PARROT DISCO UNBOX

[@zenflying]

Looks like a neat setup - everything integrated for you !

[@beardog420]

I know this is an old video but to turn the phone holder you need to push down then turn at the same time. It took me a while myself to figure it out and i also thought it didnt turn of mine was broken.

[@PLAYINSKILSSRT]

They need more videos on landing lol I hit every tree on my place lol

[@bophoto]

LOL there must be a few you missed? just one? you kinda need to scout the longest clean approach. its a fixed-wing, so it like a flat glide path. forget the auto-land. just setup for your best clean aproach, and aim for a point before you want it to touch down, then flare and float to where you actually want to put it.

[@RCTanksTrucks247]

Very cool. Great unboxing

[@atw98]

Ans as 4 phone holders u loosen them like them all by turning round nut under the tray like all phone holder ever made and ajust. It is jut tight as done by machine and has no lube on it to help. So it feels like it has some lock nut on it. Good flying.

[@davefolts1566]

Bo...when are you going to follow-up with a review of the Sensefly...the commercial brother to the Disco? Also, seems to me a cut down version of the Sequoia would be a neat sensor for the Disco.. ie.retro fit the Opti-flow sensor with a mini-Sequoia sensor in the downward-facing cutout in the fuselage.

[@Oosteroom]

Thanks Bo for the informative video. I just bought the Disco on Ebay from Germany for €299, which is a steal. I also have a Bebop 2, so now I have the controller and goggles as well for use with the Bebop 2.

[@bophoto]

Good call, I paid a lot more for my disco, but they are totally great buys these days. i should start looking for a backup disco because I love how easy it is to fly. *btw check out the bebop thermal.

[@Oosteroom]

Thanks Bo, today I received the Disco. I discovered that the iPad/iPhone holder (which you had difficulty rotating) can be rotated by pressing the holder into the connector. Hope that helps 😀

[@brandondupuis8984]

Push the phone holder down to rotate it does rotate

[@atw98]

When this was made many people where moding the Disco. It eprks great with a ground station and Mav link for greater range. As its Linux based its easy to copy the firmware and flash it with linux so you can go back to stock. You can not build one for the same price without a lot of experiance or very steep learning curve, i tried with a Pixhaek a Opteera EZUHF with 433 mhz mavlink. The learning curve foe the pixhawk to get it to do what this does is huge. And takes hours. The best think to do is get a cheap android or Iphone and put it in the plane so if you are doing a 40km flight you can track it via google maps easy. If you actually want to fly it 40km flash it and use ANDRUAV which lets you use a ground station to see where the plane is at all times and control it with a usb or Bluetooth gamepad and even if you lose video you can it RTH or fly it by instrument. That said I am pickimg my Disco up tomorrow and going to see how it goes with a phone in it for map tracking. And if I feel I need to go the linux groundstation route with ANDRUAV because it uses the phone camera and mobile network you could fly it forever if you had solar and a big enough battery to last the night. O how I dream for that day.

[@bophoto]

Totally agree, everybody can mimic a disco with the right parts, but the time and cost to get a similarly seamless experience is generally ending up being more, and by the time you get it right, you probably gone through several wing kits. :-)Specially now that the disco sells at about $800 new

[@raialice5118]

Thanks , Very good review

[@bophoto]

Thank you Rai,

[@farmingfromabove2234]

Bo keep up the great job. I always look forward to your videos.

[@bophoto]

Wow.. thank you sir :-)

[@jamesr.9239]

Was thinking about getting one of these before they disappear, but one of my concerns is the landings. I live in the desert where there are very few nice grassy fields to land on. In fact if you are real lucky you might have only 50 to 60 feet of clear space with no bushes or trees. I could land on a road or I was wondering if a net system to catch it would work without tearing it apart. I see that you landed amongst the bushes . Did this cause a great deal of damage to the craft? Tell me what you think about the net idea . Thanks for a great video.

[@bophoto]

Hey James, I have been flying mine mostly in the desert. find a good long stretch and steer it in for landing rather than auto-land. Put a bunch of table on the underside of the nose for landing and scuffing. I have nailed bushes more than once, never had a problem, sometimes the wings get ripped out, but they stuff right back in. Road is OK. I would definitely tape a block of styrofoam under the nose to sacrifice for the first impact though.

