Flypro xEagle - Follow-me quad

New follow-me-drone from FlyPro is now in Kickstarter 
Click through for the unbox video,  FPVguy takes it flying and can confirm it flies well but have rough Follow-Me as expected.

*** this post is still being created *** 

The xEagle KickStarter is unique in a couple ways,  first of all its not a kickstarter in the common sense of the concept, simply because the aircraft is already for sale at distributors like HobbyWOW.com 
The xEagle "KickStarter" Chinese manufacture who is taking advantage of KickStarter to generate buzz for their new product.. That said,  nothing really wrong with that, they ARE offering interesting packages through KickStarter and you can get in on a xEagle at a fairly good price.  the basic package with GoPro gimbal and GPS Watch controller starting a $259 is simply a very good deal for anything with a gimbal flying a GoPro.   

 
Check out the FPVguy unbox of the xEagle quad.

When reading the KickStarter, its worth noticing that few if any, of the video clips in the supporting videos on KickStarter seems like they were captured with the xEagle flying in "follow-me" mode.   there are particularly a shot of a drone chasing a bicycle between bushes.  I tested the Follow-me and find that the flight path for Follow-Me is NOT accurate enough to dare test it through a narrow bush covered path.  both the quad is not accurate enough, but also the degrading of the GPS signal would make this a very questionable experiment.  

The xEagle have a fairly striking design,  and is surprisingly solid,  the arms flex far less than i had expected and is clearly designed right.

The two axis GoPro gimbal works surprisingly well, however can't escape the lack of a yaw axis,   for best video fly smoothly without touching the yaw axis.   the gimbal works well for crane shots (slow climb straight up)

The 3S 5200mah smart battery, which provide about 20 minutes of flight time, have automatic dis-charge if not used. this is a important feature to prolong the life of your batteries if you don't fly same day you charge them.

FOLLOW ME
The xEagle's reason for being is clearly the follow-me concept,   generally speaking this works well, but the errors in the smartwatch accuracy do show through now and then.
Briefly, the follow-me operation is as follow.
1. ARM and start the quad at roughly 5 m distance (15 feet)  pushing launch will send the xEagle up in the sky.
2.  once in the sky, the drone will hover, walk around the drone until you have the angle you desire.  
3. push the follow-me button and the drone will follow you.  
*** NOTE.. the bezel on the watch indicates where the drone will follow you, in-front to the right / left or behind you.  the drone will go to this position AFTER you start moving,  once there is a direction of movement, the drone will move to the selected position. 
*** when not moving and not in "follow me" mode, you can do a object spin by pushing the "CIRCLE" button, that will make the drone fly a circle around the watch, the size of the circle depending on the distance from the GPS smart watch to the xEagle to the drone.

While exciting,  Follow-me is still a concept being developed, and a drone like the xEagle is unable to truly avoid all obstacles,   its best used in the open and the manual suggest minimum 200 meters of clear space when using Follow-Me.   I highly recommend buying also the optional handset controller for more traditional flying, as this will let you do camera "push" and "dolly" moves for video use.

My general opinion is simple, I LIKE the xEagle, its a surprisingly good flyer, however I find it falls short in the Follow-Me category and will be too limiting without the optional traditional controller.  this is the configuration I would buy,  (I do wish they would have offered a 3 axis gimbal option for the GoPro as the GoPro is my favorite camera on this quad.)

As promised here is the PDF manual for the Flypro xEagle SPORT package. CLICK FOR MANUAL

The Kickstarter can be found here - CLICK FOR KICKSTARTER

Also available from HobbyWOW - CLICK for the HobbyWOW product page
*** NOTE the xEagle SPORT is NOW in stock and ready to ship from HobbyWOW.com

 

• 4K camera for aerial filming,   the included GoPro style camera offer 4K, 2.5k, 1080, 720 & VGA
• 2-axis brushless gimbal;
• Intelligent 3s battery;
• 360 Degree, high-speed follow mode;
• Dual GPS mode (GPS+Glonass);
• GPS signal protection;
• Double compass intelligent protection;
• Low battery voltage protection;
• UAV Black Box to log the flight parameters;
• Smart XWatch control (about 300m control range);
• Innovative voice control;
• Swift auto obstacle avoidance (10cm to 15 meters effective range for obstacle detection);
• Up to 22 minutes flight autonomy;

FLYPRO XEagle Professional package includes

• The quadcopter it self;
• 2.4GHz remote controller with phone holder;
• FLYPRO xWatch smart remote controller;
• 11.1V 5200 mA Li-Po battery;
• 2sets of propellers;
• Battery charger;
• 4K camera (Firefly s6);
• 2 Axis Gimbal;
• FLYPRO XEagle user manual.

 

 

Comments

[Bo Lorentzen]

Hey Adil, no you can't honestly stay away from this bird, its "follow me" function is crap.
I would love this bird if it had a proper RC radio for control. but the GPS in the watch is not good enough to get safe follow me.

[Adil]

Hello, Could we monito this drone by our smart watch

[Bo Lorentzen]

Hey Andrew,
The follow me was available only on KickStarter for $299, its on HobbyWow now, but not as great of a deal, and frankly I would ABSOLUTELY not suggest buying this kit without the remote-control.. as the Follow-me system is scary.
http://www.hobbywow.com/en-xeagle-sb15-pi1-c3537.htm

[andrew]

Hi BO I just enjoy watching your video clips on drones....But can you tell me where I can get Flypro Xeagle,the $299.00 low end drone? Thanks I learn a lot from you

[Bo Lorentzen]

Hey FirstQuadcopter, I have the same problem, tried 5+ times and finally gave up. I fired it up and let it sit about 10 minutes until it had solid GPS lock, then power-cycled it, and it acquired GPS in abut 30 seconds after the first lock. I let it sit another couple minutes and then pressed take-off. worked perfect. just make sure you give it TONS of time the first time to get a solid GPS. and rock solid GPS is what this is all about.

[FirstQuadcopter]

Hi Bo,

I received this quad yesterday but I can't calibrate it.
Nothing happens if I press the follow button, the status lights remain green...so can't start the calibration...