Typhoon H Pro Presales have Started, But do You Want It? -Will RealSense really be a breakthrough?

It has taken Yuneec around six months to bring the RealSense-equipped Typhoon H Pro to market, but at long last, presales have begun. This is great news and here’s hope it lives up to the hype.

Typhoon H video on the Yuneec homepage has “Call to Order” on the top right. Its slogan “The only drone you can fly without your phone” looks like a direct dig at Ehang who advertises app control for drones.

As a potential customer, here are a few questions for Yuneec.

1.    Why is the Typhoon H Pro with Intel RealSense so expensive?

The Typhoon H Pro is $1899.99, more than $100 higher than announced at CES, or 30% more than a DJI Phantom 4. And, it’s only $100 below the professional DJI Inspire 1 drone that comes with the Zenmuse X3 4K camera and can be used with two remote controls.

That is a lot for a consumer drone. What’s going to make your average drone buyer consider it? Since the arrival of the Phantom series, the price of drones has steadily declined, and the Phantom 4, its latest iteration, has over 1,500 product reviews already out there from media around the world saying it offers the best performance of any drone in its price range.

Behind the pricing are strategy and cost. Yuneec is selling a high-priced product to position itself as a premium drone brand. As well, it’s entirely possible the cost of building the Typhooh H Pro was more than Yuneec expected.

If the second point is true, then Yuneec may have a cost-control issue, finding it tough to mass produce at scale. One driver for higher costs is likely the Typhoon H’s folding arms, a feature common on large,professional aircraft, but one that is likely to be a weak point if you’re trying to sell to general consumers.

The RealSense module, itself, adds $600 to the drone’s cost. It contains two sensors for sensing infrared light, one emitting structured infrared light, and one 1080P camera. Its MEMS design and RealSense modular design further increase the overall build cost.

2.    Is RealSense on drones just an experiment?

                                Dell Venue Integrated with RealSense Device

RealSense was originally created to allow laptops and smart devices to create 3D models of their environments. It is able to create high precision 3D images of a space at close range, but a drone needs long-range sensing for safety. Does this mean that RealSense’s integration with drones is just an experiment for Intel as it tries to find a new use for its technology? For now, only Intel and Yuneec know the answer.

                                  RealSense device mounted on Typhoon H Pro

                                               Integrated camera of Phantom 4

Data storage is extremely important for consumer drones. Ever since the DJI’s Ace One flight controller, DJI aircraft have stored large amounts of flight data in an onboard black box.

This information includes location, weather, time, environment, altitude, and is all stored to ensure smooth flight and even provide accurate data to customer support. Visual positioning systems and obstacle avoidance systems place further demands for data storage. Since Yuneec has little experience with this, the question of how all this will function in the Typhoon H Pro is up for debate.

When you price at the top of the market as Yuneec has with the Typhoon H, the last thing you should be doing is experimenting with consumers’ money.

3.    How good is the obstacle avoidance?

As sensing technologies, flight control algorithms, control links and power systems have improved, manufacturers are now able to create fast and stable flight. The Phantom 4 even includes a Sports Mode. Of course, drones will always need to change speed, flying slow and flying fast, which can introduce issues with flight precision. RealSense has a claimed effective distance of 3-5 meters and uses structured infrared light that is near to useless outdoors. That means it is dependent on infrared sensors, which suggests that it is not specially designed for outdoor aerial photography. Not to mention the 3-5m range, which is really too short for any kind of protection during high-speed flight. 

The Typhoon H Pro depends on GPS for positioning and tracking, so if the GPS signal is weak, obstacle avoidance and Follow Me mode would be seriously affected.

The price of the Typhoon H Pro is high because of RealSense, but it remains to be seen how well RealSense will actually work. We should already know that, but when Yuneec unveiled the Typhoon H at the CES show in Las Vegas to start the year, it used a multimillion-dollar VICON system for its demonstration, as a kind of “belt-and-suspenders” approach. Now, as the unit comes to market without VICON, the question is whether belt or suspenders will be good enough to offer a world-class tracking system like the one aboard DJI’s Phantom 4.

Aftersales Support is Just as Important as Product

                                                  Crashed Yuneec Typhoon H

More and more, we are discovering that the relationship between manufacturer and customer is shifting. Now, we are told that customers are gods to manufacturers and they are to be flattered if manufacturers want to sell. But, after buying something, it’s easy for the customer to discover that they are gods no more. They are abandoned because they are caught in a web of unhelpful aftersales services. Stories like this happen every week, every day throughout almost every industry.