[@lorenzopardini6769]

In order to rotate the smartphone/tablet holder, just press it. There is a spring mechanism, once it is compressed, you can rotate. It turn 90 degrees and lock automatically.. Check it out! Awesome review, nice idea to protect the wings ;)

[@bophoto]

LOL yeah I figured it out...... after I bothered to open and read the manual the second time.... I'm so humiliated by missing this. good stuff, keeps me humble for sure.

[@lorenzopardini6769]

After your video i decided to buy my first drone, in fact a Parrot Disco. I'm extremely satisfied. Following your suggestion, i made a protection of the wings and it works and it isn't too bad to see if you cut precisely, especially on the body. Thank you, Bo!

[@bophoto]

You probably did better than me, mine look a bit hooky, but the tape on the front of the wings is essential as otherwise little branches and bushes really chew up the wings on landings if one don't get the direction perfectly right. (im pretty good at making "half way good" landings)

[@turascampingand4wdmagazine879]

Hi Bo, what tape did you use? 3M packaging tape I have seen is clear. Do you have a 3M product code for the tape you used? great video :)

[@scottytomcat4267]

Your videos are absolutely great the of tremendously helpful to a lot of people thank you for doing what you do keep the videos coming please😁😁😁😁🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

[@glynnetolar4423]

Apparently comes with everything, ready to fly, except packing tape and goggles that fit. Looks like a neat idea but for what it is it seems to be a bit expensive. And for that price a little rough around the edges.

[@bophoto]

Yeah agree. these are a bit expensive for what they do.

[@B10KPlaysGames]

With the 4G LTE Mod it isn't overpriced!

[@jean-michelkoch1373]

you can turn the holder, push on it and turn, its written in the manual, there is a little arrow ;-) works perfectly

[@bophoto]

DUH, the manual said to push on the top.. I tried all kinda stuff. never thought to push the stem itself IN. DANG.. sorry about that.

[@Nephilimhalo]

btw, you mentioned the difficulty in spotting people in SAR applications. (Because of the relatively low streaming resolution of 720 p. I hear that a 1080 p firmware update is in the pipeline). Nice review overall, thanks :-)

[@bophoto]

Im not entirely sure. but here is my take. there is a 720 recording right now.. I'm sure they will shortly be enabling 1080p recording.. However, I doubt the image on the iPhone is 720p, it dont look 720p, and worse, when you fly goggles, the image in the "goggle mode" is DEFINITELY not 720p its significantly rezzed down. the goggle view feels soft. Im used to flying my inspire-1 with FatShark HD's or head plays. thats real HD and with the head plays connected by a HDMI cable, you have that "looking out the window" feeling. its crisp and you can see fine details. the DISCO have a fuzzy image in the goggle view. I really wish they would have given us a HDMI port for unscaled 720p.

[@gregcrutsinger3081]

If you push down on the phone holder, it should spring down and allow you to turn the holder horizontal.

[@gregcrutsinger3081]

Loading APM on Disco: ardupilot.org/plane/docs/airframe-disco.html

[@BrianSmith-yq7ys]

Question for all? Is there a GPS transmitter that would work well with this drone? I notice that there is a space behind the chuck and battery for using a racing controller?

[@bophoto]

You can put anything you want (light stuff anyway) in that space. why do you want a GPS transmitter, there already is a GPS in the aircraft

[@masomosvalenzuela]

Hi Bo, thank you for this video. Do you know if this can be used for 3D mapping as it is? or I need to get another camera attached to the drone? Thanks in advance!!!

[@bophoto]

I have seen a couple people do photogrammetry with the disco, however its not ideal, for starters you need a very compact downward-looking camera with GPS tagging of the images that can be set to sequential images, like 2-3images per sec probably because of the speed the disco flies to get adequate overlap. We tested this long ago and found that one could fairly comfortably carve out a room for something like a GoPro in the belly. so a GP5 or 6 with GPS taking a lot of frames WOULD work. you need to fly slow, at about 200-300 feet altitude and let the images have good overlap. then this should work quite well, I have done some road work with the quad (not the disco) flying along the center and then to both sides, the stitch was quite good so its possible.

