Snap’s new pocket-sized Pixy selfie drone, which is available for purchase only in the US and France, comes with the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) “Open” category CE C0 class identification label stamped on its battery compartment.
While it must be pointed out that European regulatory authorities are yet to provide drone manufacturers with a complete list of standards that would ensure compliance with various class categories, if there’s any drone expected to pass the requirements for class C0, it would be the 101-gram Pixy.
What is a Class C0 drone?
Drones bearing a CE class 0 mark and weighing up to 250 g can fly in subcategory A1, which means almost everywhere, except over assemblies of people, or areas that the state has forbidden by imposing a restriction on the flight of drones.
The $230 Pixy flying camera, meanwhile, is billed as the perfect companion to the social media app Snapchat. Pixy is capable of capturing 2.7K 30 fps video – just like DJI’s cheapest drone yet, the Mini SE.
By default, the videos from flights are transferred wirelessly and saved into Snapchat Memories. From there, users can leverage the app’s editing tools to customize the content using features such as Hyperspeed, Bounce, Orbit 3D, and Jump Cut.
The good part is that Snap is not keen to lock the content created with Pixy exclusively to its own network; you can always download the videos you’ve created and share to other platforms.
Nonetheless, Snapchat’s parent company Snap knows the drone’s appeal will be limited to those who use its video-sharing app extensively. And, therefore, it’s selling only a limited number of units of the drone “while supplies last.” Currently, the estimated shipping time for the product is 13-14 weeks – up from 11-12 weeks shipping date at the time of launch.
It’s also worth highlighting that, according to EASA, the use of drones with class identification labels C0, C1, C2, C3, and C4 will be mandatory in the Open category only from January 1, 2024 (unless privately built drones are used).
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