Introduction
I never click on banner ads. But when I saw an ad for the Sky Viper 670 Stunt Drone, I was intrigued. I went to the web site of the manufacturer and took a look at what they have to offer. As of this writing, they offer 4 drones. A nano drone, the 670 Stunt Drone (which I will discuss in this review) and then 2 camera drones. They all looked awesome, so I decided to order the Viper 670 Stunt Drone for $50 USD. It arrived quickly from Amazon. In this review, I will take you though the features, set up and overview of flying this cool stunt drone.
Key features
The Sky Viper 670 Stunt Drone is one of the sexiest drones I’ve ever seen. Its green and black color scheme is very modern and edgy. The material that comprises the airframe is very solid feeling but not brittle, which makes me think it will be durable. And its shape is streamlined and reminds me of a spider about to pounce on its prey! But sexiness is not enough to make a drone cool. This one also has navigation lights in the form of LEDs as well as the ability to flip and do barrel rolls, which is a very unique feature. While most drones ship with only one battery, this drone comes with 2 batteries. It also has three flight modes that allow you to select the right level of control (and difficulty) for your experience level. The three flight modes are a great feature because most drones only have 2 modes. I was surprised how useful having a third, “Expert” mode was when attempting to fly this bird outdoors in a brisk wind.
Specs
| Camera | None |
| Flight time | 4 – 6 Minutes |
| Range | Approximately 75 meters |
| Autopilot | None |
| Flight battery | 3.7V 650mAh LiPo |
| GPS | None |
| Flight Modes | 3 Flight Modes – Beginner, Advanced, Expert |
| Motors | Brushed |
Quality of build
I have to say that for $50, this quad is pretty well built. It features a tough duraflex airframe that is strong, light and resistant breaking. It also has a high quality remote control for a quadcopter in this price range. The body style and color are very attractive and well designed. One good trend that this quacopter follows is to have different color blades in the front and rear of the aircraft. This simple thing is easy for the manufacturer to do and make the drone much easier to orient during flight. It also comes with removable prop guards and a spare battery. Overall, it feels like a higher class of quadcopter than most in its price range.
Assembly and tuning
The Sky Viper 670 Stunt Drone comes pretty much ready to fly (RTF). The only big challenge is removing the battery so that you can put it on the charger. It took me a good five minutes of messing with the battery cage that surrounds the battery to get it out and onto the charger. While I appreciate how solidly the battery fits into the compartment, the hassle of getting it out seems like poor design on an otherwise beautifully designed quadcopter.
The main thing to do when you are removing the battery is unscrew the locking screw all the way and then pull up on the little latch that holds the battery cage in place. Because it fits tightly into the slot, it takes a bit of force to get the battery cage out. I ended up using the screwdriver to pry the battery cage out and that seemed to work well without doing any damage.
The other thing to consider as you set up the quad is if you want to fly with or without the prop guards. If you are an absolute beginner and flying in a tight space, I recommend using them. But if you have some experience or have a wide open space with some grass to crash in, I’d remove the prop guards and fly without them. The quad is much faster and more responsive without the prop guards.
Flying
This quad has three flight modes, beginner, advanced, and expert. The beginner is very stable with slow responses to control inputs. This is great if you are just learning or flying indoors. Advanced is more on par with what you might expect in terms of responsiveness and stability. Not too extreme, but much more responsive than beginner mode. And finally, expert mode is pretty aggressive. I found that with a good wind, expert mode actually works best because it can fly easily against a 10 – 12 mph wind. Expert is also great for aerobatics because it lets you reach top speed very quickly.
Of course this quadcopter can do flips, as many can. I have to say that with the prop guards on, the recovery from flips is not great, so you have to have some altitude when you attempt them. However, without the prop guards, it can flip at 5 feet off the ground without any risk of hitting the ground. The big fun with this quad is the barrel rolls that it can do. Basically, you can think of a barrel roll as a sideways flip that you do while flying forward or backward. You simply start flying in the direction you want to go, hold down the stunt button on the control and then push the joystick the direction you want to do the barrel roll (either left or right). With some practice, you can make these rolls very crisp and even string several of them together, which is a very cool trick!
This quadcopter is a great size for both indoor and outdoor flight. As I mentioned, the prop guards tend to reduce the aerodynamics significantly, so I’d only suggest using the prop guards indoors. Flying indoors, in beginner mode, with the prop guards on, is a great way to practice several important piloting skills. I strongly encourage new pilots to practice flying without headless mode so that they can master the art of flying both away from you and toward you. This is also a great quad to practice using the yaw (left stick) control because the yaw is quite responsive.