I’m a UAV Coach instructor in SoCal. I’m also a member of the Civil Air Patrol, who have standardized on Skydio. As such I have acquired one for my own use and training. One of the cool things Skydio did to protect their installed base is provide backward compatibility with the new longer lasting batteries and the new Keyframe function, so you can use them on the S2 as well as the 2+.
Jim, pardon the delayed comment. Alan here! Yes, thought the backwards compatibility was great, which we haven't seen from other, cough, drone companies out there :)
This review, while very well done, skipped over an important point. The 3D mapping software is really great, but it is only licensed for one drone. That means, for corporations like ours that have multiple locations with drone operations in all of them, if you buy 10 Skydio 2 drones, you need to buy 10 copies of the software (more accurately, 10 licenses to operate it). As I understand it, this is an annual subscription that costs more each year than the Skydio 2 drone itself. To have one department that processes data from drone ops, with 10 pilots feeding data to that office, the cost to operate the 3D modeling is prohibitive. For us, until a site license if offered, we will stick with Pix4D and DJI platforms. This is, to me, the single and only barrier to buying a Skydio.
thank you for this review,, very interesting, I have a MA2 and need something for traveling off road motorcycle .. I think it will be a nice second drone, I might wait for skydio 3,,
Good content, but tell me why you cut to a closeup side view of your face…. It is distracting and unnecessary….. you forgot the importance of eye contact with the viewer…. Which is lost when you cut to the side view….it does not add anything to your presentation… Is cutting to a side view trying to impress people that you are using two cameras? I know it seems to be a trend these days, but take it from a long time professional videographer….the way you use your second camera side view is not needed; you would be much better to show more B-roll. Regards…. Ron
Ron, thanks for your feedback. Doing the best we can over here, and we're not shy when it comes to experimentation and trying new things. Not everything lands well!
IF I BROUGHT THE SKYDIO 2 DRONE THEN MOVED TO UK... WOULD THIS BE LEGAL.OR IF I BROUGHT A USED SKYDIO 2 DRONE AND HAD IT CHIPPED TO UK? CAN THIS BE LEGAL?
I have Skydio 2 but after it clipped a tree branch and crashed I'm not 100% confident with it anymore and only fly it with a controller. At that point better to get a DJI.
Comsumer drones are not that great. If I'm to invest into a drone it has to have all the bells and whistle with zero gimmick feature. The skydio 2 plus seems to have all of that and does it better. That automous 360 degree obstacle avoidance is a big plus which would make it less prone to crashing into things unexpectedly. Great job skydio! The dji maveric 2 pro was just not the best investment with gimmicky feature that (you) the users can only use in certain flight situation which is a major flaw and quite disappointing.
...and hopefully they will come to Europe, too! - What did you do to be able to fly in South Africa? From what I read on Skyio's website, their drones are only sold and operational in the US and Canada...?
hi, a few questions. which is far the best? wi-fi? ocusync. or lightbridge? the prop layout. why doesn't the skydio2 plus. update have props facing upwards. instead of front props facing down near to the ground. and when landing.it can cause a problem, I am a paramotor pilot. so from all your experience would having the skydio 2 plus .benefit me from flying etc. is ocusync far better.stronger signal.?
What's next for Skydio? Stealth mode... as silent as possible. Night flights... maybe a couple led lights. other than that... I really like my Skydio2! Leaning something new every day.