Taking flight

swing mambo

 

This week the long awaited additions arrived out-of-the-box and ready for some piloting time as Parrot unveiled their latest line up of mini-drones. Adding to an impressive extension in this category of fun revealed last year with nine new drones was going to be a big ask, the French outfit have delivered, impressively. The Swing is the first plane/mini drone hybrid with  with vertical take-off and can pass from quadricopter mode to plane mode in an instant. The Mambo comes complete with connected accessories  – one to grip and release objects and another which unleashes projectiles, with little purpose apart from to crowd please.

Almost as exciting as the new launches is the addition of a new RC unit by the name of Flypad, much akin to a console controller rather than other substandard controls this one talks to the unit in flight and gives far more precision that using the touchscreen on your smart-device. You can still operate with the latter directly but our experience was greatly enhanced by having our smartphone in –place atop the Flypad offering us flight information and battery life whilst manoeuvering with this highly responsive unit created a dog’s undercarriage of a pilot from one who has form in trashing foliage and spending much time in contact with solid surfaces. The Swing comes complete with the Flypad and will set you back £119.99, the Mambo has all its accessories but you’ll have to fork out another £40 to get your hands on one – It can also be used across the entire rages of Parrot Mini Drones. We can find little to state of a corrective nature for these two machines, each score high on fun factor, both highly resilient to rogue pilot moves and each with a box which is reusable as a portable hangar for your craft. Nicely done indeed. Event images this way >>>>

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About Peter Jenkinson

Toyologist Pete Jenkinson regularly writes about toys in national newspapers like The Sun and The Mail. This super-dad has an unmatched passion and dedication for trying and testing the latest, coolest and most interesting offerings from the world of toys.

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