Really scary super-discount drone!Behind the scenes of drone prices that you lose if you buy without knowing

Drones come in a variety of prices, from toy drones that can be bought for just a few thousand yen to high-end machines that cost over 400,000 yen. But isn't there a danger to a product that is too cheap? Why are drone prices so different ?

In this article, while answering Gimon about the differences in safety and performance that result from such drone prices and price differences, we will provide information on what you need to know before buying a drone and what you will lose if you do not know it. I summarized it. Please check it out until the end!

Table of contents

Three dangers hidden in super-discount drones

Radio waves are normally used to operate a flying drone from the ground. And since this radio wave uses a limited frequency band, using unauthorized equipment may cause crosstalk. Therefore, it is required by law for equipment that emits radio waves used in Japan to obtain a "certificate of conformity with technical standards for specific radio equipment (commonly known as technical suitability)".

Drones sold by major manufacturers such as DJI have passed the technical suitability, so there is no problem, but for some products such as "cheap products sold on the net" and "suspicious overseas parallel imports" It seems that there are some aircraft that have not obtained technical suitability certification.

Strictly speaking, even turning on the power of an aircraft that has not passed such technical certification may violate the Radio Law. I've never heard of "I was arrested for flying a drone that violated the Radio Law," but I want to be careful not to inadvertently buy an illegal product because of the price.

Poor connection makes it out of control !?

If the connection between the drone and the controller (propo) is interrupted, it will not be possible to operate the aircraft as a matter of course. In such a situation, in the worst case, the drone will continue to rise endlessly and be sucked into the air, or it will fly in the direction of a rush.

You may also experience the complex emotions of sadness and humiliation, looking up at the drone that keeps hovering in one place until the battery runs out.

The risk of poor connection or loss of control is not always determined by the price alone, but as an example, even if it is a beginner's machine, if it is a DJI product that costs more than 60,000 yen, "Return to Home" The function is installed, and the drone can automatically return when the connection with the controller is lost.

Poor battery increases fire risk !?

A lithium-ion polymer secondary battery called "LiPo" is used as the power source to turn the motor for the drone to fly. This type of battery has a charge / discharge control circuit and a circuit that protects the battery from short circuits and overheating, but in the case of inferior products, this circuit performance is insufficient, so the battery expands. You may have troubles such as fever and ignition.

Also, if the battery itself has low strength or is not designed properly, the reaction may suddenly proceed and an explosion may occur due to the impact of a crash. In the video below, the battery that came off the drone that actually crashed came into contact with the rotor and was damaged, and then the smoke was blown out violently.

When it comes to circuit performance and strength, price may not always be directly linked to quality, but you should be very careful with extremely cheap products. Also, when purchasing, instead of just swallowing the manufacturer's explanation and the review comment section of the mail order site, ask the dealer for the reputation, pick up the raw voice on Blog or SNS, etc., and use it as a battery. Care must be taken, such as checking for reports of abnormalities.

Back side of drone price

Three major factors that affect the price of the aircraft

"What's the difference between a cheap drone and a high drone?" It's a simple gimon, but there may not be many people who can answer immediately.

In this section, we will pick up and introduce the typical factors that affect the price of the drone, so please refer to it when you think "Is this price reasonable?" When purchasing the aircraft.

The heavier the weight that can be mounted on the drone, the larger the aircraft and the higher the price. For example, when shooting a video, if you say "Full HD image quality is fine, and you don't mind if the image shakes a little", you only need to attach a small and lightweight camera to the drone, so it costs around 50,000 yen. It can be realized with the aircraft.

On the other hand, if you want to load an 8K image quality camera and a high-performance stabilizer on a drone to shoot overwhelmingly beautiful images, you need to lift (fly) a weight of 5 kg or more, and in some cases nearly 10 kg. In order to achieve that, an expensive aircraft of nearly 500,000 yen is required.

The drone recognizes obstacles with a vision positioning system (VPS) or 3D recognition system, and processes them in real time with a dedicated processor together with information obtained from GPS, inertial measurement unit, etc. to avoid collisions and stabilize them. Realizes the flight.

In the upper model, there are also aircraft that have improved collision avoidance ability by increasing the number of sensors and installing infrared sensors. However, as a matter of course, the more sensors and the more complicated the processing, the higher the price of the aircraft, and the higher the price. Therefore, it can be said that the big tendency is that "the more difficult a drone is to collide, the higher the price".

