Skydio 2: First Remote Controller Flight & Impressions 

That moment you think you have lost the drone, I know that feeling so well!

Please RTFM before taking the controller out for evaluation. The "Boost" button temporarily sets the sensitivity for the controls to 100% while the button is depressed. This is allows to you to have sensitivity set low for smooth movements and still not loose max rates. However, I do like the variable rates, depending on how far from center the stick is, better for the Mavic controller. The phone wireless signal strength icon was active and the manual states to turn off wifi on the phone when connecting to the controller. Running wifi on your phone and those high voltage transmission lines along the train tracks probably contributed to a lower range for the controller. For me it's the first class OA. Where I fly there are mountains, lots of trees, waterfalls, and streams to fly up or down. With this drone I can fly in these conditions without having much fear of crashing. I can instead focus more on the shot and let the drone maneuver around the obstacles. And yeah, I want more people to cancel so that my order will be bumped up .

I'm pretty sure this flight left a barcode in Billy's underwear 😂

“It’s not coming back” and “I can’t see it”, that would make me sweat. I feel you.

Dear Skydio. ...I think you just blew it!!! Great drone but many many issues. Going to talk with my friend who also put a $100 deposit down. We will be mainly using the controller so DJI you have nothing to worry about. Even if I have to spend more money for a Mavic 2. It's worth not having all the headaches. Thanks Billy for posting.

Glad I got my reservation fee back...next!

I was considering purchase of the Skydio 2 primarily for it's camera and flying qualities, not for its tracking ability. The lack of telemetry and control using the remote is a deal breaker. Very disappointing.

That footage looks amazing on RU-vid. 4k60 is the way to go.

This drone needs more time in the oven. Maybe Skydio 3 will be all we hoped. All I know is they better start shipping these things fast as the pre orders seem to be dropping fast.

Thanks Billy I really appreciate your fine review of the controller on the Skydio it was very good I hope you do a best setting’s video like you did with the P4P & Mavic Pro those were so helpful for so many people you would not believe. I’ve myself have watched them 5 to 10 times and have recommended them the same to friends Take care my friend

Hey Billy, the first time I see you sweat Bro! I really appreciate your videos as alway..Peace.

Thanks, Billy, that is what I have been waiting for. All I can say is; deal breaker. Too bad.

Billy, remember to maintain line-of-sight. We are mandated to that! Really delightful, helpful video. Thanks so much. 😊

Thanks once again for a great review Billy!! Batch 2 here and my my excitement is lessoning as time goes by to commit to the S2. Skydio has a "long" way to go in regards to firmware / software updates. The list changes considerably on a daily basis. No telemetry, this should have been a no brainer. No ability to take off in low light which takes away sunset / sunrise shots Needs smaller bubble (radius) for autonomy. I seen somewhere that this was implemented in the S2 Pro Kit software. Loses subject in frame periodically until manually corrected Very basic RC Jerky video. I've seen more jerky video than not and yes, I have great high speed internet along with a loaded MacBook Pro Won’t fly without a SD card Won’t take off if there isn’t enough clearance (radius) Can’t turn off the RC when open. This causes you to have to remove your phone or tablet. Image transmission becomes blotchy & breaks up fairly fast. Loses connection fairly quick Have to hold down the on screen button to completely land when drone is hovering approx. 6 feet from ground. These are just some of the things I'm seeing........ so far. You looked like you were in a good high area in which I expected the S2 to perform better than it did. This drone could be so awesome in which a lot of it could be corrected through firmware/software. I've seen that Skydio is working on some of these issues such as the lack of telemetry but, I haven't heard it from the horses mouth...... Skydio, yet. I know this is all negative feedback. On the flip side, I sincerely do want this drone and I'm holding on to see what Skydio is going to do. I sure hope Skydio is taking a look at your reviews. I'm glad that I'm in batch 2 which enables me to see all these real world reviews before pulling the trigger. Billy, you're on top of it and I appreciate you in taking the time for all you do! 👍 👍😊

Thanks for making the videos and taking requests that risk losing or crashing your drone for our entertainment ha-ha. The front facing obstacle avoidance appears to work really well, request to see it fly backwards and sideways towards an obstacle. In my limited experience that’s the riskiest time trying to get a shot moving backwards or sideways out of view of the camera and wondering if you’re about to slam into something.

I like the fact that you didn't edit out your look of panic! Nice work

Skydio team obviously need to upgrade all these issues!

LOL! It came back. Just took in the view on it's way.

I always get a pit in my stomach, when my controller loses connection to the drone; not knowing if I'll ever see it again.

