BEST Tracking Drone? Mini 4 Pro vs Skydio 2 - DRONE BATTLE
Вставка
- Опубліковано 1 чер 2024
- Can the Mini 4 Pro compete with the impressive tracking and obstacle avoidance features of the Skydio 2? In this video, Kelly and Kris challenge both drones in different situations to find out which will win the Drone Battle! We used the tracking features of each drone in a parking lot, through a neighborhood, across a bridge and through the woods. There were several surprises during our tests that you won't want to miss.
The Skydio 2 is an older drone and isn’t for sale anymore, but it’s still impressive.
The DJI Mini 4 Pro is currently available to buy.
Affilate link: DJI MINI 4 Pro: amzn.to/3ZDCkop
If you like Kelly’s shirt, it’s a design by Shawn Ide. Check out his channel @ShawnFoxhorn
Check out Kris' channel: / sunrisewatermedia
Check out Kelly's Podcast: dirtnapcity.buzzsprout.com
The music in this video is from Epidemic Sound.
bit.ly/RSD_Epidemic_Sound
If you want inexpensive, hassle-free music that sounds great for all of your social media channels, you should definitely check out Epidemic Sound.
Join this channel to get access to perks:
/ @readysetdrone
Kelly Shores is a FAA Part 107 certified drone pilot. He enjoys flying toy drones, camera drones, RC airplanes, and FPV quads. When he's not flying drones, Kelly enjoys photography, biking, travel and hanging out with his family!
#crash #fail #battle #drone
00:00 Intro Fail
00:19 Welcome To Drone Battle
01:16 Skydio 2 in a Parking Lot
03:32 Skydio 2 in a Neighborhood
06:35 Skydio 2 Bridge Test
07:34 Skydio 2 Through Trees
08:53 Skydio 2 STUCK
08:13 Skydio 2 Disable Height Floor
11:27 What is in the suitcase?
14:09 Mini 4 Pro in a Parking Lot
15:38 Mini 4 Pro in a Neighborhood
16:50 Don't fall!
17:11 Tracking Fail
18:52 Mini 4 Pro Bridge Test
21:28 Mini 4 Pro Through Trees
22:35 OOPS!
25:41 The Winner! - Наука та технологія
The beacon is the key for me. I ride dirt bikes and there is no way I am carrying that big controller around. I use the cell phone to set it up then I put that away and fly only using the beacon. I see that the Mini 4 is a great improvement (I have a mini3) but without a beacon there is no way it can follow a dirt bike better than the skydio. Your ease of use problem is that you want exact control of where the drone is. That doesn't work with the skydio. Also most of the skydio's camera settings are automatic. That means I always have good settings. (maybe not perfect). But 1/2 the time I fly my Mini 3, something in the settings has changed and whatever footage I shot is garbage. I want to concentrate on the activity, not the drone. I am not a photographer. The more I fly the Mini3 the more I like the skydio. I will wait till they have a beacon to upgrade the DJI. Too bad Skydio dropped out of the market. I would have bought a v3 in a heartbeat.
I do hope that DJI comes out with a beacon for the Mini 4!
Get a handlebar mount for the controller.
@@Diantane I guess I would get lots of footage of me crashing the dirt bike that way.
@@Diantane This can't be a serious comment.
Great video guys! I give Kris’s tracking 5 props all around. Skydio does good at avoiding obstacles, but it doesn’t film well… too robotic. Mini was very fluid… if it had a beacon though… fire! Thanks for the mention.
Thanks, Shawn! A beacon for the Mini 4 Pro would be amazing! 👊
Kelly loves that shirt of yours!
Very cool video. These drones are really amazing!!!
I have to agree with this assessment.
Mini 4 performed well. Nice Drone Battle.
Well done! Good format. Surprising result. You guys make a good team.
Thank you, Bob. 👊
After 6 months of flying drones (off brand), I watched a video of the Skydio missing obstacles and tracking with some difficulty, but it did it which impressed me. When I tried to buy one however, they were no longer available. So I spent almost a year searching for a drone that could do the same thing. Bought the DJI Mavic 3 Classic and it kept losing me or my vehicle (fail). Then I bought the Autel Evo II Pro Enterprise V3. It also failed to track (found out later that its not programmed to follow vehicles :(
When the Mini 4 Pro was released in September 2023, I immediately bought it and gave it a tough challenge right away. To track my parked car in the driveway and to orbit around it while missing the trees in my front yard and the house. It was amazing. It easily dodged all of the trees and flew up over the front of the house and back down again. After aa few circles, I pushed it to its limits. I turned up the speed to maximum. It avoided everything quickly and perfectly like a Skydio on steroids!
