Will never become the perfect drone for everyone. There are so many different reasons to own a drone. Some like to race. Some like to shoot sweeping cinematic masterpieces and some like to follow the fast-paced action. What makes a drone good at one thing often makes it not great for another. That said, if you’re after speed and maneuverability, the Skydio 2+ is almost perfect.
It has some shortcomings which I will cover below. But the tracking and collision avoidance software in Skydio 2+ is better than any other I’ve used, by an order of magnitude. Best of all, Skydio combines this sophistication in an incredibly simple, easy-to-use flight control system.
New version
Skydio starts with the R1, a drone that’s impressive for its feature set — it’s fully autonomous, requires no controls — but is extremely expensive and seems aimed at the enterprise market a lot. than. The company followed that up with Skydio 2, lowering the price and adding more consumer-friendly features.
Skydio 2 has two snags: It can only stay aloft for about 20 minutes, and many people have had trouble keeping the drones connected to Wi-Fi at the farther edges of the range. its limit (3.5 km in first version.) Skydio Hardware Update 2+ addresses those two issues with a larger, more powerful battery and two pop-up antennas, which increase range of the drone and provide a stronger signal.
The two hardware changes are small but welcome, and 2+ is all that Skydio is selling right now. However, if you bought both, don’t worry. What’s new in software will still work for you, and on this drone what’s really impressive is the software.
Photo: Skydio
That said, I wish Skydio had improved the camera. The 1/2.3-inch sensor is capable of recording 4K footage at 60fps, which is fine for the casual user, but flies it alongside the higher-resolution camera in the Autel Evo Lite+ (7/10, Recommend with WIRED) really showed what the last generation Skydio camera was like. If image quality is your primary concern, buy the DJI Air 2S (9/10, Recommend with WIRE) or Evo Lite+. The Skydio 2+ produces great video results, but given how much it outshines the rest of this drone’s competitors, it’s disappointing that the camera isn’t similarly ahead.
I also found the white balance to be poorer than excellent. You can tweak it in the app, but there’s no support for log video, like DJI’s D-log. Recording in the log yields a higher dynamic range video, which you can later color correct with software (a process that can be much more streamlined with a color LUT). But if you’re not planning on editing and color grading your video in software, the lack of log gamma curves shouldn’t be an issue.
The missing log curve will mostly affect professional photographers, which is unfortunate, as Skydio would otherwise be a great choice for them. (Still if you can live without a diary.) But Skydio’s autopilot features mean you don’t need hours of flying experience to get great shots.
Map Key
Photo: Skydio
The key to Skydio’s autonomous flight system lies in its obstacle avoidance approach. Instead of looking for objects to avoid, the Skydio 2 series uses six onboard navigation cameras to build a real-time 3D map of its surroundings. It then uses this information, along with some AI intelligence, to navigate its way through places that other drones can’t manage.
I tried as hard as I could to get Skydio 2+ to hit something while following me through some rather dense trees, but it didn’t work. It flew roads that there was no way I could fly on my own. The collision avoidance system is so good that I have to remind myself Not to try out some of the things that Skydio can do with other drones I’m testing. Skydio’s collision avoidance system is without a doubt the best I’ve ever used.