I think there are many people who are interested in drones or want to buy them because they want to take pictures and videos from the sky. Therefore, the price of drones in recent years is different not only in flight performance but also in how beautiful pictures and videos can be taken.

The price of a camera, whether it is handheld or equipped with a drone, increases as the image sensor (sensor) is larger and has higher performance. The reason is that the larger the sensor, the lower the yield, and the need for an expensive image processing engine to handle the large amount of data captured by the large sensor. Also, as a story peculiar to drones, a gimbal (stabilizer) is required to reduce the vibration of the aircraft itself and the shaking caused by the wind and take pictures and videos with less blur.

Furthermore, if you try to fly a large and high-performance sensor, image processing engine, and stabilizer that stabilizes the camera, the price will increase because the aircraft must be made larger and more sophisticated.

Manufacturer ranking by drone price range & grade

Drone makers sell products of various grades and ranks. However, there are general characteristics such as "high-end approach" and "entry model-oriented" as the brand's tendency, so here we will introduce the standing position and characteristics of each drone manufacturer as a guide when purchasing.

DJI, the largest consumer drone maker and said to have a global market share of over 70%, is the top maker in the drone world that is neither pushed nor pushed. The performance is also origami, and many of the professional operators I interviewed all said, "DJI's aircraft is highly stable." However, the price is also higher, and even the cheapest model has a direct sales price of 65,800 yen including tax.

Karma is a drone developed by GoPro, which is popular as a long-established brand of action cameras. If you use the latest model GoPro Hero 6 for the camera part, it is a high-performance model that can shoot 60 frames per second with 4K image quality, and the unique style that the camera protrudes greatly forward allows you to shoot the camera during flight without reflecting the rotor. It has features such as being able to tilt up. However, the drone itself has a flight time of about 20 minutes, which is shorter than that of DJI aircraft in the same price range, and it is undeniable that the autopilot function is behind the scenes.

As a male drone maker in the United States, it is a brand that made a name for itself in the early days of drones, but it has been slowed down due to product defects and delays in delivery, and it is a company that is informed of difficulties such as dismissing personnel. In July 2017, there are signs of a revival, such as the announcement of a restart as an open source-based system and the flow of new funding, but the future is uncertain.

French drone maker Parrot is a brand that gained popularity with the release of "BeBop", a hit product in the popular price range in the early drone market. In recent years, as with 3DR, dark topics such as personnel reduction may be heard, but we announced unique models such as drones with fixed wings like airplanes and drones with arms, and have a unique presence. Continues to be released to the market.

Holy Stone Toys, as the name implies, is a Chinese manufacturer that specializes in toy drones. We are good at making cheap products with narrowed down functions, and we are a regular of "top sales" on Amazon because of the support for easy-to-buy prices. By the way, it is said that the technical suitability certification in Japan has passed, so that point is safe.

HUBSAN is also a drone maker based in China. From aerial photography drones that can be bought for 5,000 yen, models that can take aerial photography from a full HD image quality camera mounted on a 3-axis gimbal for 50,000 yen are on sale. In Japan, G-Force Co., Ltd. and Hi-Tech Multiplex Japan Co., Ltd. are selling, and the models sold in Japan have passed the technical suitability.

Known as a cheap smartphone brand, Xiaomi in China is also entering the drone market. At the time of writing the article, the sales area is only in China, but it boasts catalog specifications close to those of the DJI Phantom series, such as a 3-axis gimbal equipped with a camera capable of 4K shooting and self-sustaining navigation.Also, the low price that overwhelms the rival of 450 dollars in the 4K model is a considerable impact.

summary

Cheap drones may seem like a bargain at first glance, but some products may have problems with non-technical certification, connectivity with controllers, battery durability, etc. And caution is required.

It's also true that expensive drones from well-known brands have a reason for being "expensive." Therefore, in this article, I explained what kind of specifications such as payload, collision avoidance ability, camera performance, etc. will be a model with "high specifications and high price".

You can't be satisfied with either a cheap one or a wastefully expensive one, so the information in this article is either "a cheap but well-made drone" or "a high but valuable drone". I hope it helps you to buy.