Parrot Bebop 2 test: range, flight time, photo and video check

0

Spaßfaktor
Flugverhalten
Materialqualität
Aufnahmequalität
Preis-Leistung
Average 0/5

With the Parrot Bebop 2, the French manufacturer Parrot promises breathtaking aerial shots, easy control and stable flight characteristics even in strong gusts of wind.

In our Parrot Bepop 2 test we took a close look at the drone.

The Parrot Bebop 2 is a light and compact video drone, with a weight of 500g a flight time of almost 25 minutes. Videos are recorded in Full-HD and stabilized by the company’s own software. The drone does not have a mechanical gimbal, but an electronic 3-axis image stabilisation.

It is particularly suitable for beginners due to its extensive sensor technology. The Bebop can be controlled with a smartphone or tablet and a corresponding app.

The following video shows our complete test report:

>> Parrot Bepop 2 günstig kaufen* <<

Special highlights of the Parrot Bebop 2

A pair of FPV glasses is included for a more realistic flight experience.

You can see what the drone sees through your glasses and it feels like you are flying in the drone yourself.

Pre-programmed acrobatic stunts such as somersaults can be performed using the app.

In our drone test the Bebop 2 reached 72 km/h with some tail wind. With no wind, top speeds of up to 60 km/h are possible.

Parrot Bebop 2 test overview

The drone can be easily taken off and landed at the push of a button.

Using the home mode and GPS, the drone can also reliably find its way back to the starting point. Due to its low weight of only 500 g it is very fast, agile and agile in the air.

Flying this quadrocopter is a lot of fun, in combination with FPV (First Person View) the drone flying is lifted to a new level.

The Parrot Bebop 2 can be controlled with the Parrot Skycontroller or alone with a smartphone, but is aware of the limited range.

Reach

Skycontroller 2We have tested the Parrot Bebop 2 with the Parrot Skycontroller 2 and FPV goggles.

With this controller a range of up to 2000 meters is possible.

If you feel like more, you can also get the larger Skycontroller, which is bigger, fits better in your hand and is equipped with many buttons and features.

In Germany there is a law which says that a drone may only be flown within sight. Thanks to the large, red LED on the back, the Bebop 2 can be seen from a long distance.

But from 200 m on you can see them worse and worse.

If the drone is only controlled via smartphone without a skycontroller, the range is limited to about 300 meters.

Picture quality

With the camera you can take pictures with up to 14 megapixels and videos in Full HD. Unfortunately the drone has only an internal memory with 8 gb.

Every 1 or 2 flights you have to empty the memory to make room for new recordings!

>> Parrot Bepop 2 günstig kaufen* <<

Many great impressions, beautiful photos and good video recordings, for example from your holidays, can also be collected with the Parrot Bebop 2.

With the help of the right wheel on the controller, the ISO value and thus the light sensitivity of the camera can be adjusted. Make sure that it is optimally adjusted. Otherwise the pictures will be taken too bright or too dark.

Image stabilization

The left-hand dial on the controller can be used to control the camera image in the vertical direction.

However, the camera itself does not move physically, as it has a fisheye lens.

It also has no mechanical gimbal system, but compensates drone movements via image software.

This software calculates the section from a 180 degree wide angle perspective.

This sometimes leads to small image errors at the edge, but these are hardly noticeable in the recordings and did not bother us that much.

Battery & Flight Time

The battery of the drone has a charge capacity of 2700 mAh and lasts for about 23-25 minutes, depending on how you use the Bebop 2. Compared to the previous model which only had a flight time of 11 minutes, this is a real improvement.

How stable is the Parrot Bebop 2

In one of our test flights we accidentally flew with the Bebop 2 into a tree during an FPV flight. However, only one rotor was slightly damaged, but we were still able to fly the drone stable without any problems.

During a landing attempt on a beach chair, the drone crashed from a height of 1.5 m onto a grating stone. The Bebop 2 now has a slight scratch on the case, but is still fully functional.

