escape Platinum Quad Copter Review

I came across this at a Canadian Tire for $50. I’ve seen similar drones for higher prices in other places (and with very poor reviews) so I thought, since it was such a low price (comparitively), it might be worth a try. To be honest, considering the cost and reviews of similar drones, I wasn’t expecting much but, overall, I was surprised at what you get with this drone. The handling and controls are pretty easy to get working, it can be controlled using a smart phone, and it can be used as a first person drone (FPV) if you want. The only large drawbacks are the battery life which is only about 10-15 minutes of flying time, susceptibility to strong winds (not a surprise considering its size though), and the mobile app is supplied by a third party. The company tried to offset the battery life by supplying three batteries but it’s still something to keep in mind when deciding if you want to buy this model or not. That said, It’s a fairly good entry level drone that delivers quite a bit for the price you pay which offers a chance to try FPV drones without paying a large sum. If you are interested in more details, a more detailed review and unboxing is below.

Specification and Unboxing:

The box is relatively compact and has a similar look to other escape products. Pretty much everything in the package is listed on the box except the expected flight time which is one of the reasons I considered not buying it but, at the low price, I decided to take the risk.

The specifications/features of this quadcopter are listed as:

• Foldable – They don’t elabourate on what exactly this means, other than a small icon on the box, but the arms fold in like many other “foldable” drones. This may be a standard thing but I’m not a drone guy so I don’t know.

• Photos and Videos – To be fair, anything with a camera better be capable of taking photos and videos. The resolution is 640x480 which is fairly low but this is a low cost drone so not really a mark against it in this case.

• Mobile App – There is an Andriod/iOS app that can be used with this drone. It appears to be a third party app though and it’s supported by ads. I haven’t looked for other apps to see if it works with others but, if one third party app works, another might as well. I count this as a mark against the drone. If the company is going to advertise an app as one of the features, it should be one they made.

• Dual Camera – There is a “straight down” camera and a “down-forward” to “forward” facing camera (you can adjust its position by hand). Would have been cool if you could control it r emotely but that might overcomplicate an otherw ise simple product (at least electronically).

• Rechargable batteries – Three rechargable batteries included. These are batteries enclosed in a specially designed case with a built in USB port and charge controller. At 600mAh, you won’t get a lot of flight time from it. The batteries are pretty light so I’m not sure why they didn’t just make a single, larger, battery for a longer flight time but it could have had to do with keeping the product price down. A few smaller batteries may have cost less than one larger one but that’s just speculation on my part.

• Phone holder – Shown in the lower left on both sides. Good for using the phone as a camera but pretty bulky if you try to use the phone controls at the same time as the controller.

The only “loose” item in the product box is the case itself. The case is meant for transport/storage of the copter but its not very rigid. There is no inner frame and it’s literally the two halves of a case held together by the zipper so you get no crush/drop protection from the case.

Inside the case, the copter and parts are packed neatly and it is easy to pack/unpack everything.

The blade guards are clip on. I get the impression they are more for prevention of hitting the blades on the ground or light bumping into objects rather than a solid protection (so no crashing). That said (or I guess I should say written), there are extra blades included for in case you do have an accident. They even provided a screwdriver for the replacement. The battery presses into a slot on the underside of the copter. One of them came half installed and just needed to be pressed into place. Personally, I wouldn’t ship it like that and I would have placed it with the other two batteries to avoid it accidentally getting pushed into place but that’s my own preference.

Hardware Setup/Durability:

The hardware is pretty easy to get set up. The blade guards only fit in one way and its obvious how to position them. The battery can only be put in one way as well which makes it extremely user friendly. The blade guards don’t feel like they are very strong and I get the impression they are only meant for light bumps if you drift too close to an object (though this wouldn’t work too well since it only protects from one direction) or, more likely, to prevent the blade from hitting the ground when landing.

The remote unit has a pull out clamp for a phone (pictured below). The phone acts as a screen for the cameras and can also be used to control the copter. It’s a spring loaded plastic clamp which feels a bit flimsy when pulled out and seems just on the edge of breaking apart when I put my phone in. This is a bit disappointing but, for the price, it is no surprise. The copter and remote are basically plug and play and I had no trouble getting everything working. If you don’t want to use the camera first person view (FPV) feature, you can just use the copter right away.

