X-rated.
Chopper time again, baby! We realised it had been a few months since we last ventured out to bother the locals with a new flying gizmo, so we fired off an email to our chums at Flying Gadgets stating "Got owt we can play wiv, lads?' Their answer came in the form of the X-Cam Quadcopter, which we immediately charged up and ran off with to a our top secret drone testing ground. Check out the vid:
So yeah, not HD. For comparison, the bookend sections with the voice over were filmed in 720p HD, so we'd describe the X-Cam's camera as VGA at best. Also, it seems to be weirdly narrow-focussed with a very close focal point, meaning things a few feet away look okay, but any further and they just seem blurry. So the cam part of the X-Cam isn't mind-blowing.
However, as we mentioned in the video, it does handle very well straight out of the box. That really was our first flight with it and it required only a very small amount of trimming to get it to hover still. It was also very responsive, turned quickly and accurately, and didn't have a nervous throttle (meaning one little jolt of the thumb doesn't send to spiralling up into the stratosphere).
Also as mentioned in the video, we did indeed have issues with the video capture. Although we thought we were filming the entire eight minute flight (which is a good time for a quad of this size and price) we actually only ended up with about a minute and a half of footage.
We don't know why, but it seems to have stopped recording about thirty seconds in, something we only noticed after a crash when we checked the LED indicator lights on the underside of the camera module. It might have been our eff-up, and we might have accidentally nudged the recording button (the 'trigger' on the PS2-like controller), but it is something to watch out for if you're thinking of getting one.
So although the camera wasn't all that good, as a toy, and as something to play with for a few minutes for a laugh (which is what drones of this price are for, remember) it was good. A solid yet flexible body means it should last a long while, and the easy-to-handle controller will be perfect for kids.
£24
Available from www.amazon.co.uk