I think even The evo to me is better thanks for the info

I believe that the Skydio 2 flies backwards during return to land because of the antennae placement being in the back of the drone. It will provide a better transmission signal that way.

Looks like a fun drone to fly!

Thanks for reminding me about the usb c cables that came with the controller! I had to go back through my box and there they were. Saved me some money :)

I’ll stay with DJI

I find it funny how people knock the range, and say oh it's a deal breaker... If you can't see it anymore you are now breaking the law... LOL

They develop a top drone and fly it with a cheap remote control. Makes real sense 😴

I think if you hit MAP it may show location of s2 & controller

Hope they are listening to the drawbacks we started with controllers and will always desire one

Great Job, Billy

that's not too trustworthy. No good for regular flying. I"ll just be using mines for autonomy and beacon. Will be using my M2P for all other filming.. Skydio has a lot of work to do on the transmission.

It would have been nice, with a map, on the phone app, like there is in DJI´s app´s. That map is something a lot of Drone flyers use when the drone is out of sight.

Your expressions were too funny while you had thought you lost that $1,000 drone!!! 😂😂🤣🤣

That disconnect at 5:51 made me very nervous along with it just getting closer and closer without connecting until 7:55

Excellent experiential vid, Billy! Fascinating!

The more videos I watch on Skidio, the more I am glad I didnt get one. Not worth 1300 bucks. I will get the Autel or M2Z to go with my M2Pro. Great Video Billy.

@billy The legend on the screen said, “check map for the location”, then “view map” button appear. Why don’t view the map? May be that there you can see some data about the drone location.

I know that feeling you were going through I have a mavic air 2 and whenever I fly to limit and it disconnect I feel sick to my stomach when I thought I lost it then I just see it flying above me😂

Nice video! Now I know why it has no telemetry! So that nobody sees that it can only fly 1 km😂

"it wasn't a horrible experience..." lol

I think the reason They made the Skydio 2 not be able to fly without a SD card is for insurance reasons they want to be able to see what happen in the crash and determine if they will cover your drone by seeing footage that’s what I think but I might be wrong

Powers a very funny reaction when you thought you're losing your mind

Hei. I was very happy like you when the drone return back 🤗😄👍🏻👍🏻Bigimner and fly soo far away 🤭👍🏻👍🏻

Holy shit! LOL You thought you lost it! LOL. I know the feeling, when I sent my Inspire 2 to the statue of liberty and didnt think it was coming back hahaha

Great video Billy!

It seems the drone returns back no problem. Just the connection cannot go far

Sorry, but no telemetry is just plain stupid. And for a over 1k cost drone, that remote looks super cheap.

If I were you, I would freak out too. Guess their antenna placement on the Skydio 2 wasn't a big factor when they built it.

Great video! man... Billy, it definitely was a horrible experience though. losing connectivity once would result in me benching or selling that drone.

$150.00 USD for a low quality controller is too much. This drone flies inside a meter sized bubble so it's not good in tight areas. Isn't that why you would buy this drone. The obstacle avoidance will be standard on all drones in a couple of years. I think I'll wait for the price to come in line with tech.

Telemetry are likely an update away. // yep The whole controller part seems like an added feature in the last minute, and kudos for that as a controller is a must..and that you can control your rates.. also solid.. Biggest con it the range but then again, it aint intended for distance though it is nice to have with a good cam.

I flew with my Shydio2 with the remote manually today for the first time. I actually liked the speed, it seems nice for flying around in the back yard. If it were too fast, I'd be turning constantly to keep it out of the neighbors yard. I hate the phone holder. I have a small case on my phone which is hard to remove. The phone kept slipping out. When it did, it would hit the sticks. You can't sit the remote down with the phone in it, it just falls over and then the phone pops out. SKydio please get us a new remote! Better phone holder with enough girth to sit on a table and not fall over.

You really looked delighted to finally see it coming home Billy lol

Your "Skydio remote controller" is made and manufactured by Parrot. They have a partnership with Parrot. Skydio wants to allocate monies towards R&D on the Skydio only, and not bother with a "Skydio" controller in my opinion. I have two Skydio2's. It's a tool with a specific purpose, like a hammer for a nail. That's why I have other drones for different jobs.

lmfao Billy you were sweating

Thanks billy . My turn off is the controller to be honest. I think imagine is great, the sensors are definitely great, but sticking with DJI . Great video

1) Complaining about the battery life, yet you were boosting over half the video lol. 2) Controller disconnects/range - you are supposed to stay within line of sight by law! When your drone is so far away that you lose sight of it, well there ya go. That's illegal. 3) The zoom in/out flipper on the back, look at it as a manual Dronie. Skydio 2, from my experience (I just got it today, so could be wrong) the drone flies according to the direction and angle of the gimbal. For example, if the gimbal is pointed 45° down and you press back on that lever, then the drone will fly away from you at 45° up.