I've had the drone for over 4 months and have been on about 135 flights. Have flown it in a pitch dark sky and was able to maneuver with ease:
Started by flying straight up from my home in rural America (nearest neighbor @ 1/2 mile) to about 350 feet to be over the trees, then I could see lights in the distance (3/4 mile) and flew over to them. After exploring there I moved on to another lit up area (complete darkness in between). Now I could see my drone from the ground up to 2.5 miles away due to the "Firehouse" strobe light attached to the bottom of the drone - forward of the battery). When the drone battery gets low, I can either RTH or look for the "H" and fly towards it and then land. Have been night flying about every other night for four months. Its very exciting.
In the day time i fly over the mountains and explore old abandoned buildings that I find. My distant neighbors and friends have invited me to fly my drone over their property. This is by far the best drone I have ever owned. I have the insurance, but haven't had any mishaps.
That's awesome! Thanks for sharing. 👍
Great job on this video. You put in a lot of effort.
Thank you, Steve!
This kinda videos are so helpful for people who want to buy a drone. Thanks gentlemen for sharing and making these videos. Thumbs up for both of you.
We appreciate you watching. Thanks for the comment as well.
Boosted board such a great idea to test with. Thanks for sharing!
Great video, really enjoyed that
Thank you!
That was a great video. Very entertaining as well as real world information. I did have a few comments, but all were covered. Then again who cares about the Skydio? Like most of the competation for DJI, they were crushed. Maybe a competation aginst Autel ( the last of the hold outs) or better yet a competation with the victor Mini 4 Pro going aginst a pro pilot. As I still believe there is no subsitute for a good pilot for getting a great tracking shot. I would like to see which competator can get the best 30 second usable clip with increasing difficultities in tracking.
🤣🤣I love the Scooby do ARUOO!
Lol. Thanks, Mike! I had fun with this edit.
Great job guys
#DrunkBallerina #ISeeNothing
I've seen plenty of tracking videos, but you guys are one of first to point how nature the following video looks. The Skydio is very robotic looking, and the Mini 4 Pro looks much smoother. Great comparison video, the Mini 4 Pro is the one if you want more cinematic tracking video. Thanks for sharing.
For the Skydio 2 app, did you try "Fixed Tracking" instead of "Motion Tracking"? Because fixed tracking should make the Skydio fly way smoother and have less jerky video then motion tracking.
Good point. For this test, we wanted to keep the Skydio behind us most of the time. I believe that fixed tracking will remain in its orientation, whereas we wanted it to follow us around the corners and stay behind us for most of the tests.
I wish I could have been there to help with this one. When u get the beacon down. The skydio rocks for close and super low to the ground in front tracking. Far away I’m not a fan of it as much.
What made you guys do two for ease of use? For me it’s gotta be a 4 in that category with the beacon at least.
The beacon is great! I wish the Mini 4 Pro had one.
We couldn't figure out how to get the Skydio to stay a precise distance and height away -- it seemed to just want to be on an angle that if the distance increased, the height also increased.
Also, how to manually tilt down the camera?
Generally, trying to make it do what we want was not intuitive.
You've put a lot of time into flying with it and might know some tricks, but Kelly spent a chunk of time (mostly off camera) trying to get it to be where he wanted, only to have it decide to position itself differently when tracking started.
That's why ease of use was low. It frustrated us.
@@SunriseWaterMedia thanks for the exploration. Bummer you guys had trouble with it. I finally crashed mine. Ha ha
@@SeanOzz 👊 What?!! Nooooo!
@@SunriseWaterMedia Question - did you try doing the point and click with the beacon? That puts it exactly where you want. Or hitting the range buttons on the beacon?
@@BlownMacTruck Yes, we did both. Once we got it where we wanted, it just moved away to wherever it wanted when Kelly started moving.
Kelly, You should have got Kris to dress in a tutu and had both drones try to track him as a #DrunkBallerina if they follow his every move they would get 5 props for tracking and an extra 5 props for not laughing
Trevor, don't give Kelly any ideas! 😅
Good job, although it is not a fair rating for Skydio, since much of the testing has been done with the height limitation activated. and you have to keep in mind that Skydio never crashed like the mini 4 did, anyway, great progress from DJI.
Thanks for your comment. Fair points. We are definitely human with opinions and biases, so our dislike of the inability to position the skydio where we wanted it to be as well as the "drunk ballerina" video result, might not be a huge problem for others. We wanted to not only tell our experience during these tests, but also let you as the viewer, make up your own opinions based on the footage provided.
