After waiting nearly a month, Werner's Parrot Anafi finally arrived in July 2018. I wanted a full review, but the weather had other plans: gusts of about 40 km/h. So we turned it into a wind test.
Unboxing
The package feels very light but well made, and details are taken into great consideration. In the box: the controller, the drone, a spare set of propellers and a USB-C charger. Not a proprietary charger, so you can charge it from any USB source, although it takes longer.
The controller feels really good in your hands, like an Xbox controller, and it switches on as soon as you flip up the phone holder. Build quality is strong and the sticks are smooth. The drone comes in a well-made case moulded to its shape (I don't think it's waterproof). At first touch the drone is extremely light and a bit plasticky, and unfolding it is no hassle: you can open the arms in any order.
Flying in 40 km/h gusts
We headed to a field just outside town, me and Werner (it's his Anafi, not mine). With gusts of around 40 km/h it was up there flying without any issue. It wasn't flying straight, because it was fighting the side wind, but the image was crazy stable. Just a side note: we tried to fly the Phantom Pro too, and it couldn't even get into the air because the side wind kept rolling it over.
I had the impression that the two-axis gimbal plus electronic stabilisation worked even better than a three-axis gimbal, at least in that wind. Hovering wasn't super precise, but remember it weighs only 320 g.
App, modes and footage
The Anafi app is very well made, easy to navigate and easy to customise. The iPhone app wasn't on the App Store yet, but you could get it through Parrot's link, and as a tester you got two tracking modes for free that normally cost extra. I tested Sport (super fast and responsive) and Cinema (like DJI's tripod mode, slow and smooth), plus Boomerang. The footage in the video is not HDR and has no post-production, and it looks really good.
Flight time was roughly 17 minutes instead of the claimed 25, but in that wind I'd call it a great performance.
Toys? Not any more
A couple of weeks earlier I'd asked whether Parrot could ever compete with DJI, and lots of you said Parrot only makes toys. For what I've seen, it's a great drone for the price: HDR, a 180° tilting camera, lossless zoom, lightweight. The lack of obstacle avoidance is something people will consider. It's Parrot's first semi-pro drone, DJI is still ahead, but the premises are great, and competition is only good for all of us.