Parrot Disco Drone News and Release Date: New Wing-Shaped Drone Out Next Month Packed with Great Features; Specs, Price and How to Fly It
It's a bird! It's a plane! No, it's a Parrot!
After months of waiting, the Parrot Disco drone is finally set for release next month. No specific date is set yet, but the Disco drone, a ready-to-fly wing-shaped drone and the first of its kind, is projected to cost around $1,300.
Like the Bebop quadcopters and Minidrones, the Parrot is a lightweight fixed-wing aircraft. It weighs around 700 grams and is molded from flexible plastic form. It's equipped with a brushless rear propeller and bi-blades propeller that can lift the Disco by up to 50 mph for 45-minute flights.
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According to the Paris-based civil drone creator, the Disco is the "first fixed-wing drone for immersive flight". It first debuted at the CES 2016 and is the latest model in the Parrot drone series, though it makes do without the usual quadcopter format.
On the specs front
Aboard the controls is a set holder for your smartphone. The drone comes with Parrot Cockpitglasses which gives you a view from the 14-megapixel wide angle full HD camera on its nose. It can also switch the view to your smartphone's rear camera and is capable of capturing photos and videos up to 32GB.
Moreover, the drone is packed with extra features such as an accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, and barometer - all important tools of the flying trade.
On the other hand, the Parrot's FreeFlight Pro app not only provides a live view with telemetry, it also allows you to control speed, altitude and distance using your wireless photo/video settings.
There's no need to be an experienced pilot with the Disco, Parrot said. With the aid of CHUCK or Control Hub and Universal Computer Kit, you can simply toss the Disco in the air and it will automatically ascend 50 meters, circling until you give it a command to turn or move. Piloting becomes more intuitive as it's packed with a powerful autopilot function to control the flight.
How to fly
Not sold yet on the flying experience? The Disco comes with a new, compact remote control or the Skycontroller 2. This allows users to pilot the drone in full manual mode. The RC offers a theoretical 1.2-mile reach and works just like a joystick. There are also customizable buttons and triggers so you can control the drone and the Cockpit glasses.
The Disco also has removable wings, which means it's easily compacted for transport or ease landing impact on unforgiving terrain.
Excited for this? There's no word out yet for the specific date of release, so keep an eye out for it!