[@sputniksam]

Hi Bo I think the biggest polariser of the Disco is the difference between the hobbyist and the consumer. As you touched on there are systems, such as the APM and Pixhawk, that can perform the same tasks as the C.H.U.C.K. and a lot more besides for a lot less of a financial outlay. However, as I eluded to with Jim (Demunseed), where this has the capability to excel in its use in SAR. The positives here at that it's easy to fly, parts are hot swappable, and if you have a few of these in service the users don't have to keep adapting to different airframes as there is consistency from one model to the next. Speaking as a hobbyist I think the price is really over inflated for what you actually get but then again anything is only worth as much as one is prepared to pay. Regards Nidge.

[@bobbrown8661]

With other drones the Styrofoam is used for packing material for the drone, not so much in this case :D

[@bophoto]

Yeah they pretty much turned the packing material into the drone

[@sergionew7]

awesome video. I have a question for you. Can you just add led lights on it.? and power it from the red controller, or whatever that red boxes call it. thank you

[@bophoto]

Sergio. should be fairly easy to add LED lights on it if you want to, I think the easy way to power the LED's would be to do a balance tab plug so that you get the power from the battery directly, just plug in before taking off

[@sergionew7]

Great, good to know. One more question. What about adding some lading gears on it.?

[@bophoto]

Noooooo dont go there. this is a wing, it it hand-launched and stalls out of the air when you land. the build in ultra-sound sensors and the down-looking camera manages that part.. just aim for a patch of grass and press the "LAND' button (same as take-off)

[@sergionew7]

Lol perfect, thank you so much for your help and quickly respond

[@wevorodri86]

Hi, I'm thinking about buying a Disco Pro Ag for agriculture mapping but I'm hesitant about the maximum reach over wifi. Do you think it would be better to buy a sequoia and install it in another set up? Hope to get your thoughts on that matter

[@bophoto]

Hey Rodrigo, thats actually a great question, but a couple thoughts. first of all, the mapping software Pix4D have the option to run a mission that you have mapped even out of range for a quad / phantom, i would suspect it have the same option check-box for the fixed-wing. also, Parrot is very good at commercial solutions, so Im sure they long ago learned that many fields are far bigger than a WiFi network range (that said, the controller 2 that come with the kit have the directed antenna and should be good for 2-3 miles) I love putting stuff together, but one big thing I have learned is that its very hard to beat a solution like the disco pro ag, simply because they have stitched together the components for you, and have been flying them for quite a while already. typically if you pick an off the shelf fixed-wing, and a controller, and then need to start making it all work together you end up spending the same or more for the same functionality. well thats just my thoughts

[@wevorodri86]

Thank you very much for your input, i really appreciate it.

[@williamjaen94]

Good video! we can use for photogrametry or add a Sequoia Multispectral sensor?

[@bophoto]

People have already flown this with a GP4, I have not tried it myself, but seems you should be able to fly the Sequoia sensor unit. The downside is you don't get a live view of the sensor unit, you probably want to use it as a belly-cam to do mapping of a field of similar. Sequoia really is a agricultural sensor. the biggest challenge may be the range. I really want to see somebody demonstrate this, as the average farmer could go far with this being a "budget sensefly" you can get and break a lot of Disco for the cost of one sensefly.

[@Nephilimhalo]

I asked this question and the answer given was "yes". You have to cut out the loading bay panel (where Bo mentions using a GoPro). I think this solution would indeed by a great candidate for an entry-level photogrammetry solution and would be interested to hear if people have tried it.

[@georgitushev]

Good point of the mapping potential, I am worry ho far down can the camera be tilted, all the way? and what is the actual image quality when shooting interval photos. May be cutting the bottom for gopro is better idea. They should of released the source code and let the developers make apps the way DJI did with Phantom and Mavic

[@bophoto]

Yup, agree, the camera do not go down far enough for mapping, you need to belly mount a GoPro with interval ;-)

[@sirhilsam]

For exactly what it is...it is a good buy. Many features included and it is worth it. Wish they had a true video goggles and not a phone insert...phones are certainly not THAT reliable.

[@bophoto]

Even for what it is, its probably a bit overpriced. however I can see a new user going this route to get into the sport with the least amount of learning curve. The goggles sucks. and Im really unhappy that they did not provide a HDMI plug on the controller this time.

