Review: Parrot Bebop 2 – The Best Drone Under $300

The Parrot Bebop 2 is the best drone you can buy for under $300. With the Bebop 2, you get a pretty serious machine. It has a 25-minute flight time, 2,000-meter range, and a 14 MP camera. The wide angle lens and electronic image stabilization of the Bebop 2 are impressive. This is an excellent beginner drone for anyone looking to get into aerial photography. It is surprisingly quiet but still powerful. The camera has the most impressive electronic image stabilization that I have ever tested. While it may not be quite as nice as the new Parrot Anafi, at half the price of the Anafi, the Bebop 2 it is a heck of a deal.

The Bebop 2 Camera

The camera on the Bebop 2 has an impressively wide field of view that allows you to tilt and pan the camera angle electronically as if it were on a mechanical gimbal. The electronic image stabilization is the best I have ever tested. It will even stabilize the drone if it rolls completely upside down. The pictures are better than most drones in this price range and the HD video is solid, but limited to 720 resolution. If you want better footage than the Bebop can offer then you will need to fork out a few more dollars for the DJI Spark.

The Parrot Bebop 2 is a dual-GPS drone. That makes it a very stable drone and adds intelligent flight modes like return-to-home, follow me and waypoints. Unfortunately, some of these modes require an in-app purchase. For some reason, Parrot doesn’t include all of their modes for free with their top-of-the-line drones. That is a mistake in my opinion.

Overall, this drone is a winner. It is lightweight yet powerful. With a top speed of 40 mph, this drone can really move. I would highly recommend the FPV package, you’ll get the Skycontroller and headset to go with your Bebop 2. The Skycontroller adds both feel and precision to the control and extends the range of the drone significantly. The FPV headset allows you to see your drone’s view on a glare-free screen that feels more immersive than when viewing your phone when it is mounted to the remote.

There really isn’t a competitor to the Bebop 2 under $300. The closest thing is the DJI Spark, but that drone typically is $100 more. The Spark is a superior drone in many regards. I prefer the Spark’s smaller size, camera, and mechanical two-axis gimbal. The Bebop does still have the Spark beat when it comes to flight time by a solid 11 minutes. When it comes to finding a drone for less than $300 the Parrot Bebop 2 is the way to go. However, if you can stretch your budget to $400 I would recommend going with the DJI Spark. The camera and compact size are important enough to make the Spark worth the higher cost.

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