Typhoon H (Damaged motor and propellers)

I have two years of UAV flying experience, so I treated myself to a Typhoon H but I managed to crash it the first time I flew. I was trying out Smart mode, but I guess one of us wasn’t smart enough. Luckily, only three propellers were broken.

On the tablet, I saw a message that one of motors was no longer working normally. So, I had to reach out to support. I tried their phone number what feels like a hundred times, but never had any luck so I started digging around for other ways to make contact.

Here’s when I started running into trouble. Surprisingly, the Community section of the Yuneec website didn’t go to any people, only to a series of videos.

I moved on to the “Support” section, but all I found there were FAQs, not any way to reach out to someone able to offer genuine support.

After trying for more than half an hour, I just couldn’t find any contact information for aftersales services. I was already raging because my Typhoon was busted and the fact that I couldn’t get support just made things worse. Weirdly, last week, I met a friend with a DJI Inspire and poured my frustrations out on him. He just laughed and showed me his DJI GO App.

He pointed at the app and showed me the direct contact for DJI Support built right in and easy to reach. This includes everything from online customer service, email address, and even an active DJI Community (not a series of videos) so that he can discuss any problems he has and get responses almost immediately.

People used to say that DJI’s aftersales services was terrible. At the time, the whole consumer drone industry was just getting off the ground, so maybe they found it hard to keep up with demand. Today though, DJI has fixed its support issues while other brands are now running into those early problems. Now though, customer experiences are much more important than ever before, which makes it all the more surprising that Yuneec seems to actively hide any opportunity to reach out to support.

Consumer drones are designed for anyone to use, and maybe they can become as popular as mobile phones and tablet computers in the future. Whatever the future holds, it’s pretty clear that aftersales is just as important as product.

Why did Intel Invest in Yuneec? The Story Behind the Scenes

DJI, the largest consumer drone maker in the world, who according to the media holds 70% of the market, shares the consumer drone space with a number of other smaller consumer drone manufacturers from China, including Zerotech, Yuneec, and EHANG. There used to be a US based competitor as well, 3D Robotics, who was once hailed as DJI’s first true rival and who has now suspended consumer drone production. Not only has DJI’s impact on the market been huge, it is often referred to as China’s apple, so it is fair to say that DJI drones have redefined “Made in China.” It would be impossible for DJI to win so much praise from around the world within such a short period if DJI was not an innovator.

While the consumer drone industry is gaining pace, concerns are growing because of increasing hype and misleading marketing. As more companies try to confuse the market, it could also jeopardize China’s UAV industry by making the industry appear unreliable to all of the world’s consumers.

At CES in Las Vegas, a Chinese company named Yuneec came exploded onto the scene. Intel’s investment into this company was a magnet for attention, however it has made me more skeptical than ever about Intel’s investment and about the whole industry.

There Are Secrets Behind Intel & Yuneec.

According to various news reports, although Yuneec demonstrated amazing obstacles avoidance and tracking capabilities at CES, this demonstration was false. Despite a 60 million USD investment, the RealSense system integrated into Yuneec’s drones did not function as advertised, possibly because of serious technical hurdles that have yet to be overcome. Since this issue has already been widely reported I won’t go into it here, but it does beg the question: if these issues can’t be resolved then what was the investment for? Intel, through its investments in Ascending Technologies and Yuneec, clearly sees a role for itself in the consumer drone sector. It’s a chip company and sees an opportunity to sell into a new, fast-growing sector as growth in its core smartphone market slows. But if Intel is looking to pick a winner, it probably should look more closely at who and what it’s investing in.

VICON devices on Yuneec’s Typhoon H (evidence of cheating!)

Yuneec Does not Develop Core Drone Technologies

According to news reports in January 2016, Intel acquired Ascending Technology, a Germany UAV company that develops advanced flight control systems and flying platforms for technical applications. From early test videos, we can see that it is them, not Yuneec, that is behind tracking and obstacle avoidance technologies. Is it possible that Intel does not believe Yuneec is capable of developing core technologies? It looks as if Intel had no choice but to ask Ascending Technology to develop these technologies to keep competitive in the drone space.

In another test video of a cloudy flight, we can see that the weather may affect RealSense’s functionality. Since it is based on infra-red, it is vulnerable to interference from natural light. This means an area filled with bright light could stop the system from functioning entirely. Does that mean Intel wants to sell a product that only works at its best when the sky is overcast?