We appreciate you watching. Have a great week.
I’ve always thought the Skydio/beacon combo was hard to beat, but when you add video output to the equation thats certainly tips everything in the DJI’s favour.
Wonder if Skydio had not thrown in the towel would there be a new challenger?
Well done! Love you guys!!! Mini 4 pro....my favorite drone in a long time......waypoints, POI, occusync 4.......skydio.....has one job......unfortunately none of video captured by it could be used in final cut.......stay original guys... and i hope yall have wonderful holidays
Thanks, Jimmy! Happy New Year! 👊
When are yall gonna attach the beacon to the Mini 4 and have the skydio hunt the DJI? 😂😂😂
Lol
I have a new M4P, but without watching the video... my guess is that the Skydio 2 wins.
What did you think of the result of our tests?
Very dramatic. Nice job gentlemen.
Thank you, George!
Hello Kelly & Kris. Thank you for your outstanding challenge between the Skydio 2 vs. Mini 4 Pro. The Mini 4 sure performed well, and for its size, weight and cost really outweighed the Skydio 2. In all fairness, the Skydio 2 is outdated compared to the Mini 4 Pro’s technology. Hat’s off to your performance layouts and test ground locations👏👏. Nicely Done💯💯.
Thanks, Steve! It was a fun video to make.
Hi guys, I also have both, the Skydio is a lot more squirrely in flying close but in an open area like the desert and following a vehicle it does a pretty good job. Now the Mini 4 pro I have not had a chance to try to much in the desert, I did once but forgot to start recording, oops. The Mini 4 I did have it follow me down my street what has a lot of queen palms and hit a palm branch, kind of big and crashed. Broke one of the arms but just came out of the socket so was able to push back in a super glue still work great. I like the Mini 4 pro probably the best because the portability and the video quality and now all the new features.
If we could combine the Skydio obstacle avoidance with the smoothness of the Mini 4, then we'd have a real winner. Sorry about your crash, but we're glad you glued it back.
The Mini 4 Pro is a great sub 250g marvel, thanks for the entertainment, regards
Suggestion: Do the same test with the same 2 drones in a wide open space and at speed. I'm curious at what speed they will loose the subject. 6 miles per hour is pretty slow. For action filming, mountain bikes, motorcycles, offroad vehicles, cars, etc., all will be traveling faster than 6 MPH. Also, how does each drone do when performing other things like an orbit, dronie, etc. under speed
Great comparison, Kelly and Kris, thanks. The score surprised me as well. # DrunkBallerina, #ISeeNothing
Thanks, Mike!
One thing I've never noticed before is how loud the SKYDIO is. I never thought I'd see DJI do better than SKYDIO at avoiding obstacles. There is room for improvement but I think DJI is making strides in the right direction. Plus, if the SKYDION was better, great video is one of the main reasons we fly drones so if you avoid obstacles but have jerky videos, that defeats the purpose
Totally agree! Thanks for commenting.
#ISeeNothing !
Good test 👌
Thanks, Steve!
I like the DJI M4P for cinematic shots. In all honesty, those cool, cinematic shots are the only reason why most people buy consumer drones anyway. Plus I generaly find the footage from DJI drones to be better. Am I tripping or is the skydio drone worth 2k plus??????!!!
You're definitely not tripping. 😎
end of 2023 Mini 4 Pro with Extended battery pack is great Drone ))
So many video reviews comparing the Skydio to the mini 4 pro. First off skydio has more sensors and it can dodge obstacles better than most DJI drones. But the skydio jumps around way to fast making the video not look smooth and cinematic. But let’s talk about the price difference between the two drones. Skydio comes in around 2700.00 compared to 759.00 for the mini 4 pro. I can take 2700.00 and purchase 3 mini 4 pro drones and still have 400.00 left for something else. I can fly my mini 4 pro over 6 miles away but lose signal on the skydio around 3,000 feet. Flying the mini 4 pro at night looks so much better than the skydio. The mini 4 pro gets longer flight time. When I use active tracking I like to have the drone follow me and stay centered of me while tracking. The skydio bounces around and I don’t like that. Especially when I am trying to show off a certain location the mini 4 pro does much better. I will say that the Air 2s can tack me at faster speeds than any other of my Dji drones that has the active tracking feature. The air 2s having the extra two sensors on top allows it to pitch forward and fly faster while still having the top sensors facing forward. I would love to see DJI continue adding those extra sensors on all future models. I would also like to see them add at least one sensor on each side of the drone to really get the 360 observable avoidance. But here’s the thing 2700.00 is way too expensive for the Skydio drone that only has about 800.00 quality. So there’s no comparison. If you pay five hundred thousand dollars for a Lamborghini do you compare it to a $35,000 car? No you don’t.