The drone is very forgiving, but if something should break, you can order spare parts from the manufacturer.

Parrot Bebop 2 scope of delivery

The Parrot Bebop 2 comes with 2 propeller sets, a total of 8 pieces, 4 white and 4 black propellers.

You must always mount 2 propellers in pairs, otherwise the drone will not take off.

Furthermore a charging station, 1 battery, various adapters and a tool to mount the propellers are included.

If you choose the FPV package with the SkyController 2, you get the FPV goggles, a USB cable and the controller + a smartphone and tablet holder.

>> Parrot Bepop 2 günstig kaufen* <<

Parrot App FreeFlight Pro

In the app, the basic settings of the movements, such as maximum horizontal & vertical speed, rotation speed, maximum flight altitude and tilt angle are set very sluggishly to allow any beginner an easy start.

As a beginner you should approach the speed slowly and set the limits higher only with increasing flight experience. However, you will quickly develop a feeling for Bebop 2 and feel safe in flight.

At the latest when you have exhausted the limitations, you don’t want to have anything else.

The app not only provides the camera image, but also extensive flight data such as current altitude, speed and battery charge status in the drone and remote control.

Flight Plan

Flight Plan is an upgrade for the Parrot app, which allows you to fly the drone on specific routes with the help of GPS data.

So you can show the drone via Google Maps where it should fly along while it is making a video recording. The Bebop 2 then flies this route reliably and completely autonomously.

If you want to get this upgrade, please note that the legal situation in Germany requires that a drone may only be flown within sight!

Parrot Cloud

Current flights are stored in the Parrot Cloud.

Among other things, it shows where you flew, how many crashes there were, how much battery charge the flight has used and the flight time.

Furthermore, the GPS route can be displayed graphically. In addition, further graphics can be viewed, for example, the current load status, altitude and which speeds the Bebop 2 has built up can be displayed in a diagram.

>> Parrot Bepop 2 günstig kaufen* <<

Individually viewable drone data

If you click on the drone name of your Bebop 2 in the app, an overview opens in which the status of the drone can be seen. Among other things, you can see if the propellers and motors are intact (then they are shown in green), the battery charge status and the hardware and software version.

Very interesting is also that the number of flights and the operating hours are displayed.

When selling as used goods you should take this into account!

Because this data is stored on the drone itself and is called up by the app. Even if you reinstall the app, the operating hours are not reset!

If the app is connected to the drone, you can also access the memory and watch the video and photo material on your smartphone after downloading it.

It is also possible to download the material to the tablet or smartphone and then empty the memory of the Dohne to make room for new recordings as it is only 8 gb in size.

Controlling the Bebop 2 with the App

In joypad mode, the left touch field can be used to move the drone vertically up and down.

This field is also used to turn the drone around its own axis to the left and right.

On the right touch field there is the possibility to move the drone on the horizontal plane forward, backward, right or left, sideways.

The controls in the app are designed just like any other standard drone control.

If the 2 touch fields are released, the Bebop 2 stabilizes itself in the air by itself. So the drone app ensures safe and comfortable flying.

With the lower left button it is possible to switch between the live video view and the map view.

The FPV button is located on the bottom right-hand side. Here the image from the app is automatically adjusted so that our smartphone can be used in FPV glasses.

In the middle of the bottom you can operate the Take Off- or Landing Button to let the drone take off and land.

The button on the top right is for taking pictures. During the video recording you can also take pictures with this button, but the quality is then significantly worse.

Another button to the left is used to let the drone fly certain maneuvers, for example forward and backward flips.

Just to the left of it is the “Return To Home Button”. As soon as you press it the drone flies back to the place where you started it.

However, this function is only available if there is a stable GPS connection to the Bebop 2 at the start and current time. If you have GPS available or not, you can see at the arrow on the bottom right (green = good GPS signal).

