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There's no question, the concept of the AirSelfie2 is terrific: A pocket-size mini drone that you toss up and then records video of you doing whatever it is you want to do in glorious 1080p HD resolution. Controlled via a smartphone app, you can also take photos remotely too. If only the darn thing could actually hover.
Tech expert Dave Taylor of https://www.AskDaveTaylor.com/ tried his best to get the AirSelfie2 to work but, as you will see demonstrated dramatically in this video, it's just not quite there, even with zero wind or breeze...
Check it out at Amazon: https://amzn.to/2UBFtTC
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0:00
This might be the ultimate product for our age. It's a selfie drone
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But does it work? Let's find out. Dave Taylor here and you know sometimes I look at products and I really
0:16
really want them to work but they don't work so well. Unfortunately that's what this is. This is the AirSelfie 2 Pocket Selfie HD camera
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and the engineering is brilliant. It's a great piece of hardware. It has a really nice design
0:34
It just doesn't hover and without that hovering capability everything ends up falling down
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So let me tell you about it before we actually get into some video demo
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which I'm sure you will be entertained by. It's madness but we'll get there
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So it's 2.8 ounces. It's insanely light. It is seven and a half inches by four inches
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and as you can see it has four little blades and they're all protected so you can hold it
1:01
In fact they tell you that you can just grab it out of the air just like that
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You can grab it out of the air when you're done flying it. Now on the front you have a 12 megapixel HD camera that shoots 1080p HD video and a scan
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In just a moment I'll show you a demo of that and then you come around to the back
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and then you have a USB-C charging plug and somewhere in here
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I don't remember exactly where it is, there is a micro SD card and it comes with a 16 gig micro SD card
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and you can actually flip another one in if you want to really get a lot of video footage
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or you can actually take photos but again getting those photos to work when you don't have a good hover
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well, a little problematic. I also want to point out that you can't tell from the video
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but this is all aluminum. It's not plastic. The only plastic part here are the blades
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of the little blades. So that's really nice. So again the feel of it, the engineering, it's all really terrific
2:00
Now you need to get the AirSelfie 2 app. You need to calibrate it, which I did every time I've flown it
2:09
I've calibrated it first and you need to connect it because it's very interesting
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It actually builds its own on-the-fly Wi-Fi network. So on your phone, you actually connect to it via Wi-Fi and then within that, you then have ability to control what's going on
2:27
But enough talk. Let me show you the footage of me trying to fly it
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This is after I've done it like 20 or 30 times and you know, I've never once had it just go up and just sit
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It just lasts a couple of seconds and then you know, chaos ensues
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But let's switch to the video and you'll see what I mean. All right, I'm going to fly it in easy mode. So it's supposed to be able to just hover, right
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Let's see how that works out. I'm going to push easy and then I need to actually make sure the camera faces me
3:01
It does and then you push and hold the little triangle and it spins up
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And now I'm going to just start the recording because we're going to do video and I just throw it up
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And theoretically, it should work. Now, right now, it's working pretty well, but now I got to have it move back
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And as you can see, it kind of has a mind of its own and controlling it is really a complete disaster
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I don't even know what happened up there, but I'll share the video with you
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My point being that the concept of this is really great. The actual implementation is madness and chaos
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So hang on, let me get back on camera. So total madness
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Now, let's look at the video that was recorded while I was going through that exciting flight adventure
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Okay. Now, one more thing I want to show you is I want to show you the experience on the phone because there's a couple of steps
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It all looks really easy. You calibrate it, you make sure it's connected, you choose easy mode
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I already told you, you heard me talk about and now you can see how there's that triangle that you push and hold and that actually causes it to take off
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But notice the controls, right? There's all these confusing little arrows going in different directions
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And as you saw, when I was trying to regain control of it, I'm pushing arrows that seems like, you know, they should move in certain directions, but they didn't
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Or they were going because they were oriented based on this orientation
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So if it hits something and does a 90 degree turn, then all of my controls are off. Right
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So super hard to manage. Now, you could fly it outside where you have a lot more space
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It actually has a range of 65 feet depending on, you know, Wi-Fi conditions and stuff
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But let's be honest, something this light and this small, if you have the slightest breeze, this thing's going to just drift off
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And once it gets to a certain distance, you no longer have control. And that is not a good thing
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So, you know, gosh, I want this to work. I think this is such a fun concept
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But man, this just does not work for me. And I've looked at other reviews and, you know, other reviewers say that like when they take photos, half of them, they're not even in the picture because it's just it's hard
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And for this thing to really work, the first two letters of air need to be AI
6:03
And this thing needs to be smart enough to do a proper hover
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Now, I have much more expensive like DJI drones and stuff that are a thousand dollars
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And those you can say hover and it just sits and a big wind can come and it actually compensates
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And it stays exactly where you left it. To me, that is the most important functionality of a drone, maybe coupled with safe landings
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That's another drone story that I have that I'll share another time. But let me tell you that, you know, the battery here is also another one of these exercises in frustration because it's a 400 milliamp hour battery because they had to keep it as light as possible
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Right. But that means that it takes an hour to charge and that gives you five minutes of flying time
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Now, if that five minutes of flying time includes crashes and launching again and calibration and stuff, you might only have a couple of minutes in the air and then you have to plug it in and charge it for an hour
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That is not really, you know, really what we hope for. Now, this is just the reality of modern technology and batteries
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And for them to be able to put a bigger, heavier battery in, which gives you more flight time
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That means that it's heavier. So it needs to be bigger. So it needs to draw more power
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So the price goes up. So, you know, you got all these factors you're trying to compensate for
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But I really wish this worked. And it just, you know, it's it was just super frustrating
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Every single time I flew it, I wanted it to work. I was willing it
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I had like all this energy out of my head saying, just hover right there
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Just stop. Just sit there for 30 seconds. And it was like, did you do it
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And just started wandering off. Ah, super frustrating. Now, before I tell you the price, because you're going to want to know this price, you
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know, even if you might be thinking maybe this is something you want to play with, you
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still want to know the price. But before we get there, let me ask if you can subscribe to my channel
8:02
Really appreciate when you subscribe. Cool. Now, this Air Selfie 2 Pocket Selfie HD camera is $189 on Amazon.com
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You know, if this was 50 bucks, then I don't know, maybe you would be able to enjoy it
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even with all its quirks and problems with hovering. But at almost $200, I just feel like the technology is not quite there for the company to deliver
8:29
a real winner of a product. Now, I've seen them do demos, like at the Consumer Electronics Show
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And, you know, they know how to demo it. They got everything all wired. They have the person who probably designed the software
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So they toss it up and it's hovering and they're taking videos. I can't duplicate it
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So, you know, whether or not this is user error, I am just like you
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I'm just someone trying to make this thing work. So my guess is that you would have similar frustrations
8:56
So, Air Selfie 2, I really, really wish you worked, but you don't
9:02
So this is Dave Taylor. And on that note, I will catch you in my next video
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