Exactly! 👍
I don't think you could make Skydio the winner as you can buy one.. I do have both and for me it's skydio hands down.. and dji for night flying
Are you read the book? The mini 4 pro's sensors are bad in low contras object.. that why it confuse to tracking objects with dark colour moving under shadow of trees... I think mini 4 pro specs was claimed about that... so the mini 4 pro founder was tell us before they sell it..
Uh for the first test in the parking lot, why did you have the Skydio trying to do the hardest possible tracking - in front of you and far away - and NOT the Mini 4 Pro?
Also, if you want to see a Skydio doing tracking that the Mini 4 Pro would have serious problems with, lookup the video "Rando clips of Chicago + esk8 + fall == beautiful". I'd link it but youtube of course doesn't allow comments with links. The last two minutes are particularly impressive, shot only with the beacon, and that dude is going WAY faster on an electric skateboard than the 20kph you're doing here.
We wanted it to be closer to us, and we set the range close and lower down, but it kept going far away, which was part of the frustration.
Yeah, UA-cam is crazy with deleting links -- why would they delete links to other UA-cam videos? It's not like it's an external link or something.
You need to know how the Skydio is designed to work. When operated right it is amazing, not perfect, but amazing.
Very true!
#DrunkBallerina #ISeeNothing nice video.
Cool, but these drones aren't cheap. I'd have given more towards the one 'that didn't crash'.
honestly, DJI should improve on their tracking and the drone's ability to actually track and maneuver around. I feel like it can be achieved by software updates but I hope users put pressure on them so that they really work on this issue.
How come no one points out Skydio no longer sells consumer drones anymore, so good luck getting software updates in the future.
You are right. I actually had to contact their support (which was great by the way) in order to update the software. It was a bit of a hassle, but I got it done.
In a tracking scenario ease of use rating should have been higher for Skydio due to ability to use beacon vs being forced to carry the controller.
We definitely considered that, and we would agree, on paper, but actually doing this test really tested our patience, having to dial in settings on the phone, only to have the drone do its own thing, to some degree.
Now that the gap is closing when it comes to obstacle avoidance, we want more than tracking #DrunkBallerina we want tracking that makes sense coupled with a great camera.
Exactly! 👍
Thanks for watching and seeing the hashtag.
Skydio is 4 years old extra points
Anyone feel like pointing out that the Skydio was twice as far away?
The skydio has got some amazing tracking features, for sure. We did get a bit frustrated that we couldn't position it exactly how close we wanted and keep it there. It seemed to just go back to where it wanted after we positioned it.
If only we could combine the best features of both! A smooth video result, A+ tracking and obstacle avoidance, intuitive positioning of the quad, and a beacon. 🫤
#drunkballerina
You should have disabled the floor height setting before flying. I don't think you were aware of how to use the Skydio prior to the 'Battle' to properly compare. Ease of use? That is where the Mini4 consistently wins points (in your opinion), but you NEVER qualified the meaning. What can be easier that just carrying a beacon that you can stuff in your pocket and concentrate on the event? Carrying a large controller that you have to keep your eyes on while riding/driving/skiing/boating/cycling/skating/...? Nonsensical.
As for video quality, the subject was so far away with the mini 4 most of the time that it didn't achieve the purpose of tracking, which is close up shots of the subject while doing fun things. Sure, it was more cinematic, but more of the background than the targeted subject.
If you simply eliminated the never explained 'ease of use', or gave Skydio credit for its easy to use beacon, I suspect the Skydio would win hands down, especially if the Mini4 had landed in a pond when it CRASHED. You also never tried a side by side comparison of tracking from anywhere but behind, something that the Mini4 couldn't even compare to.
Don't get me wrong, I am about to buy a Mini 4 Pro to backup my Skydio 2, but only because Skydio has exited the consumer theater and someday it will die. I really hate to abandon the Skydio because of how easy it is to use (but not by your vague standards), but for future use I really have no choice.
I see bias here, not sure why...
Thanks for your input. We could have disabled the floor height ceiling to begin with one we realized that, but we wanted this test to be as genuine as possible, mistakes and all.
As far as ease of use goes, your point about the beacon is valid. The beacon is definitely more convenient to carry. However, taking into account that we couldn't position the Skydio how we wanted, or once we did, it just decided to do its own thing -- that was a bit frustrating. Sorry if that wasn't explained fully.
