I think you are all drinking Yunnec's kool-aid....

LARGE1 · Feb 13, 2016

I like the way my Q 500+ fly's have not had a problem with it falling out of the sky. For my information what we you doing when it fell, As for speed I don't want one that will fly faster than I can think and act so after reading a ton of reviews I decided to go the Q over the Phantom 3 as for being stable I have had no problems with it staying just were I put it, A friend has the Phantom 3 and flying with him the Q holds better. I like the way it shows the location so if it ever goes down I can punch in the location on my GPS and go right to where it is setting.
In ending this the (Drone Quad) what ever you want to call it may not be the bird for everyone, But it works for me and one heck of a lot of others
I have been watching the new H and it sound like it may be way out ahead of everyone else out there Thinking I may have to start saving again for the next greatest thing.

Chewman · Feb 13, 2016

I'd say your not very happy with Yuneec WilliePlas.You should have included the photo of Yuneec CS holding the gun to your head forcing you to make the purchases. Go hover with your Bebop. Oh, have a nice day!!

Colin · Feb 13, 2016

It seems to me that a little research prior to purchase would have made it plain to you that the Typhoon wasn't the one for you. You did check out it's feature and maximum speed etc. before you pulled the trigger I suppose?

Wingshooter · Feb 13, 2016

Geez and all that negativity about the Drone Only! No mention about the camera itself. Please don't stop now.

pownalite · Feb 13, 2016

ok...i like my q500 4k. i have held back any mention of the issues i've had with the camera because i've been so pleased with the tech support they have given me regarding my camera complaints that i feel i would be betraying yuneec if i say something. it is a rather long story, but i'll try to keep it short. when i got my 4k i tested it by shooting video and capturing stills from the video. i zoomed in on the still frame and looked for edge sharpness. the top, left side and bottom looked very nice, but the top right corner, down through about 2/3 of the way down the right side was pretty "soft/blurry" in regard to focus. in fact, the far upper right corner was very bad; it was "slurred/blurred" to the point that there was not any detail in the subject...sort of like motion blur. i chose to shoot a forest of trees as subject matter vs blank blue sky to make my test. i wouldn't have seen this problem if i had used blank blue sky when testing. i also discovered a very strong propensity for chromatic aberrations of backlit items (hard/contrasty lines such as trees) and also very distinct/sharp/contrasty front lit image areas like window jams or corners of buildings that were NOT backlit. long story short, i was able to return (swap out) two cameras...and finally decided to keep the third, even though there was a lot of chromatic aberration, but the right edge sharpness was much better than the first and second camera. i figured a way to "fix" the aberration problem with photoshop. i use the eyedropper tool to capture the color of the aberration and then "desaturate" that color. it works well enough. i told yuneec that in the long run they should try to correct the edge sharpness and chromatic aberration issues and not concentrate on making a superwide lens without distortion...especially if the result is a tossup in performance. personally, i would be happier with an image that is tack sharp from edge to edge even if it meant living with a narrower field of view. for some reason, i notice that when the camera shoots a jpg still photo, the image is very sharp on all the edges...but if i shoot a .dng file still photo, the right side from upper corner to about halfway down the side is NOT as sharp. does anyone have an explanation for this? i would have thought that optically the focus/sharpness would be the same! is this possibly an issue with the ability to save a much larger file (23mb dng vs a 7.5mb jpg) in a given amount of time or the "rating" of the sd card? i have had other issues regarding the quality of stills captured from video. a still i captured from a (video) scenic mountain view had a "digitized/hard line" appearance where the ridgeline met the sky, and there was a several pixel gap between the ridgeline image (treeline) and the sky. when printed, the issue was very apparent. a jpg still shot of the same scene gave a normal looking transition from treeline to sky detail. all CGO-3 cameras that i have used taking a jpg still shot have yielded a slightly overexposed look and a general "pebbled/grainy" undertone to the image, which i have corrected in photoshop by doing a "filter/noise/despeckle" correction and "filter/noise/reduce noise" correction. the exposure issue was corrected using the "levels" adjustments in photoshop (elements 11). photoshop elements 11 also has "adobe camera raw 7.4" to open the raw dng photos, make adjustments, then proceed to open the dng in photoshop, make further tweaks, and finally save the photo as a jpg.

