The Sky Viper Video Drone V950HD is a starter drone around the $110 price range. Recommended for ages 12 and up, it’s a great drone for kids or adults looking for a starter/beginner drone. It’s a fairly large drone, measuring 12.75 inches from blade to blade. The weight listed is one ounce, but consumers have reported it’s heavier than that which would make sense given its large size.
It comes with four rotors and one helpful feature is that the front rotors are yellow and the ones in the back are black. Each rotor is mounted on a thin plastic foot which keeps the drone elevated off the ground while resting.
The polypropylene body is designed to withstand almost any crash which is an excellent feature for those new to flying drones. The center of the drone consists of the battery, camera, and micro USB port covered by a thin plastic shell.
Battery and Drone Features
The 2.4 Ghz controller requires 4 AAA batteries (not included). The Sky Viper Video Drone V950HD has 13 buttons and switches, but you’ll probably only need to use half of them on a regular basis. You can control movement up/down, forward/backward, and left/right. It also has an auto-flip button which will cause the drone to do a 360° flip. It is advertised to have a 200 foot control range, however some users report that once the drone is over 100 feet away it loses communication with the controller and continues to fly on its own, making it a little difficult to stop it. The drone offers three levels of sensitivity for beginners through expert.
The 500 mha battery takes 30–90 minutes to charge and provides 5–7 minutes of flight time. If the camera is used, the battery drains more quickly resulting in a shorter flight time. When the battery is low, the drone hovers a couple inches off the ground and can be flown as a hovercraft for a couple additional minutes. The battery does need to cool down for about 45 minutes before being recharged. The battery is difficult to change and replacements seem to be somewhat difficult to find.
Camera Features: Photos and Video
The camera provides 640×480 pixel photos and 720 pixel video (only images; no audio). These are certainly not the highest quality, but are acceptable for a fun experience. Photos will be a little blurry unless the drone is completely still. The controller chimes if you successfully took a photo and chimes every second while recording video. This is a useful signal but can be irritating. An impressive feature at this price point is that the camera can capture a 360° panoramic view at the touch of a button. The camera is removable and the Sky Viper Video Drone V950HD will not do stunts with the camera attached.
The drone comes with a 4 GB micro SD card which stores about 20 minutes of video. It can be upgraded to a 32 GB card. It also has a micro USB cable to attach the drone to a computer to upload photos and videos. There is no live stream available.
Read the Manual Instructions
The Sky Viper V950HD is made by Skyrocket Toys, and it’s extremely important to read the manual before use. Many user problems with this drone can be avoided by following the enclosed directions. Blade guards need to be attached using tiny screws before use. It also needs to be calibrated on a flat surface. Fly this drone on a grassy surface with no trees until you get the hang of flying it.
If you are looking for less expensive drones we highly recommend the BLADE Nano QX RTF Quadcopter (review) and UDI U8181A (review).
Author: Stacey Miller
Copyright: 2016 BestDronesToBuy.org