A lot of people want to know what the best drone is, but that is actually a very difficult question. My favorite drone is the Mavic 2 Zoom, but I wouldn’t recommend that drone to everyone. I don’t think the best drones of 2019 are here yet as Skydio and DJI have some drones in the works. There are still some excellent options out there, though.

Your purpose and budget are two hugely important factors when looking for a drone. If your goal is to have fun, then I would recommend one of the inexpensive drones on my list. If aerial photography is your focus, then the best beginner drone has been the DJI Spark, but it isn’t one I’d recommend to professional or semi-professional pilots. I’ll take a look at the entry-level competition as well as some of the higher-performing birds, like the Mavic 2 Pro.

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French drone maker, Parrot reached out to DroneDJ to stress that they are NOT exiting the consumer drone business. Their message comes in reaction to our story from yesterday.

Parrot is, however, retiring their older product lines including mini drones in favor of the next-generation ANAFI platform. See below for all the details.

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Parrot is exiting the toy drone business behind. French drone maker Parrot announced two years ago that it would shift away from toy drones and focus on higher-end and commercial drone solutions instead. Since the announcement, the company has laid off about half of its employees working in the UAV department. Recently we reported that they will start developing drones for the U.S. Army. And this week we learn that they are leaving the toy drone business behind altogether.

Update: Parrot is NOT exiting consumer drones, only the toy drones business. This article has been updated to reflect that. Also, see this message from Parrot here.

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French drone maker, Parrot has been selected by the Department of Defense as one of six companies to help develop a short-range reconnaissance drone for the US Army. The development of small commercial drones for the battlefield is t result of a partnership between the U.S. Army Program Executive Officer (PEO) for Aviation’s Project Manager, Unmanned Aircraft Systems, the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) and the Army’s Maneuver Center of Excellence. DJI is not among the other selected companies. The ongoing US-China trade war, which caused price increases for DJI products, and fears of Chinese companies such as Huawei and DJI potentially spying on behalf of the Chinese government have suddenly created new opportunities for American and Western European companies, such as Parrot.

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The French drone maker, Parrot launches the ANAFI Thermal, a light-weight and very compact drone with an integrated FLIR thermal camera aimed at professional drone pilots. This new drone is launched as an all in one package, which includes the drone, the thermal sensor, and the software. The ANAFI Thermal, three batteries, and a shoulder bag will retail for $1,900 USD and will be available at authorized retailers starting next month. The ANAFI Thermal competes head-on with the DJI Mavic 2 Enterprise Dual as it offers the same resolution (160 x 120) FLIR thermal sensor but at a lower price ($1,900 instead of $2,699 for the Enterprise Dual).

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Despite positive reviews of the Anafi, sales at the French drone-maker Parrot have dropped by 40% compared to the same quarter last year. The company has reacted by announcing that it will cut 100 jobs. The market responded to the news by cutting the value of the French drone maker in half on the Paris stock exchange. The layoffs are bad news for the once-dominant Parrot, but the company’s troubles could provide a short-term benefit to consumers. The Anafi is now being sold for a fraction of the price that it was a few months ago. The Anafi is on sale for under $550 on both Amazon and Parrot.com.

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