Wingshooter · Feb 13, 2016

I guess one thing we have to remember is that the CGO3 is not even in the same league with a D-SLR or even a nice $200 Compact Camera. I have found the quality of the images and the flexibility of changing the settings on the CGO3 to be less than adequate for the serious photographer in us. The Bird is fantastic and fly's rather well which lets us concentrate more on the video or photo we are trying to capture. Personally I found that my old setup using a Blade 350qx3 with a GoPro 3+ Silver actually produced better results although I was not able to see where the GoPro was pointed I did manage after a while to be able to set it up so I kinda of knew what it was going to be happen. I am unhappy with the CGO3 but not with the Bird and probably not for the same exact reason Pownalite has. I would be just as happy to get the things I mentioned in the beginning of this response. In fact a reasonable set of instructions from Yuneec on CGO3 settings would be wonderful. But apparently Yuneec does not even know how the camera works. My suggestion to Yuneec would be to spend more time on the camera in the future.

pownalite · Feb 13, 2016

Wingshooter said:
I guess one thing we have to remember is that the CGO3 is not even in the same league with a D-SLR or even a nice $200 Compact Camera. I have found the quality of the images and the flexibility of changing the settings on the CGO3 to be less than adequate for the serious photographer in us. The Bird is fantastic and fly's rather well which lets us concentrate more on the video or photo we are trying to capture. Personally I found that my old setup using a Blade 350qx3 with a GoPro 3+ Silver actually produced better results although I was not able to see where the GoPro was pointed I did manage after a while to be able to set it up so I kinda of knew what it was going to be happen. I am unhappy with the CGO3 but not with the Bird and probably not for the same exact reason Pownalite has. I would be just as happy to get the things I mentioned in the beginning of this response. In fact a reasonable set of instructions from Yuneec on CGO3 settings would be wonderful. But apparently Yuneec does not even know how the camera works. My suggestion to Yuneec would be to spend more time on the camera in the future.

i agree that yuneec should provide more instructions for the CGO-3 and a detailed explanation of the camera settings in the ST-10+. i am ok with the q500 4k as a drone, but feel that the camera is over rated. my old canon A640 yields better stills...but the q500 4k yields higher quality videos than the A640.

Scott99 · Feb 14, 2016

I think the market sets itself price wise. You mentioned that parts wise, the 1300 dollar Yuneec should be 500 at best. This can be said about a lot of electronics. I'm a HUGE watch guy, have a few really nice watches that are from the 500-1300 range, and come with some top notch Swiss movements. But if you took them apart, you can buy all the parts for probably 200-300 at most. Sometimes it's the name, Rolex, Breitling (I can't afford those) etc that cause a watch to be so expensive.

As far as the Yuneec Q500 4K, I respect your opinion as far as the brand, you are not a newbie (like myself). You have several top notch drones. That being said, some professional reviewers seem to love Yuneec. I have not found any low scores review wise.

Every brand has their issues, Yuneec does not have a PERFECT product, but I like their drones a lot. I hardly think of them as toys. They fly very steady and take great pics and videos. Isn't that what a so called premium drone is supposed to do ?

TotruBlu · Feb 14, 2016

The whole drone industry is in "Pioneer State". Consider yourself lucky to be a pioneer. Man first landed on the moon with way less technology!

Prairie Pyro · Feb 14, 2016

I am waiting to see how far the industry will continue if it we can't fly any farther than one can with a cheap kite. The $$$ is with selling a good number of craft to a lot of people. If the FAA squashes anything bigger than a tea saucer without a pile of red tape and training, the sales numbers won't support companies making something for the masses. Military and governments will always have our money to spend on the more expensive professional craft.

