KBA15001 Alpha Drone 007If you’re toying with the idea of getting a remote control flying drone then you’ll know it could cost you upwards of 700 dollars.   For first timers this can be off-putting, but you don’t have to spend this much to get a taste of drone flying.

My first experience with drones was Parrot’s A.R Drone and I’ve since gone on to fly their Bebop Drone, however you will still find my flying the smallest Helicopter around the house just for fun (see pic below).  With anything you pretty much get what you pay for when it comes to Drones.  Hit the local market or Toystore and you might find a few offerings around the $100 mark but from my own experiences these are just suitable for indoors ‘play’ and don’t tend to be very robust.

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Alpha Drone – Pull from a tree, but not broken.

 For past couple of weeks I’ve been testing the Alpha Drone by Kaiser Baas.  It’s a light and nimble quadcopter that uses a traditional remote control, can fly to a range of 60 meters away from you, takes photos and HD video and has a price tag of around 200 dollars.

Now while this drone can be flown outdoors under very moderate conditions, I’d recommend not taking off when it’s a bit windy outside or you may just find yourself (Like I did) trying to fish the drone out of a branch 5 meters up a tree.

So the rule is don’t get too adventurous with the Alpha Drone and keep it close enough so you know which way it’s pointing, then you should be able to stay out of trouble but still have some fun.
You may also be wondering about the video capture capabilities of the Alpha Drone?  Well it’s not nearly what you’d get from a drone that costs 3 or 5 times more and as you’re not monitoring the video feed live it can take some practice to get the angles right, however I did manage to get some ok results from my first few flights.  See below.

Overall I think the Alpha Drone is good value for beginners, just stay clear of trees and wind and you’ll have some fun.

 

The Alpha Drone from Kaiser Baas

Range 60m
Camera HD 720p 30fps
Flight Time Aproxmately 7mins
Stabilisation 6-Axis Gyro control
Controller 2.4Ghz 4 Channel; 6 x AA batteries (224g)
Storage 2gb MicroSD Card Included (SDHC Class 10 recommended)
Playback USB Micro SD card reader (included)
Dimensions 33.1mm x 33.1mm (109g)
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Yes I still fly this tiny ‘chopper’ around the house.