V-Copter Falcon Mini - First Impressions

Good day folks. Sean here from Air

Photography. So, the people over at Zero

Robotics have been busy bringing us some

pretty interesting products over the

past year. We recently got the new Hover

Air X1 Pro and Pro Max, and now they

have a new crowdfunded project, the

Vcopter Falcon Mini. Now, I just want to

make it very clear that this is not a

review. I have been able to fly their

pre-production unit and I'm using beta

software. So, it's not really fair to go

over some of the features, the

strengths, the weaknesses of a product

until the final version is ready. This

is more of an introduction to the

product so you can get some more

information about it to see if it's

something that perhaps you are

interested in. I'll have a full review

on the product once it's been released

publicly and everything is finalized.

There are some issues that still need to

be worked out, but not to worry. As a

consumer, if you purchase it, you'll

have a polished product by the time it

hits the market. They've been working

hard to get everything ready, even since

I've had my test unit. There have been

several firmware updates, correcting

issues, and getting everything nice and

polished. Now, the Vcopter Falcon Mini

is a really unique drone. It is a

bicopter. That means it only has two

propellers. And surprisingly, for only

having two propellers, this thing is

extremely stable and it's very agile.

Now, in all honesty, this is not going

to be a product for everybody,

especially if you're looking more for a

cinematography drone. Photography and

videography is your main priority. There

are definitely better choices for you on

the market. I think this is going to be

appealing to people who want a drone

that's fun to fly. It's still capable of

capturing highquality content. I

consider myself to be a drone and RC

enthusiast. I like to fly all different

types of drones and uh you know, of

course, race around with different RC

vehicles. And I think for a lot of

people who are RC enthusiasts, something

like this is just really unique and it's

a lot of fun to fly. Now, really, this

is the second version of the Vcopter

that we've seen. It was actually 6 years

ago that they launched the original

Vopter Falcon. It was their full-size

drone. It was quite a bit more money.

There was a lot of good reviews about it

as well. In fact, I did review it on my

channel many years ago. It was really

unique and again a lot of fun to fly.

But now they're focusing more on a mini

drone. This is sub 250 g. So that's

going to be really important for a lot

of people. In many countries it doesn't

require registration here in Canada.

That means we don't have to register it

with Transport Canada and we don't have

to have a certificate to fly it. The

Vcopter Falcon Mini features their

proprietary tiltrotor design. That's

what helps keep it stable in the air. It

features 34 minutes of flight time, 4K

30 video, and it has some built-in

intelligent flight features. Now, when

it comes to the final software, I'm not

sure what's going to be included.

Currently, they have an orbit mode, a

rocket mode, and a droney mode, which

can produce some interesting results.

Now, you do have to be careful with it

because there is no obstacle avoidance

on this drone. So, while flying around

or using some of the intelligent flight

features, you do have to be aware of

your surroundings. It's fully GPS

compatible. That means it supports some

of the safety features such as return to

home and the settings. You can set your

return to home altitude. But again, when

it's coming home, you do have to be

aware as again there is no obstacle

avoidance. Now, something else

interesting that they've done with it is

a feature called reverse flight.

Essentially, you take the props off, you

flip them upside down. There's an

attachment that you have to add. Just

crips on over the top like that.

Essentially locks these arms into place.

Now, that's only needed when flying it

upside down, but once attached, this

thing will actually fly inverted, and

it's actually really neat to watch. Now,

you do have to be comfortable with hand

launching and hand catching as obviously

the propellers are facing down, so you

can't take off from the ground. So, you

do have to be aware of that. And it also

states that when you enable the inverted

flight, you might be voiding your

warranty. So, that is something to keep

in mind as well. Now, in all reality,

there's no practical purpose for flying

upside down except that it is kind of

thrilling and it's really interesting to

do. Probably not something I'll do very

often myself, but it is kind of a neat

feature. Now, it's a very small, light,

and compact drone, so it's great for

travel. It's small enough to fit in a

pocket if needed, and that can be really

important for some people, especially if

you're looking for a drone to take along

with you. Big bulky drones can sometimes

be a little inconvenient. Something like

the V Copter Falcon Mini is really

small, lightweight, and it is easy to

pack. When you purchase it, it does come

with a controller. You can see the

smartphone mount tucks away in

underneath at the bottom there, and it

folds out, and you can easily mount your

smartphone. The sticks are located in

the back, the removable, which again

makes it easy for travel. The software

that you download, the app that's used

to fly it, is compatible with both iOS

and Android. It's a pretty basic remote.

We got a power button. We have a stop

and a return to home button. At the

bottom here, we have USBC for charging.

And we have a USBC port for connecting

our smartphone. And in the package, when

you purchase it, it includes cables for

both USBC and lightning. We have foldout

antennas. And at the top here, we have a

record button and a shutter button. We

have a dial for the gimbal to adjust the

pitch. And we have a button here that

enables the sport mode if you want to

fly a little bit faster. The app port is

well designed. It's got a nice clean

interface. The settings are easy to

change. in access and it's easy to

navigate. There are different

resolutions that we can set for

capturing including 4K 30 and it also

has the ability to film in vertical

mode. Now, it's just a cropped in

version. But the nice thing about

filming in vertical mode is if you are

going to be uploading to social media,

it's already cropped for you. That's one

less step you have to do. Just keep in

mind that when filming in vertical mode,

it is going to be recorded at a max

resolution of 2.7K. Another nice feature

the controller has when filming in

vertical mode, you can actually rotate

your phone and that'll make it a little

bit easier when filming and framing in

vertical mode. The app will

automatically adjust to a vertical

format. That'll make it easy to still

adjust your settings and see all your

telemetry. Now, if you go over to their

page, which I will include a link down

in the description of this video, there

are several packages that are available

for purchase. There's a basic package

that comes with the drone, one battery,

and the controller. But they also have a

FlyMore kit that comes with additional

batteries, a charging hub, and a

carrying case. Now, who is this drone

for? As mentioned, if your primary focus

is photography and cinematography, there

are definitely better choices available

for you on the market. I think a drone

like this is great for RC enthusiasts,

people who just want a drone to fly

around for fun. You're still able to

capture 4K video. It's got a stabilized

gimbal on it, so it's going to be nice

and smooth, but it's just a nice unique

flight experience and a lot of fun to