KramerMD · Feb 14, 2016

pownalite said:
ok...i like my q500 4k. i have held back any mention of the issues i've had with the camera because i've been so pleased with the tech support they have given me regarding my camera complaints that i feel i would be betraying yuneec if i say something. it is a rather long story, but i'll try to keep it short. when i got my 4k i tested it by shooting video and capturing stills from the video. i zoomed in on the still frame and looked for edge sharpness. the top, left side and bottom looked very nice, but the top right corner, down through about 2/3 of the way down the right side was pretty "soft/blurry" in regard to focus. in fact, the far upper right corner was very bad; it was "slurred/blurred" to the point that there was not any detail in the subject...sort of like motion blur. i chose to shoot a forest of trees as subject matter vs blank blue sky to make my test. i wouldn't have seen this problem if i had used blank blue sky when testing. i also discovered a very strong propensity for chromatic aberrations of backlit items (hard/contrasty lines such as trees) and also very distinct/sharp/contrasty front lit image areas like window jams or corners of buildings that were NOT backlit. long story short, i was able to return (swap out) two cameras...and finally decided to keep the third, even though there was a lot of chromatic aberration, but the right edge sharpness was much better than the first and second camera. i figured a way to "fix" the aberration problem with photoshop. i use the eyedropper tool to capture the color of the aberration and then "desaturate" that color. it works well enough. i told yuneec that in the long run they should try to correct the edge sharpness and chromatic aberration issues and not concentrate on making a superwide lens without distortion...especially if the result is a tossup in performance. personally, i would be happier with an image that is tack sharp from edge to edge even if it meant living with a narrower field of view. for some reason, i notice that when the camera shoots a jpg still photo, the image is very sharp on all the edges...but if i shoot a .dng file still photo, the right side from upper corner to about halfway down the side is NOT as sharp. does anyone have an explanation for this? i would have thought that optically the focus/sharpness would be the same! is this possibly an issue with the ability to save a much larger file (23mb dng vs a 7.5mb jpg) in a given amount of time or the "rating" of the sd card? i have had other issues regarding the quality of stills captured from video. a still i captured from a (video) scenic mountain view had a "digitized/hard line" appearance where the ridgeline met the sky, and there was a several pixel gap between the ridgeline image (treeline) and the sky. when printed, the issue was very apparent. a jpg still shot of the same scene gave a normal looking transition from treeline to sky detail. all CGO-3 cameras that i have used taking a jpg still shot have yielded a slightly overexposed look and a general "pebbled/grainy" undertone to the image, which i have corrected in photoshop by doing a "filter/noise/despeckle" correction and "filter/noise/reduce noise" correction. the exposure issue was corrected using the "levels" adjustments in photoshop (elements 11). photoshop elements 11 also has "adobe camera raw 7.4" to open the raw dng photos, make adjustments, then proceed to open the dng in photoshop, make further tweaks, and finally save the photo as a jpg.

UPDATE: the issues here were resolved. Yuneec sent a new camera and it works great.

I had the exact same issue as above with a Q500 4K purchased two weeks ago from Amazon. Yuneec is sending a new camera to arrive tomorrow. They requested a few sample images to determined a faulty camera. I offered emailing DNG files but was told they didn't have any way to read DNG. I shoot DNG for all still images. Sure hope the new camera has corrected the focus issues. It will be a deciding factor whether to return it. I really like flying it, but quality photographs is a must. I may have to revert to the Q with a GoPro.

pownalite · Feb 14, 2016

KramerMD said:
I had the exact same issue as above with a Q500 4K purchased two weeks ago from Amazon. Yuneec is sending a new camera to arrive tomorrow. They requested a few sample images to determined a faulty camera. I offered emailing DNG files but was told they didn't have any way to read DNG. I shoot DNG for all still images. Sure hope the new camera has corrected the focus issues. It will be a deciding factor whether to return it. I really like flying it, but quality photographs is a must. I may have to revert to the Q with a GoPro.

before you consider the go pro model, you should first look at this youtube review...there are some pain in the butt issues at about 5:30 into the video.