Yuneec Tried, and Failed, to Clear Up Misunderstandings at CES Asia  

At CES Asia, Yuneec can’t rely on the expensive Vicon system this time but professionals could still see a huge difference between the drones used at in the US and in China. In the US, flight was smooth and fast while in China it was slow and clumsy. Why was the difference so large? It has been proved that some customers also reported the CN version of Typhoon H was worse than the US version.

US Version                      CN Version

  ( The difference of Camera Lens and Quality  )

This difference came from the simple fact that neither Vicon nor RealSense were used. Instead, they used ultrasonic technology that has its roots in developments from over 20 years ago. There have even been reports of Chinese high school students creating an ultrasonic obstacle avoidance system for drones, so the technology clearly is not extremely complex. Whether it is reliable or not is still up for debate.

Chinese high school students invented the first ultra-sonic obstacles avoidance system of drones in the world. 

According to Yuneec’s official stats, the effective range of ultra-sonic obstacle avoidance is 1.5m. However, we can see that the aircraft begins avoiding the trees very slowly and only stops when it is only 0.2-0.5m away. This is less than 1/3 of the claimed range and is not consistent with performance at CES US. In the video, we can see there are four trees in line, which make me wonder if there is some cheating. As long as the GPS coordinates of the trees are loaded into the aircraft, it could be set to automatically rise when it reached the designated point.

Yuneec was an OEM for model aircraft. How can it now compete with DJI in drones?  

In its early days, Yuneec’s product list included the Firebird 403 glider, Blade quadcopter, and the Typhoon series made up of Blade components.

                                                            Firebird 403 Glider

The above picture shows the messy internal circuit board of the Typhoon Q500, which is the same board, internal structure and components as in Blade quadcopters. Yet surprisingly, the Typhoon Q500 is as expensive as a Phantom 3.

Let’s take another look at disassembly images of the XPLORER and the Phantom 3. Yuneec does not do itself any favors in comparison in terms of workmanship.

                                                             XPLORER

                                                                 Phantom 3

Clearly, Yuneec has a long way to go in terms of R&D and production.

Yuneec exhibited two different drones at CES US and CES Asia and even used an unreliable ultrasonic obstacle avoidance technology, perhaps in an effort to mislead its audience. This raises huge concerns about the company and makes Intel’s 60 million USD appear to be a fool’s errand.

In my opinion, any company can earn a place on the market, even if it is not a technology leader, but the company has to be dedicated to its products and not chase profit at the expense of quality. This is a lesson many companies learn the hard way and it appears that Yuneec has yet to learn.

DJI is the only company of the many Chinese UAV companies that does not copy its body design, webpage design, and app design. This tells us as consumers that we need to look passed the gimmicks and the polish to see the real company and avoid making the wrong choices.

Tips for Choosing your First Drone

How this Started

    It seems like incredible aerial photos and videos are everywhere now. Recently, a friend of mine brought a drone to a party and flew it hundreds of meters above us to take incredible photos. This really made me want to buy one for myself. I talked about this with my wife and incredibly she said yes. Maybe she’d seen all the photos and videos I’d seen and was just as curious. We decided to buy an aircraft, but our budget wasn’t too much, just a bit more than a new iPhone I guess. We wanted one that would be easy to fly, not crash and have an amazing camera. 

Research

    I’m the family’s designated gadget buyer and I buy all of our devices because I would like to think I’m really good at comparing products. Talking the talk is not as good as walking the walk after all. So, I spent three days collecting information from online and found a few aircraft that might fit the bill. Personally, I also respect a product’s brand. A big company might not be better than a small one, but at least you can rely on the products they make.

    There are a few well known UAV companies, and it seems like all of them are from China so I looked at aircraft from DJI, Zerotech, and Yuneec. The one that inspired me in the first place was a DJI, and apparently this company takes up 70% of the drone market and does all of its research and development itself. That’s just incredible. The company’s boss was only born in the 80s and is the youngest Chinese entrepreneur worth more than ten billion RMB. The company’s drone has even been on the Times’ list of the top 50 influential technical products. 

(DJI Phantom 3 Professional)

    From my research, it is clear that the products produced by DJI, Zerotech and Yuneec vary a lot, so I narrowed down my list to the Phantom 4, Xplorer 2 and Typhoon H. These were all released this year and feature obstacle avoidance, which is a function found on very few aircraft.

(Zerotech Xplorer 2)

    I know many people tend to buy things based on how they look and the price but I think it’s important to understand the product you really need. Companies, media, or even your friends have their own ideas when they recommend products, which can influence you but may leave you buying a product that isn’t quite right. I’ve made these mistakes too, but luckily with all the information available now, comparing products is easy. 