[@sirhilsam]

That was a huge oversight on Parrot's part. Many RC hobbyists wear glasses...duh!

[@viejapetra]

Hi Bo, I just ordered one from Ebay.uk and am looking forward to my first drone .I live on a desert island .Is it possible to land on the beach ?

[@bophoto]

Yes for sure, Ive been landing in the desert all the time, try to get a long line thats straight and clean of objects, like along the beach, then fly it in manually at low speed, when all most down just push the land button (I think thats how I did it) but keep steering so you say on the path and dont go in the drink.

[@crazyvahillbilly3373]

very good video Bo ty

[@bophoto]

Heya HillBilli Sir.. where have you been ? not seen you online for a while :-)

[@crazyvahillbilly3373]

Been a little sick Bo

[@silasmoglich1082]

The parrot disco only costs "today" 300 $ PS. You have to press and twist the phone mount Greetings out of Germany

[@danniecarmona2509]

Got a link on the site to purchase at that price?

[@isackrojas9003]

Love it

[@sergionew7]

I have a question. It's illegal to fly using fpv goggles (USA)? And how far I can fly use it?

[@bophoto]

about a mile, you can fly goggles as long as you have a spotter who is also a qualified pilot

[@Bob_Betty]

Just bought one as in the UK Currys are selling them for £350! bargain! will buy tape so and use that on the wings before I fly it. Wonder if anyone has replaced the camera to a 4k version.

[@bophoto]

wow. great price. its probably a 4K camera actually, except its spherical and reformatting to 1080p.

[@peter58murray]

up to 450 now at currys ..just bought mine 2 days ago....just missed that deal.....flown it 3 times already ,its not bad but a complete toy in comparison to my DJI Phantom 3 Advance ,Phantom 4 .....but my new Mavic Air blows it completely out of the sky in features/range and image quality....if I had paid 1300 id have returned it straight away.ive already ordered my multistar 4000mah 3s battery for 60 mins plus flight time for waypoint missions and that's pretty much only what I'm planning to do with this drone....for quality vids its DJI all the way

[@bophoto]

But you did not expect a fixed wing aircraft to do stable shots? ;-) Don't think its a direct comparison to a mavic or phantom, its a very different aircraft. However your observation is valid in that clearly people are comparing these and expecting to use either for shooting videos. Typically the main reason for going fixed-wing is getting the longer endurance with larger sensor packages... obviously the disco kinda leans more to the mavic in that it don't permit serious sensors

[@xray120683]

Cledus Snow I bought it from Curry's in Scotland before one week for £299

[@davefolts1566]

"PUSH the Phone holder IN" to turn it Bo.

[@bophoto]

DUH.. Im so dense sometimes.. the manual said to push on the top.. I tried all kinda stuff. never thought to push the stem itself IN. DANG.. sorry about that.

[@jonjvilla8672]

It is 2018 and still no option to use this.wing as a mapping tool :(

[@bophoto]

its a bummer that they did not expand on the disco, but not entirely shocking being they sell that option in their commercial lines.

[@gigilaco]

Look at the Parrot Disco Ag version. So much potential but Parrot sat on it

[@valleon8003]

Awesome! Thx

[@isackrojas9003]

I want one

[@Bob_Betty]

What's it like now a good few months later.

[@bophoto]

Still flying, biggest problem with the disco is the "why" should i fly it, its mostly automated, you can't flip it or roll it in flight,

[@Bob_Betty]

Bo Lorentzen So you're better off building or having one built that can do acrobatics with a 4k camera and better range?

[@bophoto]

Well at least that is a more exciting aircraft. however the disco is incredible easy to fly, the toss up in the air and virtually auto land is hard to beat IF that is the objective.

[@xavier_arthur]

I am thinking about buying this.............what happens if i loose signal ? What happens if i fly out of range?

[@bophoto]

nothing, it flies back to the starting point and starts loitering then proceed to auto land. (make sure you started in the MIDDLE of a large field ha ha)

[@xavier_arthur]

Bo Lorentzen Can I interrupt the auto circle landing? Because I might not always be in a too open area & I could fly it towards me, press the button & hand catch or let it drop........ but if I can't stop the landing sequence if I lost signal & it's returning home then It might clip a tree while circle Landing :(

[@bophoto]

LOL Yes IF you have control link then you can take over and go back to manual flying. its really pretty simple stuff.