pownalite · Feb 14, 2016

KramerMD said:
I had the exact same issue as above with a Q500 4K purchased two weeks ago from Amazon. Yuneec is sending a new camera to arrive tomorrow. They requested a few sample images to determined a faulty camera. I offered emailing DNG files but was told they didn't have any way to read DNG. I shoot DNG for all still images. Sure hope the new camera has corrected the focus issues. It will be a deciding factor whether to return it. I really like flying it, but quality photographs is a must. I may have to revert to the Q with a GoPro.

you should also shoot test shots in jpg and compare the edge sharpness to the dng. my jpegs were sharp as a tack overall, including the edges...but the dng still shots had slight blurriness on the right side. let me know if you see the same thing.

Satellite View · Feb 15, 2016

WilliePlas, You have got to be joking.

KramerMD · Feb 15, 2016

pownalite said:
you should also shoot test shots in jpg and compare the edge sharpness to the dng. my jpegs were sharp as a tack overall, including the edges...but the dng still shots had slight blurriness on the right side. let me know if you see the same thing.

I will update here once I shoot.

NRRTRAINS · Feb 15, 2016

WilliePlas said:
Ok so first off, Hi to everyone (first post)

And I'm thinking it will probably get some heads turning. This is in no way an attack or me disrespectfully categorizing any of you.

I have had Q500 4k since Thanksgiving last year, this in no way was my first Drone (Quadcopter, for the ones that prefer that term) and the reason why I got it was because of the overwhelming and somewhat Apple-Like devotion on like to this drone.

No joke, every post video or review I saw was "it's great, amazing, blah blah blah". After looking at the price, I thought it was a little overpriced, but then I saw all the goodies and was like ok FU&# it! Let's try it out.

Thankfully enough for me, yuneec had a sale on black Friday for $200 off, so I got my cc out and placed the order for the thing.

I would like to also point out that my drone collection is extensive having a few toy Drones like tarantula x6, syma x5c and x8c, plus many others that I used to learn before I graduated into real machines.

After that happened I got a dji Phantom 3 Profesional, a 3dr solo with gimbal, a Walkera Tali h500, 3 250 racing quads, and a parrot bebop 2 recently.

I say this to illustrate that the opinion I share comes from actually using different equipment in the same situations as I did the Yunnec, only to find how poor it performed against its competitors.

- Hovering is not as good as the Phantom, Solo, Tali or even the little Bebop 2.

- Speed and agility is also a joke compared to the other Drones.

- Video is superior to some but at this point we are comparing gopro hero 4 black on the solo to the camera on the 4k and it's not the video quality but the gimbal that shines here. And in the case of yuneec all it is is softer rubber mounts for the gimbal that give it the smooth look.

-The yaw is as good as it is on the solo or Tali and here is the only area when it is better than the Phantom, as the Phantom is the worst for yaw on videos.

- Video and controller Transmission rate. lol well, i think it's not even worth even mentioning how poor it actually is.

- Flight controller, at one point I had the yuneec fly out of the sky and crash (I have NEVER had something like this happen with ANY of my many drones). After contacting yuneec (not blaming them) but actually concerned and trying to get to the bottom of this. I asked if the controller recorded settings or alerts.

The answer was... Well, you need to put an SD card on the controller. To what I asked, why don't you put one in there from the factory? Again I was more interested in finding out what went wrong, not just getting a new drone.

I ended up hanging up because the guy was useless and ordered a new frame and landing gear for the 4k (as the drone was completely broken). After receiving the parts I started to put it back together and that's when I saw the insides and was like WTF???

No joke I think my syma x8c had the same board (obviously not), but OMG it was one small little board with very few components. Nothing like the dual computers, multi redundant sensors of the Solo or even the more advance apm board of the cx-20 I forgot to mention I also have

My god I was surprised and mad when I saw the insides of this thing. This is a drone that should go for $500 not $1,300 as it was going for when this happened. I will prove my point later on.

