Yuneec Typhoon H Hexacopter – Is it for you?

Another year – and another batch of new drones which are heralded as “revolutionary” or “game changers”. Such descriptions are thrown about by many in this industry – but we here at Droneflyers.com prefer the old fashioned items called “Facts”, “Specifications” and “Experiences”. Differences in various models can be measured against each other to provide a true indication of value.

First Pilots are Reporting Problems

The Yuneec Typhoon H (shortened to H) hit the market (June, 2016) – and without the RealSense obstacle avoidance modules which were promised. The current model is being offered for $1299 – quite a bit less than the $1799 first advertised. The addition of the RealSense module, when available, will bring the price back up the range original quoted.

No amount of factory testing or engineering can replace thousands of users flying a new drone.
All of the initial orders have been delivered and many have started flying the H. Unfortunately, there have been many malfunctions, crashes and QC problems. You can read for yourself over at the Yuneec Pilots Forums – but the problems seem to be:
1. GPS Problems- Yuneec has admitted to this.
2. Camera Quality – experienced photographers have declared the camera to be sub-par and not up to the level of the DJI equipment. There are also many Quality Control problems (out of focus, etc.) with the included camera.
3. Lack of Documentation – poor or non-existent documentation is causing many problems.

Large numbers of the first buyers have had to send their drones back to Yuneec for repair. Some of the crashes and malfunctions are not covered under warranty (Yuneec does not warrant against crashing).

The Elephant in the Room – Comparison to DJI Models

Customers shopping for a low cost camera drone have very limited options. At present there are two companies which together represent over 80% of this market – DJI (70%) and Yuneec (10%). This makes it obvious why initial articles about the Yuneec H compare it to DJI…and why prospective customers are looking for accurate and/or unbiased information on both brands.

The Yuneec Typhoon H is a Flying Camera!

Yes – somewhat obvious! This is the entire reason for the existence of this ($500-$1500) market segment. Yet, for some reason, many of the articles about the H seem to gloss over those two words:

Flying (reliability, etc.) – How far does it fly? How well does it fly? How safe is it to fly? What type of systems are integrated so that it doesn’t fly where you don’t want it to (crash, etc.)?

Camera (Image Quality, etc.) – How good is the camera? What is the bitrate (one indicator of quality) of the camera and how good is the lens? Are the settings easiy accessible and can budding pilots get the most out of the camera easily?

In our opinion, these two metrics determine the reasons why a consumer would choose one model over another. There are others but they are of lesser importance:
Warranty and Customer Service
Build Quality
Portability
Style/Design
Expandability/Flexibility
Community (other experts who help users)
Brand Loyalty

Let’s start with the quick summary of both of these important metrics so those who don’t want to read a long article can get a sense of whether the H offers something new and revolutionary.
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