The rage these days is taking aerial photos, made possible by cool toys such as this quite the affordable quadcopter drone by AEE. Many drones out in the market allows you to hook up a camera such as a GoPro, but the AEE Toruk AP10 has an onboard camera that pairs with your smartphone. Now let’s see how well does it perform.

Flying High

The last time a drone came into our office, it somehow got crashed, so we are pretty careful this time. The most important thing before flying it is to get it calibrated. If you don’t calibrate properly, the tendency for it to go crashing to the ground is pretty high.

Dummy Controls

Controlling the drone is actually easier than I initially thought. Even a kid could control it, although you really need to be gentle with the two-stick radio controls since it is pretty sensitive and pushing it too hard too fast can cause the copter to come crashing down.

Aerial View

I have to say, flying a drone is really exhilarating! Cruising altitude for the Toruk is 500 meters which is quite decent, if you’re wondering that’s slightly over Petronas Twin Tower. Oncec you are up there you can check out the view from above on your smartphone once you’ve paired your iOS or Android using the included Wi-Fi repeater. What happens is the free flight control software provided by the manufacturer gives you access to the additional camera and drone features such as image resolution, signal strength, battery life indicators and more. You can place your phone on a slot on the controller to view whatever your drone’s camera is capturing. It is really cool!

Going On and Off

Having good battery life is important for a drone. With the Toruk AP10, you can fly for approximately 25 minutes and can travel at speeds up to 25 m/s, which is quite good in my opinion. Once the battery is critically low, it will automatically fly back to a preset spot in order to not come crashing down when battery has gone totally flat.

Quality Shots

The drone comes with an f2.8, 120-degree, wide-angle lens that is capable of shooting at 16MP images and 1080p video at 60 frames per second. The quality is pretty decent, and instead of recording everything onto your phone, the on-board camera has a built-in microSD slot that supports 64GB memory cards. Overall, this quadcopter drone is a decent all-rounder that can fly for a long period with decent controls and pretty good images.

By alicia mak

Specs

Dimensions: 370.84 x 370.84 x 142.24mm

Weight: 1.3kg

Battery: 5300mAh

Range of Remote Control: 500m

Camera: 16MP FullHD 1080P/60fps, 1080P/30fps, 720P/60fps

Duration of Flight: 25 minutes

Cruising altitude: 500m

Flight Speed: 25m/s

MicroSD card slot: 64GB

Autopilot: Auto Return Home

Protection from Wind: Class 4

Available at RadioShack outlets.