The phone link is a bit less user friendly. It’s handled as a direct WiFi link so you can’t use WiFi internet with your phone (no live streaming I suppose) and the name of the network is a semi-random assigned name “WIFI-8K-####” (#### is a random number). Not very hard to find but a more obvious name would be more helpful. The app can be downloaded by using a QR code in the manual or by searching for the app in the store. I personally don’t scan QR codes because of how easy it is to add extra code or have the link hop through a different server before going to the store so I searched the store instead. Pairing the drone with the phone app was pretty strait forward and the manual provided clear instructions.

The app appears to be a third party app that the drone manufacturer is not affiliated with. The app is also supported by ads (see image above). This is my one real complaint about this drone. It would be one thing if they said it was a third party app but nothing in their manual or on the packaging indicates this. I wonder if this means it works with other third party apps but have not tested it and I also don’t like downloading random apps on my phone so I won’t be testing it. The app provides instructions on how to connect to the drone and it’s very easy to set up.

Operation:

I didn’t like the interface on the phone so this review focuses on using the remote to operate the drone. The drone is pretty easy to fly and I had no trouble getting it in the air and tuning it. They say not to use it on a windy day which is good advice. I had a strong gust take the drone away with it. I was able to save it by hitting the auto-land button (just in case it blew out of range before getting close to the ground) and walking over to it to pick it up. The drone has an auto-takeoff feature which causes it to hover 4-5 feet off the ground. This is really useful for tuning it. There are buttons on the controller for trimming the forward/backward and left/right drift that can mostly eliminate the drift. Once you tune the drone, you can fly it around. There are three settings for speed. I didn’t notice a difference when using them but there was a constant breeze that may have made it more difficult to see the difference. It may be necessary to change the speed when the drone is landed (I changed it while in the air) but this isn’t stated in the manual.

The image quality is fairly low (as advertised). The stored images have even lower quality. It looks like they are using a higher jpeg compression setting which causes more artifacts in the images. This is good for looking around but don’t expect to win any image contests with the screenshots.

The drone can do flips which can be fun. You press the “trick” button and then a direction and the drone will auto-flip in that direction. The manual warns against doing the flips at a low altitude but the controller won’t allow you to perform them until you are higher in the air anyway so it has a safety feature. I notice that, sometimes, it can drop in altitude a bit when doing the flip and, one time, a gust of wind nearly caused the drone to crash into the ground so be careful when doing these tricks. The drone also doesn’t flip in place and will move in the direction of the flip a bit so they shouldn’t be done unless there is clearance around the drone.

The drone auto hovers which is great because controlling vertical thrust with an auto-centering joystick is annoying. You can also land manually or use an auto-land button to have the drone land itself. While auto-landing, a sudden gust of wind caused the drone to tilt to one side and the blade guard prevented the blade from crashing into the ground so make sure you put those on before flight. There is no auto-home feature and I am not sure if the drone will auto land if it looses communication with the controller so I would say be careful not to fly too far away just in case.

Overall, I would say the drone is easy to fly and a lot of fun. I’m sure there are fancier drones out there that are even easier to fly (and I know there are some that are harder) but, for the price, this is a surprisingly good deal. The only real down side to flying the drone is the flight time. I got about 15 minutes of flight out of the batteries. The copter will also auto land when the battery is low. They try to make up for it by providing 3 batteries but you still don’t get a long flight time per battery. Honestly though, for a low cost and introductory drone like this, I don’t see it as a problem.

The batteries have a built in USB charger (cord included) and have an indicator light so you know when the batteries have fully charged. The charger uses a standard micro USB A cable.

Verdict:

Though this drone has a few drawbacks in its flight time, loss of stability in even light winds, use of third party software, and low image resolution, I think that, overall, this drone is worth buying. The value you get for such a low cost is impressive and it is fun to fly. It is also a great way to buy an introductory drone to see if you like FPV drones as well as to get used to flying them.