Yuneec’s Mantis Q will cause you to wish you purchased a DJI drone
Back in August of 2018, Yuneec officially hopped on the portable UAV bandwagon and released a folding camera drone. The Mantis Q, as it’s called, is effectively the company’s answer to DJI’s wildly popular Mavic line, and intrinsically , it’s equipped with a flurry of fun features that the corporate hopes will coax you faraway from DJI — things like folding arms, 4K camera, voice/gesture recognition, and a price under $500. But can it really get up to DJI’s fleet?
Now that Yuneec has had a couple of months to figure out all the kinks, we took a Mantis Q out for an extended test to ascertain how it stacks up against the competition.
Standout Features and Specs
In terms of its size, the Mantis Q isn't that much bigger than DJI’s minuscule Spark drone, and it’s still sufficiently small to require faraway from your hand. It’s also wider (especially with the propeller arms extended) and thicker, which provides it some pretty distinct advantages. That extra space is employed for a significantly larger battery, which allegedly provides a whopping 33 minutes of flight time (more thereon later), and bigger propellers that get the Mantis up to a top speed of 44mph, which is pretty fast for what’s arguably an entry-level drone.
On top of that, the Mantis Q sports a 1/3.06 inch CMOS camera sensor capable of 4K video at 30fps, which sounds good on paper, but in practice was a touch underwhelming. thanks to the very fact that this drone relies on digital image stabilization rather than mechanical, you lose image stabilization functionality once you shoot in 4K. In other words, you’ll got to step right down to either 720p or 1080p at 60fps, or 1080p at 30fps to urge more stable video.
On the brilliant side though, it does accompany some nifty camera modes that partially structure for lack of mechanical stabilization. Scenery mode, for instance , automatically alters the colour balance of the photos you're taking to make sure that the colours really pop — which is basically nice if you don’t want to spend a bunch of your time post-processing all of your photos.
The Mantis Q also boasts a variety of intelligent flight modes, including journey (flies away and to an object in linear fashion), point of interest (a circular flight path around a specific object), and return to home — though it’s worth noting that these modes aren’t numerous as they're in some competing drones. The Mantis Q also supports limited voice control to require photos, videos, and flying functionality, but it feels gimmicky and unnecessary. Are you actually getting to shout at your drone to form it do stuff? Probably not.
This brings us to a different problem: the drone’s glaring lack of obstacle avoidance. While it does have downward facing sensors to make sure solid landings, you’d be knowing fly this bird in a neighborhood freed from obstructions. It can’t sense its surroundings, so it’s up to you to avoid them manually.
Overall, this drone may be a fairly good value at its price point, and a small improvement over the Breeze. But with DJI’s Spark now below $400, the Mantis Q feels somewhat behind the days after only being out for a matter of months.
Build Quality and sturdiness
Yuneec ditched the plastic hull of the Breeze for a sturdier metal enclosure with the Mantis Q, which adds a touch bit over three ounces to the Mantis Qs weight (16.9 oz) — a suitable tradeoff for the added durability. You won’t need to worry about damaging this thing easily within the event of the inevitable nasty crash.We didn’t purposely crash our Mantis Q during our test, but we also didn’t notice any significant damage after subjecting it to a couple of hard drops. As far as we will tell, it’s pretty damn sturdy — and since it’s not equipped with any kind of obstacle avoidance, that’s definitely an honest thing.
The controller is pretty standard, with a flip-up extendable holder that was just barely large enough to suit our iPhone XS Max with a skinny protective case. it had been definitely secure though, so we can’t really complain about the build quality. The controller does feel pretty good in your hands, although we’d argue the phone holder may benefit from being tilted back a touch bit more to form the screen more readable within the way most of the people would hold a controller while flying.
Battery Life and Recharge Time
While Yuneec says that the Mantis Q can stay within the air for over a half hour, our tests put it somewhere within the order of 20-25 minutes approximately — which wasn’t even with us pushing the drone to its limits. this is often only marginally better than the Spark and most other drones at this price point, and we’d imagine it might do no better than most in “Sport mode” given its performance in typical flight.The controller charges in about two hours using the included USB-C cord, and that we were ready to charge the battery within the included charger in about 50 minutes from full discharge. That’s not overly impressive, but not regrettable either. it's nice that the battery can agitate to four batteries simultaneously – and additional Mantis Q batteries are priced at an inexpensive $60 each, although it’s worthwhile to get them as a part of the $650 X-Pack option once you purchase the drone initially.