We all have our own subconscious biases, and I suppose that one of ours is the final footage being smooth and enjoyable to watch. Again, that's subjective.
If we could combine the ease of use and smoothness of the Mini 4 Pro with the convenience of the beacon and superior obstacle avoidance of the Skydio, that would be amazing!
Have a good time with your new Mini 4 Pro.
it might work better with an orange jacket
We were thinking the same after we started having trouble. 😄
I know now why skydio is pushing daffodils
I am tired of holding the controller. Skydio let’s me concentrate my activities and recording it’s not my job but skydio’s.
For sure! I hear your point.
✅Dji crash still it is good and give 2 more points
❌Skydio lost a litter take 4 less point
Good video, but I can't stop criticizing many points in your videos. First, if you have an average score of 15 points and you have a total of 10 points, meaning 5 for obstacle avoidance, 5 for tracking, 5 for ease of use, totaling 15, and if you have 10, the total or average score is 3.5, not 2, the calculations are very wrong. Second, I notice that because they don't like Skydio or know how to use all its functions, they give points against Skydio. Skydio is the best in tracking and obstacle avoidance, and this is proven in the same video because in the end, the DJI drone crashes where the Skydio does not. The best tracking drone is not the one that can make the best video, but the one that makes it easier for you to use, it's the drone that avoids obstacles and tracks better than another because the fact of making a good video or whether the drone is easy or difficult to use depends a lot on how professional the person is, and this varies greatly in each person. Skydio 2's tracking is the best on the market due to its technology and the beacon; it is clearly seen in the same video when you get lost and how, according to their titles, the drone was able to locate you by the beacon. There are also many things that are not taken into account, such as updates and which version of the drone it has, for example, version 1043 of Skydio is the best, after that, the other updates do not go well, on the other hand, some updates of the 4 give problems. A well-made but very disinformative video, I think.
the mini 4 controller is the downfall carry that huge shit its so bad ,beacon is the winner!
#ISeeNothing
👀👍
Either the original Skydio videos were cherry picked or staged or the software is worse today. Also the footage is useless with the wild swings and crazy acceleration.
Agreed 👍
First all u had the skydio in circles modes and the m4 was not ,so the skydio was working harder.Why didn't u do that with the mini 4 . If u would have used the skydio in fixed mode it would have easily have won . Then u was going slower to help the mini 4 though those trails Stevie wonder could see that. The skydio never crashed which is a big fail,so it defeats the whole purpose of tracking. Number two. Then the mini 4 keeping getting lost and tracking another person. it should have been disqualified. Then number 3 no one who does real tracking wants to carry around a controller, plus on the skydio u can u use just your phone u don't have to have a beacon. Most people just put the phone in their pocket,and let it do what it was made to do. But before the video I knew u would have the mini 4 as a winner,because I knew u was a dji hard-core fanboys.Yall staged this,as usual.
Thanks for the comment. We had issues with the beacon and phone on the Studio, as you saw. The beacon is definitely more convenient to hold, but getting the drone to stay where we wanted a frustrating.
Regarding fixed mode, that would make the Skydio not remain where we put it if our path changed direction.
We thought that we'd crown the Skydio as the winner, but we felt that the final video result was more important than we expected.
We're human. We made mistakes. We could have done things differently, or better, but we feel pretty good about our testing and whether or not the viewers agree, hopefully there's enough information for each person to come to conclusions.
Cheers!
- Kelly and Kris
Bias competition. Hahahaha. Mini 4 crashed! 🤷♂️ still a winner? Misleading
Yeah, we put a lot of importance on the end result of the recorded video as well as how easy it is to figure out how to get the drone to do what we wanted it to do.
The Mini 4 pro is definitely lacking in its tracking and obstacle avoidance, hence the crash.
As humans, we are definitely biased, being more filmmakers rather than action sports oriented, but we went into this test with a much of an open mind as possible. The skydio was definitely frustrating when we were positioning it, also, the end result was less than satisfying. However, it's an older drone and still very impressive. It's kind of a shame that it's discontinued.
Thanks for the comment!
Naaaah. Title misleading "best tracking drone" not best filming drone. Hahahahahahaha. Check your title next time.
Lol. Your point is very valid, and I totally get it -- if tracking were the only thing we wanted, then the skydio and beacon combo is the best. But if the resulting video is important, then we gave you, the viewer, the results, as well as our experience with each one. We didn't hide the crash, we kept it all honest. Hopefully depending on what's important to you, you'll come to your best conclusion.
We appreciate your comments. Have a great rest of the week.