Now if anyone here had ever taken apart a typhoon or changed any parts, you will also know the drama, horror and just poorly planned internal design of the thing. OMG dont get me started on the motor pods (you literary have to take apart everything just to change a frame).

Ok if this is not enough reason to question the glorious reviews of the 4k,i don't know what is. I did get the 4k up and running again, only to find that now the battery had ballooned on me after using it for a few months (yes I only used the charger that it came with, I never left it more that a day at more that half charge and yes I waited to charge after each flught).

So I was starting to think it was my drone, a few weeks ago I was flying and the exact same thing happened and the thing started getting crazy lights and crashed into the ground. This time I manage to save the frame as it was not from so high up. I contacted yuneec and they said to ship it to them so they can take a look at it.

The question I ask is why is everyone loving this thing Soooo much when it is clearly an inferior drone to many out there. The reason they pack so many extras is because the cost of the actual drone is so cheap that they as a company can afford to ad things to the package and still make a profit.

Now you see typhoon G going for $499, just imagine the actual cost of the quad by itself, guys I hate to say this but this is a cheap toy drone with a lot of accessories and really soft rubber mounts that make the video smooth and that's it!

I am hopping the new Intel base H will be a different story. Oh and by the way I ended up getting the typhoon G two weeks ago slcuz it was so cheap and wanted to test and see if it was my drone or just yuneec. I'm sorry to say that the flight characteristics are the same.

I'm a fan of all tech and I just put this question out there cuz I really feel this product should get the reviews it deserves and not all the glory it's been getting like it's better than slice bread.

Thank you for reading my Bible of a post and know this is just my opinion on the product.

-wp

hi
the Yuneec Q500 is a AP quad , not made for speed , if you want speed turn off the GPS , you will be surprise how much more speed you will get out of the Q 500 . just remember 90 % of Yuneec owners will never open the frame unless we have a real problem .
no offence to you or anyone else but for the price of the Q500 at the time i purchased the Q500 from Yuneec it offered the best bang for your buck . sorry to hear about your problem with Yuneec , just try to have a conversation with any other quad tech over the phone , unless you are fluent in Chinese or Japanese ( not a knock on the Chinese or Japanese ) , if you can reach them at all by phone .
fly safe

Prairie Pyro · Feb 15, 2016

If the new amended FAA rules apply with the 4.4 lbs and a speed limit of 45 or so, the Yuneec will be just right.

unsaticefied · Feb 15, 2016

WilliePlas said:
Ok so first off, Hi to everyone (first post)

And I'm thinking it will probably get some heads turning. This is in no way an attack or me disrespectfully categorizing any of you.

I have had Q500 4k since Thanksgiving last year, this in no way was my first Drone (Quadcopter, for the ones that prefer that term) and the reason why I got it was because of the overwhelming and somewhat Apple-Like devotion on like to this drone.

No joke, every post video or review I saw was "it's great, amazing, blah blah blah". After looking at the price, I thought it was a little overpriced, but then I saw all the goodies and was like ok FU&# it! Let's try it out.

Thankfully enough for me, yuneec had a sale on black Friday for $200 off, so I got my cc out and placed the order for the thing.

I would like to also point out that my drone collection is extensive having a few toy Drones like tarantula x6, syma x5c and x8c, plus many others that I used to learn before I graduated into real machines.

After that happened I got a dji Phantom 3 Profesional, a 3dr solo with gimbal, a Walkera Tali h500, 3 250 racing quads, and a parrot bebop 2 recently.

I say this to illustrate that the opinion I share comes from actually using different equipment in the same situations as I did the Yunnec, only to find how poor it performed against its competitors.

- Hovering is not as good as the Phantom, Solo, Tali or even the little Bebop 2.

- Speed and agility is also a joke compared to the other Drones.

- Video is superior to some but at this point we are comparing gopro hero 4 black on the solo to the camera on the 4k and it's not the video quality but the gimbal that shines here. And in the case of yuneec all it is is softer rubber mounts for the gimbal that give it the smooth look.