I appreciate your tutorials on the Skydio before I get mine

On the bright side, you probably don't have to worry about your concern about no usb A port since you probably lost only about 3% battery on the controller

If the river was glassy slow who knows if it would have encountered dangerous or damaging serious situation, as instructions do warn of water more than X feet wide (if I recall right, 30' ?). I got a river next door, no way will I chance skydio over it. Best to be wise with such an expensive "thing". Hope your hands recovered ok. Seems like first flight? It's actually good you hadn't done whole lot of instruction cramming coz when you flew it ......... it demonstrated its forgiveness, makes me a 70yo senior feel more secure for December (when I supposedly get the drone). Thanks! :)

Just 15min of flying time, 350ft of range, on screen hold to land, no telemetry, oh man, is like a beta version of a drone, but is not commercial salable!

It's Obviously Not Ready For "Prime Time". This shouldn't be happening when paying $1,500 for a drone that's suppose to be "game changing". I'm beginning to wonder if I should just cancel my reservation ... 🤔

Billy you should have let the battery drain down to see what the drone would do, would it auto return home or just land where it was.

Over hyped from launch.

Ok it’s not coming back lol That was funny as crap you were already visualizing the drone in the river 🙀

Thank you so much for your videos, very useful, keep it up😀

When I first heard about this. My only problem was that I am used to a 1” sensor with 20 meg stills. Very good for low light situations. Having seen this.. that pales into insignificance. I’ll stick with DJI for now. Even with the geofencing. By the way, I emailed Skydio and asked if there were any plans to introduce a bigger better chip. And was treated like an idiot by their “Customer Services” dept In any case. All our regs are changing in July,and these will be illegal then. So... waiting for some good news.

Absolutely DJI hands-down.

there is a big mistery that's driving me crazy. My RC has to be turned OFF and ON again every time it looses the link, it's able to connect to the drone only at the moment of power-up, so, it is necessary to power-cycle it in order to regain a lost connection... I've discovered there is a number of Skydio2 owners who are in the same situation, to the point they think that's "norma" and happens to everybody... We are not able to understand what the difference is between the "self-reconnecting RC's" and the non reconnecting ones, we have checked for the firmware version, we all have 7.0.30! Yet they behave differently... Ani Idea? it's really annoying, Power cycling every time means closing the "lid" and opening it again, if you are on a Tablet with a tablet holder... you'd better put everything back in the bag and go home....

Hopefully Skydio is monitoring sites like yours Billy. Thanks for the review. I’m in batch 1 but have yet to receive my S1. Honestly, had they disclosed that the controller would ship with no telemetry I probably would not have plunked down the deposit. It’s hard for me to believe that they missed such an obvious and crucial component. Makes me wonder if they even fly DJI drones or any of their competition because anyone who’s flown for any length of time at all comes to lean on and use telemetry to be a better and safer pilot. Big fail in my opinion. I would definitely NOT sell my M2Pro in exchange for this one, but I am still looking forward to seeing that 4k60 and using the autonomous flying to capture some things that are currently not possible when solo flying my M2Pro so I’m going to keep my order in and hope that Skydio adds telemetry to the S2 by summer. It also sounds like a completely new controller would be in order. IMHO. So, for me, the Skydio will not be my #1 drone by any means, just another tool to add to give me some more options for footage, kind of like having a nice mirrorless camera and still owning an Osmo Pocket and a GoPro. Three cameras, three uses - 2 drones, 2 uses.

Nice to watch a 'pro' fly. Seems to me though that early on you had lost VLOS before you first tested the the RTH. Pretty gutsy. Also, interesting that when you got the low battery warning it just said it would land in 1:15. Wonder if this thing was far away, if it would of adjusted its warning time to allow for a manual return to home. Also, no automatic RTH on low battery?

$1000 for the drone plus extra for the crappy controller. Then there is no telemetry on the screen. The range seems to be horrible. Don’t see why there is so much interest in this drone. I guess it’s for the autonomous crowd. I like flying my drone sooo not for me.

Hi, I think it loses the connection signal very easily...and that is a headache.. otherwise I see it perfect...Billy make more test because the my will be arrive on May of the 2020.. Thank , excellent video.

I feel you bro :)) Same thing happened with me and my mini over the ocean :// Adrenaline pumping

Its really made for auto-tracking, more reliable than dji ones. But anything else go for mavic

The battery drains fast once you increased roll, speed and pitch to 100%.

