C-Fly Obtain F803 Brushless FPV Folding 1080p FHD Camera Drone Flight Test Review

This folding GPS quadcopter is reminiscent of the Mavic Pro with folding brushless motors and 3 axis stabilized gimbal and camera. Find it here
Pros
- Folding design brushless motor quadcopter, very reminiscent of Mavic Pro.
- Controller includes a built-in 5.8Ghz WiFi repeater amplifier. This frequency will not create interference with the 2.4Ghz controller. Also the WiFi repeater/amplifier enables distant digital data FPV reception on your 5.8Ghz capable phone or tablet.
- Flight modes of altitude hold, GPS position hold, GPS circle position, selfie mode (back is front and front is back), and return to home. Follow me and waypoint modes are also available via its app only.
- Return to home and landing on manual selection, and automatic return and landing on loss of signal and low voltage.
- Fast flier.
- 1080p HD camera with 2K digital still capability.
- Smart DVR. Knows to stop recording and finalize the video file if you accidentally turn off the quadcopter without first stopping the video recording. Wish every camera quadcopter had that feature.
- 3 axis brushless stabilized gimbal with remote up/down tilt capability.
- 3S 3800mah battery produces flight time of up to 20 minutes (I flew over 15 minutes and still had 20 percent remaining battery power).
Cons: Keep in mind that this is the original release. As such, there are some bugs to be ironed out.
- Requires 5.8Ghz WiFi (802.11 ac) capable smartphone or tablet. Phones/tablets with older 2.4Ghz WiFi will not work with this drone.
- Instruction manual very small and incomplete. I actually had to use a magnifying glass to read. Operation of the quadcopter not fully discussed (example, connection procdures of phone to controller).
- Seems to use GPS only (no GLONASS).
- Did an automatic return to home at about 200 meters distance.
- On/Off power button sticks.
- Gimbal shudders in turns creating shaky video. Gimbal up/down control is also too sensitive. It's easy to overshoot up or down.
- Date/time stamp on video. No instruction on how to turn it off.
- Pins of microSD card reader do not make proper contact with card due to current design. Requires adding a cushion material above the card to push the card down into the reader pins.
- I had difficulty in calibrating the compass. It required many repeated tries until I had a successful calibration.
- On screen telemetry information of range, height, and distance is very difficult to see with current tiny font of app.
- App is buggy. Crashed on me several times. Google Maps feature also is not implemented yet (I could not get it to work).
- Automatic takeoff button on controller would not work.
- Original list price was somewhat high for its current performance and features (was originally posted at $499. Price has since been reduced. Maybe once most of the above cons are corrected, then its original price would be justified.
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This video along with every video of the Quadcopter 101 channel was produced and edited with VSDC Free Video Editor. You may download this excellent, and no kidding "free" video editor here
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