Like kids at christmas, the BlackSheep were super eager to try out the new Parrot Bebop 2 drone quad copter, with Skycontroller. 

What a rad machine this drone is. Nifty and convenient, the time we spent with the Bebop was always completely awesome! Every flight, exhilarating! Every shot, mesmerizing! We wish we had another two batteries to extend the already long (25 minute) flight time that the Bebop has. The Bebop 2 is a fun drone to play with.

 

Firstly, what comes in the box. 

The Bebop 2 comes separately, and the Skycontroller is an add on package. we got the full package here, so:

• 1x Bebop 2 drone
• 1x Skycontroller (w/safety lanyard)
• 2x Batteries (w/charger)
• Plus a few extras, like spare props, prop tool, matte box (for sunny days), iPad holder etc. 

FreeFlight 3 is the app to download to connect to your Skycontroller and/or Bebop 2 in order to gain access to the settings and view the FPV function. The app enables a person who hasn’t got the Skycontroller to be able to fly the Bebop 2, via Android or iOS. 

The Skycontroller itself is an amazing contraption. With quite a cool aesthetic that makes flying the Bebop 2 tons of fun. Space in the centre of the controller to place either a smartphone or a tablet; A huge satellite antenna to increase it signal range up to 2km; Big but sleek controllers to create ease of flight control, we loved flying with this controller every time. and it’s very unique. 

 

The Bebop 2. Incredibly easy to fly and outstandingly well poised in both good and windy conditions. With a push of one button it takes the air and just hovers there awaiting a command. Even at height the Bebop will just hover steady awaiting to be told its next move via inputs on the Skycontroller, all thanks to the stabilisation settings. Understanding the controls, Gaz, Yaw, Trim and Roll can be a bit tricky to learn, and keeping your orientation is the craft to master. But the Bebop makes all that quite easy to learn. It’s a great little machine to coax a willing learner into understanding the basics of quad copter flight. 

 

The Bebop 2 like its predecessor has a built in camera designed in a way to make it quite sleak and slender and aerodynamic. A nifty little camera that shoots 1080p HD with it’s 14MegaPixel sensor, it’s capable of capturing some truly awe-inspiring imagery that this new age of drones has allowed us to capture. The camera has a digital stabilisation system that works wonders. It does compromise a bit of quality, but is quite effective. 

 

Overall this is really great product from Parrot. With its ease of flight, great range and battery life, it’s easily a good choice amongst the market of drones out there. It’s small and convenient to quickly whip it out. 

A couple downsides; it does take a while to connect to the sky controller, camera quality is not the greatest (but acceptable), parts availability is difficult, camera button on the Skycontroller was getting stuck and is not very user friendly, a few landing kinks including some hard landings, built in internal memory (8GB) without an option to increase, minor issues with dumping footage. 

Compared to a professional drone, the Parrot Bebop 2 is really just an expensive toy. 

BUT a really fun toy at that, with a pretty awesome cool factor! 

We at BlackSheep certainly love it!