I’ve been wondering about this too. I heard Skydio might be a decent choice from the US, and Parrot was also mentioned. Curious what others have found.
Storm said:
I’ve been wondering about this too. I heard Skydio might be a decent choice from the US, and Parrot was also mentioned. Curious what others have found.
Skydio stopped making their consumer models after spending all their money on lobbying to ban DJI instead of improving their own products.
@Emerson
Wait, really?
Ashby said:
@Emerson
Wait, really?
Yep, now they mainly make products for enterprise and government.
Storm said:
I’ve been wondering about this too. I heard Skydio might be a decent choice from the US, and Parrot was also mentioned. Curious what others have found.
Skydio can go jump off a cliff.
Storm said:
I’ve been wondering about this too. I heard Skydio might be a decent choice from the US, and Parrot was also mentioned. Curious what others have found.
Skydio starts at around 5k and Parrot at 15k. Was hoping for something cheaper.
@Skye
They aren’t always that pricey, unless you’re looking at the high-end models.
Storm said:
@Skye
They aren’t always that pricey, unless you’re looking at the high-end models.
They don’t make any consumer models anymore.
Storm said:
@Skye
They aren’t always that pricey, unless you’re looking at the high-end models.
They don’t make any consumer models anymore.
The Skydio X2+ is still a bit over $2K though.
@Storm
Yeah, but they just announced those are discontinued.
Haven said:
@Storm
Yeah, but they just announced those are discontinued.
I tried a Skydio last year, and honestly, it was disappointing. Video quality was choppy even just 10 feet away. A lot of users had the same issues. I ended up returning mine.
They put a lot into lobbying to get DJI banned, and it seems like they used the consumer models as a test run for their enterprise models. Now they’ve fully shifted to making high-end drones with better profit margins.
@Denver
It sucks for consumers, but it’s smart business-wise. Why try to beat a huge company like DJI in their own game when you can focus on a niche market and dominate there?
Ren said:
@Denver
It sucks for consumers, but it’s smart business-wise. Why try to beat a huge company like DJI in their own game when you can focus on a niche market and dominate there?
Yeah, but it’s a cowardly move to try and lobby against a company just because you can’t compete with them.
@Mal
That’s pretty much what the American car industry does too.
Ari said:
Storm said:
@Ari
I’m not the original poster though.
Yeah, but you had a similar concern, so it’s still relevant.
Fair point, but no need to be rude.
Not trying to be rude, just pointing it out.
@Mal
The image quality on Skydio drones is pretty terrible.
Ren said:
@Denver
It sucks for consumers, but it’s smart business-wise. Why try to beat a huge company like DJI in their own game when you can focus on a niche market and dominate there?
I don’t think it’s a great move. There’s a huge market for consumer drones, and DJI knows that. Skydio might have given up too soon.
@Amory
They made a calculated decision. Competing with DJI means going up against a company backed by billions from the Chinese government. It’s smarter to focus on government contracts in the US instead.
@Ren
I still think it’s a missed opportunity for them.
@Storm
Thanks for the info, I’ll look into it!