[@xavier_arthur]

Bo Lorentzen Cool, I saw a video where the Pilot couldn't regain control when Disco was circle landing........ but he was flying a autonomous flight with landing programmed & he couldn't take control of the Disco during that sequence.....I was wondering if that was only in autonomous mode or always....... thanks for clearing that up.

[@bophoto]

Well... keep in mind that as a rule of thumb, don't fly out of control range in the first place... you really want to always be in control of your aircraft. ;-)

[@jean-michelkoch1373]

I have build wings, planes, multicopters etc... I have used the pixhawk which has a lot of nice features, but its build from all people around the world.It never auto landed safely.It worked a day, it didnt the other.I purchased the disco and all I can say it is a great thing to fly, It is something you can rely on, even landing.I do work in 3D Mapping software company and this bird is build by professionals coming from that space.If you ever flown the Sensefly, the disco is a consumer model of it.The funny thing is, all these multirotor pilots are blaming this bird, in my opinion for no reason, it is a lot more relax to fly and 45 mins is a blast, I can have a discussion with people while flying without watching on my watch.The discussion is always "overpriced". Really? if you judge the materials, sure it is, judging the technology, it is a fair price.And it will drop for sure in the future.My 2 cents

[@bophoto]

Agree with you here. well both ways, its overpriced in some perspectives, however for the package and reliability, you are paying for the overall integration and function.. not just the parts. (and yes Ive build pixhawk systems as well, my biggest gribe with pixhawk have always been the lack of repeatability) How are you using it for 3D mapping? Pix4D ? Im considering installing a down-facing cube-GoPro

[@scottytomcat4267]

The phone holder, you push in then turn it

[@bophoto]

LOL Yes I did figure that out eventually.. took me forever though.

[@terrymurphy562]

Excellent video. It's just a shame you can't wear fatshark goggles when flying. Someone recently said in the earlier comments that you look like the Liverpool manager and I was thinking the same for a while now. Jurgen klopp, check it out he's a cool guy. 😊

[@bophoto]

Yeah proper FatSharks would be the ticket here. unfortunately no video or HDMI out option. LOL I've heard that a lot, will try to be half as col as Jurgen in my next life :-)

[@GeorgeGuerov]

Hi Bo. Thanks for the time you took to make the video. Unfortunate that not very many people can afford $1300 just to fly around in the desert, or the local park. Also there are plastic holders included, not goggles. With a little experience you can build a similar aircraft for around $200 at most. Nonsensical product I'm afraid.

[@bophoto]

AGREE. this ONLY makes sense if it fit the pilots experience level and needs and wallet. however most people who are just getting into this is unlike to be able to build a similar aircraft for $200... YES agree on the crappy goggles.. which are phone holders and not goggles. AND when you DO use the "goggles" the image is low-res crap and not at all advertised HD. TONS of issues.. however I tried to price out the cost for a similar capability aircraft with rudimentary loiter, auto-launch etc.. and ended up somewhere between $600-800 RTF with a proper radio etc.

[@WilliamAlexander]

Well I subscribed very descriptive

[@bophoto]

Confused, i definitely did not mean to lure you to subscribe. ;-)

[@harishobh9570]

Liverpool manager lol 😂😂😂😂😂

[@eldison1196]

I need paroot but money

[@paulmurphy9025]

Cant fly upside down? Tell that to the SBUS port 🤣

[@isackrojas9003]

But over 300 dollars

[@toysoldier46552]

Hey Bo nice to see you on again buddy before you put this into the air check out this video by Dustin Dunhill kzbin.info/www/bejne/pqm2Z4KgipKCjbc just a few things to be aware of but still overall a nice craft.

[@bophoto]

Thank you sir. checking that video now.. *you know i started out tossing this in the air long before the video naturally, :-)

[@toysoldier46552]

Bo Lorentzen hahaha okay but just pay attention to the few flaws in that video, they may be useful knowledge.

[@theone2be33]

$1000 for Styrofoam!? Really? Lmao! No way jose!

[@jedslather]

Only $400 bucks, the price was reduced.

[@rsilk2969]

It' not styrofoam! It is EPP, same as virtually all foam models these days.