Review: Micro Drone 3.0

BUY NOW

In our latest lifestyle product review, we take a look at the Micro Drone 3.0

 

Drones come in all shapes and sizes with varying price tags to match. We’ve reviewed a few different models on DroidHorizon too if you’d like to have a look here. I’ll be honest from the start, I’m no expert flyer although I have owned and used a different type of drone for a year or so. The Micro Drone 3.0 was sent to us for this review from the company and or PR rep, such is the case with all our reviews, I’ve been testing the product / toy / drone for over 2 weeks and I’ll give my honest opinion on it.

Inside the box you’ll find all you need to getting flying from the start (once you’ve charged the battery and bought spare AA for the controller.) Everything is clearly labelled and pleasant to open and unbox, perfect for a present to a geeky husband, boyfriend or other.

Included are

  • Micro Drone 3.0
  • Spare blades
  • Battery and charger
  • Camera module
  • Cardboard VR
  • Phone holder
  • Remote with straps

box contents micro drone 3.0A metal structure with lightweight plastics, the Micro Drone 3.0 is an awesome looking toy. The battery and camera install like modules which can hopefully increase the add-ons the company design so this version isn’t obsolete too quickly. I certainly like how it looks and my neighbours all commented when they watched me crash in the backyard.

outside micro drone 3.0

The controller is massive! There’s more buttons and knobs than I know what to do with, the more intermediate or professional will appreciate the advanced settings, invert, stunt mode, smart orientation, slow, fast and insane. Although the controller has the settings available I wouldn’t be confident if I dropped it on concrete down at the park. Be warned! The packaging doesn’t include AA batteries.

micro drone 3.0 controller

I had some great fun using the camera module. Shown in realtime first person view, I tried to fly the Micro Drone 3.0. More practice is certainly needed by me but my kids loved using the VR headset view to watch the flying whilst I had the controls. You can capture in 720 HD footage, any size SD card fits in the camera module slot. I’d have loved to have shared my flight footage but I corrupted my SD prior to finishing this review. (I might get something online soon on my personal Google Plus account.)

The application is available on Android and iOS. The Micro Drone 3.0 sets itself as a hotspot then you connect to it via WiFi, very cool. I’m not sure if the app is pretty but certainly very usable. I’d certainly recommend watching the included tutorials to get the basics even before the drone arrives at your doorstep. I assume the guy in the videos is the person who designed the product or works for Extreme Fliers. Well done to him for making such a great fun drone. <insert smiling face here>

screenshot micro drone 3.0 app

Now on to the flying.. Remember I’m no pro. I got the biting point very easily on first flight, the Micro Drone 3.0 is really responsive and accurate. There’s definitely more power than I expected but soon enough I was going forward and back, left and right straight up and crash landed. In the first 5 minutes I had to replace a blade but this is so common with drones, it’s par to the course. The bumpers won’t help an upside crash landing on any product, so I wasn’t too upset, there’s spares in the box and available online here at a discount. Flying in first person is tricky but something I’m keen to master, using the app to steer is even more frustrating. Having no physical feedback and just a glass screen isn’t something I’d use often but I’m pleased they made the feature work well.

I’d certainly recommend any of our readers to purchase the Micro Drone 3.0 if they are thinking about uping their drone flying game. For beginners, intermediates and possibly beyond this could be a perfect bit of kit that has everything you need to get started. Priced around $205 or £150 GBP you can buy now from the tag in our featured image at the top of this article. Where most of the advanced features are a bit beyond my skills yet, I’m dying to get out on a calm day and throw the Micro Drone in the air and show off to my neighbours or the kids at the park. With all drone flying, you’ll need to figure out yourself if the cost justifies the price tag and if replacing parts is within your means to keep it in the air as often as you want. Happy flying.

 

7.5

Good

Chief Editor of DroidHorizon. I own a few different devices at the minute and enjoy writing reviews and sharing what I think is cool. You can often find me playing Playstation 4 or sprawled across the couch with headphones on (maybe with a nice beer or gin & tonic in-hand)

7 Comments

  1. I’m fairly surprised you managed to make it through a fortnight without suffering a major parts failure, board smoking or it just falling out of the sky! I’d have loved to see the footage you recorded too as you would have been one of very few (myself included) that have actually managed to achieve making a video. I’m a moderator on the Micro Drone 3.0 Google+ Community and we currently have almost 2,000 members. That’s 2,000 very disappointed backers who are still either waiting for their drone from last year or have a drone that has failed within a few minutes of starting it up. Please feel free to visit the community site and see for yourself how genuine backers feel. Mark.

    Reply
  2. Oh dear!

    Thankfully I haven’t experienced any failures yet but by the sound of it, issues my not be far away. Maybe my SD card didn’t corrupt at all either, likely a write issue from the camera module.

    As always.. We just review what’s in front of us at face value.

    Reply
  3. Also a good present for a wife or a geeky girlfriend.

    Reply
  4. I wouldn’t give them anything above 5/10. Yes the drone is responsive and balance pretty well. But for the price you’re paying you should expect better build quality. The molding is horrible and feels like very cheap plastic. Worst of all my camera module failed to work out of the box. And customer service responds to email at a pace of 1 mail per week. Don’t believe me? Try sending them a mail and let me know how quick they respond!

    Reply
  5. The product came damaged after waiting forever. The bird just flipped. NO customer service or at least no action. Be very weary.

    Reply
  6. It’s a piece of crap… just ask all the backers who have been screwed by EF…

    The drone does not live up to its hype, the video on Indiegogo isn’t representative of what the drone delivers.

    Check out micro drone 3.0 enthusiasts on goggle+ and see how many circuit boards have burnt out mosfets after
    minimal flying time, how many cameras don’t work straight out of the box, how many failed drones there have been straight out of the box.

    Also check how many different email addresses have been used by EF to dodge backers wanting answers to the issues of quality and support.

    Vernon does a good job of hiding from his backers when the going gets tough…

    In case you missed it at the start… it’s a piece of crap – I know, I’ve got one…. and for $65 a hubsan h107c+ gives more features, is cheaper and better supported
    and parts are readily available. The ‘promised’ gymbal will never be carried by this drone and all the backers who invested are going to get screwed again.

    Happy flying

    Reply
  7. 3000% funding on Indiegogo. Won’t respond to emails or give updates. My drone flies like crap. They shorted me a battery. The FPV looks horrible, and the Android app won’t function on a phone that is less than years old. No updates on the gimbal. I will NEVER buy from this company again.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

*

Time limit is exhausted. Please reload CAPTCHA.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.