Piloting, control, and autonomy
Piloting of the drone feels no different than the other drone in its class, and therefore the Mantis Q is very aware of controller commands. While you'll pilot the drone using the phone-based virtual controller, the app controls are (as usual) a touch mushy and imprecise. As such, we recommend sticking with the physical controller whenever possible.Unfortunately, despite its responsive controls, the Mantis Q isn’t quite as stable as we’d love it to be. We’ve flown our DJI Spark in fairly windy conditions and seen it hold position like it’s bolted to the sky — but that’s not the case with the Mantis Q. Even in Very light winds, the drone seems to drift far more than it should, which suggests you’ll got to stay top of the controls quite bit.
The drone’s autonomous flight modes work acceptably, but are hampered in their level of usability by the Mantis Q’s shaky video. Again, we actually wish this thing had a mechanical gimbal.
Also, Yuneec’s voice system looks like a response to the gesture-recognition systems that DJI builds into its drones, but it’s a very gimmicky feature. Honestly, we’d rather Yuneec spent all that point and energy to enhance the camera and software to assist the drone stay in one spot better.
Camera and accessories
While it could are a point , the camera is where the Mantis Q struggles. It’s not only the stabilization issue that's the matter here, which we’ll illustrate. We’ve included some sample footage, and attempted to require both our Spark and therefore the Mantis Q on similar flight paths. You’ll see a clear difference.
At 4K, the Mantis Q only matches the Spark’s 1080p footage in terms of clarity, although with some distortion of the horizon line when isn't centered within the picture (barrel distortion). You’re also handling way an excessive amount of shakiness to actually be ready to use the footage. Stepping the Mantis right down to 1080p 60fps or 30fps, the digital stabilization kicks in, but the image loses sharpness — although the 60fps frame rate makes fast motion smoother (DJI’s Spark supports a max of 1080p 30fps).
The lack of stabilization in 4K mode makes motion footage honestly a touch painful to observe . Also, your first second or two of video while the drone is in motion is unusable too, since the drone tilts to start out flight in your required direction, causing the camera to point either downward or upward briefly.
We’ll give the Mantis Q one thing, though, and that’s top quality photos. Our pictures looked sharper with the Mantis versus the Spark, but we’re guessing most people are trying to find great aerial video rather than still photographs, so this likely doesn’t mean much.
Additional accessories within the box are a touch slim. there's no included carrying case, but Yuneec does include a further set of propellers just in case you break those already included with the drone. If you would like additional batteries and a case, you’ll got to intensify to the X-Pack, which is a further $150. It includes a case, three additional batteries, and another set of spare propellers. It’s another expense, but costs but it might if you purchased of these items separately.
Our Take
The Mantis Q puts up an honest fight, but it’s not enough to dethrone DJI. Despite boasting an admirable set of specs and features, the drone pales as compared to tons of similarly-equipped competitors. Ultimately, the shortage of mechanical image stabilization is what spoils it. The flight controls are great, the drone itself is durable, and it's most of the flight modes you would like — but since the 4K footage isn’t stabilized, this isn’t a drone that we’d recommend.Is there a far better alternative?
With the Mantis Q’s camera issues, we certainly think so. The DJI Spark – while only supporting 1080p video, average photo capabilities, and a disappointingly short flight time – generally scores better than the Mantis Q in only about every metric. It’s disappointing. Yuneec’s newest drone seems like only alittle step above the Breeze instead of the evolutionary jump that might make it a competitor to DJI’s original Mavic Pro, Mavic Air, or Mavic 2.Parrot’s Anafi drone is additionally one worth considering. For $500, it offers most of an equivalent features, better position hold, and a drastically better camera setup. It also features a 3-axis gimbal with 180 degrees of tilt freedom, so it’s more stable and more creatively liberating than what you’ll get with the Mantis.
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