THE AUSTRALIAN CONSUMER
drone market is largely dominated
by Parrot (at the toy end) and DJI (at
the pro-sumer end). Alternatives like
Kiaser-Baas and, soon, GoPro hang
on retailer walls across the land, but
some of the lesser-known brands
offer surprisingly good deals.
Ta k e t h e X i r o X p l o r e r V, f o r
example. For $899, budding
drone pilots get a quadcopter
functionality that only professional
aerial photographers really need.
Xiro’s package includes the
drone, a custom controller and a
hardshell backpack. The backpack
takes the drone, its props, two
batteries (one 5200mAh battery is
included) and the controller.
The drone itself has relatively
sophisticated controls for a
quadcopter at this price GPStake off and land automatically.
The orientation lights under
each of the four props change
colour depending on flight mode
and connectivity conditions. And
the included 1080p, 30fps gimbal
camera comes with a bracket to
lock it in place for FPS flying.
The Xiro won’t break any speed or
agility records, but it does shoot good
quality video and is, above all, easyby
Anthony
FordhamAUTOPILOT
DEPENDENCE
Like GoPro’s anticipated
Karma drone, the Xplorer
V doesn’t have the kind
of automatic collision
avoidance found in the
DJI Phantom 4. Some
observers call this a “deal
breaker”, which we think
highlights how dependent
we’re becoming on auto-
matic systems. Quadcop-
ters are already easy to
fly compared to a more
traditional helicopter,
and most of the popular
models before now have
had very little automation
beyond stability control
and autoland. That said,
as this market continues
to mature, you can expect
to see increasing amounts
of AI built into these little
aircraft. Thanks to mobile
data connectivity, future
drones will even keep
within CASA regulated
altitudes and will refuse to
fly into restricted airspace.8 POPULAR SCIENCE
Toybox
HOW MUCH DRONE
CAN YOU GET FOR $900?
XIRO XPLORER V
Flight time: 25 minutes (ideal)
Speed: 28.8 km/h
Max altitude: 120 m
Camera: 3-axis, 1080p, 30fps
Battery: 5200mAh
Hovering accuracy: 0.5m vertical,
1.5m horizontal
Extras: Hard shell backpack
PRICE: $
WEB: xirodrone.com