As the resident drone guy at The Verge, I got a lot of questions around Christmas from people who wanted to buy a drone for their friends or family. I enjoy chatting about drones, so this would normally be a fun experience. But a lot of people wanted me to suggest a “great” drone, with a nice camera, for less than $500. And while there are a lot of units out there which fit that price constraint, there are very few I would qualify as great, especially if you want them to capture aerial photos and video that you can actually enjoy.

The closest thing to an answer at this price point was the new Parrot Bebop 2, which you can get for $550. It delivers more than 20 minutes of flight time on a single charge, boasts a 14-megapixel camera that can capture 1080p video, and is rated for a maximum range of 300 meters. At that price point it doesn’t have a 4K video camera, HD live stream, or two-stick remote control. But none of those things are necessary for someone who is just getting started.

The Bebop is almost the perfect starter drone: lightweight, low cost, and a good enough camera. Unfortunately, in my testing, the Bebop 2 suffers from the same critical flaw as its predecessor: a very unreliable Wi-Fi connection that frequently drops, leaving your drone stranded in mid-air. That makes it really hard to recommend, even for a novice drone pilot.





The battery is vastly better Let’s start with the things I like about the Bebop 2. It has double the battery life of the original Bebop, and the battery now locks into place, instead of being poorly secured with a velcro strap. Let’s start with the things I like about the Bebop 2. It has double the battery life of the original Bebop, and the battery now locks into place, instead of being poorly secured with a velcro strap. The body seems otherwise virtually identical to its predecessor, although the rotors have now been color coded to make it a little easier to remember where each one goes. On its own, without the optional remote control and Wi-Fi range extender, the Bebop is wonderfully compact and light. Despite its small stature, I found it did a good job of holding its position in strong winds. The original Bebop often disconnected from my phone when it was just a few feet away. And instead of hovering in place after a disconnection, it sometimes continued flying, leading to a dangerous crash. I never had either of these issues with the Bebop 2.





For capturing images and video, the Bebop 2 takes a different approach than most drones: it uses a fisheye lens attached to the nose instead of an external camera mounted on a gimbal. Instead of using a remote to manually pan and tilt a camera, you can shift your focus within the wide field of view generated by the fisheye, a trick accomplished through software. The new Bebop has done a nice job improving the quality of video when you are panned straight down to the ground, a viewpoint that is unique to aerial filming and can produce some magical results over interesting terrain. There is still no removable storage Unfortunately, the camera itself hasn’t been upgraded much. When you compare the blurry, compressed footage to what we shot at identical locations with cameras from DJI and Yuneec, the Bebop is clearly far inferior. Unfortunately, the camera itself hasn’t been upgraded much. When you compare the blurry, compressed footage to what we shot at identical locations with cameras from DJI and Yuneec, the Bebop is clearly far inferior. And there is still no option for removable storage, just 8GB of internal memory, which fills up pretty quickly when you’re shooting 1080p. That means you need to stop and transfer footage to your phone or computer or pull footage directly from the drone to your phone or tablet using a Wi-Fi connection. Neither process is fast or convenient, and the wireless transfer option means you’re burning battery on both devices instead of flying.

Video comparison between the Bebop 2, DJI Phantom 3, and Yuneec Typhoon 500. All footage was recorded at the drone camera's highest quality with ISO and white balance setting on automatic.