Parrot’s latest drone includes an immersive cockpit headset
Parrot launched its 4K Anafi drone last year with the view to balancing a decent camera and plenty of features with a price tag that wasn’t prohibitively expensive. Its latest model, the Anafi FPV, does the same, but with a heap more fun, focusing on total “flying immersion” via a cockpit glasses headset.
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Like its Anafi predecessor, the FPV quadcopter comes with a ton of in-depth manual controls for piloting and imaging, 4K HDR video and 21-megapixel images, plus a decent 26-minute battery life. It’s also pretty lightweight at just 283g. The new model also comes with two new flight presets: cinematic and racing. The big draw for this model, however, is the bird’s eye view display.
Pair your smartphone to the model with the corresponding FreeFlight 6.6 app, place your phone in the included cockpit glasses, put them on your head on your head, and take flight. The 180-degree tilting camera — with 3-axis stabilization and 3X zoom — will give you an exhilarating view at speeds of up to 31mph (50km/h).
The main FPV head up display (HUD) shows contextual information, such as flight speed, direction, altitude and drone location. But with the click of a button on top of the headset you can easily swap to a minimal HUD interface. You can even find the drone in mid-air without removing the cockpit glasses — just switch to See-Through View, and you’ll see live video from your smartphone camera. An overlay shows the exact position of your drone — and if it’s off-screen, an icon points to its location.
Its high specs mean that on paper, the Anafi FPV isn’t really a toy, but its immersive cockpit glasses mean that it is fun to play with. Parrot’s previous Anafi model focused on decent features for a reasonable price tag, and this one stays true to that ethos, but with an extra layer of entertainment. It’s available from early September for $800/£730.
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