>> Parrot Bepop 2 günstig kaufen* <<

Updates

In the app itself, it is possible to search for the latest updates so that the drone can always be loaded with the latest software.

If an update is available, the smartphone downloads the data and transfers it to Bebop 2.

Parrot Bebop 2 FPV

The Parrot Bebop 2 FPV glasses provide a more realistic flying experience. They fit very comfortably, are not too heavy (about 390 g without smartphone) and even after 25 minutes flying time you will not have any pain on your face or nose.

As soon as the smartphone is connected to the controller via USB cable, the app starts automatically.

Afterwards the drone has to be switched on and the connection between the Bebop 2 and the remote control has to be established and the FPV mode starts.

The smartphone serves as a display for the glasses. Over 2 lenses a rectangular image is now created.

According to the manufacturer the following Smartphones are supported:

  • Samsung Galaxy (S5, S6, S7, note 3, note 4, note 5)
  • Nexus 5
  • iPhone (6, 6 Plus, 6s, 6s Plus)
  • LG (G3, G4)
  • HTC One M8

Note: In our test, however, numerous other models also fit, which have a screen diagonal between 4.7 – 5.7 inches and a thickness of 6 mm to 9.5 mm.

If you own such a smartphone, it will also fit in the shaft and will be able to display the flight experience in the glasses in the best possible way.

After aligning the smartphone in the cradle, choose the perfect eye relief for you to get a sharp image.

Make sure that the goggles sit firmly & securely on your head and you can fly away.

At the beginning it is a bit unfamiliar to fly with the glasses.

For beginners we recommend not to set the settings like maximum speed and tilt angle to maximum immediately, but to practice with the default settings.

The controller allows you to access the app and its menu while the Parrot Cockpitglasses are in use. Here you can switch between the camera on Bebop 2 and the smartphone camera.

This allows you to see the area directly in front of the glasses without having to put them down, which can be very helpful during certain manoeuvres such as take-off and landing of the drone.

When you fly in FPV mode for the first time, make sure not to fly too far away. As an inexperienced drone pilot you will quickly lose your orientation with your glasses in relation to the original starting point.

Distances are also quickly misjudged when flying FPV.

If necessary, the drone can be retrieved via the home function. For this purpose there is a button on the lower left of the remote control.

>> Parrot Bepop 2 günstig kaufen* <<

Important legal information

According to the new drone regulation, a second person must always be present during the FPV flight to keep an objective eye on the drone. Your liability insurance will not cover the damage caused by the drone if no second person can be proven. Furthermore a solo flight can result in heavy fines.

Another advantage of Parrot cockpit glass

The brilliant thing is, you can use the Parrot cockpit glasses as normal virtual reality glasses and play smartphone and PC games designed for them. So it’s worth buying the Parrot Bebop 2 FPV!

Conclusion of the Parrot Bebop 2

We are enthusiastic about the Parrot Bebop 2. Even if the picture quality (Full HD) is rather mediocre, the drone is a lot of fun due to its high speed and agility.

Especially in combination with the Parrot cockpit glasses you get a completely new flight experience which convinced us.

One thing is clear: for someone who is particularly keen on very high quality photos, there are better drones than the Parrot Bebop 2, for example the DJI Phantom 4 Advanced or the DJI Phantom 3 Professional.

But we also know that many drone pilots and those who want to become pilots simply want a drone with a high fun factor, with which you can take beautiful moments from the air even in everyday situations. This is exactly what you get with the Parrot Bebop 2.

Since the drone is very forgiving and can survive several crashes, it is particularly suitable for beginners.

>> Parrot Bepop 2 günstig kaufen* <<

Our tip: Define your requirements for a drone exactly, you must know for which purposes it is to be used. If you are not yet sure which requirements your drone should meet, then read through our buying guide (click! ) for important information!

Whoever wants to try FPV flying, has not yet a lot of experience, appreciates speed and agility of a drone, the Parrot Bebop 2 is the right aircraft for him.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here