Drones

Parrot's lightweight Bebop 2 drone doubles down on flight time

Parrot's lightweight Bebop 2 drone doubles down on flight time
Like the original, the Bebop 2 shoots still at 14 megapixels and HD video at 1080p, with 8 GB of onboard storage
Like the original, the Bebop 2 shoots still at 14 megapixels and HD video at 1080p, with 8 GB of onboard storage
View 18 Images
There is no dramatic shift in design between the first and second iterations of Parrot's Bepop
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There is no dramatic shift in design between the first and second iterations of Parrot's Bepop
The lithium battery has been upsized from 1,200 mAh to 2,700 mAh, boosting flight time from 11 to 25 minutes
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The lithium battery has been upsized from 1,200 mAh to 2,700 mAh, boosting flight time from 11 to 25 minutes
Like the original, the Bebop 2 shoots still at 14 megapixels and HD video at 1080p, with 8 GB of onboard storage
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Like the original, the Bebop 2 shoots still at 14 megapixels and HD video at 1080p, with 8 GB of onboard storage
Among the improvements in the second Bepop drone is acceleration
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Among the improvements in the second Bepop drone is acceleration
The original had a top speed of 29 mph (47 km/h), whereas the Bepop 2 can zip along at 37 mph (60 km/h) horizontally
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The original had a top speed of 29 mph (47 km/h), whereas the Bepop 2 can zip along at 37 mph (60 km/h) horizontally
There is no dramatic shift in design between the first and second iterations of Parrot's Bepop
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There is no dramatic shift in design between the first and second iterations of Parrot's Bepop
Among the improvements in the second Bepop drone is the acceleration
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Among the improvements in the second Bepop drone is the acceleration
The lithium battery has been upsized from 1,200 mAh to 2,700 mAh, boosting flight time from 11 to 25 minutes
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The lithium battery has been upsized from 1,200 mAh to 2,700 mAh, boosting flight time from 11 to 25 minutes
The Parrot Bepop 2 will be available from December 14
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The Parrot Bepop 2 will be available from December 14
Like the original, the Bebop 2 shoots still at 14 megapixels and HD video at 1080p, with 8 GB of onboard storage
10/18
Like the original, the Bebop 2 shoots still at 14 megapixels and HD video at 1080p, with 8 GB of onboard storage
The original had a top speed of 29 mph (47 km/h), whereas the Bepop 2 can zip along at 37 mph (60 km/h) horizontally
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The original had a top speed of 29 mph (47 km/h), whereas the Bepop 2 can zip along at 37 mph (60 km/h) horizontally
Like the original, this shoots still at 14 megapixels and HD video at 1080p, with 8 GB of onboard storage
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Like the original, this shoots still at 14 megapixels and HD video at 1080p, with 8 GB of onboard storage
There is no dramatic shift in design between the first and second iterations of Parrot's Bepop
13/18
There is no dramatic shift in design between the first and second iterations of Parrot's Bepop
The Parrot Bepop 2 will be available from December 14
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The Parrot Bepop 2 will be available from December 14
The original had a top speed of 29 mph (47 km/h), whereas the Bepop 2 can zip along at 37 mph (60 km/h) horizontally
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The original had a top speed of 29 mph (47 km/h), whereas the Bepop 2 can zip along at 37 mph (60 km/h) horizontally
The lithium battery has been upsized from 1,200 mAh to 2,700 mAh, boosting flight time from 11 to 25 minutes
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The lithium battery has been upsized from 1,200 mAh to 2,700 mAh, boosting flight time from 11 to 25 minutes
There is no dramatic shift in design between the first and second iterations of Parrot's Bepop
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There is no dramatic shift in design between the first and second iterations of Parrot's Bepop
The Skycontroller enables users to experience first-person-view flying
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The Skycontroller enables users to experience first-person-view flying
View gallery - 18 images

Drone technology sure is moving fast. So fast, in fact, that French hardware company Parrot has already felt compelled to launch a follow up to last year's popular Bepop drone. The Bebop 2 retains the light weight and camera of the original, but can fly faster and longer with a flight time of 25 minutes, landing it in the same territory as leading consumer drones on the market.

There is no dramatic shift in design between the first and second iterations of Parrot's Bebop. The quadcopter's arms still stretching out of a curvy, rectangular body with a 3-axis digitally stabilized camera built into the nose. Like the original, this shoots stills at 14 megapixels and HD video at 1080p, with 8 GB of onboard storage.The difference lies mostly in the performance of the drone itself.

There is no dramatic shift in design between the first and second iterations of Parrot's Bepop
There is no dramatic shift in design between the first and second iterations of Parrot's Bepop

The new unit is carrying a little extra weight, 500 g compared to the 400 g Bebop 1 (17 oz compared to 14 oz), but this is negligible considering the huge leap in stamina. The lithium battery has been upsized from 1,200 mAh to 2,700 mAh, boosting flight time from 11 to 25 minutes. By way of comparison, all of DJI's Phantom 3 drones and the 3DR Solo drone are in the 23 to 25 minute range, though these hefty units all weigh in excess of 1,200 g (42 oz).

Another improvement is in the drone's acceleration. The original had a top speed of 29 mph (47 km/h), whereas the Bebop 2 can zip along at 37 mph (60 km/h) horizontally and 13 mph (21 km/h) vertically.

The Skycontroller enables users to experience first-person-view flying
The Skycontroller enables users to experience first-person-view flying

Controlling the drone remains largely the same. Users are able to rely on smartphone or tablet controls through the purpose-made piloting app, which works up to 984 ft (300 m) away, or extend this to a claimed range of (6,561 ft) 2.2 km with the optional, RC-like Skycontroller. The Skycontroller also enables users to experience first-person-view flying, with the Bebop 2 able to stream vision from its camera directly to virtual reality glasses like Oculus Rift in real time.

The Parrot Bebop 2 will be available from December 14 starting at US$550, or $800 with a Skycontroller Black Edition (pictured above) included.

Source: Parrot

View gallery - 18 images
4 comments
4 comments
gizmowiz
Yes lets keep up the research and making these things so available that with that $500 million a year oil income in Syria that ISIS has they can buy tens of thousands of them and make our life a living hell. These drones are going to make life hell for Americans eventually. The government needs strict legislation on who can purchase them so that they don't fall into the wrong hands and come back to bite us. Which they will via the current situation were staring an armageddon. I can imagine they are just salivating over setting up 'dirty nuclear' drops all over America and making our country uninhabitable. These things are dangerous in the wrong hands!
Zolartan
@gizowiz

All this emotional and irrational fear mongering.

I invite you too look up statistics of domestic US deaths by cause and come back here and post on which position (islamic) terrorism is placed.

Spoiler: You'll have to look to look very near the bottom of that list.
Helios Higgins
Let's reuse a very valid phrase. The only thing that can stop a bad guy with a drone is a whole bunch of good guys with drones. And, no the good guys would not be the ones taking our money to buy them, and then placing them in "professional hands". There should be, "a drone behind every blade of grass", even though the current aggressors do not have the intelligence of the originators of the quote.
kakodane
Bebop 2 looks promising, it's not perfect, but it's not bad. What I don't like here is camera position, but it's obvious they are not going to change it because Parrot is recognizable by that. In the other hand, there are many other good drones that can be bought for $500-$800 so.. Nice list of 10 drones under $1000 here : http://www.dronesglobe.com/affordable/under1000/