Great points mate. Like your Reviews. Remote needs to be completely remodeled. Don't like the no flight business especially if an experienced pilot. Love the obstacle Avoidence and believe its where they can overtake dji. . but only if they include the basic modes etc of what we come to expect from todays drones. I also use an IPAD MINI. Looks to me like this drone is made for safety. The boost button should be a switch. By them trying to make this safe they actually do the opposite. Obviously needs Glonas.and a lot more work, its a shame, I like the active trak.

You can have 100% speed without the boost button if you max out "pitch" sensitivity from the app.

After watching your tracking video I got very excited about this drone. But now I see with no telemetry and nothing telling you how fast you’re going this needs to be worked on by the manufacturer and the engineers. I hope they will listen to you, but until I see any difference in the interface and the controller, I will stick with DJI.

The 3,500 feet to the bridge is very consistent with what I get with my Parrot Anafi/controller combination - typically max range is 2,500 to 3,500 feet in a suburban area. Looks like the Skydio is about the same. However, the Anafi allows you to manually choose the channel you want and I went with a couple of different channels in the 5.8 mhz band and that made a difference with the fpv - strong and clear up to about 3,000 feet, then just drops out and starts an RTH. Does the Skydio give you the ability to choose a specific band or channel? Might help. My take, Skydio should have licensed a better controller (Autel evo's with the built in screen would have been great) or designed their own.

Billy, to me it appears that you are learning by doing. Did you read a manual? If so, was it good enough? I see that your are making comparisons and that is normal. However, every quad as you know has its own unique differences. This Skydio2 is no exception. Fly the props off it and see how you do after many sessions, if you would? Please try not to be too uneven in comments while in the learning stages.

Hi, Billy, have you tried flying the Skydio 2 with the range extender? Wait, of course not, the remote doesn't have antenna. Never mind.

Powers ! Don't know where that came from

Skydio ads: less cockpit more camera

BIG QUESTION: With "auto-record" does it split the recording in fractions or it makes 1 file? Because after flying 21 min and recording all the time, you get one huge file in 4K, 60fps! It's not really convenient to handle such big file... It's better to have possibility to stop/start recording during the fly...

Why did you keep flying forward when the signal was already weak 😮

I could tell it was returning to home by the camera feed. I’m sure you were freaking out!! So do you think it’s worth the money? Hopefully they’ll release some firmware updates soon to address some of the issues that you’re describing. When did place your order before you received it? I’m in the second batch and I’m curious about how long I’ll have to wait until I get mine.

What has been pointed out is using the controller and phone in combination with the beacon gives more range. What I am looking for is why the camera zoom button is not a zoom but a fwrd, backwards, button? How is that not the same as the right stick? So there is no Zoom control?

This thing cost over 1000$ for a full combo, not yet to actually competitive with DJI

I feel they totally failed with the controller, especially for that price. I really hated to say that but I hope that they are paying attention to some of reviews out here. And hopefully get back to the table and re-vamp this controller idea. A lot of work needs to be done, before I spend money on a controller that doesn't seem to have a lot of control!!!!!! Great video by the way. Keep them coming

Great video, really good footage. Does the controller on the Skydio beep loudly like the Mavic controllers do?

Great info as usual, hopin for a better alternative to DJI but this is certainly not it...Even the EVO beats this !! Thanks Billy for savin me money..I'll wait for the Mavic 3...

You say you want to increase altitude to get "better line of sight" but then you lose connection and can't even see the drone. Do you even know what Line Of Sight means Billy?

Don't Panic, Don't panic as the Skydio loses connection. 😂😂😂😂😂 lmao

Why won’t my controller power on when I opened the folding arm. It is fully charged!

Super Cool! Skydio sadly still has some work to do...

Sit in your car to fly. That's what I do 👍

they add turbo button because with normal switch, battery will be probably down in 5 minutes . just for example, mavic2 flis about 70kmh in sport mode (switch) and it still got some reserve (this is all related to safety, imo), it can go till something like 90, but they make it safe (skydio is just boosted to max to brag about (same thing as tesla turbo mode, which drains battery in minutes), which cuts down battery time drastically, overheat the motors etc, which could lead to problems in longer, if not shorter terms. and range is pathetic, this is only good enough just for goofing with some sports etc. serious filming? not really, imo..

Not a fan of any WIFI drone. This is strictly an action drone to follow you around. I'l wait for the Mavic 3!

Thanks, Billy. They need a proper controller - definitely. Not good :(

very weird flight test...this drone doesn't convince me👎