Opinion: iFly-4

iFly-4 is a ease to fly not very expensive ($229 last time I check) Chinese quadcopter. And it happen to be my first quadcopter… I enjoyed few hours with this quadcopter, which was more than enough for having opinion about this quad. The end of service can be seen in this video… and the following are the pros and cons from my point of view.

Pros:

  • Price, not bad
  • Nice foldable frame (you can put it to your backpack if is not too small)
  • A lot of space to mount extra equipment

Cons:

  • Board was burned (see video)
  • Legs brake easy (not very good for learning, it will brake really fast)
  • Engines have low quality bearings you will need to fix it soon (not get new engines, change the bearings)
  • Gimbal is not very stable
  • The design of the lower plate of the body, make it difficult to mount other fly controller.
  • The battery cover may fly away (the pins to keep it in place are not really good)

Aftermath:

  • Not very bad to own, if you change the controller. The fact that when it start malfunctioning, fly away instead of dropping to the ground, make me thinks that you should not risk it… get it with out the controller and use an other controller, or replace the controller immediately. With this controller you risk your self…
  • The frame is foldable, but for putting it to your backpack, you need to remove the legs and put them back after… so not very mobile…
  • Do not use the legs, especially if you are new and learning. The best solution I found is creating rolls from bubble wrap and tie it under the arms.
  • The engines run nice for some time, but after time the bearings stop performing… The result are vibrations, strange sounds and eventually stop working. You can use them until you face the first issues… and when vibrations appear, replace the bearings.
  • I would not buy it again… but I would not through it away… even if the chance to get some fly time is small.