Yuneec has a rich history in flight. Inspired by the feel and joy of soaring through the air, they have been building drones to try to bring those feelings to anyone. Offering a capable selection of multi-rotor craft, Yuneec satisfies everything from your basic needs of a toy craft, all the way up to your commercial bridge inspection needs, and more.
Made popular for their larger folding machines, join us for a brief rundown, our Yuneec drones guide. As a later update to this topic, we’re starting to get worried about Yuneec, it’s a tough task to compete with DJI for consumer drone sales, we hope Yuneec and others can stay in business.
Jonathan FeistWhy trust Drone Rush?
I’ve been a fan of flight since a young age; while I’ve had few opportunities at the helm of manned aircraft, the hours on my fleet of drones continue to grow. I enjoy putting cameras into the sky, silky smooth aerial imagery makes me happy. My goal is to help all pilots enjoy flight legally and safely.
GreenWing International
First, let’s explain that the small UAS that we’re talking about today are not a part of Yuneec’s larger operations. Up until 2014 Yuneec operated in the U.S., building manned craft, mostly single seat electric planes, under the banner GreenWing International.
Closing the doors on the manned craft operations, Yuneec has put extra effort into putting cameras into the sky. Their list of drones is short, but they’ve put a lot of thought into their machines. Yuneec is one of the only major brands that does not have a semi-ripoff direct competitor to the Phantom drone.
Seeking to put the best of professional flying cameras into the hands of consumers, let’s get to those drones:
Quadcopters
Yuneec Mantis G: Small folding quadcopter
The Mantis G is one of our top recommendations for Yuneec drones. It’s not a big powerful hexacopter with a monster camera like most, but it’s a reliable and portable airframe that’s ready to take on the go.
The 4K camera is mounted on a 3-axis gimbal, which is pretty much the only difference between the G and Q in the Mantis line. For those looking for a Mavic competitor, the Mantis G is a viable option.
- Retired
- Compact camera drone
- Voice controls
The Yuneec Mantis G adds a stabilized camera Gimbal to the Mantis Q – exactly the missing piece from the original folding drone. Now you can shoot smooth 4K video. Launching in October 2019.
Yuneec Mantis Q: Voice controlled fun
The Mantis Q was an early attempt from Yuneec to take on the Mavic line of drones. They made a solid airframe, but the lack of a fully-stabilized camera met with some backlash. We enjoyed flying the Mantis Q, and we certainly enjoyed putting the voice commands to the test, but with the focus of capturing images from the sky, the Mantis Q is not a drone we would recommend. Again, it’s a reliable aircraft, if you don’t care about the camera, you’ll be in good shape.
- Simple camera drone
- Static gimbal
- Voice controls
The Yuneec Mantis Q is the company's first compact, folding drone. Voice commands are fun, it's fast and reliable, we just want to see a stabilized camera.
HD Racer
Announced at CES 2018, the new HD Racer is a fun little quad for the beginner race pilot. This is a zippy little machine that will help you get the hang of racing, just don’t expect it to keep up with the high speed machines of an official race track. The best feature of the HD Racer is a crash recovery feature, if you land upside down, and you probably will, just tap the recover button and the drone will pop itself upright. It’s really cool, and smart.
You can look to buy the HD Racer later in 2018 for $178. Update: It’s now 2019, the HD Racer is not yet up for sale… The last time we chat with Yuneec about this, they informed us that the drone may still land in European markets, but the U.S. should not expect it anytime soon. We’ll update if this changes.
Yuneec Breeze
Certainly not their first drone, the Breeze is a compact flying machine that is made for hobby pilots to just enjoy. The optional FPV headset and remote make for one of the better drone packages under $500. Yuneec recently added live streaming to the Breeze, sending your aerial video direct to your social media following.
Packing a 4K camera and a take-off weight under one pound, you can fly by mobile device or remote for about 12 minutes.
Check out the Yuneec Breeze for $149 on Amazon today. Bump that up to $269 to get the Breeze with remote control as well.
Yuneec Typhoon 4K
Stepping up from the Breeze… No, that implies that the Yuneec Typhoon 4K is only a slight change from the Breeze. In fact, the camera alone on the Typhoon is almost the same weight as the entire Breeze aircraft. Breeze almost fits in the palm of your hand, the Typhoon 4K is close to two feet from corner to corner. A larger craft made for stable and smooth video.
As the name implies, the Typhoon 4K hangs a 4K camera off of a multi-axis gimbal. Flight time is upwards of 25 minutes and the remote has a built in 5.5-inch touch display.
Check out the Yuneec Typhoon 4K for $469 on Amazon today. Less if you buy refurbished.
Hexacopters
Yuneec Typhoon H3: Pro camera drone
The Typhoon H3 is the kind of drone we want to fly more often. The hexacopter design is stable and reliable, the big Zeiss camera captures great shots, and the big Android-powered controller is packed with features and fun to use. If you need a big, powerful camera drone, this is a solid option.
- Professional camera drone
- Great Leica camera
Designed with government use in mind, the Yuneec Typhoon H3 is an update to the Typhoon H Plus, packing a powerful Leica camera onto the familiar hexacopter airframe.
Yuneec Typhoon H Plus: High-end consumer camera drone
The Typhoon H Plus is a leading consumer hexacopter. Although fairly old now, the airframe remains solid, reliable, and powerful. The 4K camera still shoots images that are better than most higher-end smartphones, but does not keep up with comparably priced camera drones today.
