SJRC F11 Pro Folding Brushless-Long Flying-Very High Resolution Camera Drone Flight Test Review

This might currently be the best GPS camera drone in the under $200 price range (as of July 2019) . Brushless motors, accurate and steady GPS/GLONASS, over 20 minutes flight time, super high resolution camera, and nearly everything seems to work as advertised (unusual in this price range)! Find it here
Pros
- Folding drone for maximum portability and protection of the drone during travel. Optional storage and transportation bag is available for extra cost.
- 1806 brushless motors.
- GPS/GLONASS system for rapid satellite lockon and improved location accuracy. Drone can automatically return to home and land at its takeoff point on command, loss of signal, and low battery.
- Includes a very high resolution 4MP HD camera (2592 x 1520 pixels at 25 FPS). Video is recorded to an onboard SD card. Lower resolution 720p video is also simultaneously recorded to your phone via 5Ghz WiFi. This video is also good (for 720p) with minimal (if any) frame dropping. Camera lens can be remotely adjusted up or down via the drone's controller.
- 11.1V 2500mah battery provides well over 20 minutes of flight time (I got 22 1/2 minutes flight time in this video with aggressive flying).
- FPV video range of over 400 meters. Line of sight control range thought the controller is much further, and is advertised at 1200 meters.
- Controller includes circle position and remote up/down control of camera lens. Controller also has a built-in rechargeable 300mah battery (AA's not needed with this controller).
- In flight video can be viewed and recorded to your smartphone using the "SJ GPS Pro" app available on Google Play here and iTunes here . App provides FPV viewing and recording capability, gesture camera control, along with circle position, GPS and optical follow me, and waypoints. The app has been updated since my original January 2019 review of the original SJRC F11, with nearly all features now working perfectly. Waypoints (now with working Google Maps/Satellite View!) and GPS follow me work particularly well with this app. The drone transitions smoothly from waypoint to waypoint without stopping. And the follow me algorithm has been updated to smooth the drone's flight when using this feature (original was very jerky in movement).
Cons
- Uses 802.11ac WiFi. Not everyone has such WiFi on their phone. As always, I strongly recommend that you first verify that your phone is indeed 802.11ac WiFi capable before purchasing. Google search your phone model name, along with the term 802.11. See if 802.11ac shows up in the results for your phone's specifications.
- Although it has a very high resolution camera, its resolution is unusual at 2592 x 1520 pixels. Some video editing programs may have problems editing it. The camera also has some fisheye effect from its 120 degree wide angled lens, and its white balance is somewhat cool with blueing (white balance is easily corrected with video editing software). For those experiencing editing problems, may I suggest the powerful free video editor that I use for all of my YouTube videos (VSDC available here ). Although free, it is a very feature rich and powerful video editor. But it is not very intuitive and does have a learning curve. Fortunately, there are very many YouTube tutorials for it to get you started.
- If only this had a stabilized gimbal, or a good onboard processor with electronic video stabilization (like the Tello). Such features would make this a near perfect drone (but unfortunately would also likely increase its price).
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This video along with every video of the Quadcopter 101 channel was produced and edited with VSDC Free Video Editor. You may download this excellent, and no kidding "free" video editor here
MUSIC LICENSE
"Awel" by stefsax
is licensed under a Creative Commons license:
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music was shortened to fit length of video.