Requirements

I made my selection based on the following five points

1.       Image quality. This was also the feature my wife cared most about.

2.       Obstacle avoidance. I have never flown anything before so this was vital.

3.       Stable flying and responsiveness. I figure it’s like a car. A good car will be better to use than a bad one.

4.       Ease of use. The simpler the better. I don’t want to have to worry too much.

5.       Easy to carry. I should be able to carry this everywhere

 Here is the comparison between Phantom 4 and Yuneec Typhoon H

Requirement	DJI Phantom 4	Yuneec Typhoon H
Image quality	4K video, 12 megapixel, 94°FoV, 3 axis gimbal	4K video, 12 megapixel, 115°FoV, 360°three axis gimbal, retractable modules
Obstacle avoidance	Active obstacle avoidance, passive ultra-sonic obstacle avoidance, recognizable distance of obstacle, active braking, return to home	Passive ultra-sonic obstacle avoidance
Performance	Max speed: 20m/s, flight time: 25 minutes, vision positioning, dual compass modules and dual IMUs	Max speed: 19.4m/s, flight time: 20 minutes, 6 redundant axis
Flight mode	TapFly、ActiveTrack、Follow Me、Point of Interest、Waypoints、HomeLock/CourseLock	Orbit Me, Curve Cable Cam, Point of Interest, Follow Me/Watch Me, Journey
Easy to carry	Weight: 1380g. You will have a suitcase for free once you buy a Phantom 4.	Weight: 1800g. You need to buy a suitcase separately.

(DJI Phantom 4)

(Yuneec Typhoon H)

Image Quality

    It was pretty hard to compare the image quality of the Typhoon H and the Phantom 4 because I could find enough information from Yuneec or much about independent review of the CG03 camera. The Yuneec’s gimbal can rotate in 360 degrees, but I don’t know how useful this will be for me. My friend just turned his Phantom on the spot and it the video looked great.

    In terms of shutter speed, DJI’s camera can shoot long exposures of up to 8 seconds, which means it could take amazing night photography. Plus I’ve seen hundreds of photos from the Phantom 4 of everything from roads to buildings to islands and animals. The Yuneec only seems to be able to shoot 1/30 second photos which means it isn’t too good at night shoots. I’ve not found many photos from it either.

    Looking at their websites, both cameras look similar and advanced settings for customization are available. I haven’t been able to try the software for these cameras, but I imagine they’ll come with the basic settings I need.

    Conclusion: Phantom looks like the winner here.

Obstacle Avoidance

    I taught myself a little about sensors to properly judge obstacle avoidance, and found that there are two basic kinds of avoidance – active and passive. Active obstacle avoidance is based on stereo vision, allowing it to perform more reliably as it is able to have long sensor range, rapid response and because it sees in 3D it can make an aircraft plan its own route around an obstacle (amazing right?). Passive obstacle avoidance however is infra-red based. It has a shorter range and can only see the obstacle not the scene so an aircraft cannot think for itself. Based on this, it seems like active obstacle avoidance is the best solution for aircraft.

    From my research, Yuneec aircrafts feature passive obstacle avoidance with the sensory range of 1.5m. I wonder this range is enough for an aircraft to slow down before it hits an obstacle and would really like to test it out or find some videos online. They were going to launch another version of the Typhoon H with Intel’s RealSense powered obstacle avoidance which they demonstrated at CES but I keep hearing that this is fake. When they showed the Typhoon H again at Shanghai CES it still didn’t have Realsense so that’s all that I’ve got to go on. Since UAV technology is robotic I want something that’s reliable but I’ve no idea when I’ll be able to see Realsense in action and I don’t feel like waiting any more.

    Conclusion: Phantom 4 wins.

Flying Performance

    Flight time for both aircrafts are almost the same, and I’ve seen a comparison video that shows they are within 5 minutes of each other.

    This same video made it look like the Typhoon H is a little unstable when hovering. It makes me a little nervous, especially when compared to how stable the Phantom 4 looks. I had to fast forward the video to see the Phantom 4 moving. This makes me thing Yuneec’s positioning tech is not as advanced as DJIs. Perhaps this is also why the Phantom 4 has vision positioning and the Typhoon H doesn’t. Propellers spin fast. Can you imagine if one fell from the sky because it was too unstable? I just want to take aerial photos with my wife so an accident is the last thing I want to worry about.

    The Typhoon H is a hexacopter which features five propeller redundancy. This means that it will still fly even if one propeller breaks. DJI’s Phantom 4 is a quadcopter and apparently doesn’t have any redundant design. I wonder if it’s possible to add redundancy to a quad. Yuneec wins in this respect.

