498)
• DJI Goggles ($449 / $349)

The Spring Sale is one of the best times in the year to buy DJI products from the official DJI Store. It’s second only to the annual DJI Black Friday sale which comes at the end of the year.

Recently, Fat Shark released a new product that we wouldn’t normally expect from it — a ready-to-fly FPV racer kit complete with its own entry-level FPV headset. Although Fat Shark has always been synonymous with FPV, this is the first time the brand has released an FPV racer.

As its name suggests, the Fat Shark 101 is aimed at beginners who are just starting out in the hobby of FPV flying. The kit comes with a quadcopter, remote controller, 2 batteries and an FPV headset — everything you need to start FPV flying.

It even comes with two extra brushed motors — a nice touch considering how quick brushed motors get worn out.

Product Highlights

• Ready-to-fly FPV kit for beginners which includes a quadcopter, remote controller and 5.8G 32- channel FPV headset.
• Brushed motors
• 2 extra brushed motors included
• Quadcopter frame with shark theme
• 2 batteries included
• Batteries can be charged via USB cables

One key feature of the 101 is it’s canopy which comes in the distinct shape of a shark. It even has its own shark tail and fin — making it look like a Great White with four propellers. It may not seem much but that shark theme really sets the 101 apart from its rivals in a market that’s crowded with plenty of affordable entry-level FPV racer kits. At about $350, the 101 has a rather steep price when compared to other ready-to-fly FPV kits such as the DLFPV 1060 which costs less than $100.

But while the 1060 costs almost three times less, it has a much smaller diagonal motor size and doesn’t come with an FPV headset which the 101 does. Speaking of FPV headsets, the 101 features Fat Sharks most affordable FPV headset ever — the Fat Shark Recon.

The Recon may not be as advanced as Fat Shark’s other offerings when it comes to FPV goggles, but it sure was designed to be cost effective and suited to beginners.

Another key feature is that every 101 owner will get free DRL drone simulator access and a three-month provisional membership at the Academy of Model Aeronautics which is the largest governing body for model aircraft and drones in the United States.