FALCON DRONE

A nice little drone for kids and inexperienced adults to learn the basics of maneuvering. Simple launch and land buttons and the drone doesn't dive when you take your hands off the controller. The packaging does say from 14 months and while I think that's a stretch, but with adult supervision kids of any age would enjoy it. My batteries life came up a little short of as advertised, but its a small unit and for the size, lasted a good 5 1/2 minutes. My units camera was also not that great, but again with the size and price, is a non factor. Overall, is a good little beginner's unit and one that I will gift over and over.

First, let me mention a couple things: - I received the Drocon Falcon GD-90C at no charge (except for $1.92 added state sales tax) just to test it and provide this review. - I submitted a video, but it appears it would not take it - Beginners/Newbie Suggestion: PLEASE READ ALL THE WAY THROUGH (to the bottom of) THIS REVIEW!!!!!UNBOXING/Included with the product:- Arrived well packaged- Extra set of propellers (4 – 2 front, 2 back) included- USB cable for charging- Small screwdriver for replacing the propellers and opening the controller battery compartment- L-Ion battery for the drone- The controller (requires 2 AAA batteries – not included- Of course, the Falco Drone itself!- The included camera requires a micro SD card – up to 8GB. It is not included!After unboxing the drone, I took some time to read the manual. I never operated one of these, so I didn’t know what to expect. Only after that, and getting some understanding of the controller and functions (more on that later), I was ready to give it a go. The manual, a little difficult to follow (see Cons), described all of the normal functions: On/Off; turning; forward/backward; left/right movements. Also described, are some of the other functions available: fine tuning, headless mode – which I still don’t understand, stunts-which I haven’t tried, one button takeoff and landing – very handy; speed control and one key return. Most of these are only briefly described in the manual, so the best way for beginners to learn, is to try them out via the practice steps. I can’t stress that enough newbies! (but more on that later).PROS: - Pretty much ready to go right out of the box. Only need to add the AAA batteries to the controller, and charge to Drone battery for a short period of time. - The controller functions responded well upon activation. - The drone was quite zippy – moved quickly, but could be flown at a slower speed. - Has a pretty decent range – had it well over twice the height of my house and at least 60 yards at that height. Maximum range TBD – (more on that later). - Has, what I believe to be, a nice 720P HD camera – (also, more on that later).CONS: - The drone is very small. The drone body is about the size of a deck of playing cards –max. The overall width is about twice that due to the propellers and the small plastic ring around the propellers - The manual, which I mentioned in the opening comments, leaves a bit to be desired. It is small, and has tiny print, making it a bit difficult to read. As is common, when translated from Chinese to English, the wording takes some though to understand what is meant. (I guessing you’ve come across this before)! - The wiring on the drone battery is very thin gauge, and appears to be very fragile. At the same time, the connector is quite tiny. It is a little tricky to pull it apart because of the size, and no tabs to grab. If great care isn’t taken, I believe it would be easy to pull the wire out of the connector. This connector will get a lot of wear on it due to frequent connecting/disconnecting – to charge the battery, the reconnect to the drone itself. - Minimal flight time on a battery charge – only 6-8 minutes per the manual.FINAL OPINION: Overall, I enjoyed this little drone. It took off and landed easily, and responded promptly to the controller commands. Although I couldn’t find any maximum distance specifications for it, I had the drone a good 60+ yards from me, at a height of at least 30 feet. Even at that distance, the drone responded well to the controller commands. It would be nice to see a remote camera –one where you could view the video while the drone is still in the air, but I’m not sure it could be expected at the price point. For the price - $40.00 when purchased, but there was a 20% off promotion going on also – making it only $32.00 (USD), I’ll give it 4-1/2 stars!!***** SPECIAL NOTE TO BEGINNERS:Although the manual is a little difficult to fully understand, it stresses to take your time and learn how to control the drone movements. It explains what maneuvers to practice, and underscores mastering the controller functions at low height and only a short distance from you. I DID NOT DO THIS!!!!! After only a short practice session where all went well with all the basic movements, I thought I knew enough. It was time to take the drone high up to capture some aerial video for this review. I never found out the video capabilities. I flew it high and far and pressed the wrong controller button. It is still resting somewhere in the top of that tree, some 40+ feet in the air. :( :( :(

Edited: I've only tried this drone for a couple of days, so I'm not very good at using it, as the video I'm enclosing (above, called "Flying Around the Room") can show. That is, if Amazon actually displays the video. I'm also enclosing a picture of what came in the package. The drone, the control, instructions, a charging cable, and a little package of a screwdriver for the remote and some extra propellers were all included. Two AAA batteries are required for the remote, but the drone has a rechargeable one that you pull out to charge. You will need a USB charging plug to plug it into, though.The drone did well flying around. I only tried it inside my house as it's been windy and even a bigger helicopter remote easily gets pushed around in whatever direction the wind decides to take it. Of note, make sure you don't have any ceiling fans on inside while using this as they will push it around, too. After one or two tries I was able to fly it around with some degree of competence. I let my 9 year-old use it, too, and he loves it.I also tested the camera quality, and it seemed fine. I took a couple pictures and a couple of videos. It's not like a Blu-ray video camera, but it was what you would expect. Like I said, I'd still have to try it outside when I can. I did have to buy a microSD for recording. I bought an 8 gig one because that's what is required and would be plenty for any video this thing will take.Flying around, the battery lasted a little over 5 minutes for me. I don't know if there's a difference in hovering and moving around a lot as far as battery drain goes, but we've played with it a few times now and that's the average.So, in all, it's a decent little toy so far. There's a learning curve and more advanced things you're supposed to be able to do with it, but I'm not anywhere near that level yet. Also, as full disclaimer, I got this for free (except for tax and the SD card) as part of a testing promotion. I plan to update once I can get it outside on some nice, calm, non-windy day, which generally happens for about five minutes a year.

The product is very well made and also incredibly light. On my maiden flight I ran it into my house and a pretty good speed and the drone had no marks or defects and I set it up right and it took right off again! I did have to do some minor adjustments to keep the drone to hover perfectly in place. But the instructions that I did not read at first explain how to do this and it explains the procedure and was easy to perform. The flight time is about 8 minutes with a recharge time of about 40 minutes. I have not used the camera picture and video feature yet, but I will add to this review when I do so. I would recommend this DROCON Falcon Mini Drone to anyone that wants to see what a drone is and can do first hand! It says for Kids, however I am 46 but I think that I still can be classified as a kid! The kit comes with a usb charger, drone battery and extra whirly blades along with the tool to get them on and off. I haven't had to use them so I cannot comment on that part. All in all for under $35.00 it is totally worth the money. And if you fly it and go nah not for me you aren't out a couple hundred or thousand dollars.