    Phantom 4 redundancy is found in the IMU and the compass. It has two sets of sensors on these parts in case one set fails. Typhoon H does not have this.

    I don’t know what the probability of failure of a motor, propeller, IMU or compass is but I’ve read about crashes because of all these things so I can’t tell which redundant design is better.

    Conclusion: DJI’s vision positioning system makes Phantom 4 more stable when it hovers. Typhoon H six propellers redundancy and Phantom 4 IMU and compass redundancy make them pretty equal. Given that positioning technology will also make it easier to fly I’ll give the win to the Phantom 4.

Flight Mode

    Both aircraft feature common flight modes, intelligent flight modes and some are actually the same, such as Follow Me and Point of Interest. Some modes are also quite similar, such as DJI’s Waypoints and Yuneec’s Curve Cable Cam, which makes the aircraft to follow a planned route so that the user can control the gimbal and camera to shoot images.

    Some modes, like TapFly and ActiveTrack use a vision system that is only available with DJI. I watched some YouTube videos and found that people can take incredible photos while flying in TapFly and ActiveTrack modes. Other modes, like HomeLock and CourseLock, are used to make flying easier. I don’t know how often these modes would be used though but I’m sure they can help take better photos.

    Yuneec has a few special modes too, including Journey. This means that the Typhoon H will automatically fly up to capture the perfect aerial selfie which looks like fun. The Phantom 4 doesn’t have this movement, but it can be done manually, but I don’t see why it couldn’t be added as a software update? Does anyone know if DJI will be adding this?

    DJI’s remote controller is relatively simple. If you want to use it, you just connect a smart phone or tablet and use the DJI GO app. Yuneec’s remote controller is a little more complicated but it is embedded with a tablet computer running Android.

    After watching more YouTube videos, I found that DJI’s remote controller is easy to learn and you control most settings in DJI GO App. This powerful app lets you do everything from control the aircraft and camera, to edit images and videos, to sharing. You can also find resources and active users from an online community in the editor, which will be great for learning about aerial photography.

    Yuneec’s remote controller is large and embedded with a tablet computer so you do not have to worry about forgetting your phone or tablet. It does have a lot of buttons and switches though which makes it look more like a model aircraft controller. I’m actually a little afraid it. The embedded tablet can only be used only for aircraft and camera control but there is are no editor, community or forum to learn from. I think this makes it less fun than DJI GO and is maybe more geared toward experts.

    Conclusion: In terms of flight mode, Typhoon H has one that Phantom 4 does not. DJI’s remote controller is simpler but a smart phone or tablet computer is needed. Yuneec’s integrated tablet does not feature editing or community features like DJI GO does. This tips things towards the Phantom 4.

Easy to carry

    Phantom 4 is smaller than Typhoon H if all its arms are unfolded and Phantom 4 is almost as large as the Typhoon H if its arms are folded. Phantom 4 is shorter than Typhoon, so if you want to put the aircraft, remote controller, and battery into a box, the Phantom 4 will take up less space.

    Phantom 4 weights 1380g and the Typhoon H 1800g. I couldn’t find a weight for the Typhoon H remote but I assume it’s heavier because of the big size and screen.

    The biggest difference I have found is that when you buy a Phantom 4 you get a strong carrying case that I’m told you can stand on. For the Typhoon H you’ll need to buy a separate carrying system.

    Conclusion: The Phantom 4 is definitely easier to carry.

Summary

    After spending days learning about drones, I think I understand them. I think DJI is No.1 right now and may stay that way for quite a few years. Yuneec doesn’t match it in terms of product quality or the features I look for but I can’t deny that there are some highlights in the Typhoon H’s design.

    Specifications of Typhoon H is similar to the Xplorer2 and Phantom 3 4K. The Xplorer2 is not on the market yet and the Phantom 3 4K doesn’t have obstacle avoidance so it’s not for me. Only essential difference between Typhoon H and Phantom 3 4K is the 1.5m passive obstacle avoidance function.

    I finally decided to buy the Phantom 4 because it is better for a new flyer like me who just wants to shoot aerials without worry. The Phantom 4 is easy to fly and carry and features are good so that I can focus on getting better shots when I fly. The large and active user community will also help me be a better photography.

    If you have the same requirements or questions as I did when it comes to the consumer drones, I hope this article is helpful. If you do not agree with me, please feel free to make comments. I hope everyone could find your favorite drone. Cheers~