As a drone fanatic, I used to be intrigued to find EXO Drones, a U.S.-based, shopper drone firm. Although the corporate has had shut ties to Chinese language drone maker Hubsan it was just lately acquired by American firm OpenStore.
With its OpenStore tie, EXO is selling itself as a substitute for Chinese language drones like DJI (extra on whether or not it’s truthful to name it an American drone firm later) OpenStore paid $2.9 million in an all-cash supply in August 2022.
The thought of a U.S.-based shopper drone firm is definitely compelling given the lengthy listing of nice causes to buy an American-made drone. However the actuality is that the perfect digicam drones aren’t made within the U.S., largely because of elements like weak manufacturing infrastructure and excessive value of labor. Understanding all that, my curiosity was piqued after I just lately had the prospect to fly EXO drone’s newest launch, the Blackhawk 3 Professional.
So, will the Blackhawk 3 Professional make the listing of the perfect digicam drones made within the USA? Effectively, not but. Whereas EXO drones (owned by Miami-based OpenStore) designs and handles the achievement of the drones, they’re nonetheless manufactured outdoors the U.S.
An EXO spokesperson stated the corporate is actively exploring avenues to do much more manufacturing within the U.S., seemingly capitalizing on the heavy curiosity in American-made drones. Nonetheless, I made a decision to check out the Blackhawk 3 Professional from EXO Drones.
The Blackhawk 3 Professional begins at $1,249 however is at present on sale for $949 on their web site and solely $849 on Amazon. Given the lower cost tag, plus different potential advantages of buying on Amazon like ultra-fast delivery, an extra 5% again with the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Card, and simple returns, buying on Amazon is a no brainer.
Order the Blackhawk 3 Professional on Amazon for $849
The No. 1 purpose why the Blackhawk 3 Professional stands out is its spectacular 53 minutes of flight time. This is likely one of the longest flight instances you’ll be able to obtain on any shopper drone. Amongst different highlights of the Blackhawk 3 Professional:
- 200 Mbps HDR 4K video high quality
- 9+ mile vary
- 1/1.3 inch CMOS Sensor
Be taught extra concerning the latest drone from the American-based drone firm, EXO drones, and extra of those options in my assessment of the Blackhawk 3 Professional right here:
Am spectacular 53-minute flight time (nearly)
After I initially opened up the Blackhawk Professional 3, I used to be shocked to see just one battery included within the equipment. Nonetheless, after studying by way of the specs, I noticed, you don’t want spare batteries.
The Blackhawk 3 Professional has a 53-minute battery life, one thing you don’t see every single day within the drone market. As an illustration, DJI’s newest shopper drone launch, the DJI Mini 4 Professional has 34 minutes (or 45 minutes whenever you buy an extra clever battery).
After I took the Blackhawk 3 Professional out to fly, I used to be out flying, the drone obtained very near reaching that 53 minutes of flight time. I used to be notified of a low battery after round 47 minutes, and personally, I by no means threat flying as soon as I get that notification.
Nonetheless, it’s price noting, that the controller nonetheless had loads of battery left when the drone was low battery. By buying an additional battery (for an extra $150), you can fly the Blackhawk 3 Professional for hours.
The prolonged flight time is kind of spectacular, however there are some particular trade-offs, specifically the battery measurement and weight.
It’s nearly double the scale and weight of the DJI Mini 4 Professional’s battery. With the battery, the drone itself weighs 600g at take-off, in comparison with the Mini 4 Professional at 249 g.
The burden of the drone is vital not solely as a result of it makes it simpler to move however for authorized causes. Drones below 250 grams don’t must be registered with the FAA for leisure operations.
Blackhawk 3 Professional digicam and clever options
To fly the Blackhawk 3 Professional, you’ll must obtain the EXO app and join your cellphone to the controller. The app and controller are each user-friendly. The drone additionally has an prolonged exploration characteristic permitting you to fly with a 9+ mile vary on a single cost.
The primary few flights have been easy with a pointy 4K video high quality. The 1/1.3-inch CMOS sensor permits for wealthy coloring and pure lighting transitions. The video high quality on the Blackhawk 3 Professional holds as much as the perfect shopper digicam drones out there. The Blackhawk 3 Professional additionally has a permitting for low-light captures. However whereas the digicam high quality is nice, the flying high quality? Not a lot.
