The American drone manufacturer Skydio today introduced the Skydio 2. The successor to the R1 is a much more compact, lighter, autonomous drone with an excellent camera – a direct attack on the DJI Mavic 2 Pro and DJI Mavic Air.
Excellent video specs
The Skydio 2 starts with an aggressive list price of 999 US $. For that you get a lot of the latest technology: a 12-megapixel camera mounted on a 3-axis gimbal and containing Sony’s IMX577 1/2.3″ CMOS image sensor. This allows the drone to film in 4K resolution at 60fps HDR videos.
The drone is considerably more compact than its predecessor and with only 10×12 inches (255×297 millimeters) and 1.7 pounds (775 grams) suitable for backpacks.
Special feature: autonomous flying
The compact drone is also equipped with six 200° colour cameras to detect and avoid obstacles from any direction. The sensors and a Skydio “Onboard AI” enable a truly autonomous flight with automatic obstacle avoidance. Skydio has already impressively demonstrated that this is not just the usual marketing gossip with the R1 and set a new standard for autonomous flying.
The drone can reach a maximum autonomous speed of just under 36mph and can stay in the air for 23 minutes. For comparison, the DJI Mavic 2 series can fly up to 72 km/h and stays in the air for up to 31 minutes.
Three control options for the Skydio 2
There are three ways to control the Skydio 2: A beacon (for an additional $150) extends the range up to 1.5 km and allows the drone to follow its owner around obstacles, even if he disappears from the field of view of the cameras. For comparison: a DJI drone would stop the follow-me flight immediately because tracking is no longer possible. With the Beacon, simple repositioning of the drone for recording modes such as Orbit, Dronie and Rocket is also possible.
The drone can also be controlled via Android and iOS app via the smartphone. Photos and video clips can be downloaded and stored directly on the mobile phone, without the usual detour via USB and PC.
And of course the third option of the control is a remote control (an extra of $149). The controller extends the range to over 3.5 km and is ideal for those who want to control the drone manually with joysticks. And I bet for sure, Skydio has its controller from the same factory as the Parrot Anafi
The controllers also let you control the drone from farther away, up from about 109 yards (100 meters) with just a phone to about 0.9 miles (1.5 kilometers) with the beacon and about 2.2 miles (3.6km) with the joystick controller.
Start of Skydio sales 2
Die Skydio 2 can now be reserved and will be delivered within one month in the USA.