Summer is now around the corner and among the fashions of the moment, that of drones is back to fly. For the little ones, or simply for those who enter this world for the first time, the advice is to start with a cheaper product. Not to be confused, however, cheap with “poor”. And then, Ryze Tello is one of those quality products, which we would recommend to everyone to approach on the fly. That's why, after so many months from its release, it is still valid, and to whom it is recommended.
First and foremost, Ryze Tello is the result of a collaboration between leading consumer drone manufacturer DJI and Chinese start-up Ryze. The result is a simple, light and inexpensive quadcopter, clearly aimed at newbies to this hobby, but which nevertheless does not give up on quality, which is substantiated mainly in flight stability.
Despite its price, the drone has everything you need to start having fun, equipped with a front-mounted camera, capable of capturing 5MP photos, and streaming 720p HD video, complete with a live video feed to your smartphone. , which on occasion can also act as a controller. In terms of autonomy, a good result is obtained, with the 13 minutes declared by the house which, at least in our tests, are always plausible results. In other words, it is a ready-to-fly peripheral, which has everything to meet the initial demand of first-time flyers.
Even in terms of construction it is a well-assembled peripheral. Of course, the drone offers a plastic body, but which seems strong enough to survive and absorb some small bumps or falls, which at least initially may not be missing.
The drone, as already mentioned, can be piloted with your smartphone, connected via WiFi to the Tello app, available for free for iPhone and Android smartphones. This ensures a theoretical control range of 100 meters, and a maximum altitude of 30 meters. The maximum speed of the drone is, instead of 8 m / s. Considering that it will be used mostly in closed spaces, or in any case in the range of the garden at home, these are specifications that will certainly allow the new driver to have fun.
There is no shortage of buttons for the automatic control of the drone, such as those that allow you to take off and land with a simple click on the screen, as well as a double lever system on the screen, which allows you to adjust the height and direction of the drone. While digital control is never to be preferred when maximum precision is required, it must be said that on a drone of this caliber it still works well. Not only is it reactive enough, but it allows you to transform the Ryze Tello into a real ready to fly: at any time you turn it on and you are ready to fly, since you always have your smartphone with you.
It is a fun drone to fly, above all, it is snappy, with pleasant and precise movements in space. It responds agile, although of course this is only valid indoors or on windless days. In fact, it is not a drone capable of withstanding strong winds, also because we must not forget that it is a quadcopter weighing just 80 grams.
As already mentioned, Ryze promises a range of the Wi-Fi signal “up to 100m”. Unfortunately, the data does not seem to be particularly true, not at least in everyday use, where however there will never be some interference to the signal, which will limit the signal to about 40 meters maximum most of the time. Also on the height it seemed to us that the limit is less than the 30 meters indicated on the map.
Although these data may seem limiting for a drone, these are absolutely acceptable characteristics for the type of product you have in your hands. In fact, the Tello will not be used to capture aerial photos of landscapes from above, nor to push it to crazy distances, which, moreover, are not allowed by the current legislation on drone flight. Rather it is a product suitable for group selfies from above.
Ryze Tello, however, does not disdain some unexpected sensor present on this band. A pair of downward-facing sensors allow the drone to remain stable in flight, even indoors. Taking your hands off the controls, in fact, you will notice a great stability, a hover that you would not expect from this peripheral. Of course, again the system is light-based, so it only works under optimal lighting conditions.
The sensors allow the drone to land easily even on the palm of the hand. Indeed, there is even a “launch” mode, which will allow you to take off the drone with a quick gesture of the hand upwards: by launching the drone, it will gain altitude and stabilize in front of your eyes. It's one of the funniest ways to start taking off.
In addition to manual flight controls, automated options can be used to perform stunts and capture interesting videos : 360 degree rotations, “up and down” and more. The most interesting is the 8D flip, which allows the drone to perform precise flip movements that mirror the way you slide your finger across the screen. This is the essence of the drone: pure fun, without expecting to be able to shoot panoramas from above with extreme fluidity and stabilization.
The Tello app is refreshingly simple, with intuitive controls and a limited (but not restrictive) set of options. There is an on-screen battery indicator during flight, so you can land before running dry, as well as a built-in warning system that activates when power is low, to help the user not lose the Tello.
As far as image quality is concerned, of course, you cannot expect the best. By recording video, you notice artifact subjects and extremely evident compression. The storage method doesn't help – the videos are not stored locally on the drone but are streamed directly to the phone and whenever the quality of the Wi-Fi connection drops, frame rate issues occur.
Partially different speech for the photos. Certainly there won't be razor-sharp images, but some selfie shots to post on social media will be able to take home.
Conclusions
Tello is a great way to start mastering the art of flying with drones. The Tello is small and weighs almost nothing, easy to carry around all day. Battery life isn't bad, the possibilities of flying stunts are fun, as are landing and take-off modes from the palm of your hand. The rotor guards are perfect for indoor flight, and to protect the aircraft from any falls. Perfect to give to the little ones, with a view to buying a higher-end drone. In any case, you will return to have fun with the Tello even after switching to a higher-end drone.
PRO
AGAINST
On Amazon you can buy it for 89.99 euros