-The yaw is as good as it is on the solo or Tali and here is the only area when it is better than the Phantom, as the Phantom is the worst for yaw on videos.

- Video and controller Transmission rate. lol well, i think it's not even worth even mentioning how poor it actually is.

- Flight controller, at one point I had the yuneec fly out of the sky and crash (I have NEVER had something like this happen with ANY of my many drones). After contacting yuneec (not blaming them) but actually concerned and trying to get to the bottom of this. I asked if the controller recorded settings or alerts.

The answer was... Well, you need to put an SD card on the controller. To what I asked, why don't you put one in there from the factory? Again I was more interested in finding out what went wrong, not just getting a new drone.

I ended up hanging up because the guy was useless and ordered a new frame and landing gear for the 4k (as the drone was completely broken). After receiving the parts I started to put it back together and that's when I saw the insides and was like WTF???

No joke I think my syma x8c had the same board (obviously not), but OMG it was one small little board with very few components. Nothing like the dual computers, multi redundant sensors of the Solo or even the more advance apm board of the cx-20 I forgot to mention I also have

My god I was surprised and mad when I saw the insides of this thing. This is a drone that should go for $500 not $1,300 as it was going for when this happened. I will prove my point later on.

Now if anyone here had ever taken apart a typhoon or changed any parts, you will also know the drama, horror and just poorly planned internal design of the thing. OMG dont get me started on the motor pods (you literary have to take apart everything just to change a frame).

Ok if this is not enough reason to question the glorious reviews of the 4k,i don't know what is. I did get the 4k up and running again, only to find that now the battery had ballooned on me after using it for a few months (yes I only used the charger that it came with, I never left it more that a day at more that half charge and yes I waited to charge after each flught).

So I was starting to think it was my drone, a few weeks ago I was flying and the exact same thing happened and the thing started getting crazy lights and crashed into the ground. This time I manage to save the frame as it was not from so high up. I contacted yuneec and they said to ship it to them so they can take a look at it.

The question I ask is why is everyone loving this thing Soooo much when it is clearly an inferior drone to many out there. The reason they pack so many extras is because the cost of the actual drone is so cheap that they as a company can afford to ad things to the package and still make a profit.

Now you see typhoon G going for $499, just imagine the actual cost of the quad by itself, guys I hate to say this but this is a cheap toy drone with a lot of accessories and really soft rubber mounts that make the video smooth and that's it!

I am hopping the new Intel base H will be a different story. Oh and by the way I ended up getting the typhoon G two weeks ago slcuz it was so cheap and wanted to test and see if it was my drone or just yuneec. I'm sorry to say that the flight characteristics are the same.

I'm a fan of all tech and I just put this question out there cuz I really feel this product should get the reviews it deserves and not all the glory it's been getting like it's better than slice bread.

Thank you for reading my Bible of a post and know this is just my opinion on the product.

-wp

I'm not a techy, but based on all the great reviews, I purchased a Q500 4K almost a month ago. They said it would be shipped out in 3 business days. It's been almost a month and I still don't have my unit. I have called them 4 times now. They don't seem to know how their purchasing and inventory systems work. In my numerous calls the staff have been less than helpful and seem to have the business and customer service ability of a 10 year old. I have been told that the online purchasing system does not communicate with the ordering system; they just don't know why my order has not been processed; when it did finally get processed, someone put a name on it that in no way resembles my name. On the 4th call, I was told it had been shipped out 2 weeks ago and I was not even notified (which the website said I would be when it shipped out) and has been sitting at the UPS store since.
I wish I had found this blog and read this thread first. I never would have purchased from this company and I certainly will not waste my money on them in the future.
It is sur

Prairie Pyro · Feb 15, 2016

I bought my G from B&H photo who I have done business with for decades. Shipped the first business day with UPS # and UPS notified me of the package being received and when was to arrive and another notification the day before of delivery. Ordered on Saturday, shipped on Monday and received Thursday. I am a long way from NY TG.