When you look at drones these days, many of them have a very similar design. But as of recently, things have started to change. And with today’s announcement of the new PowerVision PowerEgg, things are really starting to look different. For the uneducated, the Portal-Turret-Looking-Drone may not even look like a drone. But indeed, it’s a beautiful product that wants to promise users a simple experience and a fun time overall.
More importantly, it will change the way you look at a drone.
Tech Specs
- AIRCRAFT
| Weight | 2,100 g (4.6 lb) (Battery and propellers included) |
| Diagonal Size (Excluding Propellers) | 448 mm |
| Physical Dimension | 272 mm x 176 mm (Close) / 272 mm x 476 mm (Flight) |
| Max Ascent Speed | 5 m/s (Professional mode) |
| Max Descent Speed | 2 m/s (Professional mode) |
| Hover Accuracy | Vertical: +/- 0.1 m (When Vision Positioning is active, 0.2 – 4 m); +/- 1 m Horizontal: +/- 0.2 m (Surface with clear pattern and adequate lighting); +/- 1.5 m |
| Max Flight Speed | 13 m/s (Professional mode) |
| Operating Frequency | 2.4 G |
| Propellers Size | 10.5 inch |
| Power | 265 W (Hover) 450 W (Max) |
| Max Flight Time | 23 min |
| Max Attitude | 30 degree |
| Max Service Ceiling Above Sea Level | 4,000 m (13,123 ft) |
| Operating Temperature | 0° – 40°C (32° – 104°F) |
| GPS Mode | GPS and BeiDou |
| Anti-wind | < 5 level |
- CAMERA
| Sensor | 1/2.3″ CMOS |
| Lens | FOV 95° 22 mm (35 mm format equivalent) f/2.8 G |
| ISO Range | 100 – 3,200 (Video); 100 – 1,600 (Photo) |
| Shutter Speed | 8 s to 1/8,000 s |
| Image Max Size | 4,254 x 3,264
2,840 x 2,160 2,560 x 1,920 |
| Still Photography Modes | Single shot
Burst shooting: 3 / 5 / 10 frames Auto Exposure Bracketing (AEB): 3 / 5 / 7 bracketed frames Self-timer: 5 / 10 / 30 s at 0.3 EV Bias Time-lapse: 1/30, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 30, 60 s |
| Video Recording Modes | UHD: 3,840 x 2,160 30p
FHD: 1,920 x 1,080 30/60/120p HD: 1,280 x 720 60/120/240p |
| Supported SD Card Types | Micro-SD
Max capacity: 64 GB. Class 10 or UHS-1 rating required |
| Max Video Bitrate | 60 Mbps |
| Supported File Formats | FAT32/exFAT
JPEG, DNG MP4, MOV (MPEG-4 AVC/H.264) |
| Operating Temperature | -10° – 40°C (14° – 104°F) |
- GIMBAL
| Controllable Pitch Range | 0 – 90° |
| Controllable Row Range | -120° – +170° |
| Stabilization | 3-axis (Pitch, roll, yaw) |
| Controllable Accuracy | 0.05° |
- STANDARD REMOTE CONTROLLER
| Operating Temperature | 0° – 40°C (32° – 104°F) |
| Battery | 2,800 mAh LiPo 1S |
| Operating Voltage | 120 mA / 3.7 V |
| Operating Life | 20 hours |
| Charging Time | 3 hours |
- POWEREGG MAESTRO⢠MOTION REMOTE CONTROLLER
| Operating Temperature | 0° – 40°C (32° – 104°F) |
| Battery | 1400 mAh LiPo 1S |
| Operating Voltage | 120 mA / 3.7 V |
| Operating Life | 10 hours |
| Charging Time | 2 hours |
- BASE STATION
| Operating Frequency | Aircraft to Base Station: 2.400 – 2.483 GHz
Base Station to other devices: 5.725 GHz – 5.875 GHz |
| Max Transmission Distance | 5 km (3.1 mi) (Subject to regulation and local operating conditions). Distance will be shorter for CE. |
| Operating Temperature | 0° – 40°C (32° – 104°F) |
| Battery | 2,300 mAh LiPo 1S |
| Transmitter Power | 20 dbm @ CE, 28 dbm @ FCC |
| Operating Voltage | 800 mA / 3.7 V |
| Operating Life | 1.5 hours |
| Charging Time | 3 hours |
| Latency | 300 ms |
- POWEREGG SMART BATTERY
| Capacity | 6.4 AH |
| Voltage | 14.8 V |
| Battery Type | LiPo |
| Energy | 94.8 WH |
| Net Weight | 580 g (1.3 lb) |
| Operating Temperature | -10° – 40°C (14° – 104°F) |
| Charging Current | 2 C |
- VISION POSITIONING
| Velocity Range | ⤠4 m/s (2 m above ground) |
| Altitude Range | 0.2 – 4 m (0.66 â 13.12 ft) |
| Operating Environment | Surface with clear pattern and adequate lighting (Lux > 15) |
- CHARGER
| Input | AC 100 – 240 V |
| Frequency | 50/60 Hz |
| Output Port 1ïĵ | 16.8 V Âħ 0.1 V
< 5 A |
| Output Port 2ïĵ | 5 V Âħ 0.1 V
< 6 A |
| Operating Temperature | -10° – 45°C (14° – 113°F) |
| Rated Power | 114 W |
- APP
| Required Operating Systems | iOS 8.0 or later
Android 4.2 or later |
Ergonomics
The PowerEgg has a lot of pretty complicated sections and overall layout–but tries to make it pretty simple overall. The legs fold out for themselves while each of the arms and the propellers need to be folded out as well.
On the top of the drone, there’s a button that you’ll need to hold down in order to make it power on or off. In the middle of all this is where you place the battery.
The arms stay in place with a locking button mechanism. It’s pretty easy to fold them back down when you need to for storage. All of these arms and legs then come right back in to form the egg-like design and look.
Build Quality
The drone is incredibly well built with its body comprised of metals and plastics. One of the tougher things to remember is how to place it on the charging station when needed. It’s pretty smooth on the outside as well, so you’ll need to ensure that you’ve got a good grip on it. Texture would be nice for gripping reasons.
Ease of Use
The PowerEgg has a lot of features like many other drones. It will detect when the battery is about to die and return home, connect to your phone to beam video or images, and even connect to one of two controllers. The first looks like a typical drone radio controller/XBox controller. The second looks like something designed to work with the Nintendo Wii system.
PowerVision tells us these drones aren’t really designed for professionals, but instead hobbyists and enthusiasts. On top of that, they’re billing that anyone in the family will be able to use it with ease.
The drone will be able to do cool things like hover and follow you too–just in case you’re all about being broadcasted from above. Of course though, it’s got a small sensor.
First Impressions
One of the things that makes testing drones so darn tough in NYC is the fact that they’re pretty much illegal all over except in a few parks. When the PowerEgg becomes available for review, we’re calling one in for testing. We have yet to see any sort of image quality from the PowerEgg too, but so far it looks pretty promising and cool.
