A similarly small-scale, foldable drone called the Yuneec Mantis Q costs $499. It makes a lot of claims like having the best battery life in its class and 4K video capture, but it falls short of those claims. The actual battery life, while good, falls short of what Yuneec claims, and the 4K video is shaky and, quite frankly, useless. Spend a little more money on the Parrot Anafi or stretch your budget to get the DJI Mavic Air—both are far superior to the Mantis—if you want a small, affordable drone that can shoot in 4K. you can read our article on Yuneec Mantis Q review.
Design
A sleek, futuristic-looking drone called the Mantis Q has arms that can be folded up against its body to form a package that measures about 6.2 by 3.7 by 2.2 inches. The arms are folded out and locked into position for flight. The remote control has a convenient, foldable smartphone holder and is slightly smaller than the drone. During testing, our iPhone XS fit into the holder with ease. On the controller’s back are two fold-out Wi-Fi antennas, a USB Type-C port, and a USB Type-A port for connecting a smartphone. For connecting to Android phones, a USB Type-A to USB Type-C cable is provided. Apple Lightning-to-USB cable must be used with iPhones.
Yuneec Mantis Q review: Features
The Yuneec Pilot companion app is compatible with Apple devices running iOS 9.0 and above as well as Android smartphones running Android 5.0 and higher. Although it has fewer options, it has what may be charitably described as a “similar look” to DJI’s Go app. Although the ease of use is pleasant, some people might prefer the granularity of DJI’s app because it offers such extensive control and configuration customization. The Mantis Q falls short of the Mavic Air in terms of safety features, despite having GPS-based location tracking to keep the drone out of no-fly zones and enable it to automatically return to its take-off point in the event of a lost signal or low battery. However, there are no sensors on the back or front to help prevent collisions. Downward-facing sensors help with indoor stability. You must exercise caution when flying. But it’s shockingly quick and responsive, especially when you set the controller’s Sport mode on. It is one of the nippiest tiny quadcopters available, with a top speed of 72 km/h. Flying is a lot of fun. The maximum flight time per charge for the Mantis Q is 33 minutes, thus it has endurance as well. If, for instance, you’re flying in windy conditions, this will significantly decrease because the drone will be struggling to maintain its hovering position. The maximum flight time of the Mavic Air is 21 minutes, so it’s still a lot longer. This is advantageous for a drone made with travelers in mind.
Flight modes
The list of normal flight modes will be found in the specification sheet below, but suffice it to say that Yuneec provides a few modes through the Yuneec Pilot app for Android or iOS. Here, there are two great treats: the first is facial identification for more precise follow modes, and the second is voice commands, Yuneec’s most secret weapon. That’s correct, turn on your drone, open Yuneec Pilot on the mobile device you connected, and explore the settings to enable voice commands. You can instruct the drone to take off, take pictures and videos, land, and more during a typical session. You don’t have to worry about distance or drone noise interfering because your mobile device is the one that hears the voice commands. You won’t need to look around on the fly for the camera button because the voice controls work in tandem with manual controls as well. also you will learn our article on Yuneec Mantis Q review.
Video Quality
The Matins Q received one of the lowest scores in this metric, which caused us to give it a lower rating. The Mantis Q’s 4K camera has been promoted by YUNEEC as a selling factor, but in practice, you’ll probably never use the entire 4K resolution. Why? As a result of the Mantis Q’s lack of a gimbal, digital image stabilization was chosen. When shooting in full 4K resolution, the camera has no stabilization, which results in disorienting footage if you don’t fly slowly and straight. The Mantis Q adds some digital picture stabilization to the image by lowering the resolution to 1080p (the same as the competing DJI Spark). Compared to the unsterilized 4K footage, this is a great improvement, but it is still noticeably shaker than video shot with the DJI Spark and its physically stabilized gimbal. In addition to lacking stabilization, the Mantis Q’s video has a dull appearance in general. The majority of colors appear muted and lack the pop that the DJI Spark’s video captures. The clarity could be better as fast moving shots frequently become blurry to varying degrees. In low light, these issues are even worse since the tiny camera sensor has a hard time absorbing enough photons. Overall, the video isn’t too bad, but there’s a good chance that the smartphone in your pocket can capture much better images.
Yuneec Mantis Q review: Image quality
The electronic image-stabilization system on the Mantis Q is also less efficient than stabilizing gimbals found on drones like the Mavic Air 2. These drones capture video that is higher resolution, sharper, and more fluid. Additionally, we discovered that the Mantis Q’s stabilized video had the annoying habit of jumping. This, however, only works up to a certain limit and calls for lowering video resolution to 1080p. While 4K appears sharper, it is far more prone to motion blur than 1080p, which is also very soft. Low light presents significant challenges for the tiny sensor, and even in broad daylight, the JPEGs have some grainy noise. Many people could probably live with it, but once again, the DJI Mavic Air captures footage much more effectively.
Yuneec Mantis Q review: Performance
Be careful when you launch in Sport mode if you launch the Mantis Q with low expectations for it. Normal mode moves the Mantis Q along at roughly 14 mph, but Sport mode shoots it into the air at about 45 mph. You can reach height in a matter of seconds, and you can come down quickly enough that we always throttled back early for comfort. Your ascent and descent speeds are much more comparable between modes. Range is constrained by the controller, which means that it can only manage connections up to 4,921 feet, or little under a mile. While you’re out and about, you can use one button RTH functionality and GPS and GLONASS combination to help you keep track of your whereabouts. We did not test the Mantis Q to its maximum range, but we were able to reach 600 feet without incident while hovering 200 feet above the ground. Remember that this is a smaller drone; the restriction was to stay within the permitted visual line of sight. We would classify the Mantis Q as a mid-level drone based on its hover performance. Drones like the most recent DJI Mavic 2 Pro hover with an accuracy that, to be honest, continues to astound us. For us, the Mantis Q jumped up to two feet vertically and three feet horizontally. In most circumstances, this is fine, but it can be problematic when you’re close to the ground; take caution when you’re at very low altitudes or a few feet from a wall or other obstruction.
Battery Life
While Yuneec claims that the Mantis Q can hover for over a half hour, our tests indicate that it can only do so for about 20 to 25 minutes — and that’s without even pushing the drone to its absolute limits. Given its performance in typical flight, we predict it would perform similarly in “Sport mode” to the Spark and the majority of other drones at this price point. also you can check our article on Yuneec Mantis Q review. We were able to charge the battery in the included battery charger in about 50 minutes from full discharge, and the controller charged in about two hours using the supplied USB-C cord. That’s not particularly impressive, but it’s also not terrible. It is convenient that the battery can charge up to four batteries at once. Additional Mantis Q batteries are reasonably priced at $60 each, but it is more advantageous to buy them as part of the $650 X-Pack option when you first buy the drone.
Conclusion
The Mantis Q is fairly reasonably priced for a foldable, 4K drone, but the Mavic Air costs only a little bit more and adds a gimbal and object identification. The Air’s shorter battery life means you’ll lose out on flight time, but we think the better bit rate and stabilized footage make up for it. The Mantis Q would become a far more competitive offering if it were equipped with a gimbal and an improved camera.