The Blackhawk 3 Professional promotes a spread of Clever Flight Modes, like ‘Observe Me’, “Return to House’ and GPS Routing. However whereas some options like return to dwelling, labored nice, others didn’t work in any respect. After I put the drone into Observe Me mode the drone appeared to malfunction and crashed into the grass.
I attempted this mode a number of extra instances, however I used to be unable to get Observe Me mode to work. I continued flying with out utilizing the clever options, nonetheless, I shortly confronted one other impediment after I acquired an error alert relating to my gimbal.
The error notification repeated over and over with a loud beeping noise. Fixing and recalibrating the gimbal was easy. Nonetheless, it takes a while and the beeping and error message repeats loudly till the error is mounted.
I attempted to discover a setting to show off voice notifications or the amount, however I couldn’t. Total, the footage captured was clear and top quality, however the general flying expertise was rocky.
By way of worth, the Blackhawk 3 Professional’s closest DJI drone competitor is the DJI Mini 4 Professional. The DJI Mini 4 Professional begins at $759. The DJI Mini 4 Professional is $90 cheaper than the Blackhawk 3 Professional.
Beneath is a side-by-side comparability of the specs of the 2 drones:
| Blackhawk 3 Professional | DJI Mini 4 Professional | |
| Value | $949 | $759 |
| Takeoff Weight | 600g | < 259 g |
| Dimensions (folded)(L×W×H) | 118.7 x 172.5 x 67.6mm | 148×90×62 mm |
| Max Flight Time | 53 minutes | 34 minutes |
| Max Wind Pace | Stage 8 | 10.7 m/s |
| Impediment Sensors | Downward | Omnidirectional |
| Picture Sensor | 1/1.3-inch CMOS | 1/1.3-inch CMOS |
| Max Video Res | 4K/30fps | 4K/100fps |
The Blackhawk 3 Professional’s most spectacular characteristic stays the battery life, together with the utmost wind velocity. Each drones have related digicam options. The Mini 4 Professional has barely higher video decision.
In nearly each method, the DJI Mini 4 Professional wins.
The DJI Mini 4 Professional additionally has omnidirectional impediment avoidance, whereas the Blackhawk 3 Professional has downward avoidance. This makes the DJI Mini 4 Professional a significantly extra protected drone than the Blackhawk 3 Professional. The Blackhawk 3 Professional has impediment sensors positioned on the underside of the drone. On the flip facet, the Mini 4 has them in each route.
With the Mini 4 Professional, you’ll get monetary savings and have a safer drone.
Is the Blackhawk 3 Professional price it?
The flying expertise was not seamless, particularly relative to how simple it’s to get DJI drones up within the air. Notably with follow-me mode, I even struggled to get it to work. Not solely is that problematic on it’s personal, however that doesn’t incite quite a lot of belief or confidence in different elements of this drone’s flight.
If patronizing American corporations is a precedence for you, then definitely contemplate buying this drone. With out outright naming DJI, EXO’s advertising and marketing techniques have leaned into the gang of anti-DJI pilots.
“For greater than a decade, there was little technical competitors in digicam drones,” in line with a press release on EXO’s web page. “One model with no competitors means they’ll do no matter they want- and so they do. Excessive costs, non-existent assist, and promoting your non-public knowledge to China.”
That’s all a transparent jab at DJI, which has been met with issues (significantly from authorities companies) about knowledge privateness. It’s gotten so brutal for DJI, that the corporate is on a authorities blacklist.
However EXO isn’t precisely made in America, on condition that manufacturing happens abroad. Don’t purchase this in case your aim is shopping for a “made in America” drone.
Nonetheless, with EXO you’ll expertise lots of the perks of shopping for American, like supporting the native economic system and having extra dependable customer support. And whereas the flying expertise is probably not as easy as DJI and different China-made rivals like Autel (it might truly be fairly dangerous at instances), right here’s the silver lining: You’ll hardly discover the distinction in post-production by way of video and picture high quality.
Buy the Blackhawk 3 Professional drone on Amazon at the moment for $849
