Home Reviews ,,,,, Eachine E52 is also part of the foldable drones, a quadcopter that we have had the opportunity to test over the past few weeks. The spec sheet promises great things but expectations were largely disappointed by our tests. Forget about using it for aerial shots and rather think of it as a toy to try out the technology and maybe entertain a child for a few minutes.
How it's done
The whole drone is made of very light plastic: despite its dimensions, in any case rather small (15 x 6.2 x 2.3 centimeters), it weighs just 90 grams. The propellers are hidden inside the body: the arms can in fact be folded to allow it to be transported easily and without damaging it, even if for example you let it wander inside the pocket of a backpack.
On the base there is the battery, which can be extracted by squeezing it on both sides. It is recharged through a USB cable included in the package that uses a proprietary connection. In the box there is also the remote control to be able to control the flight of the drone. It is very large and comfortable to hold, despite weighing around 100 grams. A clamp can be attached to the remote control to support the smartphone, which can be used as a monitor to see what the camera is looking at in real time.
Four spare propellers are also included in the package.
How does it work
First you need to recharge the drone's battery. It recharges in about an hour. Instead, the remote control must be powered by inserting four AA batteries in the appropriate slot.
To use it, simply turn on the drone by keeping the On / Off button on the body pressed for two seconds, at the same time it is necessary to turn on the remote control using the appropriate button.
The arms of the drone are then extracted and placed on the ground. At this point, all you have to do is press the Fly button on the remote control to start the motors and raise the drone in the air.
How is it going
The drone automatically lifts to a height of approximately 50 centimeters from the ground. Controlling it is very difficult: the writer found himself at his first test ever and there were not a few bumps made to the drone against objects in the house.
This is because trying it outdoors is impossible. The drone suffers a lot from the wind: even the slightest breath makes it lose control, making it splash away tens of meters away. Stability is not guaranteed even at home, with doors and windows closed the slightest air movement tends to make the drone lose stability.
Flight time is very limited. The autonomy of a full charge is about 5–7 minutes, just enough to understand the operation of all the buttons. At least 3-4 reloads and related consecutive tests are required to become familiar with the instrument.
Unable to test camera and app
We were unable to test the quality of the camera or app control as the application (Eachine Fly, available free for iOS and Android) does not work with our drone.
However, we do not know if it is a problem with our test unit, which is not recognized by the software and therefore it is impossible to pair with the smartphone, or an incompatibility problem with the version of the app currently on the store.
Conclusions
Failure to test the app and camera aside, controlling the drone is a real undertaking. Sometimes, after a collision and a consequent fall, it is necessary to restart the system as the drone does not seem to recognize the commands. Some of the buttons do not work: we were only able to control the movements using the levers and activate the 360 degree rotation function which works almost very well.
We recommend not to lift the drone more than ten meters high as beyond this threshold the drone becomes highly unstable due to wind. For the operating distance we did not go beyond 20 meters between the drone and the remote control. It is ultimately a toy to prove the technology, but nothing more.
Retail price
Eachine E52 is on sale on Amazon for 49.99 euros.
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