- Reliable hexacopter
- Stable flight
- Great camera
The hexacopter design of the Yuneec Typhoon H Plus offers a reliable and smooth flight experience for the attached 20mp camera.
Yuneec Typhoon H: The original consumer-quadcopter
The Typhoon H was not Yuneec’s first multi-rotor consumer airframe, but it was the one that put them on the map for users that wanted a flying camera. The 4K camera was top-notch in its time, and the airframe, like most Yuneec drones, remains a power and reliable aircraft.
- Stable hexacopter
- Solid airframe
- Outdated camera
The Typhoon H was the initial folding retail hexacopter from Yuneec. This capable machine matched the Phantom drones at launch for camera quality and flight versatility.
Yuneec Tornado H920 Plus
Also seen in our Best camera drones and Best Professional drones lists
For the professionals in the crowd, the Yuneec Tornado H920 Plus is an upgrade from the previous no-plus model. Designed for serious video work, the H920 can handle either the CGO4 camera or you can drop in your own Panasonic GH4.
The CGO4 camera is a micro four thirds shooter that accepts some Olympus glass by default. You can choose from a selection of lenses at different focal lengths and zoom levels to capture 16 MP stills and 4K video. You get to choose the glass if you equip your Panasonic GH4, the drone connects to operate it.
The Tornado H920 Plus is also the largest drone in the lineup, with a diagonal wingspan of 920 mm, hence the name. Keep in mind that the DJI Mavic Pro is just 335 mm, as a reference.
Bottom line, for the pro videographer looking to put a Yuneec drone into the sky, the Tornado H920 Plus is the best solution available. Check it out for $2,799 on Amazon today.
Yuneec H520
The H520 made a splash in the commercial drone market. The bright orange hexacopter was picked up by the Nevada highway patrol to perform accident reconstruction tasks, utilizing powerful mapping software to take dozens of photos and video of a section of highway.
The H520 proved reliable for other aerial inspection tasks as well, being put to work in the energy industry and more.
- Stable commercial drone
- High wind resistance
Yuneec's reliable hexacopter hardened for the commercial market, the Yuneec H520 is ready for your inspection tasks and more.
Remember, no matter what you fly, you have to follow the drone laws in your area
Fixed wing
Yuneec Firebird FPV
The final announcement from Yuneec at CES 2018, the new fixed wing Firebird FPV. Like many drones out there, there is a 4K camera on the nose of the craft. Unlike many modern drones, however, this is a single-propeller driven, airplane style design. Take-off is easy to do, use a runway or just launch from hand, landing is another story, you’ll want a runway for sure. Yuneec wants flying this drone to be as easy as possible, so unlike many RC aircraft you’ll find many flight assist features in this drone.
Most notably, the Firebird FPV has RTH functionality. Not bad for a fixed wing craft. You can get your hands on this fun machine later in 2018 for $699.
Update: Like the HD Racer, the folks at Yuneec have unofficially informed us to not expect the Firebird FPV in north America. This may change as drone laws change, but as it sits, the benefits of long range drones is lost with the line-of-sight requirements.
Other stuff
Wizard
In addition to the powerful ground stations (remote controls) that Yuneec offers, they have a minimal tool as well. Wizard is a one-handed remote, not unlike your television remote, the offers the most basics of flight controls for most of Yuneec’s drones.
In addition to manual controls, the Wizard remote offers direct connectivity to your drone. This enables the drone to track you with greater precision than ever. Tuck the remote into the waterproof pouch, strap it to the armband and go enjoy some action sports while your drone captures your every move.
Add the Yuneec Wizard to your arsenal for $105 on Amazon today.
E-GO 2 Electric Longboard
Although we don’t get to test out electric skateboards on this website, our partner sites do have that fun. The Yuneec E-GO 2 is on our list of the best electric skateboards with their mid-tier entry into market.
The last time we saw it, the Yuneec E-GO 2 was $299 on Amazon. (Currently unavailable, likely permanently gone.)
Yuneec wrap up
We believe Yuneec is an interesting brand to keep an eye on. This is particularly true knowing they have more machines in the works, including an autonomous home security option. In the end, however, they have a limited range of machines, hitting that toy segment very nicely with the Breeze and the higher-end with everything else.
We’d love to see a middle of the road type of machine, like the Mavic Air 2, to round out their consumer offerings. As it sits, however, Yuneec is one of the first names that comes to mind for professional and commercial drones.
Is Yuneec on your radar, or are these just not the drones you are looking for?
Frequently Asked Questions
Since mid-2020 we’ve been hearing more and more people ask if Yuneec is still in business. We have no reason to believe that they’ve gone out of business, but the last time we chat with them in person, their representative made it clear they were seeing more success in Europe than in the United States.
Truly, their drones are hard to find on U.S. store shelves right now, but until we hear otherwise, Yuneec is still in business.
Yuneec drones, though many are getting older, still offer some of the best machines around. The commercial craft are safe, resilient and able to handle inspection tasks with ease. Their consumer drones are very large compared to newer machines with comparable camera output, but machines like the Typhoon H Plus are impressive and still worth your consideration.
There are pros and cons to most multi-copter layouts. A hexacopter, having six propellers, is safer than the four propeller design of a quadcopter, the reason is that if you lose power to a motor in a quadcopter, the other three will not be able to keep the drone balanced, whereas you can lose two props on a hexacopter and still fly evenly. Of course, that depends on which props you lose, we explain more here.
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